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

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.

**Guest at noon

We will have a guest for our noon briefing today.  Masood Haider, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, will be joining us today to talk about the situation in the DPRK.

**Statement of Secretary-General on Iraq

The following is a statement attributable to the Secretary-General:  “The chief United Nations weapons inspectors, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, arrive in Baghdad today to begin a crucial new phase of disarmament.

“Security Council Resolution 1441 states clearly what the Government of Iraq must do.  Acting in unison, Council Members demanded that Iraq grant prompt and unfettered access to all and any sites.

“I urge President Saddam Hussein to comply fully with the Council’s demands, for the sake of his people, regional stability and world order.”

**Iraq

As you know, an advance team from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Baghdad at about 1:30 p.m. local time.

The 30-member team, led by IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei and UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix, were met at the airport by General Hosan Amin, the head of Iraq’s National Monitoring Directorate, and by Ramiro Lopes da Silva, the head of the UN humanitarian office in Iraq.  This advance group will concentrate on getting the inspection offices up and running again after a prolonged absence from Iraq.

Before leaving Cyprus earlier today, Blix said the first inspectors would arrive a week later and they planned to start weapons inspections from 27 November onwards.  Dr. Blix added that he would report to the Security Council two months after the resumption of inspections.  The Iraqi declaration to be submitted no later than 8 December would be analyzed by UNMOVIC and serve as an important basis for verification.

Dr. ElBaradei said that “This is an opportunity for peace”.  He hoped that Iraq would make full use of this opportunity and cooperate in the implementation

of Security Council resolutions, which would “open the way for them to come back as a full member of the international community and suspend and eventually eliminate sanctions”. 

Both Drs. Blix and ElBaradei will have a meeting later today with senior Iraqi officials.  The two also plan to hold a press conference later on Tuesday afternoon in Baghdad.

**Secretary-General travels -– Bosnia, Kosovo

The Secretary-General was in Sarejevo earlier today, which is where he expressed the statement on Iraq that I just read.  This morning, he met there with the three members of the Bosnian Presidency:  Mirko Sarovic, Dragan Covic and Sulejman Tihic.

He welcomed their common resolve to introduce a series of reforms to bring Bosnia into compliance with European economic and social standards as a prelude for applying to membership in the European Union.  He urged them to continue these efforts after the UN Mission ends its work in Bosnia next month and to work with its neighbours to fight terrorism, human trafficking and organized crime, and he also pledged continued UN support to improve the economy and strengthen the rule of law.

The Secretary-General then met with the Council of Ministers, with whom he reiterated his offer of UN support for Bosnian reforms, telling them that, speaking from experience as a reformer, he knew that process would take time.  He suggested that the Government consider demilitarizing the country, as Costa Rica has done, to reduce military spending and free up resources.

After that meeting, the Secretary-General spoke to the press, saying that rebuilding is more than bricks and mortar, and that “we need to reconcile, we need to seek justice, we need to ensure that the returnees are reintegrated peacefully”.

Before leaving Sarajevo, the Secretary-General met with three representatives of the Mothers of Srebrenica, who lost their children during the 1995 massacre there, and told them he could barely imagine the pain they had experienced.

He has since traveled to Kosovo, where he was briefed by his Special Representative, Michael Steiner, and afterward spoke to assembled staff of the UN Mission.  This afternoon he met with President Ibrahim Rugova, Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi and other senior officials.

Yesterday, the Secretary-General arrived in Sarajevo and had a working lunch with the heads of the principal international organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He then dedicated a monument to UN personnel who lost their lives in the former Yugoslavia, and said of the monument, which stands outside the UN Headquarters in Sarajevo, “This memorial will serve to reinforce our own determination -– as peacekeepers, citizens and members of the human family -– to build better lives for succeeding generations”.

Nane Annan, the Secretary-General’s wife, had a programme of her own in Sarajevo, where today she visited an inclusive kindergarten for Roma children, supported by the UN Children’s Fund, and yesterday witnessed an interactive presentation by and for young people on avoiding the dangers of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

**Kosovo

Also on Kosovo, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Michael Steiner, yesterday flew to the municipality of Istok, to see two Serbian Orthodox churches that had been damaged over the weekend, and voiced his condemnation of what he called “religious vandalism”.

