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 Richard Sydenham, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good morning.

Our guest at the briefing today will be Eric Morris, Director of the New York Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who will be here to talk about global refugee figures.  I believe we have a statistical yearbook packet to be handed out in that connection.

[At the end of the meeting, the Spokesman said that, instead of Eric Morris, Yusuf Hassan was present.  Mr. Hassan was also from the New York Office of UNHCR.]

      **Security Council/Iraq

On the main news for today, shortly after 10:15 this morning, the Security Council voted unanimously on a resolution to return UN weapons inspectors to Iraq.

The Secretary-General, the first speaker after the 15-0 vote, urged the Iraqi leadership -– “for the sake of its own people, and for the sake of world security and world order -- to seize this opportunity, and thereby begin to end the isolation and suffering of the Iraqi people.  If Iraq’s defiance continues, however, the Security Council must face its responsibilities.”

He went on to say, "The road ahead will be difficult and dangerous.  But empowered by this resolution, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency stand equipped to carry out their vital task."

He concluded by saying, “This is a time of trial -- for Iraq, for the United Nations and for the world.  The goal is to ensure the peaceful disarmament of Iraq in compliance with Security Council resolutions and a better, more secure future for its people.  How this crisis is resolved will affect greatly the course of peace and security in the coming years in the region, and in the world.”

The 15 members of the Council also spoke after the vote.

The Secretary-General, in remarks to reporters after the meeting, said the return of the inspectors is not enough.  It is a good beginning, he said, but “what is important is performance”.

In response to a question about how the new resolution affected a

1998 Memorandum of Understanding, he said, “I think the Security Council resolution of today is the governing document and Iraq has to comply… We have a new ball game now.”

On a question about follow-up actions, he said, “What is important is that there are no triggers in this resolution, and the Council will be back to review what the inspectors bring them.”

**Security Council/Central African Republic

The Security Council has scheduled consultations this afternoon at 3:15 p.m. on the Central African Republic.  Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Tuliameni Kalomoh, will brief on recent developments there.

**Myanmar

Mr. Razali Ismail, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Myanmar, will visit Yangon from 12 to 16 November to help facilitate the national reconciliation process in that country.  This will be his ninth mission as Special Envoy.  Mr. Razali has requested meetings with Senior General Than Shwe, the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), General Maung Aye, the Vice Chairman of the SPDC, General Khin Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the SPDC, and other Government leaders during his stay.  He will also meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior members of the National League for Democracy, as well as representatives of ethnic nationality groups.  We have a full text of this announcement in my office.

**Chief Executives Board

The Secretary-General today convened the second of two meetings held each year of the Chief Executives Board, which brings together the executive heads of all UN organizations to further coordination and cooperation on the whole range of substantive and management issues facing the UN system.

After they hold private meetings here at Headquarters today, the heads of the 27 agencies, funds and programmes that participate in the Chief Executives Board will head out of New York City and continue their discussions on key issues today and tomorrow.  This evening, they plan to discuss a strategy for further implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.  That starts over dinner.

**UNHCR/Colombia

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today expressed its concern that fighting between the Colombian Army and irregular armed groups as well as between left-wing and right-wing irregular forces in border areas of Colombia could cause further displacement of civilians towards neighbouring countries.  The last few months have seen heavy clashes in parts of Colombia that border Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela.  Although UNHCR endorses all efforts to strengthen border security in the region, it is concerned that bona fide asylum seekers may be victimized as a result, and that carefully built refugee protection standards may be eroded.  UNHCR calls on all governments in the region to guarantee that civilians affected by Colombia's conflict continue to have access to their territories and asylum procedures.

We have more in today's briefing notes from UNHCR, which also mentions a lower rate of returns to Afghanistan and concerns about security incidents in and around refugee shelters in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

**Zimbabwe

The UN regional office dealing with southern Africa today warned that Zimbabwe’s economy is continuing to shrink, with “all indicators signaling distress” –- including a decline in the gross domestic product, rising inflation and a shortage of foreign currency.

By the end of this year, Zimbabwe’s real gross domestic product is expected to contract by 12 per cent, while inflation is expected to spiral by 200 per cent. Meanwhile, the production of most cash crops and subsistence crops is expected to decline, affected by, among other things, ongoing land resettlements, fuel shortages and the June drought.

We have more information in a press release.

**Vaccination Campaign in West Africa

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) will begin a campaign in 16 West African countries tomorrow to vaccinate 60 million children against polio.  As part of this campaign, UNICEF and WHO will receive a donation of millions of doses of the vaccine from the drug company Aventis Pasteur in a ceremony in the Visitors’ Lobby this afternoon at 2:40 p.m.  You are all welcome to attend.

