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 the Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Stefan Dujarric, and the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Richard Sydenham.

Briefing by the Secretary-General's Associate Spokesman

Good morning.  I have a couple of statements for you today, attributable to the Spokesman.

**Middle East

First, on the Middle East, “The Secretary-General condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem today that killed at least 11 Israelis and injured dozens more, including many children.  He expresses his profound condolences to the families of the victims.  As he has made clear repeatedly, the Secretary-General believes that such attacks are utterly reprehensible and only serve to spur further hatred and mistrust.

“The Secretary-General appeals to all concerned not to allow the scourge of terrorism to blind them to the pressing need for an intensive effort to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians.  He continues to believe that the roadmap for achieving a two-State solution being developed by the Quartet can play a vital role in breaking the cycle of violence and promoting a peaceful settlement.  Stressing again that the conflict can only be resolved through negotiations, the Secretary-General urges all sides to desist from all forms of violence, as demanded in Security Council resolution 1435 (2002).”

**Myanmar  

“The Secretary-General welcomes the release of political prisoners that began in Yangon on Thursday following a statement by the Government that

115 political prisoners would be freed, including many members of the National League for Democracy (NLD).  During his visit from 12 to

16 November, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Razali Ismail, strongly urged the Government to release political prisoners in a large number, at one time, so that more than 200 political detainees would have been released by the end of 2002.  The Secretary-General hopes this first large-scale release will provide fresh momentum for the national reconciliation process in Myanmar.”

**Secretary-General's Travels

Concerning the Secretary-General's travels, this morning he flew from Croatia to the Netherlands, where he and his wife Nane had a private lunch with Queen Beatrix at The Hague.  They then drove to Tilburg, in the southern Netherlands, where the Secretary-General received an honorary doctorate from the University of Tilburg and addressed the university about the need for a new vision of global security that would respect human rights, confront the threat

of terrorism and draw upon the resources and legitimacy of multilateral cooperation.

He noted the competing claims of sovereignty and intervention, asserting, “After Srebrenica, after Rwanda, after genocide, all of us need to affirm that sovereignty means responsibilities as well as power; and that among those responsibilities, none is more important than protecting citizens from violence in war”.

He noted that since the 11 September terror attacks, there was a danger that crucial liberties could be sacrificed in pursuit of security.  And he said that any sacrifice of freedom or the rule of law within States could “hand the terrorists a victory that no act of theirs alone could possibly bring”.

**Secretary-General on Iraq

While the Secretary-General was at Tilburg University, he did take some questions from the press, with one reporter asking him whether there was a proper chance for diplomacy to work in Iraq.  He responded that the chief United Nations weapons inspectors had been in Baghdad this week, saying, “From the accounts that I have received, it did go well”.  The important point, he said, was that if Iraq complies with United Nations resolutions and the inspectors are able to complete their work, “then I think the arguments for military action will be considerably diminished”.

Asked about a United States request to some 60 countries to commit troops in the event that Iraq does not comply, the Secretary-General responded, “It’s not up to me to advise the United States on how to prepare for certain eventualities”.  He added that for now, the focus was on effective inspections.

**Iraq Weapons Inspections

Keeping with Iraq, with the arrival in Baghdad yesterday of an additional 16 persons, the advance team of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) now totals over 30.  They are hard at work to get the Baghdad operations centre for weapons inspections up and running in time for the resumption of inspections on 27 November.  The advance team includes administrative staff, computer and communications experts, medics and security personnel.

**Angola

Turning to Angola, today in Luanda, the Joint Commission for the Angolan peace process finished its work.  And in a closing ceremony, the parties involved in the Commission, that is, the United Nations, the Angolan Government, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, otherwise known as UNITA, as well as the “Troika” of observers, signed a declaration stating that the main tasks of the Angolan peace process have been completed.  The declaration was signed by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ibrahim Gambari, in his capacity on the Joint Commission.

The Joint Commission recognized that the reasons to support the maintenance of sanctions against UNITA have ceased to exist, and recommended that the Security Council consider the immediate lifting of all sanctions against UNITA.  Mr. Gambari said today that the completion of the Joint Commission’s work “marked a signpost in the history of the Angolan people”, with war having been replaced by a spirit of amity and fraternity.  He added, “The consolidation of peace is not an event, but a process, just as national reconciliation is in fact a long-drawn undertaking.”  We have copies of Mr. Gambari’s speech available upstairs.

