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.

Good afternoon.

**UNMOVIC

This morning Hans Blix, the Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), was in London where he met with Prime Minister Tony Blair for 40 minutes, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for 30 minutes and officials from the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office.  They discussed the state of the inspections and the upcoming trip to Baghdad by the chief inspectors.

Blix is making his way to Baghdad where he and IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei are expected to arrive Saturday morning for two days of talks with Iraqi officials.  Drs. Blix and ElBaradei will give a press conference at the Canal Hotel after the talks end on Sunday.  It has been tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. local time.  They are then scheduled to depart Baghdad early Monday, 10 February.

**Secretary-General on Iraq -- Wednesday

Yesterday afternoon, following the Security Council meeting on Iraq, the Secretary-General told reporters that the Council debate had been a good discussion, adding, “I still believe that war is not inevitable”.  He noted that all Security Council members said they wanted Iraq “to be pro-active in cooperation with inspectors”, and he expected that the UN weapons inspectors would factor into their work the information that US Secretary of State Colin Powell provided.

He added that the message to Iraq has been very clear, and the chief weapons inspectors would be going back to Baghdad in the next few days “to give them the same message in the name of a united international community”.

In response to a question, the Secretary-General said, “I am not going to Baghdad, but the inspectors are going, and they should be listened to."

**Secretary-General to William and Mary

The Secretary-General will leave tomorrow afternoon for Williamsburg, Virginia, where on Saturday he will speak at William and Mary College’s Charter Day ceremony marking the 310^th anniversary of the founding of the college by Great Britain’s King William III and Queen Mary II.

The Secretary-General hopes to use this speech to re-state the fundamental principles that must be borne in mind as the international community weighs questions of war and peace regarding Iraq.  He will also receive an honorary doctorate in the ceremony which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.  William and Mary is the second oldest university in the United States.  He will be

accompanied by his wife Nane, and they will be returning to New York late Saturday.

**Security Council/Kosovo

The Security Council held a formal meeting this morning to receive a briefing on Kosovo by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, Michael Steiner.

Steiner presented the Secretary-General’s latest report on Kosovo, which came out on the racks yesterday and says that significant achievements were made towards the end of 2002, including Kosovo’s second municipal elections and the extension of the UN Mission in Kosovo’s authority to northern Mitrovica.  However, the Secretary-General adds, Kosovo remains a considerable way from achieving the individual benchmarks and targets that have been set before it.

Steiner told the Council that he will concentrate on three priorities for the year ahead:  reducing the crime rate; improving the economy, and particularly dealing with the unemployment problem; and finally, encouraging the formation of a multi-ethnic society.  He added, “I don’t believe that 2003 is the time for finally solving Kosovo’s status.  But, it is the time to lay the groundwork for the political process which in the end will determine status”.

The Council is expected to adopt a Presidential Statement on Kosovo at the conclusion of today’s meeting.

Also today, the Council will hold its monthly luncheon with the Secretary-General.

**Côte d’Ivoire

The UN Security Coordinator’s office has taken note of recent developments in Côte d’Ivoire, including several violent demonstrations and xenophobic radio broadcasts, and has recommended that all non-essential UN staff leave the country.  There are currently some 120 international UN staff in Côte d’Ivoire, and we expect a maximum of 80 staff to remain in the country.  Also, specific security clearances will be needed for any other staff to go into Côte d’Ivoire.

You’ll recall that on Tuesday the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, at the Secretary-General's request, briefed the Security Council in closed consultations on Côte d'Ivoire. In that briefing, he highlighted the Secretary-General's continuing and strong concern at the danger of a further deterioration of the situation, building on the existing ethnic, communal and religious tensions in that country.

**Secretary-General’s remarks to the Advisory Board

In his remarks at the meeting with the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters this morning, the Secretary-General noted that this year the Board met at a time when the question of disarmament was at the very top of the international agenda.