**New Biosphere Sites

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, better known as UNESCO, announced today that 18 new sites in 12 countries were added to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, and five existing sites have been extended.

Biospheres are land or coastal ecosystems dedicated to finding solutions to reconcile the preservation of biodiversity with sustainable development.  The new reserves are varied in size, population density, ecological features and land use. There are now a total of 425 sites in 95 countries in the Network.

We have a press release with more details on the new sites.

**DRC Rescue

We also have a press release from the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo regarding a rescue operation conducted by a UN vessel on the Congo river.

**Budget

In budget news, we have confirmation that the United States has paid more that $208 million to the UN regular budget.

The current US balance on the regular budget is just over $190.3 million, and for the peacekeeping budget, the balance owed is about $654.8 million.  For the Tribunals, it's just over $12 million, making a grand total of $857 million.

**U.S. Briefing on Iraq

At 1 p.m. in this room, this afternoon, there will be a background briefing by a senior official from the United States Mission to the United Nations, on this morning's Security Council vote on Iraq.  It is a background briefing.  It will not be aired on UNTV, but interested delegations, though, may see it in Studio 4 in the first basement.

**Week Ahead

And we have "The Week Ahead" for you to help you plan your coverage of next week.

Any questions?

Question:  The Council has just passed the resolution on Iraq.  Can you explain the Secretary-General's involvement?  Was he active?

Spokesman:  You'd have to see his phone log as one indicator.  He has been consistently involved, typical of him, through phone calls to capitals and to ambassadors here in New York.  He was particularly interested in seeing

15 affirmative votes, and in that connection, he made a flurry of phone calls over the last 24 hours.  I think he was probably the most pleased to see that goal realized this morning.  In the end, though, this was the achievement of the

15 Members of the Council, their constituents among the full membership of the Organization, and their determination to come up with full agreement on a text, and I think that can only be good for the United Nations, the rule of law, and international harmony.

Question:  Do we have any list of those companies who are donating medication and vaccines for the children?

Spokesman:  I believe these doses are contributed by a single company, the one I mentioned, that will be making the donations symbolically at this event in the public lobby.  You would have to check with UNICEF and the WHO to get the list of any other companies that might have contributed on other occasions, but in this case, it's just one.

Question:  Are we going to see if the Secretary-General decided when he's going to give the plan for Cyprus?

Spokesman:  No.  He did meet with his Special Envoy, Alvaro de Soto, yesterday.  He may talk to him again today.  I think he's very close to a decision, but as of this morning, a final decision still had not been made.

Question:  Can you tell us when Alvaro de Soto is leaving to go back to Cyprus?

Spokesman:  I'll have to ask him.  I don’t know.

Question:  Does the Secretary-General have any similar contacts as he had with Iraq?  Calling here and there in order to make up his mind on Cyprus?

Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:  Can you elaborate a little more?

Spokesman:  I don't want to give you details.  He has made phone calls on Cyprus yesterday and this morning.  Iraq isn't the only thing on his agenda either.

Okay, thank you. Richard?

Briefing by Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon.

While much attention was focused elsewhere on the second floor this morning, the General Assembly plenary was in session considering the agenda item "Culture of Peace", with a draft resolution entitled “Religious and cultural understanding, harmony and cooperation” introduced by Pakistan.  Action on this draft resolution was postponed to a later date.  The plenary then resumed consideration of the item “Information and communication technologies for development" and heard from seven speakers.

The General Assembly plenary then took up agenda item 42, "Follow-up to the outcome of the twenty-sixth special session:  implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, report of the Secretary-General".  Some 42 Member States and Observers were inscribed to speak, with this debate continuing this afternoon.  In connection with this item, President Kavan has appointed Enrique Manalo, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Philippines, as facilitator to negotiate a draft resolution.

The Second Committee today has a general discussion on high-level international intergovernmental consideration of financing for development.  This afternoon at 5 p.m. the Second Committee will hear a keynote address by James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, on the theme “Making it Happen:  The New Multilateralism and its Implications for Development.”

The Third Committee continues general discussion on human rights questions and reports of Special Rapporteurs and the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Fifth Committee discusses the UN common system, UN pension system and the annual report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services.

Coming up on Monday, the General Assembly plenary takes up the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the situation in Central America, and the South American Zone of Peace and Cooperation.

Any questions?  Thank you.

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