**Security Council

Today the Security Council is holding an open meeting on Bougainville.  Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast updated the Council on the peace process and weapons collection in Bougainville, and touched upon issues that remained to be resolved with the assistance of the United Nations.  Mr. Prendergast informed the Council that the Secretary-General has sent a letter to the President of the Security Council, informing it of his intention to seek its endorsement in extending the mandate of the United Nations Political Office in Bougainville by another year, on the basis of requests from the Bougainville Government and the parties to the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

And this afternoon, the Security Council is scheduled to hold a private meeting with troop-contributing countries to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.

**Afghanistan

On Afghanistan, the disarmament exercise in northern Afghanistan is not going well, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.  And the speed of the process and the amount of arms collected have not met the expectations.  To address the slow progress, Generals Ustad Atta Mohammad and Abdul Rashid Dostum held meetings yesterday and this morning, together with other members of the Security Commission, which is composed of representatives from the key military factions in the north as well as representatives of the United Nations.  For more, I would invite you to check the briefing notes from Kabul.

      **Malnutrition in Iraq

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), new data released today indicates that the malnutrition rate among Iraqi children has fallen to the lowest level since 1996.  The new data comes from a UNICEF-sponsored household survey of malnutrition in children under five.  UNICEF says the improvement can be attributed to the combination of the lifting of the cap on oil sales, continued expenditures by the Iraq authorities of the majority of the oil-for-food funds on food, and the success of nutrition screening in the Community Child Care Units and two good years of rainfall and crop harvests.  We have more upstairs in the UNICEF press release.

      **WFP on Hunger in Africa

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today a new campaign called Africa Hunger Alert, in response to growing concern from the general public about the hunger crisis gripping the continent.  More than 38 million Africans are affected by a crisis that has grown more acute in the wake of major emergencies in the southern part of the continent and the Horn of Africa.  James Morris, Executive Director of WFP, said that without a massive response, “the humanitarian community will not be able to cope with the disaster”.  The new campaign, which will be launched on 16 December, is a response to grassroots initiatives from all over the world and will include a special page on the WFP Web site.  We have more upstairs on this in the WFP press release.

**ILO on Trade Unions

The International Labour Organization (ILO) today came out with its report, issued every three years, on serious infringements and violations of freedom of association and trade union rights, in which it cites Belarus, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Zimbabwe for serious cases of labour violations.  The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association draws special attention to Belarus, where it notes with deep alarm the serious deterioration in trade union rights, including what appeared to be a manipulation of the trade union movement.

In Colombia, the report lists allegations of attempted murders, abductions and threats, while it also notes the forcible harassment of union members in Zimbabwe and Ecuador.  And in Venezuela, it notes allegations of the unfair dismissal of 3,500 workers in the state of Trujillo.  We have more on this in the ILO press release upstairs.

**Art and Human Rights

The Secretary-General sent a message today for a project organized by the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation on “Arts as a Mediator of Tolerance”.  In the message, the Secretary-General says that artists have a special role to play in the global struggle for peace, development and human rights.  He says, “Art is a weapon against ignorance and hatred, and an agent of public awareness”.  We have the text of the message upstairs.

**Côte d'Ivoire

In Abidjan today, in Côte d'Ivoire, the United Nations humanitarian agencies launched an emergency flash appeal on behalf of 3.9 million people who have been affected by the conflict that erupted there in September.  The appeal covers affected populations in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali, as well as those in Côte d'Ivoire, and seeks $15.9 million.  We have more upstairs on that appeal. 

**“E-Waste”

Getting to the end of this briefing, a few more press releases.  Officials of eight Asian countries are meeting in Tianjin, China, today to discuss the disposal of computers and other electronic items, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).  The countries are meeting under the auspices of the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal to discuss what to do with “e-wastes”, which means old computers, printers, cartridges and other related equipment.  These wastes not only contain a blend of plastics, metals and other materials, but often contain hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium and mercury.  Among the solutions being discussed are easier and safer methods of dismantling the equipment and making manufacturers responsible for the management of wastes resulting from the equipment they sell.  We have a press release on that upstairs.