“An ominous cloud hangs over the Board’s deliberations this year”, he said.  “This cloud represents the concerns of all humanity about the many dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction –- especially nuclear weapons”, he went on to say.  He warned about the rising military expenditures and added, “the DPRK and Iraq are only the tip of the iceberg” among the challenges posed to international security.

The Secretary-General underscored the critical role that civil society had played in the area of disarmament and expressed hope that the Board would arrive at new ways to make civil society a true partner.  The Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters is holding a closed meeting in New York from 5 to

7 February.  We have the full text of the Secretary-General’s comments in my office.

**Afghanistan

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has started to deliver new school materials in Afghanistan, as part of the Back to School campaign it’s waging there.

The first of a total of 315 tones of “Schools in a Box” began arriving in Kabul this week, as part of seven planned airlifts, with each containing enough classroom stationery and basic materials for 80 children.  This delivery will contribute to a total of 3,200 tones of school supplies due to start pouring into Afghanistan in the next few weeks.

UNICEF is working with the Afghan Ministry of Education to ensure supplies are available in 2003 for a total of 4.5 million girls and boys in Afghanistan schools, with a specific focus on increasing the enrolment of girls at the primary level. 

Also in Afghanistan today, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has signed two agreements with the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.  The first project, which is worth about $400,000, will benefit

5,000 Kuchi families. The project aims at ensuring the survival of their livestock during the critical period of winter and early spring.  Another agreement signed was on the emergency monitoring and control of locusts in northern Afghanistan.  The direct beneficiaries of this $391,000 project are the farmers and livestock owners of the infested areas who stand to lose their crops.  You can find more details in the briefing note from Kabul.

**DRC

From the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports it has sent a mission to Bandudu province in the western part of the country.  The team will follow up on reports of loss of life and heavy damage caused by a tornado there.  Government sources say the tornado killed more that 160 people and left close to 2,000 families homeless.

Together with officials from the DRC Ministry of health, UN officials are now traveling by boat to the hardest hit areas.  The team will report back tomorrow, at which time a more detailed assessment of damage and casualties will be provided.

**Monitoring group –- Al Qaeda

The Secretary-General, in a letter to the Security Council which is on the racks today, says he has reappointed the five-member Monitoring Group established under resolution 1363, which concerns the sanctions placed against Al Qaeda and associated entities.  The Secretary-General says the composition of the Group, which is chaired by Michael Chandler of the United Kingdom, will be unchanged.

**Protection of Children

The 26th Summit of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, has called on its members to adopt a plan of action on war-affected children proposed by Olara Otunnu, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

The proposal calls for the inclusion of child protection measures in ECOWAS peacekeeping and peacemaking activities and the development and strengthening of a network of child protection and advocacy agencies in the region.  The plan of action also calls for the establishment of ECOWAS as a child-soldier-free zone with initiatives aimed at reducing the recruitment of children as soldiers and the strengthening of traditional African values for the protection of children.  We have a press release on that.

**Press Releases

A few other press releases:  The first, the United Nations Children's Fund calls for governments to honour their promises to take action to end female genital mutilation.  Executive Director Carol Bellamy said an estimated

2 million girls are at risk from the practice, which not only violates the rights of children, but also has serious health consequences.  She added, “There is no better time to start taking action than today, the very first International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation”.  The Day was launched today at the Inter-African Committee for Traditional Practices, meeting in Addis Ababa.

The next press release is from the World Health Organization.  In Yangon, Myanmar, today, the annual meeting of countries where leprosy is endemic was told that, although there has been great progress in eliminating the disease, there were still serious concerns in several countries.  In 1985, there were

122 countries where the disease was endemic and today 108 of those countries have already reached their goal of eliminating the disease.  Ninety per cent of the cases of leprosy today are found in India, Brazil, Nepal, Madagascar, Mozambique and Myanmar.

Finally, WHO, in partnership with the drug company GlaxoSmithKline and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is making a new meningitis vaccine available to several African countries.  The effort comes just months after a new strain of the disease killed more than 1,700 people in Burkina Faso.  The first shipment of 100,000 doses of the new vaccine is being sent to Burkina Faso.  In all, 3 million doses will be sent to 21 countries in the meningitis belt, which stretches from Ethiopia to Senegal.

