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

Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General

**Secretary-General Meets with Quartet in Washington Today

Good afternoon.

The Secretary-General, earlier this morning, left New York for Washington, where he is currently participating in a meeting of the Middle East diplomatic quartet.  As you know, that group is comprised of the United States, the Russian Federation, the European Union and the United Nations.

Secretary of State Colin Powell represents the United States.  Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov represents the Russian Federation.  The European Union is represented by three officials:  Per Stig Moeller, the Foreign Minister of Denmark -- which currently holds the EU Presidency; Javier Solana, the EU’s High Representative for a Common Foreign and Security Policy; and Chris Patten, the European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs.

After a 10-minute one-on-one meeting with Colin Powell this morning, the Secretary-General met with the other members of the Quartet in a meeting, which has lasted about two hours and should be wrapping up now.  That meeting is to be followed by a working lunch.

Afterwards, the participants will go to the White House for a meeting with President George W. Bush.  The Quartet may say a few words about today’s work either before or after their meeting at the White House.  They are also expected to issue a statement later today.

We expect the Secretary-General to return to New York this evening.

**UMOVIC Inspections Continue in Baghdad

In Baghdad today a United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) chemical team inspected the Tuwaitha Industrial Chemical Research Centre.  Even though it was a Muslim day of rest and there was only a guard at the Centre, the site was made available to full inspection.  All managers of the departments of the Centre, who arrived shortly after the inspection began, briefed the UNMOVIC team about the current activities of their departments.

Two International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) teams requested access to a facility during non-standard hours at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex.  The complex now conducts civilian research in the non-nuclear field.  They observed work-shift levels during this non-work day period.

They also inspected the Shakyli stores during a non-work day.  Shakyli is a store for dual-use equipment from the past Iraqi nuclear programme.  They also carried out environmental gamma radiation surveys in the area.

Two UNMOVIC inspectors arrived in Baghdad yesterday, bringing the total number of inspectors to 115.  The breakdown of inspectors is 96 from UNMOVIC and 19 from the IAEA.

The full text of this press release is available upstairs.

Also on Iraq inspections, I’d like to note for the record that, yesterday afternoon, in a statement to the press, the Security Council President, Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia, said that members of the Council took note of the contents of the briefing by UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix and IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei.

Council members expressed their intention of having a further discussion early in January 2003, after all Members of the Council finish their own analytical work on the Iraqi declaration, and of holding more regular briefings from UNMOVIC and the IAEA.

Dr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei spoke to reporters after consultations ended, and both asked Iraq to provide more information on its weapons programmes.  Dr. Blix said that so far, there has been "relatively little given in the evidence" concerning weapons of mass destruction, and that lack indicated that "one cannot have confidence that there do not remain weapons of mass destruction".

**Security Council to Hold Four Formal Meetings Today

The Security Council has a busy programme today, with four formal meetings and consultations.

This morning, the Council has scheduled two open meetings.

The first is a wrap-up discussion on the work of the Security Council for the month of December.  The meeting, which began at 10:30 a.m., is expected to run about two hours.

Then, the Council has scheduled another formal meeting to adopt a draft resolution on humanitarian exemptions to measures imposed by resolution 1390, which refer to the Al Qaeda linked sanctions.

Then this afternoon at 3:15 p.m., informal consultations on Côte d’Ivoire have been scheduled.  A briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Tuliameni Kalomoh is scheduled.

Two other formal meetings are planned following those consultations.  The first will be a presidential statement on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.  The second is on a resolution on the Middle East.

As of now, there are no meetings or consultations scheduled for the rest of the month.

**Kosovo

Yesterday afternoon, the Security Council, after brief consultations, held an open meeting in which it heard a briefing from Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby, in his capacity as the head of the Council’s mission to Kosovo and Belgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Mr. Kolby presented the report of his mission, which traveled to Kosovo and Belgrade from 13 through 17 December to find ways to enhance support for the work of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), among other goals.

The mission found notable progress in several areas, including the formation of provisional institutions of self-government and the new municipal assemblies, as well as improvements in the rule of law.  In a written report of its visit, the mission said that the formulation of benchmarks for the realization of standards is a constructive approach to the further development of Kosovo as a democratic, multi-ethnic society.  We have copies of that report upstairs.

**UN Human Rights Field Office in Croatia Closes after Nine Years

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said today that, by the end of this month, the human rights field office in Croatia will close, after nine years of work, becoming the first human rights field office to shut down.

As it ends it work, the office in Zagreb will leave behind a Human Rights Centre, which will be an independent and autonomous institution to promote human rights in Croatia.  Mr. Vieira de Mello said that his office will remain committed to assisting Croatia in further improving its human rights situation, in a press release we have upstairs.

**International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia

The Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla Del Ponte, today in a statement called attention once more to what she called “unsatisfactory” cooperation by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with her Office.  She noted that a senior Yugoslav official has refused to speak to her yesterday on the issue of cooperation, and voiced her disappointment at what she called an “inappropriate” political statement by that official.

