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
Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Hua Jiang, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Richard Sydenham, Spokesman for the General Assembly President.
Briefing by the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General
Good afternoon.
**Secretary-General in China
Today in Beijing, the Secretary-General met with Vice President Hu Jintao, Vice Premier Qian Qichen and other senior officials, and continued to press with them the case for the full mobilization of Chinese society to fight an alarming growth in AIDS infections.
In his meeting with Vice President Hu, the Secretary-General discussed the UN development goals, saying that international cooperation, in areas ranging from terrorism to economic development, was more important than ever after
11 September. He said, “We can’t afford another failed state like Afghanistan”, referring to the period when world inattention towards Afghanistan allowed it to become a bastion for organized terror.
He also pledged to work with China on human rights issues and repeated his message, delivered at Zhejiang University yesterday, that all levels of society must be involved in the fight against AIDS. He added, on AIDS, “We must remove the stigma.”
Vice President Hu said that AIDS was a public health menace for all mankind and that China was paying close attention to its prevention and control, with all society needing to be engaged in the fight. The Secretary-General said he was heartened by that attitude.
The Secretary-General met with the most active leaders in the fight against AIDS, including Health Minister Dr. Zhang Wenkang and Professor Zeng Yi, President of the China Foundation for AIDS Prevention and Control.
He told them, “We need all hands on deck.”
In the late afternoon, the Secretary-General met with Vice Premier Qian, who also said that AIDS deserved the attention of all governments, adding that China took it very seriously and had mobilized its medical sector to join in the search for a cure.
The Secretary-General described the meeting he had just had on AIDS and his efforts to prod the major drug firms to lower their prices for AIDS medications in poor countries.
The Secretary-General and Qian also discussed Iraq and the Security Council’s efforts to agree on a formula for the return of weapons inspectors.
The Vice Premier then hosted a dinner in the Secretary-General’s honor, during which their substantive talks continued.
The Secretary-General’s official programme in China has concluded, and, after he spends tonight in Beijing, he will leave tomorrow morning for Mongolia.
**Nane Annan
Nane Annan, the Secretary-General’s wife, went to a Beijing primary school today where she met with some 200 students as well as officials from China’s main childrens’ books publishers.
Students of the Jing Shan Primary School presented their main concerns to Nane Annan, including an end to war, the protection of the environment, and education for all girls and boys. They also appealed for more attention to the growing global problem of AIDS orphans.
In return, she showed the students slides of the UN’s development work and praised the students for their deep compassion and commitment.
**Security Council -- Recap
Last night, the Security Council held a formal meeting on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts prompted by the weekend car bomb attack in Bali.
Council members, in a resolution adopted unanimously, condemned the attack as well as other recent terrorist attacks in various countries. It urged all States and international institutions to work with the Indonesian authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice, in accordance with their obligations under resolution 1373 (2001).
**Security Council - Today
The Security Council is holding consultations on Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
On Burundi, Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, updated members of the Security Council on the latest political, security and humanitarian developments in that country.
Following that, the Council was briefed on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hedi Annabi. He brought to the Council's attention the latest surge in fighting in the eastern part of the country, notably in Uvira which was recently seized by the Mai-Mai fighters from the rebel movement Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma.
Tomorrow, the Council is scheduled to begin an open debate on Iraq, which is expected to continue into Thursday. As of 10 a.m., there were 59 speakers on the list. In addition, the Deputy Secretary-General is expected to speak on behalf of the Secretary-General.
**Security Council - Sanctions
Two meetings of Security Council sanctions committees are scheduled for today.
At 10:30 a.m., the committee monitoring sanctions against Usama bin Laden and his associates in the Al-Qaida organization is meeting.
At 3:30 p.m., the Counter-Terrorism Committee is scheduled to meet again.
**Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on Somalia
The Secretary-General in a statement, welcomes the opening today of the Somali National Reconciliation Conference in Eldoret, Kenya, under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). He calls on all Somali parties and leaders to cooperate in this regional endeavour aimed at ending a decade of conflict in the country and immense suffering to its people.
