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

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, and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the General Assembly President.

Good afternoon.

**Guests at Noon Briefing

Our guests at the noon briefing today -– and I say “guests” -– will be Michael Chandler, the Chairman of the Monitoring Group on Sanctions dealing with Afghanistan.  He is the head of the five-person group of independent experts who report directly to that Security Council Committee.  And he briefed that Committee yesterday afternoon and he is here today, or will be here shortly, to discuss his report to the Committee.  And he is also bringing the other four experts:  Hasan Abaza, Phillipe Graver, Surendra Shah and Victor Comaras.  So, the whole panel will be here.

**Afghanistan

We have the following statement attributable to the Spokesman concerning events in Afghanistan today:  “The Secretary-General is profoundly shocked by the assassination attempt against President Karzai and Governor Gul Agha Sherzai in Kandahar, as well as by a terrorist car bomb explosion in the centre of Kabul that reportedly killed more than 15 ordinary Afghan citizens and injured many more.  The Secretary-General is relieved that President Karzai is apparently unhurt.  He conveys his heartfelt condolences to the affected families in Kabul and to the Transitional Administration of Afghanistan.  He condemns these acts in the strongest possible terms and urges the Afghan authorities to fully investigate these terrorist attacks and bring their perpetrators to justice.

“The Secretary-General notes that today’s terrorist attacks took place in a climate of continuing insecurity in Afghanistan.  At the same time, he is confident that these senseless attacks will only strengthen the resolve of the international community and the legitimate Afghan authorities to bring security and stability to Afghanistan.”

The UN Mission in Kabul is still trying to obtain information about today’s explosion.  From the information we have received so far, it seems that no UN staff or facilities were affected by the attack.

In terms of the wider security situation, the UN Mission said today that, following an assessment of the situation in the eastern provinces, UN staff have been advised that they can resume their operations and presence in the areas of Gardez, Khost, Paktia and Paktika.  However, the eastern region is still not considered stable, and caution is necessary during travel there.

The UN Mission also this week sent a team to northern Afghanistan, where they met with leaders of various northern factions to discuss the gravesites found in Dasht-e-Laily and other areas.  The team, which returned to Kabul yesterday, reiterated that the UN Mission and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights are ready to assist with any independent investigation of those gravesites.

The northern faction leaders said they could offer some security to investigators and witnesses, but also said they would not be able to guarantee full security and would therefore need international assistance.

We have more details in the briefing notes from Kabul today.

**Security Council

The Security Council this morning began an open debate on Kosovo, on which Council members first received a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi.

Annabi drew attention to the arrests over the past month of several former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, including the 11 August arrest of a former high-ranking officer, Rrustem Mustafa, on suspicion of illegally detaining, torturing and murdering five Kosovo Albanians in 1998 and 1999.

He conceded, “There was some tension as a result of the arrests last month”. More recently, however, the Kosovo Albanian leadership, which earlier characterized the arrests as political, now has a better understanding that they were the result of lengthy investigations carried out in accordance with established judicial procedures, he said.

Meanwhile, Annabi added, preparations for Kosovo’s municipal elections are proceeding smoothly, with the electoral campaign scheduled to begin on

10 September.  The Serbian Presidential elections are scheduled to take place on 29 September, meanwhile, and Annabi noted that the UN Mission in Kosovo will not stand in the way of Kosovo Serbs exercising their right to vote in that election.

The Council’s open debate is continuing now. And after it has concluded, we expect a press conference at 1:15 in this room by Solomon Passy, the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria, who presided over today’s Council meeting.  [It was later announced that that press conference was postponed.]

**Secretary-General’s Travels

The Secretary-General flew overnight from Johannesburg to Paris.  He’s resting a bit in Paris today and tomorrow he is expected to meet, both separately and then together, with His Excellency Mr. Glafkos Clerides, the Greek Cypriot leader, and His Excellency Mr. Rauf Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader. This evening, he will meet with his Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, to prepare for tomorrow’s talks.

And he also has scheduled a meeting with the French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin.

**Afghanistan Sanctions

Out as a press release today is a list of 25 individuals and entities added by the Security Council sanctions committee on Resolution 1267 concerning Afghanistan to the list of members of Al-Qaida and the Taliban and other individuals, groups and entities associated with them.

**Refugees

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees today protested against the apparent forced repatriation of some 1,500 Congolese refugees by the Rwandan government, calling for an end to the ongoing operation.

The appeal was made in a letter to the Rwandan President Paul Kagame from the High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers.

We have more on the UNHCR Web site.

**WSSD

Secretary-General of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Nitin Desai announced yesterday at the close of the Summit, that all print materials remaining at the close of the Summit would be donated to libraries in Johannesburg.  The material includes educational and outreach materials addressing every aspect of sustainable development and produced by UN agencies, delegations, NGOs and other groups.

He said “In keeping with the principle of sustainable use of resources,” Desai said, “we are pleased that these leftover materials will find a home in Johannesburg’s libraries.”

We have a press release on that.

