DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

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.

Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good Afternoon.

**Guest at Noon

Maurice Strong, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, will be joining us today.  He will brief you on his recent mission to the Democratic Republic of Korea.

**Iraq -- Humanitarian

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported during today’s daily humanitarian briefing in Amman, Jordan that small numbers of Iraqis have started to trickle into Jordan and Syria, but there are no reports of large-scale refugee movements.

A UNHCR spokesman said while there is no mass exodus, some Iraqis are starting to leave, braving an uncertain security situation on routes leading west while paying the high price demanded by taxis plying the roads.  He added that no movements have been reported towards any of Iraq's other borders.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has chartered trucks to travel from Turkey into northern Iraq to deliver some 6,000 tonnes of wheat.  The wheat was purchased in Turkey with funds provided by the Canadian Government.  The agency says more than 23,000 people of Dohuk governorate (mainly in the area close to the Turkish border) are receiving their first full rations of wheat flour since well before the war began.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is also mounting trucking operations into northern and southern Iraq.  UNICEF convoys will head to Dohuk in northern Iraq and a separate convoy of trucks is on its way to the southern Iraqi towns of Um Qail, south Basra, Safwan and Zubair.  Since UNICEF began its humanitarian deliveries from Kuwait, 85 trucks have taken life-saving supplies into southern Iraq.

UNICEF is concerned at reports from its drivers in southern Iraq of scenes of looting in certain areas they have visited, especially in Zubair, where schools are being looted.  The full text of the Amman briefing will be available in my Office.

On a related note, UNHCR announced on Tuesday in Rome that the Italian tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, will join hands with U2 Irish rock band leader Bono in May at a charity concert in Modena, Italy, to raise funds for people displaced by the Iraq conflict.

**Oil-for-food

The “oil-for-food” programme has identified four new locations for the delivery and transshipment of emergency food and other items to Iraq once security conditions allow.  The new locations are in Syria, Turkey, Jordan and Kuwait.  All offer the advantages of bulk handling facilities, warehousing for supplies and good road links with Iraq.

Meanwhile, UN agencies and organizations are continuing to review contracts in the oil-for-food pipeline for items that will be useful in the current emergency and can be expedited.  The full text of the oil-for-food update is available upstairs.

**Compensation Commission

The UN Compensation Commission today has made available more than

$860 million to governments and to international organizations for distribution to 370 successful claimants.  The present payment brings the overall amount of compensation made available to date by the Compensation Commission to more than $17.5 billion.  We have a press release upstairs with more information, including a table listing the recipients of the payments.

**Security Council

The Security Council began consultations today with a briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  The Council President, Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico, is expected to read a press statement following those consultations.

As you’ll recall, yesterday, in a statement on reported massacres in the Ituri region of the DRC, the Secretary-General demanded that all concerned unconditionally respect the basic human rights of innocent civilians.  He said that the reported massacres underscore the need for the local leaders to participate fully in the Ituri Pacification Committee, which has been established to find peaceful solutions in this troubled region.

The second item on today’s consultations’ agenda is the oil-for-food program for Iraq, during which Benon Sevan, the program’s Executive Director, is expected to brief.  After the consultations end, the Council has scheduled a formal meeting to consider a draft resolution on Somalia sanctions on the re-establishment of a Panel of Experts.

**DRC

Also on the DRC, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, today said he was gravely alarmed by the reports received from the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that more than 1,000 people had been killed in Drodro, north of the town of Bunia, in Ituri Province.  He urged all the parties fighting in Ituri to find the perpetrators of these odious and criminal acts and bring them to justice.  We have copies of Vieira de Mello’s statement, in French, available upstairs.

**Sierra Leone

The pace of repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees from Guinea has quickened over the past few days as the UN refugee agency began using a new, shorter return route, raising hopes that the repatriation could be wrapped up by the end of next year.  You can read more about this in today’s briefing notes from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

**Carlo Urbani

The Secretary-General sent a message to the memorial service that was held today in Hanoi for Dr. Carlo Urbani, the first World Health Organization officer to identify Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, SARS, from which he died.  The Secretary-General said if it had not been for his recognition that the outbreak was something out of the ordinary, many more would have fallen victim to SARS.  “It was the cruelest of ironies”, he said, “that he lost his own life to SARS while seeking to safeguard others from the disease”.  We have the full text of the message upstairs.

