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 the daily press briefing of the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Hua Jiang, and the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Richard Sydenham.

Brief by the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General 

Statement on Zimbabwe

Good afternoon.  The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

"The Secretary-General expresses his grave concern about the humanitarian crisis in southern Africa.  He appeals to the international community to continue to provide additional assistance.

"He remains especially concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe, which is deteriorating fast and where almost 7 million people will very soon be in need of food aid.  The Secretary-General notes the continuing reports of politicization in food distribution and humanitarian assistance in general.  Those distributing aid have an obligation to ensure that it is given to beneficiaries based on their needs and not upon political affiliation.  The Secretary-General fully supports the zero tolerance policy on the politicization of food distribution established by the World Food Programme. 

"He appeals to the Government of Zimbabwe to hold to its commitment to ensure that political considerations do not affect food aid efforts within the country.  The international community must be vigilant in ensuring that relief is made available quickly to the people in Zimbabwe."

Secretary-General Travels

The Secretary-General is travelling today to Geneva, where he will meet tomorrow with Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Paul Biya of Cameroon, following the ruling by the International Court of Justice last month on their border dispute.

Yesterday, he went to the White House to meet with President George W. Bush.  Each of them made brief comments to the press before their meeting.  The Secretary-General said that terrorism “is a scourge that affects all of us, regardless of region or religion.  And we need to stand together to defeat terrorism”.  In this context, he praised the work of the United Nations Security Council in getting all nations to work together on it. 

On Iraq, he thanked the President for taking the multilateral route through the United Nations. 

In his meeting with the President, Vice-President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Secretary of State Colin Powell, among others, were also present.  They talked of the current changing of the guard in China, the new Security Council resolution on Iraq, peace efforts in the Middle East, a range of African and Latin American issues, the Secretary-General’s recent initiative on

Cyprus, Afghanistan, international terror, Chechnya, and United Nations’ Capital Master Plan for revamping the Headquarters building.

At a press encounter after the meeting, the Secretary-General was asked whether the letter he received that day from Iraq saying they would admit United Nations weapons inspectors was in compliance with Security Council

resolution 1441.  “Yes”, he replied.  “Iraq has accepted.”

Asked about his level of confidence after receiving the letter, the Secretary-General said, “We all have to be a bit patient.  The inspectors will be there in a few days … and we’re going to test it”.  He added, “I think the issue is not the acceptance, but performance on the ground.”

A journalist asked him about Cyprus, and he said he was sure President Bush would do everything he could to help find a settlement.  “And I think we really have a chance”, he added.

He then returned to New York where he again spoke to reporters, reiterating his message on Iraq that “I expect them to cooperate, and if they don’t, of course the inspectors know what to do”.  He also noted the “encouraging signals” on Cyprus that have been coming out of Ankara, Athens, Washington and other capitals.

We have both transcripts upstairs.

UNMOVIC

A lot of you have been asking about Dr. Hans Blix and his upcoming movements.

First of all, he will be our guest tomorrow at the noon briefing.  He is then scheduled to travel to Paris where he will meet with French officials on Saturday.  He’s then expected to be in Cyprus on Sunday.  He and Dr. Mohammed

El Baradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will then travel to Iraq as scheduled on Monday.

Security Council

The Security Council is holding an open meeting on Timor-Leste, with a briefing by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Kamalesh Sharma.

In his statement, he paid tribute to the leadership and the people of the country.  He noted that it is true that expectations from the leadership, which faces expressions of impatience, run high within the population.  "In a new democracy, this in itself is a healthy phenomenon", he said. 

Sharma also noted the role played by the international community:  "The nature of involvement of the United Nations has been unique and of long standing", he said, but the international communities, institutions and the civil society's participation and engagement have helped the successful transition of the third United Nations mission in the country.

Sharma underscored the new challenge in the region -- terrorism, which he said constituted more than a passing threat.  He appealed to put in place protective and institutional measures to reduce vulnerability.

At the start of the meeting, there were 28 other speakers on the list.

