DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**UNSCO

Preliminary findings released today on the Palestinian economy during the first half of this year reveal an economy in dire straits that has deteriorated rapidly since the beginning of the closures imposed by Israel in October of 2000.

These figures, which will be part of a report to be issued next month, were released today in Jerusalem by Terje Roed Larsen, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

Some of the highlights include an increase in the adjusted unemployment in the second quarter from 36 per cent to 50 per cent.  Actual numbers fluctuate depending on the curfews, with numbers rising to 63 per cent on certain days.

Lost income, from jobs in Israel that Palestinians no longer hold and from a drop in domestic productivity, has reached $7.6 million per day for a total of $3.3 billion since October 2000.

Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip have run out of money and are unable to work to earn it.  They increasingly must rely on handouts, selling personal items, credit -– anything simply to survive.  The poverty rates estimated by UNSCO stand at 55 per cent in the West Bank and 60 per cent in Gaza.

Larsen said this morning, “I am deeply disturbed by the figures.  But I am not surprised -- given the iron grip that Israel has applied in the West Bank."

“Aid cannot fill the gap", he said, "but without it the economy would collapse.  Against this backdrop, and before the eyes of the world, the Palestinian civilian population is scrambling to survive.”

Larsen unequivocally condemned the terror attacks by Palestinian groups that prompted the Israeli action, and emphasized Israel’s legitimate right to self-defence.  But in the face of the growing human catastrophe, he asked Israeli officials to review their severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and goods.

We have the full text of Larsen’s statement available upstairs.

**Secretary-General's Travels

The Secretary-General this morning left Lesotho and arrived in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, where he was met at the airport by President Joachim Chissano, whose Government greeted the Secretary-General with a 19-gun salute.

From the airport, he went to Maputo’s Heroes Circle, where he laid a wreath at a memorial for the fallen heroes of the country’s independence movement.

After that, he received the keys to the city from Mayor Artur Canana.  He responded by praising the citizens of Maputo for their courage during the independence struggle.

We have those remarks available upstairs.

The Secretary-General then met with the UN country team, and focused in his talks with them on two key issues:  the fight against HIV/AIDS and food distribution during the current drought.

Those two topics also came up when the Secretary-General held a formal meeting this afternoon with President Chissano.  After a one-on-one meeting, the two discussed AIDS and the drought, as well as other regional issues, while accompanied by their respective delegations.

President Chissano expressed his concerns about genetically modified food, and the Secretary-General assured him that all UN-distributed food was certified for its health and nutritional aspects and that the United Nations would not distribute any food that was deemed to be harmful.

They also discussed the political process in Mozambique.  The Secretary-General noted that the President would not seek another term, and said neighbouring countries would watch the elections scheduled for next year with interest.  He offered the UN’s help in facilitating those elections, if needed.

At a press encounter afterwards, the Secretary-General was asked about Zimbabwe’s land reform programme, and he responded that, while land reform was necessary in that country, “I don’t think the approach of the government is the right one”.  He added, “The best way to proceed with such land reforms is to have a credible plan based on the rule of law.”  Once that happens, he said, he was sure that Zimbabwe would receive the international support that it needs.

Asked about the most urgent needs for Africa, the Secretary-General pointed to the need for peace and for efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, which he said was “destroying the continent”.

The Secretary-General then visited the Mozarte Youth Training Centre, where Mozambican teenagers enacted a mime performance about AIDS.  The Secretary-General afterwards asked the youths how many of them knew friends or relatives with HIV, and half of the teenagers raised their hands.

The Secretary-General is now meeting with the country’s civil society leaders.

This afternoon, he will meet with Afonso Dhlakama, the leader of the opposition, before attending a State banquet in his honour hosted by President Chissano.

Meanwhile, Nane Annan visited a Maputo school to witness a performance by young people living with HIV/AIDS on how to educate students to protect themselves against the virus.  She described the young people as heroes because she said that they are standing up and talking about their situation.

In Lesotho yesterday, she visited a therapeutic feeding centre for severely malnourished children and their mothers.

**World Summit on Sustainable Development

Today, in Johannesburg, countries and international organizations began announcing partnership initiatives at the World Summit on Sustainable Development aimed at achieving tangible results. 

One of the major outcomes of the Summit, the partnerships mark an innovation that will connect the negotiated document with actual efforts to implement its goals.

The Summit’s Secretary-General, Nitin Desai, said, “Too often, we have seen conferences end with only a document.  We need government commitments -— that’s what the negotiations are for.  But we need to know who is actually planning to implement what the Summit decides.”  Desai also cautioned that the partnerships should not serve as a substitute for government commitments.

The European Union announced that it was launching major partnership initiatives on water and energy.  The United Nations has received 218 partnership submissions, and more than 40 will be showcased over the next three days.

Meanwhile, negotiations continue on the draft text of the World Summit, with agreement on about 90 per cent of the text now complete, including agreement on a provision to minimize the adverse effects of toxic chemicals by the year 2020.

**Afghanistan

The UN Population Fund is supporting work by the Afghan Government’s Central Statistics Office to design a national census for Afghanistan.  Already, computers have been brought in, and staff are being trained in the census effort, which will require more than 20,000 staff and is expected to be concluded by the middle of 2005.

Afghanistan has never had a population census.  The last attempt to conduct one was in 1979, and was abandoned because of the poor security situation at that time.

We have some details in today’s press briefing notes from Kabul, which also mentions the travel schedule of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi.

He is in Sweden today, to participate in a conference on conflict prevention and meet with Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, a day after he met with senior Danish Foreign Ministry officials in Copenhagen.  He will travel tomorrow to Norway, to meet Foreign Minister Jan Petersen.

We expect that Brahimi will be here in New York, starting on 9 September, and that he will remain here for the rest of the month.