The Secretary-General commends the Government of Kenya for undertaking the lead role on behalf of the IGAD countries and for its perseverance in efforts to bring the Somali parties to the negotiating table. He expresses his appreciation also for the efforts made by the IGAD countries to bring about a coherent regional approach towards national reconciliation in Somalia.
The Secretary-General would like to underline that no amount of goodwill, support and assistance on the part of IGAD or the international community can bring about peace in Somalia. Only Somalia’s leaders can decide to end the suffering of their people and only they can decide to negotiate an end to the conflict. They need to rise above their differences and put the interests of the people of Somalia first and foremost.
The United Nations and its agencies and programmes are prepared to provide increased humanitarian and development assistance if Somali parties and leaders cooperate in ensuring access to those in need and safety to humanitarian workers in the country. The United Nations will do all it can to help the people of Somalia heal the wounds of conflict, including through the deployment of a post-conflict peace-building mission when security conditions permit.
The Secretary-General has asked his Special Adviser, Mr. Mohamed Sahnoun, to represent him at the Eldoret Conference together with his Representative for Somalia, Mr. Winston Tubman.
The Security Council also welcomed the launching of the talks in a press statement issued yesterday afternoon.
**Côte d’Ivoire
We flagged to you yesterday a preliminary observation of the UN humanitarian team that visited Bouake, the scene of fighting between Government and rebel forces, over the weekend.
Today, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has issued a fuller report from that mission in the form of a press release.
The mission witnessed more than 32,000 people fleeing Bouake. This brings to about 200,000 the number of people estimated to have left the city. The displaced persons needed as a priority water, food and medication.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, which took part in the mission, said it remained extremely concerned about the continuing displacement of both Ivorians and foreigners throughout the country and in Abidjan.
The World Food Programme said that it was continuing to fly in emergency food aid, especially high-energy biscuits, for persons displaced by the fighting. It was also stockpiling food aid in Burkina Faso and Ghana in preparation for a possible influx of Ivorians to those two neighbouring countries.
**DRC/Burundi
Yesterday, more than 5,000 refugees crossed the border into Burundi from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in attempt to flee the fighting in the eastern part of the DRC.
A joint UN/NGO team traveled to the area this morning to assess the situation.
Over the weekend, nearly 2,000 refugees arrived in Burundi after the south Kivu town of Uvira, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, fell to the Mai-Mai militia.
**Oil for Food
According to figures released by the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) in their weekly update, Iraqi oil exports under the programme registered an average low of about 600,000 barrels per day in the week ending 11 October.
The week’s exports generated an estimated $105 million in revenue.
It should be noted that a number of vessels that began loading during the period in review, completed the process only over the weekend of 12 - 13 October and these will be reflected in next week’s export figures.
Iraq would need to export about $7 billion worth of oil during the current phase, which ends on 25 November in order to meet its humanitarian programme budget of over $5 billion. So far in this phase, Iraqi oil exports have netted about $3.3 billion in revenue.
A similar revenue shortfall from earlier phases of the programme has left more than $2.7 billion worth of approved humanitarian supply contracts without funds.
The full text of the OIP weekly update is available upstairs.
**UNEP
In a press release issued today, the UN Environment Programme announced that a team of 17 experts arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday to conduct research on the possible environmental effects of Depleted Uranium ordinance used during the 1994-1995 Bosnian conflict.
The team will take soil, water, air and vegetation samples at six sites that have been identified by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as having been struck by DU weapons.
This programme is being conducted at the request of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The press release is available upstairs.
**Myanmar
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Special Rapporteur on the situation in Myanmar of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, will visit that country at the invitation of the Government from 17 to 28 October 2002. This will be his fourth visit to the country.
He will travel to Yangon and other locations outside the capital, and he will hold meetings with Government and judicial officials, representatives of political parties, NGOs, and representatives of the UN system in the country.