This afternoon, the Counter-Terrorism Committee and the Somalia Sanctions Committee are scheduled to meet.

Afghanistan

The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, working in cooperation with the Afghan Human Rights Commission, has looked into the deaths earlier this week of two students and the wounding of 15 others at Kabul University, and today said that the shooting of the students could not be justified by concerns about self-defence or public safety.  The Mission condemned the shooting and believes that the authorities must launch an official investigation and take appropriate sanctions against those responsible.

The Mission also expressed its view that student grievances can be addressed through dialogue between students, academic authorities and the Government.

The United Nations Mission today also raised its grave concerns with Afghan Government authorities and northern leader General Abdurrashid Dostum over credible reports it has received of serious incidents related to a possible investigation into mass graves found earlier this year in Dasht-e-Leili, in northern Afghanistan.  The Mission noted credible reports of harassment, arbitrary detention, torture and extra-judicial execution against Afghans who may have information about what happened in Dasht-e-Leili.

On Monday, the United Nations Mission and Afghan Human Rights Commission sent a joint team to the north to look into those reports, and that investigation is still under way.

We have more information in today’s briefing notes from Kabul.

Afghan Report

Also on Afghanistan, the Secretary-General has a report to the General Assembly out on the racks today on emergency international assistance for that country, in which he says that the last eight months have been momentous for Afghanistan, but it still continues to face serious humanitarian challenges.

Afghanistan’s precarious situation, he writes, suggests two particularly important priorities:  to ensure that the winter response plan being prepared by United Nations agencies and the Government has sufficient resources, and that Member States provide support for the Government’s own core costs and efforts to support its people, through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Tomorrow in Pretoria, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Moustapha Niasse, will reopen the informal consultations process with the components of the inter-Congolese dialogue.

UNHCR and Chechen Asylum Seekers

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged Lithuania and Poland not to close their doors to asylum seekers from

war-torn Chechnya.  The United Nations refugee agency officials said they were concerned about reports of Chechen asylum seekers being barred from entering the two countries following the recent Chechen terrorist attack in Moscow.

Last week, Lithuanian border guards refused entry to 26 Chechens and returned them to Belarus.  At least 17 of them were detained by Belarus authorities and subsequently put on a train bound for Moscow.  Their current whereabouts are unknown.

In neighbouring Poland, charity groups have reported dozens of cases of Chechens being turned away from the country's eastern border since the October 23 terrorist attack on a Moscow theatre by Chechen separatists.  Poland and Lithuania are both signatories of the 1951 Refugee Convention and candidates for membership in the European Union.

You can read more about this on UNHCR’s Web site..

Bosnia -– Depleted Uranium

We have available upstairs a letter from United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Klaus Töpfer to the Secretary-General, presenting the latest information collected by a UNEP team that, over the past month, was studying the presence of depleted uranium in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The expert team investigated 15 sites in that country and, following an examination of depleted uranium levels at those sites, the Environment Programme advises that proper decontamination of any building targeted by depleted uranium is ensured, and it has provided advice on decontamination to the relevant authorities.

The team also took almost 200 environmental samples, including 42 water samples, and will be able to address the issue of the effects of depleted uranium in the groundwater when its final report is ready in March 2003.  Also on Bosnia, we have today’s briefing notes from Sarajevo upstairs, which mention the Secretary-General’s schedule during his visit to Bosnia next Sunday and Monday.

Rwanda

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown is visiting Rwanda where, yesterday, he visited a former military school and barracks in Kigali, the capital, that has now been transformed into the Kigali Institute for Science and Technology, with more than 1,600 full-time students.  The Rwandan Government launched the Institute with UNDP’s support three years after the 1994 genocide, and it is helping to rebuild Rwanda’s technical expertise at everything from candle-making to computer science.

Malloch Brown was impressed by what he saw, saying he would like to see the Institute’s model replicated on a small scale in the country’s rural areas.  We have more details in a note from UNDP.

Asian Highway

Imagine for a moment that there was a highway, stretching 130,000 kilometres across Asia, from the Pacific Ocean to the borders of Europe.  Well, that Asian Highway network is almost a reality, with formal adoption of the network expected in 2004, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said today.