**HIV/AIDS

Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is in Havana this week attending the Second Forum on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Speaking at the opening of the forum today, Piot said financial resources are uneven across the regions and those available resources are often not allocated to the groups that are most at risk of infection.

He said that prevention and care interventions must be sustained and strengthened, particularly amongst marginalized populations such as sex workers, injecting drug users and poor migrant workers.  Positive results, he added, can be seen when there is concerted action against AIDS that includes all civil society.  We have a press release on that.

**UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund has warned that children and young people in Asia are facing unprecedented risks form HIV/AIDS and other diseases due to the rapid spread of amphetamine-type drug abuse.  Asia has 33 million users of this type of drug and approximately two-thirds live in Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan.  Children and young people account for the majority of new users, exposing them to risks of contracting HIV/AIDS and other diseases through the sharing of needles.

We have a press release with more information.  We also have another press release from UNICEF on tomorrow’s attempt to break the record for the world’s largest lesson.  At 10 a.m. tomorrow in Conference Room 1, Nane Annan, wife of the Secretary-General, and world music star Angelique Kidjo will lead the UN Headquarters leg of the lesson that will take place simultaneously in

100 countries.

**Drugs

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs opened its 46^th session in Vienna today, and, in a report submitted to the Commission, Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said that efforts to reduce illicit drug abuse have shown signs of progress in recent years.  Costa noted promising results that have been achieved in reducing the areas under opium poppy and coca bush cultivation, by introducing alternative development strategies that give farmers an alternative to producing drugs.

He said that, in recent years, a large number of governments have incorporated demand reduction into their strategies to deal with drugs, and have also launched information campaigns on drugs.  Costa also urged governments to work together in the fight against drugs, warning, “Otherwise, problems are only pushed around, from one country to another, in a zero-sum game”.  We have a press release on that.

**ICTY

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia today dismissed appeals by three men who had been convicted of killing, torturing, sexually assaulting and otherwise abusing inmates at the Celebici camp in central Bosnia.  The appeals chamber confirmed the existing sentences of nine years imprisonment given to Zdravko Mucic, of 18 years for Hazim Delic and of

15 years for Esad Landzo.  We have a press release on that.

**United Nations Telecommunication Agency

The United Nations telecommunications agency has approved a new one-size-fits-all standard for interactive TV (iTV) services that will enable providers to develop material for programmes that can then be distributed worldwide without extra labour or cost.

Under the new measures approved by the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union (ITU), viewers anywhere in the world, for example, can access data on a football player while watching a match without the service provider having to implement any of the modifications previously needed.  Previously, proprietary or country-specific standards forced content providers to develop different product versions for each market.

**World Chronicle TV Programme

Finally, World Chronicle TV programme No. 885 will feature Jan Kavan, President of the 57^th session of the UN General Assembly.  You can see that today at 3:30 p.m. on in-house television channel 3 or 31.

Maurice, why don’t you come up here and make yourself comfortable.  We’ll take questions; we’ll go to Richard Sydenham briefly on the General Assembly and then we’ll come to you.  Yes, Greg?

Questions and Answers

Question:   Fred, can you give us any sense of how this phrase “vital role” for the United Nations is being interpreted upstairs?  The phrase coming from President Bush, obviously?

Spokesman:  We welcome any indications of an important role for the United Nations in post-conflict Iraq.  We’ve only begun officially to discuss that with Member States, as I mentioned to you yesterday, in the Secretary-General’s meeting with members of the Security Council in his conference room.  I don’t think we have a clear sense of what that role might be.  And we would expect the Security Council to define whatever role -- beyond the humanitarian one that might already be included in the mandates of our specialized agencies -- that we might have in Iraq after the conflict is ended.

Question:   Just as a follow up.  (inaudible), are you suggesting here that they, that should be interpreted literally and in “vital” they may perhaps mean just humanitarian tasks?

Spokesman:  I can’t interpret what the President meant.  We can take our directions from the Security Council which is what the Secretary-General intends to do.  Richard?

Question:   Can you tell us the latest; I know it’s a fluid situation, on the Secretary-General’s travel to Europe and Russia?

