DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
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.
**Spokesman for Secretary-General
Good afternoon.
**Security Council
Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), briefed an open meeting of the Security Council on Iraq this morning.
Members of the Council are now addressing the meeting attended by
10 foreign ministers and the Secretary-General.
Iraq is also expected to speak.
Following the open meeting, and after a short break, Council members only are scheduled to hold a closed meeting in the formal chamber.
The meeting is chaired by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher in his capacity as Security Council President.
**Council -- Blix
While starting off with an update on the field work of the UNMOVIC inspectors in the field, Hans Blix said that his team had obtained a good knowledge of the industrial and scientific landscape in Iraq, as well as of its missile capability but, he said, “as before, we do not know every cave and corner”.
In addition to visits, some 300 chemical and biological samples have been collected and the destruction of mustard gas has begun.
While noting that cooperation on procedure had been good, cooperation on substance was indispensable, he said. Cooperation “requires more than the opening of doors”. He added that in the current situation, one would expect Iraq to be eager to comply.
Blix told members of the Security Council, that a group of missile experts had been convened and concluded unanimously that, based on the data provided by Iraq, the two declared variants of the Al Samoud 2 missile were capable of exceeding 150 kilometres in range, which is proscribed by the UN resolution.
He informed the Council that UNMOVIC would start using U2 surveillance planes next week and that arrangements were being made to also use Mirage aircraft for surveillance flights.
In conclusion, Blix said that if Iraq had provided the necessary cooperation in 1991, the phase of disarmament could have been short and a decade of sanctions could have been avoided. “Today”, he said, three months after the adoption of resolution 1441 (2002), the period of disarmament through inspection could still be short, if “immediate, active and unconditional cooperation” with UNMOVIC and the IAEA were to be forthcoming.
**Council -- ElBaradei
ElBaradei, in his briefing, said the focus of his agency’s work in Iraq has now moved from the “reconnaissance phase” into the “investigative phase” While updating the members of the Council on the general work of the nuclear inspectors, which includes some 177 visits to 125 sites since work began at the end of last year, ElBaradei focused on a number of specific issues such as uranium acquisition and laser related documents.
The IAEA, ElBaradei said, had recently received some additional information relating to uranium acquisition, which will be further pursued, hopefully with the assistance of the African country reported to have been involved.
In conclusion, the chief weapons inspector said that to date, the IAEA has found no evidence of ongoing prohibited nuclear or nuclear-related activities in Iraq.
“However”, he added, “a number of issues are still under investigation and we are not yet in a position to reach a conclusion about them, although we are moving forward with regard to some of them”.
**Oshima
Also, on an Iraq related note, out on the racks upstairs, is a pressrelease on the briefing you received yesterday by the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Kenzo Oshima, on the UN humanitarian preparedness efforts in case of a potential conflict in Iraq.
**Statement on Palestinian Authority
We have the following statement attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of the Middle East:
“The Secretary-General welcomes the announcement by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat that he intends to appoint a Prime Minister and also that he fully embraces the Quartet “road map”. The Secretary-General believes that these are two very important steps towards restarting the Middle East peace process. The Secretary-General looks forward to working with a credible and fully empowered Palestinian Prime Minister. He believes it is now essential for the Palestinian Legislative Council to meet as soon as possible, so that
Mr. Arafat can bring his nomination forward; and he urges both parties to do everything necessary for that to happen.
“The Secretary-General notes the importance of this move in advance of meeting in London next week between the parties and key members of the international community to discuss donor assistance and Palestinian reform. The Quartet Envoys will also convene during this set of meetings.
**Palestine message
In a message to be delivered this afternoon, the Secretary-General warns about the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis; saying “Let us not fall into the trap of imagining that it can not get any worse. It easily can”.
In the statement to the opening of the 2003 Session on the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which will be delivered by Iqbal Riza, the Chef de Cabinet, the Secretary-General outlines again the steps needed to be taken to realize the vision of a two-State solution.
He underscores the importance of international help and pledges that UN agencies, including UNRWA, will continue their efforts. He notes that UNRWA today is facing an especially severe financial crisis and calls on donors to contribute generously in this time of acute hardship.
We have the embargoed text of the statement in my office.
**Cyprus
The Secretary-General’s Special Advisor for Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, returned to the island earlier today in time to host a meeting, on UN premises, of the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, and the Greek Cypriot leader, Glafcos Clerides.