He said, “Those responsible for these acts want to undermine Kosovo’s success, especially on the eve of the visit of the Secretary-General … They will not achieve their aim”.  The UN Mission will launch reconstruction work on the churches.  We have a press release with more information on that.

**DRC Talks

Talks aimed at concluding an all-inclusive transitional power-sharing agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continued over the weekend in Pretoria, South Africa, among the Congolese parties under joint United Nations/South African mediation.  The informal consultations, co-chaired by UN Special Envoy Moustapha Niasse and South African Minister Sydney Mufamadi, had resumed on Friday following a 12-day suspension.

At a plenary session on Saturday, the participants were given copies of a working document prepared by the mediation team, which synthesizes the various power-sharing proposals submitted by the Congolese parties.  On Sunday and today, the mediation team met with each of the Congolese groups, one after the other, to hear their comments on and proposed amendments to the document.  The talks are expected to run through 23 November. 

Any agreement reached on transitional power-sharing arrangements would then be formally endorsed by the inter-Congolese dialogue chaired by the facilitator, Sir Ketumile Masire.  For more information, you can pick up a note in my office.

**Afghanistan

In a message to the panel on “Afghanistan, one year on”, the Secretary-General noted a list of achievements since the Bonn Agreement.  He said “The list is long, and is one everyone associated with the work of the United Nations in Afghanistan can be very proud of”.

However, he underscored in the message, which was delivered by Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, that “the challenges facing Afghanistan remain immense:  from security to development to creating the political and social institutions necessary for a stable, free and prosperous society with equal rights for all”.  We have the full text of the message in the office.

Also on Afghanistan, the former world champion boxer and UN Messenger of Peace, Muhammad Ali, started Sunday a 3-day mission to the country.  Mr. Ali is undertaking a humanitarian mission to Afghanistan to raise awareness of the humanitarian needs of the people of Afghanistan and the work of the UN there.  The Mission is being sponsored by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP)  We have a press release available upstairs.

**Afghanistan News

There will be a two-day meeting in Munich, Germany, starting on Friday, focusing on the preservation of the Bamiyan buddhas.  The meeting is expected to finalize the work of the UNESCO committee on safeguarding Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.  You can read more in the briefing notes from Kabul.

In other news, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is currently distributing 3,700 metric tonnes of wheat seeds and 7,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer to about half a million people in almost all the provinces in Afghanistan.  All seeds were purchased from local suppliers participating in the Seed Multiplication Programme and FAO estimates the seeds will yield

120,000 metric tonnes of wheat.  We have a press release with more information.

**Security Council

There are no Security Council meetings or consultations scheduled for today.  Tomorrow, the Council has scheduled consultations to consider the Secretary-General’s most recent report on the “oil-for-food” program in Iraq, which is out on the racks today.

**Myanmar

Razali Ismail, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Myanmar, completed his ninth mission to that country on Saturday.  Razali continues to believe that dialogue on substantive issues is essential if a lasting and durable national reconciliation in Myanmar is to be achieved.  He urged the Government and the National League for Democracy to maximize and develop the existing channel of discussion in order to bring such a dialogue about.  The Special Envoy remains committed to helping to facilitate national reconciliation and democratization in Myanmar.  He intends to return to Myanmar early next year to assess developments there.  We put out a note over the weekend with the details of his visit there.

**Sudan

We also put out a statement on Saturday, which said that the Secretary-General that morning had phoned Sudan’s President, Omar Al-Bashir, and John Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, to convey his encouragement for the current peace talks going on in Kenya.  He registered his satisfaction with the progress made to date and urged the two sides to continue negotiating in good faith until peace prevails in the Sudan.

**Deputy Secretary-General

The Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, arrived today in Berne, Switzerland, to participate in the launch of the 2003 Consolidated Appeals for humanitarian assistance on 19 November.  She will be the keynote speaker at the launch and we have her embargoed speech available upstairs.

**Press Releases

Some press releases:  The two-week conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, ended on Friday in Santiago, Chile.  Among the key decisions adopted, was the addition of mahogany to the list of endangered species requiring governments to ensure all exports are sustainable and covered by CITES export permits.

Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, begins a more than two-week visit to Africa today.  She will visit Senegal, Ghana, Namibia, Tanzania and Ethiopia and will focus on AIDS, girls’ education and the effects of the drought in the Horn of Africa.  While in Senegal, she will launch the State of the World’s Vaccines and Immunization report.