Spokesman:  There was an erroneous report that the Secretary-General would meet with several leaders in St. Petersburg.  That is not the case.  So, I can deny that.  As far as the plans for the trip that was to begin tomorrow and that I announced yesterday, we may have something further to announce on that in the course of this afternoon.

Question:   So, that as far as the wire service, if accurate, you are saying UN diplomatically, that trip was cancelled?

Spokesman:  I wouldn’t deny that, I’m just not in a position to confirm it at this time.

Question:   But Berlin has cancelled.  Berlin has said the trip to Germany was cancelled.

Spokesman:  That’s fine, Berlin can make that announcement.  This involved plans for four different countries and we’re not now prepared to say anything.  Give us a few more hours, please.  Yes?

Question:   Can you tell us a little bit what the Secretary-General will be talking about with Javier Solana today?  And the Secretary-General yesterday seems to have avoided a question about whether Rafeeuddin Ahmed is a coordinator.  Is there a difference between “special adviser” and “coordinator”?

Spokesman:  The term we used is “focal point”.  He already, since February, has been working on alternative strategies for post-conflict Iraq.  And until yesterday, we haven’t formally discussed that subject with any governments.  So, it was merely contingency planning within this house.  As of yesterday, he’s formally designated as the focal point for the UN system for post-conflict planning and he is available to members of the Security Council as they deliberate on what role the UN should have in post-conflict Iraq.  He’s not traveling anywhere.  He’s going to be based in New York.  He’s not putting ideas forward to the Security Council.  He’s available to answer their questions should they come to him.  He is generating ideas for the Secretary-General.  Of course, that involves a wide range of possibilities because we don’t yet know what roles we might be given.

Your first question was?

Question:   I just wondered what’s on the Secretary-General’s talks with Javier Solana?

Spokesman:  Well, we normally tell you afterwards rather than beforehand what went on, in a sketchy way, I admit.  But we’ll try to give you some kind of read out after that meeting.

Question:   Can I perhaps just have one more and it’s about the journalists in Iraq?  Is the UN planning to issue some sort of statement on what’s happening to journalists in Iraq?

Spokesman:  I’d have to see whether we’d say anything.  Because we have no international staff in Iraq and can’t witness directly many of these things that are being reported -- and I realize that among the latest casualties were some from your own news organization -- we’re not in a good position to comment.  But the Secretary-General’s concern from the beginning has been the well being of civilians in the middle of a conflict, and that would include foreign journalists as well as Iraqi journalists.  So, let me see whether we feel we’re in a position to say any more than that.  Yes?

Question:   Do we know what Mr. Annan discussed with Ambassador Aldouri this morning?

Spokesman:  I did not get a readout of that meeting.  I understand the Secretary-General asked for the meeting and if I can get anything more ahead of it, I’ll give it to you after the briefing.

Question:   I know it’s fluid, it’s a new situation, but would the SG be disappointed if the UN did not have a wider role and if it just extended in Iraq to humanitarian, medicine and food, as President Bush says?  Seemingly saying ‘it’s for Iraq, it’s for the people there”? and was it just words that he hoped people in Europe would hear when he said the UN would have a vital role, considering the UN’s experience in other past issues?

Spokesman:  It’s not that we’re looking for a particular role.  We know that we can coordinate humanitarian relief, if that’s what the Security Council asks us to do.  We’re happy to do it energetically.  We feel that for the legitimacy of any new governmental authority established in Iraq, and therefore for the stability of the region as a whole, it would be in everyone’s best interest if the international community were brought in to play in the establishment of such a government or authority.  We know how to do that, how to assist in that process.  We have done it most recently in Afghanistan.  So, we’re prepared to do whatever the Council asks us to do.  We wouldn’t be disappointed if it’s only humanitarian, but we think it would be unwise.  And we’re waiting for our marching orders from the Council.  Yes, Greg?

Question:   Fred, what do you do in the situation where the Council is unable to ask you to play this role because we have a similar situation in (Inaudible) having to run after negotiations, every second resolution where one part of the Council wants to do one thing, one wants to do another, you’re caught in the middle?  Do you foresee any movement by the Secretary-General to try and strikeout or try and lead people in any particular direction?

