DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
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.
**Secretary-General Meets with President Chirac.
In Paris today, the Secretary-General met with French President Jacques Chirac for about an hour. The President briefed the Secretary-General on a phone conversation he had had earlier today with United States President George W. Bush on the subject of Iraq. He and the Secretary-General discussed the situation in Iraq in some detail.
They also talked about the humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people, which was described in a recent report by the Secretary-General’s Personal Humanitarian Envoy, Catherine Bertini.
Among other subjects, they discussed the situation between Cameroon and Nigeria, and also talked about Chad, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and also Colombia.
In a brief exchange with the press afterwards, the Secretary-General said that President Bush is going to speak at the United Nations on 12 September, and added, “I think we can all look forward to hearing what he is going to say.” He said he has indicated that it would be unwise to attack Iraq now, and it would raise international tensions, and he added that President Bush and his team would bear that in mind.
He said, “I was encouraged yesterday when he said he will consult the international community. I hope that will also include the Security Council, he said, which is at the centre of that community.”
The Secretary-General was also asked if the United Nations should set a deadline for the return of weapons inspectors to Iraq. He said, “I think this is something the Security Council will have to decide.”
He said that, in his recent meetings with Iraqi leaders, he had encouraged them to accept the return of inspectors. And he said, “Many heads of State, including many in the Middle East, are encouraging them to do that.”
The Secretary-General is now leaving Paris, he will be flying back to New York, arriving tonight.
**Secretary-General Holds Cyprus Talks
This morning, the Secretary-General met at 10 a.m. with His Excellency Rauf Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader, and then at 11:30 a.m. with His Excellency Glafkos Clerides, the Greek Cypriot leader. At 1 p.m., he hosted a lunch with both men.
He asked the leaders to return to Cyprus and work with his Special Adviser, Alvaro de Soto, on the issues that he highlighted to them today, and then to meet with him once more in New York on October 3 and 4.
In a statement issued after the lunch, he voiced the hope that the leaders will tackle with urgency the matters that were discussed before their next meeting, and said de Soto would work with them to achieve the requisite progress.
Referring to recent press speculation, he said, “My discussions today confirm my belief that, though serious differences remain, the elements of a comprehensive settlement that would meet the basic needs of both sides do, in fact, exist.”
He said he believes the gaps dividing the parties can be bridged, and, on some issues, those gaps are “quite a bit smaller” than they were at the beginning of the talks. The Secretary-General then affirmed, “There is an opportunity at hand, waiting to be seized.”
We have the full statement upstairs, we issued it a couple of hours ago.
Following the meeting, the Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, answered a few questions from reporters.
He said the meetings in New York would be to encourage both Mr. Clerides and Mr. Denktash to continue their efforts. He said “We are not saying that we expect the settlement to be solved by the first week of October, but the Secretary-General is hoping for very significant progress by then.”
**Annan Present at talks between Nigeria, Cameroon
In Paris yesterday, the Secretary-General met with President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Paul Biya of Cameroon, who discussed, in his presence, the Bakassi Peninsula between those two countries, as well as other issues of common interest.
In the course of their meeting, both Presidents agreed to: respect and implement the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Bakassi Peninsula; establish an implementation mechanism, with the support of the United Nations; and resume, in Abuja on September 30, ministerial-level meetings of the Joint Commission. They also agreed on the need for confidence-building measures.
We put out a statement yesterday afternoon, and if you haven’t seen it, you can pick it up upstairs.
Following that meeting, the Secretary-General met yesterday evening with the French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, and they discussed the question of the Bakassi peninsula, as well as the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Cyprus, Iraq and the Middle East. The Foreign Minister reiterated his support of the Secretary-General’s efforts in those areas.
**Security Council
The Security Council is holding consultations today to discuss the draft resolution on Ethiopia/Eritrea and to hear a briefing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean Marie Guehenno.
Guehenno provided the Security Council members with an update on the overall situation in the DRC, including the diplomatic activity between the DRC and Uganda as well as between the DRC and Rwanda.
Following the consultations, a formal meeting is scheduled for a vote on a six-month extension of the UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
**African food shortage
World Food Programme Executive Director James Morris, who is the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa, today appealed for stepped-up donations to assist more than six million people in Zimbabwe facing increasing hardship.
Morris also welcomed assurances by the Government of Zimbabwe that it will go ahead with an agreement to distribute more food aid in the country while the government's concerns over potentially genetically modified food are addressed.
During consultations with President Robert Mugabe on Thursday, the President gave his assurance on a proposed swap of 17,500 tonnes of maize grain, donated to WFP by the United States, for an equivalent amount of government-owned maize meal. WFP says the swap is a positive step forward in addressing the Government’s concern over importing non-milled maize, which potentially contains genetically modified organisms, while ensuring the population receives urgently-needed supplies of food aid through the World Food Programme.
