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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Security Council

The Security Council held consultations on Lebanon this morning to discuss the Secretary-General’s latest report on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Jean-Marie Guehenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, briefed on the report, which asked the Council to extend the mission's mandate by a further six months, until 31 July.  Mr. Guehenno also alluded to yesterday's exchange of fire across the Blue Line.  Staffan de Mistura, the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for Southern Lebanon, was present in those consultations.

Today at 3:15 p.m., there will be a meeting with the troop contributors to the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).  At 3:30 p.m., the 661 Committee on Iraq and Kuwait is scheduled to meet in Conference room 7.  At

4 p.m., the Counter-Terrorism Committee is meeting in Conference Room 5.

**Iraq

We are again waiting for the daily update from the inspectors' activities in Baghdad.  It is delayed and we'll let you know when it arrives.

Closer to home, the Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), Hans Blix, returned to Headquarters today.

A number of you were waiting for him at the front door.  When he came into the Building, he was asked to respond to accusations that he was using the inspections just to prevent war.  The inspections are a peaceful avenue to disarmament, he said.  “It has never been inspection for the sake of inspection -– it is inspection for the sake of disarmament.”

**Middle East

Yesterday, after our briefing, Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, issued a statement in which he expressed serious concern over the demolition of Palestinian homes and commercial property by the Israeli army north of the West Bank town of Tulkarem.  Roed-Larsen said he was particularly concerned at the economic and humanitarian impact of such actions on the local economy.

**Mexico Earthquake

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale hit western Mexico just after 8 o’clock local time last night.  Preliminary information indicates that there are at least 17 dead and more than 100 injured near the town of Colima, 500 kilometres west of Mexico City.  There are no reports of

destruction of major buildings, but the electrical supply and telecommunications were disrupted.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is in contact with the UN Resident Coordinator in Mexico, and so far the Mexican Government has not asked for international assistance.  We have a situation report with more information.

We have the following statement attributable to the Spokesman:  “The Secretary-General has learned with great concern of an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale near the States of Jalisco and Colima, Mexico.  He is deeply saddened by the loss of life, injuries and destruction that have resulted from the disaster.  He wishes to convey his condolences to the people and the Government of Mexico and his heartfelt sympathy to all who have suffered as a result of the disaster.  The United Nations recognizes the prompt response of Mexican authorities to the needs created by the earthquake and stands ready to assist them, should they request support in these endeavours.”

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

The United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) announced today that it had voluntarily repatriated to Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo 11 former members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda – known as the DFLR – a Rwandan Hutu rebel group.  These 11 are part of a group of 21 former combatants who have been held by the DRC authorities since last October.  For more information, pick up the press release in my Office.

**Burundi

The late arrival of rains last fall in Burundi could contribute to reduced agricultural production and increasing malnutrition there this year, according to UN humanitarian agencies, with the number of cases of kwashiorkor on the rise and a malaria epidemic also being declared in parts of the country.  The World Food Programme, the Food and Agricultural Organization and the UN Children’s Fund say that, to respond to the crisis, they will require an additional $20.4 million.

**Extension of Sahnoun's Appointment

Available on the racks today is a letter from the Secretary-General to the Security Council, noting the work of his Special Adviser dealing with the Horn of Africa, Mohamed Sahnoun, who was been involved in recent, reinvigorated peace efforts for Somalia and the Sudan.  The Secretary-General has decided to extend Sahnoun’s appointment until the end of 2003.

**Côte d'Ivoire -- Humanitarian

Carolyn McAskie, the Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy for the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, continued her mission today with a visit to the refugee camp at Nicla, which is home to some 7,000 people from Liberia who have taken shelter there. 

The well-being of the camp’s residents has been a subject of grave concern for the United Nations, as Liberian refugees have been discriminated against since the outbreak of violence in Côte d'Ivoire.  Further complicating their situation are the roadblocks set up by youth groups to limit their movements.  No neighbouring country has responded to the United Nations’ request to provide them with asylum.  There is note with more details upstairs.

**UNAIDS Workshop on Sex Work and HIV/AIDS

We have a press release from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)on its workshop on sex work and HIV/AIDS.  Thirty-five representatives from the UN, governments and sex worker organizations have been meeting in Geneva, discussing effective ways of mobilizing sex workers and preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS among them.

According to the International Labour Organization’s estimates, the sex work industry accounted for more than 2 per cent of gross domestic product in four South-East Asian countries in the late 1990s.  The press release says that experiences in many countries show that when HIV infection rates among sex workers rise, it is an indication that HIV rates in the wider population are very likely to increase, unless effective prevention efforts are introduced.

**UNDP Forest Programme in Viet Nam

Yesterday in Hanoi, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched a $1.8 million programme to promote endangered tropical forests in Viet Nam.  The programme’s main goal is to support poor communities who depend on forests for their livelihoods, but often lack access to resources for sustainable forest management. The UNDP says that the main causes of forest degradation in Viet Nam are agricultural encroachment, consumption of wood for fuel, commercial logging, shifts in cultivation, overgrazing, war and fire damage.

**UNEP

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that the international effort to phase out lead in gas is accelerating, as more African countries switch to lead-free gas.  The results of research to be presented to the Governing Council when it meets in February indicates that four countries –- Egypt, Libya, Mauritius and the Sudan –- are already fully lead-free and four others are soon to join them.  A further 22 countries are in the process of drawing up action plans to phase out lead in gas.  The press release has more details.

**Budget

Four more Member States paid their 2003 regular budget contributions in full today.  Bosnia and Herzegovina and Monaco both paid more than $54,000.  Malta paid over $202,000, and New Zealand paid over $3.2 million.  There are now 25 Member States paid in full.

**UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) would like to announce that its Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, will be attending this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

We had a question at yesterday's briefing about whether the Secretary-General would be going and I said he would not.  But I did say that Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the UNDP,would be the senior-most UN official attending.

Questions and Answers

Question:  The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for North Korea returned today and is meeting with the Secretary-General now.  Do you have any information on what they are talking about or what he is reporting?

Spokesman:  No.  We did ask him if he would consider coming to this briefing.  I suspect he's decided not to, unless the meeting itself is lasting longer than expected.  We will ask him if he would like to talk to you and if the answer is no, we'll ask if we can get some kind of readout of the meeting.

Question:  The Council for the Japanese Prime Minister indicated a few days ago that Japan was slashing their UN contribution on the grounds that they were paying proportionately larger than their gross domestic product.  Japan was paying some 20 per cent of the UN budget, but their share in the global economy was

12 per cent.  Can you comment on the significance of this cut and how this procedure would continue?

Spokesman:  Well, there's a formula for determining Governments' share of the UN budget, and gross domestic product is only one of the criteria used, population is the other.  Then there's, in addition to that, sometimes a certain amount of trading of fractions of points where Member States might voluntarily agree to pay more.  So, if Japan wants that formula changed, it'll have to negotiate it within the Committee on Contributions of the General Assembly.

Thank you very much.

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