We also have two other press releases embargoed until Wednesday to bring to your attention.  The first one is on the launch of the State of the World’s Vaccines and Immunization report and the second one is on the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) 2000 report.

**Budget

Today, we received a couple of large contributions to the peacekeeping budget.  We received a payment from the United States of more than $30 million and one from Italy of more than $6 million.

**Guest at noon tomorrow

Carolyn McAskie, the United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, will be joining us at noon tomorrow to launch the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals for 2003.

That’s all I have for you.  Any questions?  Yes, please.

**Questions and Answers    

Question:   Do you have any information on whom Blix and ElBaradei will be meeting today?

Deputy Spokesman:    I was told that it will be senior Iraqi officials, but not including Saddam Hussein himself.

Question:   Has the Secretary-General received the replies of the parties from Cyprus today?

Deputy Spokesman:    Well, the Secretary-General said today that he had asked the two leaders to give him their reaction to his proposal today and is now waiting to get these reactions through his Special Representative, Alvaro de Soto.  The Secretary-General said he will analyze the situation at the end of the day and decide what to do next.

Question:   Mr. Denktash, one of the leaders, said that he’s not going to answer today.  Do you have any comment on that?

Deputy Spokesman:Well, as I said just now, the Secretary-General is still waiting for the reactions from both leaders and we haven’t been informed yet who will react and who will not.  Mr. de Soto is scheduled to meet the Greek Cypriot leader Mr. Clerides shortly.  So, if we have more information that is coming through today, we will let you know.

Question:   Did the Secretary-General receive the request made from the Turkish Cypriot side to either meet with Mr. de Soto or Mr. Prendergast?

Deputy Spokesman:So far we haven’t received any.

Question:   Will the Security Council decide tomorrow about renewing the next phase of the oil-for-food programme?

Deputy Spokesman:    As you know, the Council will discuss the Secretary-General’s report tomorrow.  There will be open meetings and a resolution will be discussed on Thursday.  

Okay, Richard.

**Briefing by the Spokesman for the General Assembly President

Good afternoon.

President Kavan chaired the two sessions of the open-ended panel of the General Assembly this morning on "Afghanistan:  one year later”. 

In a message to President Kavan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai says “we welcome and are grateful for making today’s meeting happen.  We find that this meeting, in the form of a panel, will serve to be instrumental in bringing further awareness to the problems facing Afghanistan, including a further reminder to donor countries to implement their commitments of assistance to Afghanistan.  We owe gratitude to the donor community for its assistance to Afghanistan, thus far.  However, if I may, I would like to, once again, say to the donor community that reconstruction and security go hand in hand -– one can not be achieved without the other”.

President Karzai goes on to say that today’s panel will have an important and positive impact on the preparation of the resolutions on Afghanistan, still in drafting stage, to be adopted by the General Assembly on 6 December 2002.  President Karzai’s message is available in the Spokesman’s office and on the President’s Web site.

The first session on political issues was moderated by Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, with panelists Jean Arnaud, Amin Farhang, Barnett Rubin and Ahmed Rashid. 

The second panel on economic issues, moderated by David Malone, President, International Peace Academy, was made up of panelists Eric Morris, Julia Taft, Mukesh Kapila and Bernard Frahi.  Amin Farhang and Ishaq Naderi were also discussants on that panel.

In his remarks at the opening of the Panel, President Kavan said that he strongly believed that the panel discussion can enrich this year’s activities

commemorating the first anniversary of the Bonn Conference and could lead the United Nations to specific conclusions from post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan, thereby providing new recommendations for future UN activities in this domain. 

The discussions this morning have been dynamic and creative, with a number of useful ideas being put forward for delegations to consider while discussion on drafts resolutions are being negotiated, before the 6 December meeting of the plenary.

The Second Committee considers introduction of draft resolutions on the Report of the Economic and Social Council and on environment and sustainable development, and introduction of the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations University.

The Third Committee today continues discussion on human rights questions and the report of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Fifth Committee discusses financing of the Yugoslav and Rwanda Tribunals, and the 2002-2003 programme budget.

Tomorrow, the General Assembly plenary will meet in the morning to discuss Sixth Committee reports.

Any questions?

Thank you.

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