**Budget

In budget news today, we would like to acknowledge the payment of their 2003 regular budget contributions in full by Sweden.  The payment of more than $13 million was made before the end of the due period, which was Friday

31 January.  Sweden has, therefore been included in our Honour Roll list of those countries who have paid in full and on time.  And yesterday, France made a payment of more than $87 million to become the 39th Member State to pay its contribution in full.

**Press Conferences

Two press conferences tomorrow:  At 11:15 a.m., on the occasion of the presentation of the report entitled “The Full Costs of Ballistic Missile Defense”, the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the UN is sponsoring a press conference by Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (ECAAR) and the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. 

And then at 12:30 p.m., Ambassador Zeid Ra’ad ZeEid Al-Hussein, the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the UN, in his capacity as President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Bill Pace, convener of the Coalition of the International Criminal Court, will update correspondents on developments regarding the ICC.

That’s all I have for you.  Yes?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Nelson Mandela said yesterday that he was willing to go to Iraq and that Baghdad had contacted him to ask him to visit Iraq, if this Secretary-General gave his approval to such a mission.  And I’m wondering if he had contacted the Secretary-General or the Secretary-General had seen this?

Spokesman:  I am not aware that they’ve spoken recently.  So, I don’t know that this matter has even been called to the Secretary-General’s attention.  So, I’d have to check for you.

Question:  Did the Secretary-General ever have any reaction to Mandela’s statement a few days ago that the United States was pushing around the United Nations, perhaps because the Secretary-General was black, and that it hadn’t done so during times when there was a white Secretary-General?

Spokesman:  I don’t think the Secretary-General thinks that this is a racial matter.  Akran?

Question:  The Kosovans are debating among themselves concerning self-governance.  Can you update us on that situation?

Spokesman:  I will not do that, Akran.  That would be an encyclopedic presentation I would have to make.  The issue of the status of Kosovo remains to be addressed.  Michael Steiner made comments on that subject and I have nothing to add to what he said.  Yes, Patricia?

Question:  Is the Otunnu plan of action available in anything beyond the press release.  You said there’s a press release about it.  Is there an actual plan?  Is there a booklet or anything?

Spokesman:  I’ll have to see if we have that documentation.  I’m not sure we do.

Question:  But it would be, it does exist as far as you know?

Spokesman:  I don’t know whether it’s in our hands or not.  Michael?

Question:  Why is Mr. de Soto coming to New York next week?

Spokesman:  Consultations during a very intense period of negotiations between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots.  To brief the Secretary-General and then to quickly go back and continue his good offices function in those negotiations.

Question:  Can you confirm that the Secretary-General sent a letter to the prime ministers of Greece and Turkey asking them to come to New York?

Spokesman:  He did send letters to those two leaders, not to invite them to New York, but merely to emphasize the urgency of their pressing ahead without delay to finalize security aspects of his revised plans for Cyprus by the end of this month.  Yes, Lee?

Question:  Can we know what new item is on your table there?

Spokesman:  I thought you’d never ask!  The Secretary-General wanted me to show this to you.  It was given to him yesterday at lunch by Foreign Minister Ivanov of Russia.  And if you look closely at the ears of this bear it says “Sec-Gen” and the trees on either side say “war and peace”, and the circle in the bear’s arms says “Security Council”.  And the five balls are each marked by names of the permanent members of the Council.  In Latin, along the base it says:  “Blessed are the Peacemakers.  For they shall be called the children of God”.  And the bear is delicately balanced between this wire between war and peace.  And if you remove any of the balls… (Demonstrates by tipping one of the balls, which causes the whole object to fall).

Question:  Can we get the UN official photographer to take a picture of that please?

Spokesman:  Sure.

Question:  Thanks.

Question:  Ivanov gave that to the Secretary-General at lunch?

Spokesman:  Yes.  Thank you very much.

Correspondent:  How symbolic!