**State of Food Insecurity
The Food and Agriculture Organization today released its annual hunger report –- “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2002”. The report says that progress on reducing world hunger has virtually come to a halt and as a result, millions are dying, including six million children under five years of age. Latest estimates show 840 million people are undernourished -– nearly
800 million in developing countries, 30 million in countries in economic transition and 11 million in industrialized countries.
We have a press release with more information including the Web site address where a full text of the report can be found.
**World Health Organization News
The World Health Organization today launched a new Tobacco Atlas highlighting the global struggle to control tobacco. The Atlas provides a statistical profile of the tobacco epidemic using maps and graphics. It is estimated that tobacco consumption will kill 8.4 million people a year by 2020, if drastic control measures are not put into effect.
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is meeting this week in Geneva, and WHO has once again reiterated its call for governments to raise the price of tobacco products
5 percent over the rate of inflation. We have more details upstairs.
**Colombia
In response to a deteriorating situation in Colombia, UNHCR has just issued a set of guidelines on the eligibility of Colombian asylum seekers and refugees. The guidelines will help governments and refugee advocates dealing with asylum claims.
In recent months, the number of Colombian asylum seekers has risen sharply.
So far this year, the total of newly displaced is estimated at between 170,000 and 200,000. In all, as many as 2 million people are believed to have been forced from their homes in Colombia since 1995.
**UNDP
The President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has been named the winner of the first Mahbub ul Haq Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development, the UN Development Programme announced today.
The Secretary-General offered his congratulations, saying, “President Cardoso’s long-standing dedication to human progress, and his democratic leadership of Brazil, have raised the standard by which governance can be judged throughout Latin America”.
**Oral History Collection
We have a couple more press releases to highlight for you. This morning, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library received a set of more than 100 taped interviews and transcripts to add to its Oral History Collection. The tapes, which were presented by the Deputy Director of the UN Oral History Project at Yale University, Jean Krasno, cover major political issues such as UNSCOM and the peace process in El Salvador. The collection now has over 700 tapes and transcripts and has proven to be a valuable resource for researchers.
**UNICEF
And the United Nations Children's Fund announced that the measles vaccination in Afghanistan received a boost today with a donation of $750,000 from America’s Fund for Afghan Children.
And that’s all I have for you. Any questions before we go to Richard? Yes, please?
**Questions and Answers
Question: Is there anything about the opening of the Alexandria Museum tomorrow? I think this is the first time in something like seven hundred years? Alexandria, Egypt.
Spokesman for the Secretary-General:I don’t have any information with me now, here. But if after the briefing, if you come to the office I will give that to you. Okay?
Question: What’s going on in Mongolia? I am sorry I was late. I came in in the middle of your…
Spokesman for the Secretary-General: The Secretary-General finished his visit to China today and he will fly to Mongolia tomorrow morning.
Question: Is it related then to, like the nuclear-free zone or any of that stuff?
Spokesman for the Secretary-General:No. No, it’s just a visit that was planned a long time ago and not linked to any particular issue or subject.
All right, Richard?
**Briefing by the Spokesman for the General Assembly President
Good afternoon.
The General Committee of the GA met this morning and decided to defer consideration of the inclusion of the item “the question of the Comorian island of Mayotte” to the 58th Session. It also decided -- the general committee that is -- to recommend the additional agenda item “South American Zone of Peace and Cooperation” in the plenary of this session of the General Assembly.
The plenary then continued discussion of the Report of the Security Council and the Question of equitable representation on an increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters. Some 58 speakers are listed to speak today and this debate will continue tomorrow.
The 1st committee continues consideration of draft resolutions on disarmament and related international security items.
The Special Political Committee concludes discussion and takes action on draft resolutions on effects of atomic radiation and Question of Tokelau.
The 3rd committee continues discussion on the rights of children.
And the 5th committee discusses scale of assessments and reviews administrative and financial functioning of the UN in the area of procurement reform.
The 6th committee discusses establishment of the International Criminal Court.
Looking ahead, there has been a lot of media interest in the human cloning debate, and the Sixth Committee on Thursday afternoon will hear statements on this issue in open session.
That is I believe, Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
Any questions?
Thank you.
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