Sustainable Development Treaties

As you will have noticed, a number of treaties relating to sustainable development were signed here over the last couple of weeks.  This was part of a treaty event held in conjunction with the World Summit on Sustainable Development.  That event ended yesterday and the results are that from 26 August to 4 September, 48 states and one international organization completed 83 treaty actions, including signatures and ratifications, relating to 39 different treaties.

And we have a comprehensive list of all those actions available in my office.

International Literacy Day

International Literacy Day will be observed on Sunday.  The day, however is being marked here today -– all throughout the day -– in events organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The Secretary-General said in his message, which was read this morning by Gillian Sorenson, the Assistant Secretary-General for External Affairs, that one in every seven people is illiterate.  Of the 880 million illiterate adults, more than 500 million are women, which the Secretary-General said is not only unacceptable, but an affront to individual human dignity.

“Achieving universal literacy,” he said, “is everybody’s concern…let us rededicate ourselves to playing our full part in that mission.”

This morning’s activities include a panel discussion chaired by Anwarul K. Chowdhury, the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

As we told you yesterday, there will be a premiere screening of an episode of the PBS programme The Reading Room this afternoon at 5 p.m. in Conference

Room 4.

And the full text of the Secretary-General’s statement is available as a press release, and we have a limited number of press kits from UNESCO on today’s events.

**Noon Guest Tomorrow

Finally, the guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be His Royal Highness Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations, and he will be here to talk about the International Criminal Court Assembly of States Parties.

Any questions before we go quickly to Jan and then we’ll bring on our guests?  Mohammed?

Questions and Answers

Question:   Fred, any clue about the perpetrators of today’s explosion in Kabul?

Spokesman:  Any details? 

Question:   Yes.

Spokesman:  We have nothing more than what I have already given you, I am afraid.  We’re still trying to find out what we can, but there’s very little on what happened in Kandahar and all we can tell you about Kabul is that it appears that no United Nations staff or premises were affected.  Yes?

Question:   Did the Secretary-General have any reaction to President Bush’s announcement that he would consult allies and the United Nations before attacking Iraq?

Spokesman:  He did not give any formal reaction.  I am sure that he is relieved that the President is going this route.  Certainly the international consultation he thinks is essential and he’s happy that it’s going to be happening.

Question:   And also an idea that’s floating around Washington about coercive inspections.  Has that come to his attention at all?

Spokesman:  Not that I am aware of.  But, I think you might rather ask

Mr. Blix’s office if that matter has come to their attention.

Marie (Okabe, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General) is

Mr. Chandler outside.  Want to bring in the panel?  Jan?

Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the General Assembly President:

Okay.  Good afternoon.

Let me first flag an informal briefing in the UNCA Club this afternoon at

4 p.m.  Dr. Han Seung-soo, the President of the General Assembly, will be the guest and he is expected to look back on the work done by the fifty-sixth session of the Assembly which will end on Monday.  He will take your questions and there will also be light refreshments.  So, 4 p.m. this afternoon in the UNCA Club.

I would also like to draw your attention to the last two plenaries of the current session.  Tomorrow, at 10 a.m. in Conference Room 3, the Assembly will meet to take up most of the remaining matters, including the report of the Open-ended working group on Security Council reform (the formal title of that Working Group is much longer). The report is contained in document A/56/47.

The Assembly will hold its last plenary meeting on Monday 9 September in the afternoon when the President will deliver his final statement; this meeting will be in the General Assembly Hall.

As I have been getting quite a few calls about the General Debate let me just say a couple of words about it. It will start on 12 September and it will run through 13, 14 and 15 September and then on 16 September there will be a high-level meeting to discuss the New Partnership for Africa’s Development – as decided by the General Assembly on 21 December last year. The General Debate will resume on 17 September and run through Friday the 20^th. The debate will go from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and then from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., in other words normal hours.  But the Africa meeting will start at 9:00 a.m. and go to 1:00 p.m. and then resume at 3:00 p.m. and go to 7:00p.m.

A Note to Correspondents with details on access, accreditation and services and so on will be issued, and we will also have an informal briefing with Security and Media Accreditation. By now, you should all have received the provisional list of speakers. It’s number 2 dated 15 August. And tentative work plans for the plenary and for the Main Committees for this autumn have also been made available; I have some copies here in case you missed out on them.

That’s what I have.  Do you have any questions for me?

Questions and Answers

Question:   When is the briefing going to be?

Spokesman for the General Assembly President:   It’s not known yet.  We’re waiting for Sonia Lecca to return from Johannesburg.  My best guess is probably on Monday.  Yes? 

Question:   Can we ask that the briefing include United Nations TV as well so that we have the overall picture when that happens?

Spokesman for the Secretary-General President:  Yes, I’ll make a note of that.

Spokesman Eckhard:      Okay.  Well, thank you very much.  Michael Chandler, welcome to the briefing.  I have already mentioned the names of your other panelists.  But perhaps you’d like to briefly introduce them and then talk to us about your report?  

Michael Chandler:       Yes, thank you very much.

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