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, and Richard Sydenham, Spokesman for the General Assembly President.

Good afternoon.

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

We’re going to start with a statement attributable to the Spokesman concerning the assassination in Serbia:  “The Secretary-General was shocked and saddened this morning to learn of the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.  The Secretary-General deplores this act of political violence marring the process of democratic normalization in Serbia and trusts that the perpetrators of this crime will be brought to justice.  He extends his condolences to the Prime Minister’s family and to the people of Serbia.”

**DJINDJIC – ADD

In addition to that statement, we have available a statement by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, Michael Steiner, calling the Prime Minister’s assassination “a brutal act against a democratically elected head of government”.

Steiner said he had known Mr. Djindjic for the last decade, and held him in high personal esteem.

**UNIKOM

The United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM) is presently implementing phase 3 of its security plan, which involves the relocation of its less essential civilian and military staff out of the Demilitarized Zone to Kuwait City, while the remaining staff continues to carry out activities from that Zone, with administrative support from the UNIKOM support offices in
Kuwait City.

This is an ongoing process to carry out contingency arrangements, which includes withdrawal of UNIKOM personnel safely from the Demilitarized Zone in the event that the United Nations Mission becomes unable to carry out its mandate there.

**UNMOVIC

The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) yesterday supervised the destruction of three more Al-Samoud 2 missiles, nine warheads, one launcher and some propellant tasks.  Yesterday’s activities bring the total number of Al-Samoud 2 missiles that have been destroyed to 55, while 28 warheads have also been destroyed.

The UNMOVIC yesterday sought a private interview with an Iraqi chemical researcher, but did not proceed with the interview after the researcher insisted that it be tape-recorded.

As of yesterday, UNMOVIC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had approximately 180 staff, including 71 inspectors, in Iraq, along with
34 local staff.  A dozen inspectors are on a short break in Larnaca, Cyprus, and will return to Iraq after that break.  So, the rotation of staff continues normally.

For full details of the weapons inspectors’ activity, please see a briefing note, and just as I was coming down, we received the briefing note for today from Baghdad.  So, you’ll be able to pick that up in a few minutes.

**Security Council-Iraq

The Security Council is scheduled to resume an open debate on Iraq this afternoon at 3 p.m.  So far, there are 24 speakers inscribed to speak today.  We’ll get you the latest list shortly before the start of the meeting.  There were 28 speakers yesterday.  So, we anticipate they’ll be able to conclude that debate this afternoon.

**Security Council

The Security Council is holding consultations this morning on Somalia, with a briefing on the latest report and recent developments in that country by the Secretary-General’s Representative Winston Tubman.

As you’ll recall, in that report, the Secretary-General said that it had become increasingly clear that inside Somalia, the continued outbreaks of hostilities are motivated by individual rivalries of faction leaders and criminal activities, rather than by wider issues.

He urged Somali leaders to rededicate themselves to the search for national reconciliation.  He had also commended the frontline States of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for their efforts aimed at restoring reconciliation and normalcy in Somalia.

Also on Somalia, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator's Office today warned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Baidoa, where fighting for control of the town has disrupted aid activities for more than eight months.  And we have a press release with more on that.

**Secretary-General Travels

The Secretary-General left the Netherlands this morning, ending a trip in which he yesterday attended the inaugural ceremony of the International Criminal Court.  He arrived back in New York this morning, at about 9:30 a.m.  He’s resting at his residence now and he’ll be in the office this afternoon for a series of meetings with ambassadors, as well as internal appointments.  We have his programme available in my office.

**IAEA

A four-day conference is underway in Vienna, dealing with the security of radioactive sources, and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei opened the conference yesterday by stressing the need for “cradle-to-grave” control for radioactive sources that could be used to make “dirty bombs”.

He warned, “In the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and the stark awareness of the potential for radioactive sources to be used in malevolent acts, source security has taken on a new urgency”.

He said the problem was especially present in the newly independent States of the former Soviet Union, where, he said, the transitions which governments face “have in some cases led to a loss of regulatory oversight of radioactive sources”.  Additional security measures, he said, are urgently needed.  We have copies of that speech upstairs.