Upon arrival at the airport, de Soto told journalists that the timing of the Secretary-General’s forthcoming trip to the region was no coincidence. “The deadline for the need to complete an agreement by the end of the month is a very real one”, he said, “and it is not a deadline that has been imposed by the Secretary-General”.
The Secretary-General, de Soto added, “believes that a settlement by then is a real possibility and he wants to make every effort at his disposal and within his reach to help the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots bring about this goal”.
**Africa -- Refugees and Food
The World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today warned that the fate of more than 1.2 million refugees in Africa was uncertain due to a lack of funding.
The WFP urgently needs 112,000 metric tons of food worth an estimated
$84 million over the next six months to avert severe hunger among refugees.
The warning comes amid growing concerns that a potential conflict in Iraq may distract the attention of donor nations from the pressing needs of millions of refugees on the African continent.
Major interruptions in the food pipeline for one or more of the basic food commodities are feared in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Algeria and the Sudan -– Africa's main refugee-hosting nations.
**Côte d’Ivoire
The UNHCR meanwhile reports that the continuing political uncertainty in Côte d'Ivoire has prompted an increasing number of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Liberian refugees still caught in the fighting to seek immediate repatriation or evacuation to neighbouring countries.
The UNHCR says it has been pressing countries in West Africa to accommodate Liberian refugees who cannot return to Liberia, but so far, there have been no positive responses.
**Conference on Disarmament
I have had a number of questions about the Conference on Disarmament (CD), and I would just like to read into the record something in relation to the CD saying that the Conference on Disarmament was established in 1979 as the single disarmament multilateral negotiating forum of the international community. The CD currently has 66 member countries. Although it has a special relationship with the United Nations, the CD is not an organ of the United Nations. The CD adopts its own rules of procedure and conducts its work by consensus; and then pursuant to rule 9 of its Rules of Procedure the presidency of the conference rotates among all its members based on the English alphabetical list of the membership. And this rotation began in January 1979.
**Nobel Peace Prize
The Secretary-General has issued messages to the 8th annual Nobel Peace Prize festival, which took place yesterday at Augsberg College in Minnesota, USA and the 15th Nobel Peace Prize Forum, which is taking place today and tomorrow at Concordia College in Maine, in which he says that “work for peace is far too important to be left only to politicians, diplomats and bureaucrats”.
He highlights the challenges the world faces, from the problems in Iraq, North Korea, the Middle East and Côte d’Ivoire to the AIDS epidemic and global climate change. And yet, he says, “I am still an optimist”, adding, “Nations working together can make a difference”.
**Human Rights
The UN working group on arbitrary detention, led by Louis Joinet, will visit Iran, starting tomorrow, at the invitation of the Government.
During its field mission, which lasts until 27 February, the group will visit detention centres in Isfahan, Shiraz, Teheran and Yazd. It will meet with Iranian officials, as well as with members of human rights groups and civil society.
**Digital Divide
The preparatory committee for the World Summit on the Information Society will begin consideration next Monday of a draft declaration on ways to bridge the “digital divide”. The Summit, which is to be held in Geneva this December, is to examine how information and communication technology has transformed the world, but has also created a world of “haves” and “have nots” when its comes to information.
**Press Releases
Press releases: one to highlight on the sixth and final round of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which will take place in Geneva next week. The body will consider the newly revised text of the Framework Convention, which was issued a few weeks ago. The text includes international rules on tobacco taxation, smoking prevention and treatment, illicit trade, advertising and promotion and product regulation. The text is available on the World Health Organization Web site.
**Budget
We received one more payment today when Lesotho became the 46th Member State to pay its 2003 regular budget contribution in full with a payment of about $13,000.
**The week ahead at the United Nations
We have “The Week Ahead” for you to help you plan your work at the United Nations next week.
**Warning
And I have a rather dire warning to give you. Despite the reminder I gave you a few weeks ago, a number of you have been going up to Dr. Blix’s offices uninvited. This violation of the rules was especially egregious at the beginning of this week when there was a panel of missile experts up there, evaluating data on Iraq’s missile programme.
Secretariat members must have the right to work in privacy. And for this reason we have a guideline for journalists saying you may not go above the
4th floor without an appointment. We don’t want to take this up on our reaction against you, but unless you cooperate you may give us no other option.
That’s all I have for you. May we all go back to the Security Council? Thank you very much. Thank you.
* *** *