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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Secretary-General on Leave

Sorry for the delay.

The Secretary-General begins his year-end leave today, but he is continuing to work at home.  You saw, for example, that he met this morning with his Special Envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mustapha Niasse.  That meeting, of course, took place at the residence.

**Middle East

On Friday afternoon following their meeting at the State Department in Washington, the members of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet met with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney at the White House.  In addition, to the Secretary-General and Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Quartet also includes Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and the European Union (EU), represented by three individuals:  Danish Foreign Minister Per Steg Moeller -- Denmark is in the chair of the Presidency of the EU; EU High Representative for a Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana; and European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten.

Speaking to reporters at the start of the meeting, the Secretary-General said the Quartet was very close to finalizing a “road map”, which can help bring about the vision of two States, Israel and Palestinian, living side by side.  “It will require sacrifices from both sides”, he said, ”and it will demand parallel steps by both States for us to be able to move forward”.  The road map, he said, must not only be performance driven, it must also be hope-driven.  “I believe”, he said, ”that this vision of two States, living in peace and security, will be the dream that will keep that hope alive”.

Afterwards, a joint statement was released by the Quartet which called for an immediate, comprehensive, ceasefire.  “All Palestinian individuals and groups must end all acts of terror against Israelis, in any location”, the statement said, adding that as calm is established, Israeli forces should withdraw from Palestinian areas and the pre-Intifada status quo on the ground should be restored.  The Quartet also expressed concern at the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank and called for increased effort by the Government of Israel to ease the humanitarian situation in those places.  In conclusion, the Quartet members said a further meeting of the Quartet principals in the near future would take place to adopt the road map and present it to the parties.

**Iraq

According to our regular reporting from Baghdad, UNMOVIC and the IAEA have carried out roughly 150 inspections up till now.  Some sites were visited several times due to their size and complexity.  As for personnel movement, there has been a small rotation of staff over the last few days, with some IAEA and UNMOVIC

inspectors leaving while others arrived.  There are currently 102 UNMOVIC inspectors and 6 IAEA inspectors, for a total of 108.

Even though the number of current IAEA inspectors is small, they have specialized expertise and are now conducting detailed quantitative assessments of Iraqi declarations.  They are studying procurement records, factory inventories and consumption records in an attempt to verify Iraqi declarations about critical dual-use materials.

In terms of inspections today and over the weekend, IAEA and UNMOVIC teams conducted a number of visits at a wide variety of sites, including an industrial scrap yard, a pesticide research centre, a baby formula factory and a missile propellant plant, as well as a metal and ceramics research plant.  You can get full details upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council has no meetings or consultations scheduled for today.

On Friday night, the Security Council failed to adopt a draft resolution that would have condemned the killing by Israeli forces of UN employees, as well as the destruction of a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in the occupied Palestinian territories.  The vote was 12 in favour to one against (United States), and two abstentions (Bulgaria and Cameroon).

Prior to that vote, the Council held back-to-back formal meetings to adopt two presidential statements -- one on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and the other on Côte d'Ivoire.  It was the first time the Council took up Côte d'Ivoire as an agenda item.

In its statement, the Council called on the warring parties to resolve their differences through talks aimed at achieving a negotiated political solution.  It welcomed, in particular, the commitment of the President of Côte d’Ivoire to submit, in the coming days, a comprehensive plan to end the crisis, stressing that such a plan was a crucial step towards achieving a peaceful solution.  It also welcomed the decision by the Secretary-General to request an urgent human rights mission to assess the situation.

That mission, led by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan, will leave Geneva in about an hour.  It will spend a week in the country, and it will prepare a report on its return for the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General.

**IAEA -- Democratic People's Republic of Korea

The IAEA issued two statements over the weekend, expressing deep regret at the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s disruption of IAEA’s Safeguards Implementation in the country.

On December 21, the DPRK cut most of the seals and impeded the functioning of surveillance equipment installed at the 5 megawatt reactor at Nyongbyong, and the next day it took further action, removing seals in the reactor’s spent fuel pond, which contains some 8,000 irradiated fuel rods.  IAEA’s Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said: “As the spent fuel contains a significant amount of plutonium, the DPRK’s action is of great non-proliferation concern and represents a further disruption of the IAEA’s ability to apply safeguards in the DPRK”.  There is more information on the IAEA Web site.

**Afghanistan

Yesterday in Kabul, at a Conference on Good Neighbourly Relations, representatives of Afghanistan's six neighbouring countries signed a declaration of non-aggression.  The six signatories -- China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as Afghanistan -- reaffirmed their commitment to constructive and supportive bilateral relationships.

