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

Briefing by Associate Spokesman for Secretary-General

**UNMOVIC and IAEA Activities

Good afternoon.  We’ve just received a report from our colleagues in Baghdad on today’s UNMOVIC and IAEA activities, which I will read out in part to you.

The UNMOVIC and IAEA inspection teams conducted their first weapons inspections today.  They left the Canal Hotel, the operations base for the weapons inspectors in Baghdad, at 8:30 a.m (local time).  They were accompanied by their Iraqi counterparts.  The IAEA team returned to the operations base at about 12:30 p.m.  The UNMOVIC team returned shortly after 5 p.m.

At the subsequent press briefing, Jacques Baute, the IAEA Iraq Action Team Leader, said that his team had visited a facility in northern Baghdad called Al Tahidi (Science Research Centre).  His team was able to complete the inspection work it had planned to carry out.

Dimitri Perricos, the UNMOVIC inspection team leader and Director of the Division of Planning and Operations, UNMOVIC, said that his team had visited two sites at Al Rafah, approximately 130 kilometres south-southwest of Baghdad.  One was a graphite plant and the other a missile engine testing facility.

In response to a question, Mr. Baute said that the site his team had visited today was a site previously visited more than four years ago.

Also in response to questions, Mr. Perricos said that the monitoring equipment at the site his team visited had all been taken away.  Some were destroyed, but the rest was available at the National Monitoring Directorate (which is an Iraqi agency).  “We would be collecting them, but before we reinstall new equipment, we will need to rebaseline the site”, he added.

Asked about the reason for his interest in graphite, Mr. Perricos said that graphite could be used for pencils as well as for missile batteries, and that it could be used in the cone of a missile during re-entry.

The UNMOVIC team currently has 11 inspectors and the IAEA six inspectors.

**Security Council

Although we announced yesterday that the Council had finished its scheduled work for this month, they came up with a little more to do today.

After consultations on Afghanistan, the Security Council voted unanimously this morning to adopt a resolution to extend the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan by one year, until December 20, 2003.  The Council also welcomed the offer from Germany and the Netherlands to assume jointly, from Turkey, the leadership of that Force.

Yesterday afternoon, following consultations on Liberia, Council President Wang Yingfan of China told the press that Security Council members expressed their concerns that Liberian President Charles Taylor’s Government continued to violate sanctions, including by importing arms.  They expressed their intention to renew the mandate of the expert panel on Liberia for a further period.

Members of the Council also called on the international community to assist Liberia to alleviate the worsening humanitarian crisis in that country.

**Secretary-General Travels

On Monday, the Secretary-General will be in Washington to speak to a group of scholars from the Woodrow Wilson International Center.  That evening the Secretary-General will be the keynote speaker at a dinner marking the

100th anniversary of the Pan-American Health Organization.  Embargoed copies of that speech will be available in our office later today.  He’s expected to travel back to New York early Tuesday morning.

**Statement by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

The Secretary-General yesterday sent letters to Mr. Clerides, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Mr. Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader.

He asked each leader to make known to his Special Adviser, Alvaro de Soto, by Saturday, 30 November 2002, their comments, suggestions or requests on his suggested basis for agreement on a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem, so as to enable the process to move forward.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General has today received a reply from Mr. Denktash to his earlier letter of 11 November.  This letter is being studied, but it does confirm that Mr. Denktash is prepared to negotiate on the basis of the proposals attached to the Secretary-General’s letter of November 11.   

**Statement on the Bakassi Issue

The mixed Commission, established by the Secretary-General on November 15 at the request of President Paul Biya of Cameroon and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to consider ways of following up on the 10 October ruling of the International Court of Justice, will have its first meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon, as of 1 December under the chairmanship of Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the Secretary-General’s special representative; Amadou Ali, Minister of Justice of Cameroon; and Prince Bola Ajibola, former Minister of Justice and former High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United kingdom.  They will head their respective delegations to the Commission.

**Burundi

In Geneva today, the transitional Government of Burundi and its development partners are holding a round-table conference at which the Government is seeking donor support for its Social Emergency Programme and the Secretary-General, in a message, calls on donors to provide the assistance that Burundi needs.