**Security Council

The Security Council is continuing to meet in closed consultations.  First on their agenda was a review of the ongoing peace process in Bougainville.  The Director of the Department of Political Affairs’ Asia and Pacific Division, John Renninger, provided the briefing.

Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico, Chairman of the Council’s

Sierra Leone Sanctions Committee, then briefed the other members of the

Council on the fourth review of the Sierra Leone Diamond Certification

process.

Ambassador Jagdish Koonjul of Mauritius is expected to update the Security

Council on the work of its Ad Hoc Working Group on Africa.

The President of the Council, United States Ambassador John Negroponte, is expected to deliver a statement to the press at the stakeout on Bougainville and Sierra Leone.

**Angola

From Angola, the World Food Programme warns that lives are being put at risk because the Programme lacks the necessary resources to start moving large quantities of food immediately to avoid any break in food distributions over the coming months.

With the rainy season under way and the country’s poor road infrastructure, many parts of Angola are becoming increasingly inaccessible.  WFP must therefore immediately build up the buffer stocks in several provinces.   These stocks must last up to three months.

Previously, WFP estimated that 1.5 million people would be in need of food aid up to December of this year, but since the peace process, the situation has changed rapidly, and WFP now expects 1.9 million people will be in need before the end of the year.

Immediate contributions are vital to enable WFP to undertake the pre-positioning of stocks to support Angolans until the next harvest.  Presently, WFP has less than 22 per cent of the funding for its operation in Angola.

We have the full press release available upstairs.

**Western Sahara

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme warned today that a serious lack of food aid and insufficient funding is threatening some 155,000 Western Saharan refugees who are living in camps along the Algerian border with Western Sahara.

Unless fresh contributions of food arrive, WFP reports that, by October, refugees will receive only 11 per cent of their daily food aid requirements from the agency, which, it warns, will have severe health consequences for the refugees.

The agency requires 8,336 metric tons of food aid, at a cost of $3.7 million  above what it has so far received, to meet the refugees’ food needs up to next January.

Next month, UNHCR and WFP will conduct a comprehensive nutritional survey

of Algeria’s refugee population, many of whom fled Western Sahara in 1975.

We have a press release on that as well.

**Somalia

It has been confirmed today that, for the fourth time this year, a UN staff member working in Mogadishu, Somalia, has been abducted.  The Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia condemned the abduction of Mohamed Farah Omar, a Somali staff member of the Food and Agriculture Organization, who was seized by armed men as he left his house Tuesday morning.

The UN is working to secure his unconditional release and asks all responsible leaders to work together for that to happen immediately.

**Central Africa

In a message to the members of the UN Standing Advisory Committee on the Questions of Security in Central Africa, the Secretary-General says the situation in the region remains preoccupying due to a number of persistent conflicts as well as the continuing aftershock of wars that have been settled.

"Despite its enormous natural wealth", he said, "Central Africa remains one of the continent's most unstable regions."

The Secretary-General's Representative in the Central African Republic, General Lamine Cissé, delivered the message in the capital, Bangui, during the Standing Committee's eighteenth Ministerial Conference.

"Nevertheless", the Secretary-General added in the message, "there is a glimmer of hope in a number of areas, notably the rapprochement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a number of its neighbours.”  

In conclusion, the Secretary-General encouraged the ministers to pursue their efforts and show a strong political will to achieve a durable peace in the region.

The full text is available upstairs in French.

**Bosnia and Herzegovina

The UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina today announced that Bosnian Interior Ministry officials have launched an internal disciplinary investigation against 25 Bosnian police officers from the Vitez area suspected of involvement in prostitution.

The UN Mission had interviewed five young women who were found to have been victims of human trafficking, and who identified the 25 police officers as customers of the “Roki” bar where they worked as prostitutes.

The Mission said it will follow closely the Interior Ministry’s internal investigation, and will take the appropriate measures to deal with the implicated police officers.

We have more in a press release from Sarajevo.

**Sustainable Development

And finally our development commercial of the day from Johannesburg…

For the first time, an attempt is being made to reduce the environmental impact of a major United Nations conference on its host city.  The Greening the WSSD [World Summit on Sustainable Development] project intends to do just that.

The project partners, the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs, the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Conservation Union got together with community groups and non-governmental organizations to ensure that the Summit is organized with environmental best practices in mind and that minimal waste is generated by the thousands of participants.

How is this being done?  The organizers of the Summit and the suppliers of goods and services have produced a framework to ensure that all operations during the Summit conform to environmental best practices especially in the areas of waste management, water conservation, energy efficiency and transportation systems.

In addition, a public awareness campaign has been launched on environmental issues to educate the public in Johannesburg so that the effects will last long after the Summit is over.

In one project, recycling bins will be placed throughout the Conference Centre to collect plastic, glass, paper and cans.  Only non-recyclable material, which is a small portion of the Summit’s waste, will be sent to landfills.

Recycling companies will collect and recycle the materials collected in the bins, employing 100 previously unemployed people.  After the Summit is over, the bins will be used in Johannesburg’s district and the newly trained people will be employed in buy-back centres.

Sustainability at work.

You can get more information about the Greening the WSSD project on their Web site, www.greeningthewssd.org.

That's all I have for today.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  A high-level delegation from the Republika Srpska was expelled while they were visiting monasteries in Kosovo, with the explanation that the decision was taken at Headquarters in New York a couple of days ago.  Would you comment on that? 

Spokesman:  I don't have any information on that.  In fact, I hadn't heard that.  We usually review the cable traffic from Kosovo so we'll have to ask the desk officer if we have any information on that incident.

Thank you very much.

[He later said that standard procedure for official visits to Kosovo requires that permission be sought of the UN Mission by the government concerned.  In this case, that had not been done.]

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