In statement read out by his Special Representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General said that peace in Afghanistan could only be achieved with the help of neighbouring States and the wider international community.  Highlighting that Afghanistan’s neighbours had already done much to help bring back stability to that country, he said he hoped that the Kabul Declaration would not be seen as an isolated event, but the basis for a further series of regional agreements and initiatives to promote cooperation.  President Hamid Karzai, in his speech, stressed that Afghanistan would not allow its territory or bilateral relations with any other nations to harm another country and it expected the same from others.  We have the text of the Secretary-General's statement upstairs.

And on that subject, we also have a statement attributable to the Spokesman:

“The Secretary-General welcomes the signing of the Kabul Declaration on Good Neighbourly Relations between Afghanistan and its six neighbours on 22 December.  He sincerely hopes that the Declaration will not only strengthen the peace process in Afghanistan, but also promote political and economic progress in the entire region.  He calls on the signatories of the Kabul Declaration to do their utmost to respect the principles of territorial integrity and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, and to work together to solve the problems of terrorism, political extremism and drug trafficking.

“The Secretary-General extends his congratulations to President Karzai and his Government on this important day, as well as to the people of Afghanistan.  He expresses the hope that the Kabul Declaration will complement the Bonn Agreement to ensure a peaceful and prosperous future for Afghanistan and its neighbours.  At the same time, the Secretary-General believes that much progress remains to be achieved in Afghanistan, particularly in improving the security situations, as has been demonstrated by a number of recent incidents throughout the country.”

**Human Rights

Two United Nations Human Rights bodies have found violations of civil and political rights and torture treaties in eight countries.  The Human Rights Committee concluded that in seven of the 14 complaints from individuals, the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights had been violated.  The Committee against Torture also found a violation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in one case.  We have the full text of those decisions available in my office.

**Press Releases

Available upstairs is a press release from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), in which its Administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, welcomes the establishment by the General Assembly of a World Solidarity Fund.  The World Solidarity Fund is modelled on the National Solidarity Fund that was set up in Tunisia by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.  “I am delighted", he said, "that the United Nations has decided to scale up this innovative mechanism at the world level”.

**Announcement

As we have done in previous years, we are not going to do noon briefings during the holiday season.  As of tomorrow, we will just be posting highlights on the Web site every day, as if we did do a briefing.  We will resume the regular noon briefing here on 2 January 2003.  Should something important come up, though, we will call you back down here and talk to you in front of the cameras.

That is all I have.

**Questions and Answers

Question: No noon briefing tomorrow?

Spokesman: No noon briefing tomorrow.

Question: What was the Secretary-General's reaction to the United States veto of the resolution regarding the killing of the UN workers?

Spokesman: He had no public reaction that he has given me.

Question: But he has been very concerned regarding the killings and the veto came just a few hours after the Quartet meeting.

Spokesman: He is not going to comment on decisions taken by the Security Council after they have been taken.

Question: Could you comment on a report of UN contingency planning for the event of military action in Iraq?

Spokesman: I think any well-run organization does contingency planning on a routine basis.   The humanitarian side of the UN has, for some time now, been doing contingency planning in the event that there is military action in Iraq.  At the same time we expect that the mechanism in place now through UN inspection will be seized by Iraq as a way to avert that military action.  All the same, we have to do contingency planning.

Question: Can you confirm figures that the UN contingency planning foresees civil unrest and the possibility of 900,000 refugees?

Spokesman: I can't confirm any specific numbers, except that the planning we have been doing so far is really on a preliminary basis.  You might have seen a number of $37.3 million, or whatever it is, that we asked for, mainly for the pre-positioning of food and other supplies.  It is first-phase planning that is being done.  There may well have been thoughts given to subsequent phases with much higher numbers.  At this time, however, we have only asked for financial support for the initial phase.

Question: You mentioned it was just a regular meeting, but the Times of London labelled it as a secret meeting, maybe demanded by the United States Government, or ordered by the Secretary-General.  Could you deliberate on that?

Spokesman: I don't know who wrote the headline for James Bones' article, but it was, I think, sensationalistic and not reflective of some of the items in the article itself, that mentioned among other things, that we do expect Iraq to comply with the Security Council demands made of it, and that military action can be avoided.  We routinely deal with a core number of donor States in Geneva.  It was these States that were approached and our initial estimates of our requirements for the fist phase were give to them about a week, 10 days ago, I believe it was.

Question: Are the initial estimates publicly available?

Spokesman: No, but I have just confirmed a figure for you, $37.4 million, not 37.3.  Contingency planning is not something you normally go public with.  It is something you do quietly on the side, on a background basis.  You are not going to try to excite the public environment, you are just trying to be prepared for any contingency.

Question: Was that based on the collapse of Baghdad, or is that where the damage or fighting will be?

Spokesman: I can't get into any details, but as I have indicated, the planning for the initial stage, that we approached donors on about 10 days ago, was for modest pre-positioning of food and equipment.

Question: Are there any numbers on how many people would be fed from this $37.4 million?