Spokesman:  Well, I don’t want to speculate about what would happen if the Council could not reach agreement on a post-conflict role.  The Secretary-General said that that was one of the purposes of his originally planned trip for this week.  He’s trying to encourage Council unity and in its unity comes its strength.  So, his main thrust would be to encourage Council members to agree on a common plan of action for the United Nations whatever that might be.

Question:   He’s not suggesting anything?

Spokesman:  He’s not put forward any ideas except to say, as he himself has said, that the legitimacy of any new Government that might be set up in Iraq would be enhanced if it had the blessing of the international community.  Yes?

Question:   Can you tell us if Lakhdar Brahimi has been approached by the UN to play a role in Iraq and what his response was if he was approached?

Spokesman:  Mr. Brahimi still has his hands full with Afghanistan and I don’t think it would be realistic to consider him for a role in Iraq.  Yes?

Question:   So, if this trip is canceled, we don’t want to deal with hypothetical situations, but if it’s canceled and you proposed it or the SG came up with this and the other countries, was this because of the Moscow announcement that the SG did not want to look like he is getting caught in the divisions of the Council and he could probably do business with all of these countries, drawing from (inaudible) 1998, but now is not the time to start getting to a Moscow summit, certainly of the axis, as The New York Post would say, axis of weasels, left on the critics of the ... ?

Spokesman:  He intended to have a series of bilateral meetings on Iraq.  He would be considering whether to do that in the way we announced yesterday, through a plan to visit four capitals in four days, or whether there might not be another, more efficient way of doing that and I expect to be able to tell you more about his travel plans later today.  Irwin?

Question:   Fred, some UN officials and some oil industry officials outside the United Nations have raised questions about the legality of a US idea to use all money from Iraq’s oil sales to fund reconstruction, and I wonder if this is also a concern of the Secretary-General when he’s talking about the concern and what role the UN can play, that the Security Council blessing for instance, might make this a legal situation?

Spokesman:  Well, as of now, because all of the Security Council’s resolutions on Iraq are still in force, some of them suspended, but still on the books, the oil-for-food programme governs the sale of Iraqi oil.  I don’t think I want to speculate what would happen should the programme not be renewed after

3 June or even what the impact would be of the expiration of the 45-day deadline under the most recent Council resolution.  That matter, in general terms -- that is the legality of the sale of oil, in general terms -- was addressed in yesterday’s meeting with Council members on the 38^th floor.  And our view right now is that oil-for-food is the governing legislation.  Richard?

Question:   Sorry, if it’s confirmed that President Saddam Hussein has died, will the UN follow protocol and lower flags?

Spokesman:  I’d have to consult Protocol on that issue.  It’s hypothetical.  Serge?

Question:   When you said some resolutions have been suspended, what were you referring to?

Spokesman:  Oil-for-food has been suspended and then they adopted a subsequent resolution governing this interim period for 45 days.

Question:   What happened to the money in escrow with the UN bank?

Spokesman:  We have briefed you exhaustively on the oil-for food programme, the escrow money, first with the Deputy Secretary-General here on Friday and then with working-level staff on Monday or Tuesday.  Please don’t ask me to repeat those numbers.  But you can refer to the record of those two ...

Question:   I am asking you what happened to the money.  I am not asking you to repeat the numbers ...

Spokesman:  It’s all in that briefing, Serge.  More than you want to know. 

Question:   I’m sorry, I was going to ask you about the United Nations efforts to help out my colleagues in public television who are in Baghdad and they’re appealing for help.  I might be late, you might have discussed it, I’m sorry.

Spokesman:  We discussed the plight of journalists working in Iraq, including those who have been killed on the job.  We, the United Nations, have no power to help because we have no presence in the country.  We can only offer moral support and urge the combatants to respect the rights and the lives of civilians.

Question:   Did the SG speak with Colin Powell today?  Anything?

Spokesman:  I did not have that on the log the last time I checked.  So, as of about 11 a.m. this morning they had not spoken.  

Richard?

Spokesman for the General Assembly President

Thank you.