**UNICEF in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Yesterday in Beijing, the Regional Director of the United Nations Children's Fund for East Asia and the Pacific, Mehr Khan, highlighted the dramatic drop in levels of funding for humanitarian assistance to the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea since early this year.

Speaking after a weeklong tour observing the humanitarian situation in the country, Ms. Khan said that UNICEF's appeal for $12 million in emergency assistance had so far received less than $500,000.  She noted that there had been gains recently in children's nutritional status and childhood immunization rates, but cautioned that unless funds are urgently provided, UNICEF's work in these and other critical areas, such as water and sanitation and education, would be endangered.

**Computers

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will hold a two-day meeting in Paris starting on Friday of this week, on the recycling of computer equipment. 

Millions of computers become obsolete each year due to the fast pace of development in information technology, but they may still have some use in developing countries.  The meeting will look at more efficient ways to use all types of material from computers, scanners and printers to servers and software.  Here at the United Nations, obsolete computers are made available to
Member States.  The data and software are removed from the computers and they are then matched with a monitor, keyboard and mouse before delivery.  We have a press release with more information on that.

**Budget

My last item for this morning is budget news:  Portugal today became the sixty-first Member State to pay its 2003 regular budget contribution in full.  And that with payment of more than $6 million.

That’s all I have for you.  Any questions before we go to Richard?  Yes, Michael?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  The spokesman of the State Department yesterday blamed
Mr. Denktash for the collapse of the talks.  Do you agree with him?

Spokesman:  You asked me that question twice in different forms, Michael.  And I read out our statement yesterday and I said it was for you to judge.  We’re not making any judgements on our side.  Yes?

Question:  Pakistan is calling for a resolution of the Kashmir dispute and I am wondering if there is any response from the Secretary-General’s office?

Spokesman:  Calling where?

Question:  Here at the Council.

Spokesman:  The Security Council?

Question:  Yeah.

Spokesman:  No.  I’m not aware of that.  And in any case, the
Secretary-General wouldn’t react to that before the Council had decided to take it up.  Anything else?  Yes?

Question:  You said that you relocate the staff out of the DMZ and yet you rotate the inspectors’ staff normally.  What is the rationale for taking contingency arrangements for one mission, yet not for the other?

Spokesman:  The border peacekeeping mission is under the direction of the Peacekeeping Department.  Mr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei have direct responsibility for their inspectors.  And the United Nations Security Coordinator has responsibility for the rest.  The conditions on the border could be different from those inside.  The Peacekeeping Department has made clear that they’re going to continue their patrolling activities to the extent that they can along the border, while relocating non-essential staff.  Mr. Blix has decided that, given the pace of his inspection activities, he does not, at this point, feel he needs to downsize the number of inspectors in the country.  So, he is maintaining his activity level.  Michael?

Question:  When do you expect the vote for Iraq?

Spokesman:  That’s not for me to expect.  The timing of the vote, of course, is one of the things that Security Council members are now debating and we’re just waiting to see what the final outcome might be.

Okay, Richard?

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon.

President Kavan is shocked and saddened by the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and he extends his sympathies to the Government and people of Serbia and Montenegro, and to Mr. Djindjic’s family. 
President Kavan deplores this violent act against a democratically elected Head of Government.

And President Kavan has expressed his condolences to the Government and people of Nauru, and to the family of President Bernard Dowiyogo, on his untimely death last Sunday.

President Kavan has wound up official visits to Australia and Japan and yesterday, in Prague, he participated in a session of the Czech Parliament.  He will return to New York later today.

Tomorrow, the General Assembly will hold a plenary meeting at 10 a.m. to take a decision which will set the opening of the fifty-eighth session.  The draft resolution is expected to be adopted by consensus.  If adopted, as expected, the fifty-eighth session will open on Tuesday, 16 September, and the general debate will start on Tuesday, 23 September.

Any questions?

Thank you.

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