In his message, which was delivered by his Deputy Special Representative for Burundi, Nureldin Satti, he adds that the ceasefire negotiations between the Government and the armed movements have also generated momentum.  He says, “It is my hope that those talks, which resumed this week in Dar-Es-Salaam, will lead to concrete results and put an end to the long suffering of the Burundi population.”

We have copies of that statement upstairs.

**OCHA/Chechnya

Kenzo Oshima, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, issued a statement today in which he expressed his alarm at the prospect of the closing of a camp by Russian authorities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Aki Yurt, Ingushetia on

1 December.

The IDP camp in Aki Yurt is home to well over 1,000 persons displaced by prolonged conflict in the neighbouring republic of Chechnya (Russian Federation).  The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that while the IDPs wish to return to Chechnya, they are reluctant to do so at this point because of insecurity in the Republic and the lack of shelter, basic services, and economic opportunities there.

The statement also noted the United Nations continued commitment to dialogue with the Russian authorities on this and other humanitarian issues related to Chechnya.  We have a press release with more details available upstairs.

**Lecture Series of the Secretary-General

The third lecture in the lecture series of the Secretary-General will take place next Tuesday, December 3.  Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Project Leader at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and Professor at the Technical University of Vienna, and Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Director-General of Tata Energy Research Institute and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will be speaking on “The Interface Between Energy and Climate Change”.

The lecture is open to all delegates, staff and members of civil society affiliated with the United Nations.  The series is focused on topics at the forefront of both the humanities and natural sciences.

**Press Releases

We have a press release from the United Nations Environment Programme with a statement by Executive Director Klaus Töpfer on the loss of the vessel ‘Prestige’ off the coast of north Spain.  He says the accident reminds us that people living on coasts near major shipping routes and who rely on the natural environment for their livelihoods pay a high price when such accidents occur.  Töpfer welcomes the efforts of the International Maritime Organization to bring double-hull tankers to replace single-hull vessels and says the timetable for the phasing of them in should be reviewed.

The Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights yesterday afternoon adopted a General Comment on water as a human right.  General Comment No.

15 notes that over 1 billion people lack basic access to a safe water supply, while several billion lack access to adequate sanitation.  It says that water is a limited natural resource and a public commodity fundamental to life and health and States have a duty to provide access to water, without discrimination.  We have two press releases with more information.

**The Week Ahead at the United Nations

Sunday, December 1

Colombia will replace China in the Presidency of the Security Council.

In Yaoundé, Cameroon, the 13-member mixed commission chaired by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, will meet to discuss the Cameroon-Nigeria border.

Today is the official date of World AIDS Day.

Monday, December 2

In Washington, D.C., the Secretary-General is to meet with the fellows of the Woodrow Wilson Center and to speak at the 100th anniversary ceremony of the Pan American Health Organization.

New Security Council President Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia is expected to hold bilateral talks with other Council members on its programme of work for December.

The Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council on the UN Mission in Angola is expected in the early part of the week.

This is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

Tuesday, December 3

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) will launch its State of the World Population 2002 report.  The report will be launched at a 10 a.m. press conference by Stirling Scruggs, Director of the UNFPA Information and External Relations Division, and by Jeffrey Sachs, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General.

The third lecture in the Secretary-General’s lecture series will be held on “The Interface between Energy and Climate Change”, with Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic of the Technical University of Vienna and Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to speak.

This is the International Day of Disabled Persons.

Thursday, December 5

Today is Eid Holiday, and UN Headquarters in New York will be closed.

This is the International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development.

Friday, December 6

The Secretary-General is expected to attend the presentation of the Candlelight Award to Maurice Strong and Jim McNeill.

**Questions & Answers

Question:  In relation to the letter you received from Mr. Denktash.  Is there any reaction to the Turkish television report which quoted Mr. Denktash this morning as saying that the territorial proposals in the Secretary-General’s plan were unacceptable and scandalous?

Associate Spokesman:  I won’t comment on any reports that may have been made to Turkish radio.  The letter was just received and it’s being studied in depth.  But, it does appear from the letter that Mr. Denktash is prepared to negotiate on the basis of the proposal.

Question:  That meant, at least, it was not a comment on the plan?