**World Chronicle Programme

And lastly, World Chronicle Programme number 876, with Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, will be shown this afternoon at 3:30 on in-house channels 3 and 31.  Any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Do we know how many inspectors are in the field in Iraq?

Associate Spokesman:  As of now, there are no “inspectors” in Iraq.  The

30 people that are on the ground are technicians, computer technicians, communications people and security people basically getting the UNMOVIC and IAEA operation back up and running.  The first batch of actual inspectors will arrive on 25 November and the inspection, as far as I'm told, will start on 27 November.

Question:  How many?

Associate Spokesman:  We don’t have the numbers yet but we'll know when they show up exactly how many will have arrived.

Question:  I'd like a reaction to United States Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's attack naming the Secretary-General, regarding his view on the no-fly zone.  Is there any reaction by now? 

Associate Spokesman:  No, I'll just stand by what the Secretary-General said.  He was conveying his observation as to the state of the Security Council.  And he said that he thought most members would not see that as a violation of the Security Council resolution.  It wasn't his interpretation of the resolution, per se, but rather what he felt, where the Council stood this time.

Question:  What was his reason for speaking out?

Associate Spokesman:  I think you'll find that he sometimes does, while not interpreting the Council resolution, but he will sometimes state his opinion as to what he feels is the thinking of the Council.  If you'll look back to the run-up on the latest resolution on Iraq, he kept predicting a 15-0 vote and he was right.

Question:  Would he support a military attack if it indeed took place?

Associate Spokesman:  I don't want to go into any sort of forward-looking speculation.

Question:  A story on 60 Minutes said Hans Blix is the twenty-fourth person considered.  Is that accurate in any way?

Associate Spokesman:  I'd be happy to check for you.

Question:  What's the problem in Afghanistan?

Associate Spokesman:  The problem we were flagged upon today was the issue of disarmament, which was not moving as quickly as hoped.  And a number of members of the Security Commission were meeting to discuss that issue.  This Security Commission includes members of the United Nations staff.  But I would point you to the Kabul briefing notes if you want more on that.

Question:  Back to the inspectors, I understand Mr. Blix will be here on Monday.  Please fill us in on his activities that day.  The other thing, how likely is it that the Security Council will reconvene to discuss paragraph 8 and clarify this difference of interpretations between the White House, or by certain members of the administration, and what Kofi Annan said the other day?

Associate Spokesman:  On your second question, I won't get into that.  I would turn those questions over to the Chinese Presidency of the Council.  As for Dr. Blix, my understanding is that he will be here on Monday and he will brief the Council on Monday afternoon in closed consultations.

Question:  On Cyprus, did you receive Mr. Denktash's letter?

Associate Spokesman:  We did receive a letter from Mr. Denktash.

Question:  He's asking for an extension, I understand? Did you give him one?

Associate Spokesman:  I don't have any information on what answer was given to Mr. Denktash.  I think the Secretary-General's statement yesterday speaks for itself.

Question:  He (Mr. Denktash) gave an interview today to a Turkish Cypriot radio, and he said his answer was going to be negative.  Do you have any comment?

Associate Spokesman:  Well, we haven't received any answer from the Turkish Cypriot side.

Question:  Do you know if the Secretary-General is planning to go to Cyprus next week?

Associate Spokesman:  I do not know.   

Briefing by the Spokesman for the Assembly President

Good afternoon.  The General Assembly plenary continued discussion on cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations in a joint debate with some 32 speakers inscribed.  And that debate will be going on this afternoon, too.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) takes action on draft resolutions on the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and on human rights questions.  The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) continues discussion of financing of the Yugoslavia and Rwanda Tribunals and the programme budget for the biennium 2002-2003.

In his message on World Television Day, today, President Kavan notes that in the existing international climate, this is an occasion to recognize “the increasing impact television bears on decision-making by alerting world attention to international conflicts”.  And he notes that the upcoming World Summit on Information Society next year in Geneva will once more emphasize the role of television.  He goes on to say, “this is a day to renew the commitments by all parties to support the development of a media that provides unbiased information, preserves cultural identity as well as diversity, and promotes understanding among peoples and so that television can truly fulfill its potential as a force for democratic exchange and social development”.

The statement is on the President’s Web site.  And tomorrow, the General Assembly will take up reports of the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security items.

Any questions?  Thank you.

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