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 Hua Jiang, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Secretary-General in Rome

The Secretary-General spoke this morning in Rome at the twenty-fifth anniversary meeting of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), saying that the possibility of war against Iraq should not distract Governments from carrying out the UN’s wider agenda.

He added that, at a time of famine, “AIDS is depriving countries of their capacity to resist,” creating a need to combine food assistance with the treatment and prevention of AIDS.  We have copies of his speech upstairs.

In the margins of the Rome meeting, the Secretary-General was presented with an appeal against a war in Iraq by Walter Veltroni, the Mayor of Rome.  That appeal was also signed by the majors of Berlin, Brussels, London, Moscow, Paris, Vienna, Belgrade, Ljubljana and Sarajevo.

He then met with Sweden’s Minister for Development Cooperation, Jan Karlsson, in which he discussed the link between AIDS and food production, and afterward had a similar discussion with IFAD President Lennart Bage.

On leaving the conference facility, the Secretary-General was asked by a journalist whether the Pope invited him to go to Baghdad, and he said that, when he met Pope John Paul II yesterday, they did not talk about a visit to Baghdad.  However, he told the reporters, he does plan to go to the Arab League Summit next month.

Asked whether he shared the Vatican’s view that there is now more hope for peace, he said, “I have maintained that war is not inevitable and that war is always a human catastrophe, and we should exhaust all other possibilities for a peaceful settlement before war is even contemplated.”  We have the transcript of that press encounter upstairs.

The Secretary-General then attended a luncheon hosted by the IFAD President before he left for Paris, where he will address the Africa-France Summit tomorrow.

**Security Council

The Security Council resumed its open debate on Iraq this morning, just after 10 a.m., with more than 30 speakers on the list.

Security Council President, German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, said at the start of the meeting that the morning session would end at 12:30 p.m. and resume again at 3 p.m.

Consultations on a letter from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are expected to take place after the morning session, according to the Council presidency.  [A correction to the above statement was announced after the briefing.  Specifically, the consultations on the letter from the IAEA will now be taking place in the afternoon, at 3:00 p.m.]

On other program matters, the Security Council has added consultations on Cote d'Ivoire for Friday.

**Iraq Oil

According to the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme, Iraqi oil exports for the week ending 14 February totalled 11.4 million barrels for an estimated value of $315 million.  For more details, take a look at the full weekly update, which is available upstairs.

**Cyprus

In Nicosia, the Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, today held lengthy consultations with Tassos Papadopoulos.  This morning he also met with Greek Cypriot leader, Glafcos Clerides, and last night with Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

During his weekly press briefing, the head of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Amos Namanga Ngongi, called on the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots, Thomas Lubanga, to refrain from blocking the work of the Ituri Pacification Commission.  Ngongi said if Lubanga’s attitude did not change, the UN mission would have no other choice but to bring this matter to the Security Council.  For more information, please pick up the press release upstairs.

**Liberia

Out on the racks today is a letter from the Secretary-General to the Security Council in which he appoints four members of the Panel of Experts to conduct a follow-up assessment mission to Liberia and neighbouring countries.

As you recall, on 28 January, the Security Council, deeply concerned by the situation in Liberia and neighbouring countries, especially in Côte d'Ivoire, re-established, for a further three months, the Panel of Experts investigating compliance with the sanctions imposed on the Liberian Government, including an arms embargo, a travel ban for officials, and a ban on the import of its rough diamonds.

**UNHCR/Central African Republic

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that thousands of refugees from the Central African Republic have fled northwards to Chad to escape recent fighting between Government troops and rebel forces. Smaller numbers of refugees from areas south of the Republic’s capital, Bangui, have also gone south to the Republic of Congo to escape rebel activity near their homes.

The UNHCR has dispatched a three–person team to southern Chad to verify reports of the recent arrival of nearly 20,000 people who fled fighting in the northern areas of the Central African Republic.  For more information, take a look at the UNHCR web site.

**Zimbabwe/Judges

Dato Param Cumaraswamy, the UN special rapporteur dealing with the independence of judges and lawyers, today expressed his grave concern over the arrest and detention on Monday of a Zimbabwean judge who has been charged with an alleged obstruction of justice.  The rapporteur said the latest arrest is but one in a series of institutional and personal attacks on the judiciary and its judges over the past two years, which have left the rule of law in Zimbabwe “in tatters”.  Please see the press release upstairs for more details.

**Tribunals

In Arusha, Tanzania, today, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda unanimously ruled that a Rwandan doctor was guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, while his father was convicted of aiding and abetting in genocide.