Associate Spokesman:  No, if you’ll recall when the Secretary-General had first come out with the proposal he had asked for initial reaction on whether or not this plan was a basis for negotiation.  The letter from Mr. Denktash today is a response to the Secretary-General’s earlier letter.  We’ve now gone back to both Mr. Clerides and Mr. Denktash and asked for substantive comments and remarks and suggestions on the plan.  So we await those answers.

Question:  Will you be publishing those answers?

Associate Spokesman:  Well, let’s first get the answers and I’ll let you know what happens.

Question:  Is Mr. Denktash in agreement with the timetable the Secretary-General has set on his plan?

Associate Spokesman:  The only information I have from the letters is that he’s prepared to negotiate on the basis of the plan.  As for any more details, I don’t have anything on that.

Question:  I understand that the Secretary-General may have sent the letters yesterday and the answer of Mr. Denktash arrived a while ago.  Why does the Secretary-General, before he gets a reply from both sides, decide to send letters?  Is there any change or adjustment in the process?

Associate Spokesman:  There’s no adjustment.  The request the Secretary-General put out was for more substantive comments on the plan.

Question:  But he doesn’t have any comments from one of the sides.

Associate Spokesman:  The important thing is that we now have an answer from Mr. Denktash saying he is willing to move forward, to negotiate on the basis of the plan.  The vagaries of the mail and the exchange of letters and dates are not very important now.  The important thing is that we have answers from both Mr. Clerides and Mr. Denktash saying they’re willing to move forward on negotiations on the plan and now we’ve gone back to them and asked for more substantive remarks.  And we await those remarks.

Question:  Have you received any response from Israeli officials regarding the killing of United Nations staff in Jenin?

Associate Spokesman:  We have not received anything here to my knowledge, but I will check.

Question:  According to the full statement of the activities of the inspectors, it says Mr. Konkos said thatthe monitoring equipment at the site his team visited had all been taken away.  Yet, there were two sites his team visited, so which one was it that the equipment had been taken away?

Associate Spokesman:  I’d have to ask you to call IAEA on that.  I don’t have the full text.  Call UNMOVIC.  I’m sorry, I read almost everything I received from them.

Question:  Concerning the two sides, is there any report? Are the inspectors surprised or not?

Associate Spokesman:  I don’t have any information and the important thing is not to qualify each inspection on a daily basis.  Let’s wait and hear when the IAEA and UNMOVIC make reports to the Security Council.

Question:  Do they have to report to the Security Council before going to the press?

Associate Spokesman:  Their main responsibility is to report to the Security Council.

Question:  Does the Secretary-General think it is necessary to have both sides here, Mr. Denktash and Mr. Clerides, for negotiations?  And if yes, when?

Associate Spokesman:  No, I have no information on that.

Question:  Does the Secretary-General still think that he has enough time until December 12?

Associate Spokesman:  Time is very important on this.  The clock is obviously ticking and we’ve gone through the first positive initial responses, so we’d like to move ahead.  And, as he says, he’d like to receive comments by November 30.

Question:  Do you have anything on yesterday’s meeting between Mr. de Soto and the Turkish Foreign Minister.

Associate Spokesman:  No, I don’t have any information except that they met. Mr. de Soto is on his way in Ankara already now and that’s part of the regional consultations we’d announced that would take place following the meeting between the Secretary-General and Mr. de Soto in The Hague.  That’s it.  Any other question?  Thank you.

Briefing by Spokesman for President of General Assembly

Good afternoon.

The General Assembly plenary this morning completed consideration of the report of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which was introduced by the

President of ECOSOC, Ivan Simonovic, with three other speakers.  And following adjournment of this meeting, President Kavan chaired the fifth meeting of the open-ended informal consultations of the plenary on United Nations reform.

The Second Committee is taking action on draft resolutions on industrial development cooperation; economies in transition; the United Nations decade for the eradication of poverty; and the United Nations University.

And, the Fifth Committee is taking action on a long list of draft resolutions under theprogramme budget for 2002-2003; review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations; and financing of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Tomorrow is a holiday.  No meetings of the General Assembly or committees are expected.  Looking ahead to Friday, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will hold a solemn meeting at

10:30 a.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

And, in the afternoon, the General Assembly plenary starts debate on the question of Palestine with some 32 speakers inscribed so far.  Any questions? 

Have a good holiday.  Thank you.

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