This week, a working group responsible for drawing up an agreement to set up an Asian Highway Network finalized a draft, whose formal adoption by the governments associated in this effort is expected to result in improved trade links in Asia.  We have an ESCAP press release with more information.

Other Announcements

The World Heritage Congress begins today in Venice, Italy, ending on Sunday, which will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the World Heritage Convention.  The theme of the Congress is “Shared Legacy, Common Responsibility” and will assess the implementation of the Convention so far and look at ways to mobilize support for heritage conservation programmes.  A press kit is available on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Web site.

Budget

Today, Kazakhstan became the 115th Member State to pay its 2002 regular budget contribution in full with a payment of more than $322,000.

Signings

It has been some time since we had any treaty signings to report to you.

This afternoon, Nicaragua will become the fifty-eighth country to ratify the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.  This Convention came into force in April of this year.

Questions and Answers

Question:  The Turkish-Cypriot adviser stated today that after speaking with Mr. de Soto he got an extension in giving his reply.  The Secretary-General had asked for the replies to be given on the 18^th. Can you confirm that?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well I’m not in a position to confirm that report of the extension.  Well, you know that the Secretary-General asked the two leaders to refrain from taking a formal public position on the document that he sent to them, but instead to take some time to consider it and then to convey their first reaction to Mr. de Soto within a week.

The Secretary-General didn’t want to impose a deadline on the parties.  But, he felt that one week was sufficient.  So he hopes that the parties will share a sense of urgency, as they must realize that the opportunity that now exists will come to an end in a few weeks.  So, delay will deprive the parties of precious time for negotiation. 

Question:  A follow-up if I may.  That means that he did not impose a deadline on December 12 as well?

Deputy Spokesman:  All the other details are spelled out in the document itself, but as far as the Secretary-General is concerned, he still expects to hear the response by next Monday.  So, all the other details still stand, so far.

Question:  So what is the timetable after he hears from them?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well then we’ll see … First we’ll have to see the response from the two leaders before anybody can decide what to do next and how to proceed from there?

Question:  I heard you talk about Hans Blix being your guest tomorrow. 

I take it he is going to be here?

Deputy Spokesman:  He’s going to be here, sitting here, answering all your questions.

Question:  After Iraq has declared its acceptance of the Security Council, could you just tell us a little bit about what the Council was planning to do as the next step?  Are there any meetings scheduled for next week on Iraq?

Deputy Spokesman:  I think for that you’ll have to really ask the Security Council.  I certainly haven’t got any details on what they plan to do next.  But, you can check the Security Council on that.

Briefing by the Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon.

The General Assembly plenary meeting this morning concluded discussion on item -- the situation in Central America -- and decided to defer to a later date a decision on draft resolution A/57/L.20.  The plenary then adopted draft resolution A/57/L.10 on item 30 -- the role of the United Nations in promoting a new global human order -- and then considered item 167, South American Zone of Peace and Cooperation and draft resolution A/57/L.7, introduced by Peru, which was adopted.

This afternoon, President Kavan will chair the fourth open-ended

informal consultations of the plenary of the General Assembly on the strengthening of the United Nations.

In the Second Committee a draft resolution was introduced on high-level international intergovernmental consideration of financing for development.  Then the Committee heard an address by Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme, and by Joke Waller-Hunter, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.  The Committee then continued discussion of environment and sustainable development, implementation of Agenda 21. 

This afternoon it takes action on the draft resolution on agenda item 91, permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.  Then it begins a discussion on sectoral policy questions, business and development, and then it holds a general discussion on the report of the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on the work of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (document A/57/359).

The Third Committee discusses draft resolutions on human rights questions.

Tomorrow, the General Assembly plenary will meet on the report of

the Secretary-General on assistance in mine action.

Also tomorrow, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee will take action on draft resolutions on UNRWA and on the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

And the open-ended panel of the General Assembly on “Afghanistan:

one year later” will be held next Monday, 18 November, in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.

Any questions?  Thank you.