Ms. Del Ponte also said that yesterday, she had written to the Yugoslav authorities regarding the transfer of Milan Milutinovic, once his term as Serb President expires.

**Cyprus Talks

In Cyprus today, the two parties -- the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots -- have held an organizational meeting, chaired by the United Nations, for the two technical committees which the leaders had agreed to create on 4 October in the presence of the Secretary General.  The meeting charted the future work of the committees, which will undertake their technical discussions in parallel with the political negotiations and without prejudice to their outcome.  The members of the committees plan to meet again on 7 January 2003.

**Ethiopia and Eritrea Appointment

The Secretary-General has appointed Angela Kane of Germany as Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).  The appointment is at the Assistant Secretary-General level.  Ms. Kane will be based in Asmara.  As you know, a second Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Cheikh Tidiane Gaye, is based in Addis Ababa.

Ms. Kane is currently Director of the Americas and Europe Division in the Department of Political Affairs.  She has been working for the United Nations for 25 years in a variety of political and managerial functions.  Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Kane worked for the World Bank in Washington, and in private industry in Europe.  Her appointment will become effective on 15 January 2003.

**Humanitarian Update on Deepening Crisis in Southern Africa

A humanitarian update on southern Africa says the crop season in much of that region looks bleak.  The worst-affected countries are southern Malawi, Swaziland, southern Mozambique, Lesotho, eastern South Africa, eastern Botswana and part of north-western Zambia, with western and north-western Zimbabwe in critical condition.  If you want to find out more, please read the update in our office.

**Côte d’Ivoire

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at least 48,000 people have now fled the western region of Côte d'Ivoire for neighbouring Liberia.  Most of them –- about 32,000 –- are Liberians who had once sought asylum in Côte d'Ivoire, but who now decided to go back because of the fighting there.  Most of those fleeing have sought refuge in the eastern counties of Liberia.

We have the UNHCR briefing note available upstairs for more details.

**Press Releases Out Today

In a press release, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that 27 emergency health kits arrived in Addis Ababa today, to strengthen the response to the severe drought affecting the country.  Each kit contains one ton of drugs, supplies and instruments -- enough to support the basic health needs of 10,000 people for three months.  The WHO expects to send an additional 164 emergency health kits to Ethiopia in the coming weeks thanks to funding from the Government of the Netherlands.

In another press release, the World Food Programme (WFP) said it had received just $9 million of the $105 million needed for its operations in Eritrea.  The WFP said it had enough stocks to last until March of next year but there would be a break in supply of food aid if donations were not received by then.  More than 2 million people are affected by the droughts, which have caused crop failures over the last four years.

**Treaty Signings

We have one treaty event to highlight for you today.  This morning, Tuvalu became the 169^th country to ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity.

**Looking Ahead

We don’t have a week ahead for you today I’m afraid, because, frankly, there is a lack of events scheduled so far for next week.  That’s because of the holiday season, of course, and next Wednesday, the United Nations will be closed for Christmas.

We will have a noon briefing next Monday, and we’ll inform you then about the schedule for the rest of the week.  In the days after Christmas, we expect not

to hold any noon briefings until the New Year, but we will continue to post the highlights of events in the United Nations system on the Web site, on our usual page, shortly after noon each day.

Have a nice weekend everyone, and Happy Holidays.

Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

Good afternoon.

The General Assembly plenary meeting this morning has been considering reports of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) on a broad range of economic, environment and sustainable development issues, as well as financing for development.  The Committee’s Rapporteur, Walid Al-Hadid of Jordan, introduced the reports.

The plenary then considered -- and is considering as we speak -- Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) reports, which were introduced by that Committee’s Rapporteur, Haile Selassie Getachew.  These items include pattern of conferences, United Nations common system, financing of the International Tribunals and programme budget for 2002-2003. 

In the afternoon, the plenary will take decisions on its remaining issues, including appointments to fill vacancies; Decade to Roll Back Malaria; final review of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa (UNNADAF); cooperation between the United Nations and other organizations, and follow up on HIV/AIDS.  The final decision of this session will be on the Secretary-General’s report on United Nations Reform entitled: “An Agenda for Further Change”.  The President is then expected to adjourn the session. 

In his closing remarks, President Jan Kavan, of the Czech Republic, notes the important decision taken in support of the Secretary-General’s report on strengthening of the United Nations system.  He also notes the Assembly’s commitment to the implementation of the Millennium goals and the special attention paid during this session to the most urgent issues facing developing countries, particularly in Africa, and the successful outcome of the meeting on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in September.

The President then goes on to outline his plans for the work of the session next year, including continuing the process of revitalization of the work of the General Assembly; follow-up to the outcomes of major United Nations conferences; and continued attention to the prevention of armed conflict.

The President’s remarks will be made available on the third floor this afternoon at the time of delivery and on the President’s Web site.

I will also make available a compilation of statistics on the session so far, which I have to have for you later this afternoon.

With that, I would like to wish you all a very good holiday and see you in the New Year.

Thanks very much.

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