Morris arrived in Harare two days ago as part of a two-week UN mission to the six affected countries in the region.
Tomorrow, the mission will continue to Zambia. Morris is accompanied by Carolyn McAskie, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as well as representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
**UNMOVIC
Out on the racks is the tenth quarterly report submitted to the Security Council by Dr. Hans Blix, the Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), in which he reviews the Commission’s work from June 1 to August 31.
That period includes the dialogue that took place in Vienna between the Secretary-General and Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri.
In his report, Dr. Blix outlines the “expert-level” talks he and UNMOVIC staff had with Iraqi officials while in Vienna, including the discussion of unresolved disarmament issues.
At its recent meeting, here in New York, UNMOVIC’s College of Commissioners expressed its support and confidence in Dr. Blix in the approach he had taken in the talks with the Government of Iraq and in his statements to the media.
The Commissioners also reaffirmed their view that any talks with Iraq prior to a return of inspectors should focus on practical arrangements so as to avoid disputes or misunderstandings during the start and operation of UNMOVIC inspections.
Dr. Blix will brief the Security Council on his report next Tuesday.
**Human Rights—India
High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson issued a statement yesterday calling on the Government of India to ensure that the people who have been displaced since the violence erupted in the state of Gujarat last February are not cut off from shelter and other assistance as relief camps for them are being closed.
She emphasized the need to ensure conditions that would encourage people to return to their homes voluntarily and with dignity, including the prosecution of the perpetrators of the violence in Gujarat and steps to realize the right to adequate housing.
We have a statement from her upstairs.
**UNAIDS
We have word today that the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS, better known as UNAIDS, has written to Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, concerning the disappearance of AIDS activist Wan Yanhai. Yanhai has been missing since 24 August according to media reports.
UNAIDS will issued updates as and when further information becomes available.
**NGO Conference
The fifty-fifth Annual Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations, organized by the Department of Public Information, begins here on Monday. In his message to the Conference the Secretary-General says that there are many opportunities for joint action on this year’s theme, “Rebuilding Societies Emerging from Conflict: a Shared Responsibility”.
The Conference, which will last three days, will have five plenary sessions and 30 midday workshops. The opening session will begin at 10:00 on Monday morning and will feature remarks by Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Frechette, President of the 56th Session of the General Assembly, Han Seung-soo, and the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi. Also addressing the group will be the outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
There is a press release with more details and the conference schedule is available on the United Nations website.
**Budget
Budget news: China today became the 97th Member to pay its 2002 regular budget assessments in full, and that’s with payment of more than $17 million.
**Signings
Signings: This afternoon, two treaties are scheduled to be ratified: newly-independent East Timor will become the 79th country to become party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. And that will be followed by Barbados depositing their instruments of accession to the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, becoming the 35th party.
**Press Conferences
Press conferences: In just a few minutes, His Royal Highness Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, the Permanent Represent of Jordan to the United Nations will brief you on the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties.
On Monday, we will have at the Noon Briefing Mike McCann, the Chief of Security to brief you on security and accreditation for the forthcoming General Assembly’s General Debate.
And at 12:45 p.m. on Monday the NGO section of the Department of Public Information will hold a press conference on the annual DPI/NGO Conference, featuring three key speakers on the conference, and we will announce their names later on this afternoon.
**The Week Ahead at the United Nations
And we have the weekly Week Ahead for you to help you plan for next week which will be a busy week for all of us. Ronnie?
Questions and Answers
Question: Fred, is the Secretary-General coming back Monday morning and is the United Nations TV covering his arrival Monday morning?
Spokesman: From what we know, he will be coming in Monday morning, a little bit later than usual, as far as I know. But we will have his programme, as usual, around 5:00 – 5:30 p.m. today so that we can be a bit more precise. And United Nations TV, we’ll ask them to cover it as usual, yes. Mr. Barish?
Question: Do you think that the Secretary-General is in favour of attacking Iraq?
Spokesman: No, no. What he said -- he repeated what he’s said many times
-- that it would be unwise to attack Iraq now. So, I think you must have misheard me. Yes?
Question: On Cyprus, the Security Council is supposed to have consultations, to hold consultations on Monday?
Spokesman: Oh, now, I don’t know about that.
Question: It’s on the schedule.
Spokesman: Who is going to brief the Council? Is Mr. de Soto coming?
Question: I don’t know. Let me try to find out. I don’t have that information here. I’ll try to find out for you. Is that it? Yes, I am sorry, Azim (?)
(It was later announced that Mr. de Soto will not be briefing the Council on the situation in Cyprus and that there were no meetings of the Security Council scheduled for Monday).
Spokesman: Can you give us some figure on these displaced people in India? How many will be affected by closing these relief camps and cutting off the aid?
Question: I don’t have that, but if you check with my office we might be able to dig up a number for you.
Okay. Well, thank you very much and I will now ask the Ambassador of Jordan to come forward to brief you on the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties.
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