President Kavan continued his two-day visit to Austria today with an address to the 46^th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

In his address, President Kavan said that “the Commission continues to play a central role as an instrument of Member States in the progressive development of international drug control policies”.  He noted that “over one hundred ministers will be participating in the ministerial segment of the Commission.  The drug control regime, based on the solid foundations of the international drug control treaties, continue to enjoy the strong support of governments.  This demonstration of political will and commitment is the best argument to counter those sceptics that believe that drug control is no longer a priority for Member States and that the conventions, the very heart of international cooperation in this field, should be nullified”, he said.  In conclusion, he said “We have a difficult task.  We have a global challenge which we can only meet if we work collectively in a spirit of shared responsibility.  We have the political responsibility to strive for a world free of illicit drugs.  We owe this to the next generation”.

The text of the address is at the 3^rd floor documents counter.

President Kavan then met with Wolfgang Hoffmann, Executive Secretary, Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) and with theDirector-General of UNIDO, Carlos Magariños.

In an address yesterday to the Vienna Global Agenda Forum on “The role of the UN in maintaining international peace and security”, President Kavan said  “the Organization has just gone through one of the most intricate moments, which will without doubt resonate into its future.  But its failure to obtain, in the Security Council, a workable multilateral solution to the crisis in Iraq, did not stop it from fulfilling its multitude of mandates.  The work of the United Nations in the area of peace and security is broad and should not be reduced only to this conflict, however important it undoubtedly is”.  He went on, “In my opinion, the frequently heard obituaries to the United Nations, particularly with respect to its role in maintaining peace and security, stem just from the lack of thorough knowledge and examination of the Organization’s broad mandate and day-to-day activities.”

This text is also available on the third floor.

Just a quick word about a meeting on Thursday of the General Committee of the General Assembly.  They will consider a request for the inclusion of an additional agenda item submitted by Oman entitled “Global road safety crisis”.  That’s a meeting on Thursday of the General Committee of the General Assembly.

Any questions?  Yes?

Questions and Answers

Question:   Richard, the Arab Group said that they’re going to submit a request for a new item on the situation on Iraq.  I assume that also goes to the General Committee.  Could you tell us the process of what then happens?

General AssemblyPresident’s Spokesman:   I believe first, a letter has to be received.

Question:   They will be sending a letter to them?

General AssemblyPresident’s Spokesman:   Yes.  Which as of the time I came down here at 12:45 p.m. had not been received by the President’s office.  So, after that I don’t want to speculate on when it might be received.

Question:   That’s all right.  I just want you to explain the process of what happens once a new item goes to the General Committee to consider a request to put an item on the agenda.

General AssemblyPresident’s Spokesman:   Yes, as far as I know, it goes to the General Committee to be discussed and it has to be approved by the General Committee as a new agenda item.

Question:   And then does it go to the General Assembly for a vote?  Any kind of a vote?

General AssemblyPresident’s Spokesman:   I’d have to get back to you on that one, specifically on that process.  Yes?

Question:   How soon, what’s the time scale between receiving the letter and of convening a meeting of the General Assembly if it’s approved?  What’s the minimum amount of days it could take?

General AssemblyPresident’s Spokesman:   I think it depends on the process.  If it’s for an emergency special session, then after a majority of the General Assembly of the members give positive responses, then the meeting can be held within 24 hours.  But that’s through the process of requesting an emergency special session of the General Assembly.

Question:   Can you tell us if there was any action by the Secretary-General to brief the President of the General Assembly?  Because he had met with all the regional groups, the Security Council.  Is there any interest whatsoever from either side?

General AssemblyPresident’s Spokesman:   I think there is a great deal of interest.  The President of the General Assembly has spoken on a number of times on the issue.

Question:   But what about the Secretary-General?  He has taken it all the way to the regional groups and not meeting the President of the General Assembly?  Did the President of the General Assembly have any interest in this question?

General AssemblyPresident’s Spokesman:   I think he has a great deal of interest in the question.  Whether there was a specific meeting, I don’t believe so.  But they’re in frequent contact.

Question:   Richard, can I just broaden that?

General AssemblyPresident’s Spokesman:   Yes.

Question:   If and when a letter is received from the Arab Group on a meeting on Iraq, could you see exactly what it is they’re requesting and come back and tell us what the procedure is, because it is sort of confusing?

General AssemblyPresident’s Spokesman:   Absolutely.  Yes, I’ll get back to you on that.

Thank you.

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