The three-judge trial chamber unanimously found guilty both the son, Gérard Ntakirutimana, whom it sentenced to 25 years in prison, and his father Elizaphan, who received a 10-year sentence.  We have details in a press release from the Rwanda Tribunal.

Also today, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia confirmed the arrest yesterday in Slovenia of Fatmir Limaj, a Kosovo Albanian who was indicted by the Tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in a Kosovo Liberation Army prison camp in 1998.  Limaj will soon be transferred to the Tribunal’s Detention Unit, where three other Kosovo Albanians, who were indicted along with him, have already arrived.

**Human Rights

In Geneva today, High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello addressed an international conference of governmental and non-governmental experts on actions to deal with people who are missing because of armed conflict and internal violence, saying that “the disappeared are often the most contentious issue in peacemaking, the issue that makes confidence-building all the more difficult.  Rightly so.”

He expressed his hope that, as the Commission on Human Rights tries to elaborate a new, legally binding instrument to guarantee better protection for victims of enforced disappearance, it will seek to impose positive obligations to prevent deviation by states.  We have copies of his speech upstairs.

**Global Compact

French President Jacques Chirac met with leaders of French companies in Paris today to discuss the Global Compact, the Secretary-General’s initiative to win support from businesses for nine principles of human rights, labour rights and environmental standards. 

The Global Compact Office informs us that, at today’s discussion, business leaders shared with the French President examples of good corporate practices and partnership projects.  The examples included an initiative to fight malaria in Africa; access to water in urban areas; voluntary initiatives to advance environmental management; and other corporate practices in support of the Global Compact.  A broad consensus emerged among the participants that many of today’s problems could only be solved if governments, business and civil society work together.

**Afghanistan

Today in Kabul, Afghanistan, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has signed an agreement with the Government of Japan which gives a major financial boost to the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process in the country.  Under the agreement the Government of Japan will be giving $35 million to UNDP for conflict prevention and peace-building in Afghanistan. 

The UN Mission in Afghanistan welcomes the contribution as “a significant step forward” in supporting the Afghan Administration in its efforts to bring stability and security to the country through security sector reform.

**Ebola in Republic of Congo

The outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in the north-west of the Republic of the Congo has been confirmed as Ebola.  As of yesterday, there have been reported 80 cases, including 64 deaths.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has sent several experts in clinical case management, epidemiology and social work to the region to assist the government in controlling the outbreak. This is the second outbreak in the region in the last 15 months.

In other news from WHO, there has been one confirmed case of avian influenza or “bird flu” in Hong Kong.  The case was confirmed in a nine-year-old boy, whose mother has recovered from similar symptoms.  The boy is recovering, but two other members of the family have died.  This flu was first seen in humans in 1997 when 18 people died in Hong Kong and all chickens thought to be the source of the outbreak were slaughtered.

We have press releases on both these items.

**Information Technology

The UN Information and Communication Technologies Task Force will hold its fourth meeting on Friday and Saturday in Geneva. It will focus on how best to link the information technology efforts by the private sector, civil society and the UN system in furthering development and the Millennium Development Goals.

**Press Release

We have one more press release to highlight for you today.

The Food and Agriculture Organization has announced the launch of a new electronic bulletin on food safety and quality.  Subscribers to “The Food Safety and Quality Updates” will receive each month the table of contents of the full bulletin, which is available on the Web site.  The newsletter is available to anyone who wishes to subscribe, although it targets food safety experts.  The press release has the subscription details.

**Budget

Three more Member States have joined the list of those that have paid their 2003 regular budget contributions in full.  Samoa made a payment of more than $13,000; Belgium, more than $15 million; and the Netherlands, more than

$23 million.  We now have 49 fully paid-up Member States.  And Germany also made a contribution of over $87 million to the peacekeeping budget.

That’s all I have for you.  Any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Do you have any specific schedule for Mr. Hans Corell to go to Phnom Penh to talk to with the Cambodian government on establishing the trial of the Khmer Rouge?

Answer:  I mentioned yesterday here that the UN has received a response from the Phnom Penh government regarding the trial, setting up of the trial tribunal.  And in return to the response, the UN came up with two possible dates.  One is the end of the week, and the other one is early next month.  So far, we haven’t been officially informed which date will be more convenient for the Cambodian Government.  So, we are still waiting for a reply.  I have seen reports coming out from Cambodia that the Government prefers the early March date, but we haven’t been informed officially.

Okay, have a very good afternoon then.  Thank you.

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