Spokesman: Yes, there were some preliminary figures -- I can't give them to you, I don't think I have them here -- on the number that, in an initial phase, might be displaced and need help.

Question: Is there any road map on the plans concerning the Palestinian/Israeli conflict?

Spokesman: There was discussion of the road map, but the decision was taken by the Quartet not to go public with the road map at this time, but to do so in the near future, as I mentioned in my statement.

Question: Regarding the IAEA statements, is there anything you can say about what the Secretary-General is doing, on the telephone or otherwise?

Spokesman: I am not aware that he has made telephone calls in this connection.  I think we have already stated his concern in terms of the non-proliferation regime and stability in the region.  Until now this matter has not come to the Security Council.  It is been dealt with by the United States, South Korea and Japan.  The Secretary-General hopes that that approach will work, but continues to be concerned at these latest developments, which are not going in the right direction.

Question: On what basis were the contingency plans been drawn up?

Spokesman: It is the whole humanitarian community of the UN system that sits down and says:  what would we need as a minimum for the first phase of the fall-out from a military action in Iraq.  The High Commissioner for Refugees would say:  well, at the very least, at the minimum, at the outset, we should be prepared for a certain number of displaced persons or refugees.  Let us have X food, X tents, X blankets in place.  The World Food Programme would make the food estimates, and so on.  It goes across the board.  On that basis they came up with this $37.4 million request.

Question: Do you have a sense what kind military action will be taken.  On what basis do you take decisions?  What are your scenarios?

Spokesman: I don't think anyone can accurately predict the outcome of war.  What we have done in this case is say:  what do we think is prudent to have in position now, as a first step.  You can come up with best-case and worst-case scenarios, but we have done minimal estimates of what might be required, what we would like to have in place, should there be military action.

Question: Do you now how much money the United States contributes to this $37.4 million?

Spokesman: I don't know that we have had any specific offers in response to this request, which was just made 10 days ago.

Question: Is there a plan for Dr. Blix and his team, whether they are going back to Baghdad, and is there any new information from the United States, as the United States ambassador said they are going to present a new team?

Spokesman: I don't.  For anything specific like that, I think you should go to their spokesman.

Question: What is the update regarding the UN and Cambodia after the General Assembly has said to go ahead with negotiations.

Spokesman: Let me check with Office of Legal Affairs.  The Secretary-General said that if we were to resume talks with the Cambodian Government on the special court, he would want authority from the Member States.  He now has that.  I would have to check with OLA what the next step is.

Question: Was there any reaction or comment on the nice invitation for the CIA to join Mr. Blix and his people.

Spokesman: Last week, Dr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei said that they would like more information from Member States on where they should look.  We don't have the intelligence capacity that some Member States do.  Otherwise, I am very limited as to what I can say on behalf of Dr. Blix.  He does not report to the Secretary-General, he reports to the Security Council.

**Statement Attributable to Spokesman

I have one last statement attributable to the Spokesman concerning the return of some Kuwaiti property by Iraq.

“The Secretary-General notes that on 22 December, at Umm Qasr, Iraq handed over to Kuwaiti officials items of Kuwaiti property not related to its national archives (the list of these items was annexed to the recent report of the Secretary-General, S/2002/1349).  The United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM) facilitated this hand-over.”

Question:  New York City has passed a tough non-smoking bill.  What does this mean for the United Nations?  Will people be scaling the fence?  Is there any plan to bring the UN into code with the rest of New York?

Spokesman: Scaling the fence to have a puff…? We hope that doesn't happen.  Our position remains the same:  We can only politely ask delegates not to smoke. 

We can insist that staff members not smoke in the building.  I do my part.  Every time I see a staff member smoking I ask them please to go outside.  Maybe we should all do the same.

Question: Do you expect any action on the oil-for-food programme today or tomorrow?

Spokesman: I suppose we will have the weekly update tomorrow, as usual.  I am not aware of anything else.  Or are you talking about the Goods Review List?  The Goods Review List continues to be under discussion in the Security Council.  I don't know whether to expect something this week or not.

Question: Did the Secretary-General see David Grubin's "Gathering Storm" special?

Spokesman: You are talking about last week, a little preview that he attended.  He did not stay for the actual showing of clips, which I think was only 12 to 15 minutes of an hour and a half documentary.  To my knowledge, he hasn't seen it.

Question: Why isn't there a summarizing year's end briefing or press conference by the Secretary-General.

Spokesman: He has traditionally given that.  I think with all the exposure he has had to the media, mainly coming in the front door where he has been stopped and asked five or six question each morning, mostly on Iraq, I don't think he felt the need to come before you.  We did raise the question with him, and we are looking at maybe doing one in January.  We will do one that looks ahead instead rather than looks back, if that is okay with you.

Thank you very much.

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