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 Hua Jiang, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good Afternoon.

**SG in Athens

In Athens today, the Secretary-General had a busy schedule of bilateral meetings with leaders gathered for the European Conference, which he will address tomorrow.

In the morning, he met first with Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, saying afterward that the two had discussed how the international community will deal with post-conflict Iraq and the need to press ahead with the Middle East “road map”.  In a press encounter afterward, the Secretary-General stressed that European leaders are strongly behind the United Nations, adding, “The main thing is we should heal the divisions, and we are going to try to do our best to heal them in the UN, and I am sure it will be done here, too”.

After visiting UN staff in Athens and thanking them for their fine teamwork, the Secretary-General then met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and again, they discussed post-conflict Iraq, with the Secretary-General emphasizing the need for the Security Council to assess the tasks that need to be done and the capacity of different organizations to perform them.  The UN role could then be considered in concrete terms.  He also urged the coalition partners to share their strategic vision with other members of the Security Council, which he hoped would deal with Iraq in a unified way.

The Secretary-General told reporters afterward that he and the Prime Minister are confident they will be able to work with other leaders, including those in the region, and with Security Council members to find a way forward.

The meeting with Blair was then followed by others with Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar, and then with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt and Louis Michel, who also discussed the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This afternoon, he discussed Iraq further with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.  Soon, he will meet with the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller.

Then in the evening, the Secretary-General will meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.  That meeting is to be followed by one with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

**Iraq - Humanitarian

In Amman this morning, a spokesman for the UN Children’s Fund said there has been an outbreak in southern Iraq of a waterborne disease known as Blackwater Fever.  UNICEF was told by the Iraqi Refugee Aid Council that there were more than 170 cases in Amarah, Nasariya and Az Zubeir.  The ages of the victims are not known, however, Blackwater Fever can be fatal and children under five are the most vulnerable to contracting it.  This disease –- spread mainly by sand-flies -- causes malnutrition and anaemia.  Some cases of the disease had been reported before the war in other areas.  Yesterday, UNICEF was able to send vials of medicines to Nasaryah and it hopes to do the same in Amarah tomorrow.

From the north, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that a preliminary assessment of health facilities in Mosul shows that hospitals were partially looted and are now operating at 50 per cent capacity.  WHO national staff continue to visit the major hospitals in Baghdad in order to assess, prioritize and rapidly meet the most urgent needs.

The first oil-for-food shipment since the adoption of resolution 1472 arrived in Kuwait late last week.  Some 50,000 tons were delivered and part of the delivery was immediately offloaded for milling into flour.  The World Food Programme (WFP) will manage surface transportation to warehouses in Iraq.  A second similar shipment of wheat is expected at the Jordanian port of Aqaba within days.

Meanwhile WFP continues to ramp its delivery of food aid by road.  Convoys that left Amman in Jordan and Kermanshah in Iran are heading towards Baghdad and Sulaymaniah inside Iraq.  Another large convoy was scheduled to leave Turkey for Dahuk today.  For more information on all these items, please pick up the Amman briefing notes upstairs.

**FAO

Farmers in Iraq are in urgent need of spare parts and fuel for combine harvesters and tractors for the upcoming spring harvest, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said today in Rome.  FAO says that the outlook for this year's spring crop, which is the main harvest, is uncertain, following the recent military conflict.  A successful harvest would definitely improve access to food and could help stimulate the rural economy, the agency says in a press release.  For more information again, please pick up the press release upstairs.

**Statement attributable to the Spokesman

The following is a statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. 

“The Secretary-General welcomes reports on the forthcoming multilateral talks involving the United States, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and China in Beijing.  He is encouraged by what he hopes is the beginning of the process that would resolve diplomatically the current crisis on the Korean Peninsula. 

“The Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, Maurice F. Strong, will continue to lend their full support to this process, while concentrating on humanitarian and longer-term development needs of the DPRK”.

**Security Council

The Security Council held an open meeting, followed by consultations, on the Middle East.

Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Danilo Turk, told the Security Council that the parties and the international community must be prepared to stay the course on the road map, however strewn with obstacles that course may be.  The road map implementation process will not be easy, Turk said, but its goal, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the region, is too important for the parties to be deterred from by early difficulties.

Turk then outlined some of those obstacles, including the cycle of violence, which, since the last briefing on the Middle East, has claimed the lives of 64 Palestinians and five Israelis.  Turk also discussed the deteriorating socio-economic situation in the West Bank and Gaza strip.  On the political front, Turk told Council members the new Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen should receive the full active cooperation of the international community as he works to curb terrorism and continue the reform process.

This afternoon at 3:00, the Council will hold consultations on Burundi, with Berhanu Dinka, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Burundi.  Following those consultations, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette is scheduled to brief the Council on the humanitarian situation in Iraq.

The Security Council President announced yesterday that next Tuesday, the Council will hold consultations in the morning with Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) on Iraq weapons inspections and in the afternoon with Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, on the “oil-for-food” programme.

**Security Council –- Côte d’Ivoire

Following consultations on Côte d’Ivoire yesterday, Council

President, Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico, in a press statement, expressed their concern about recent violations of the ceasefire in that country.  They also expressed their deep concern at the use of mercenaries, other foreign-armed elements, and forced recruitment, including recruitment of children, and demanded all parties to refrain from these practices immediately.

**Georgia

The Secretary-General, in his latest report on Abkhazia, Georgia, which is out on the racks today, notes the continued lack of progress on the core political issue of conflict settlement in that area.

The UN Mission in Georgia remains ready to support any initiative to bring the parties closer together, while it continues to encourage the sides to work in parallel on all identified issues, including those concerning political and security matters. The Secretary-General also reminds the parties, particularly the Abkhaz side, that without a satisfactory resolution of the status question, a sustainable settlement is likely to remain elusive.

The report says the UN Mission continued to perform its observation tasks largely unimpeded in recent months, while the situation in the Kodori Valley has remained calm.  But the Secretary-General reminds all sides of their responsibilities for the safety and freedom of movement of UN personnel, and calls on them to bring to justice the perpetrators of criminal acts against UN personnel.

**SARS

The World Health Organization today gave definitive confirmation that a new pathogen, a member of the coronavirus family never previously seen in humans, is the cause of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.  Identification of the coronavirus means that scientists can now move towards developing treatments for SARS and for successfully controlling this disease.  A test kit has been made available to members of the collaborative network that will allow detection of the distinctive genetic code of the virus.

The WHO team of experts visited military hospitals in Beijing yesterday for the first time.  The team has concluded its investigations in Beijing and will present the preliminary report to Chinese health authorities.  Today’s statistics indicate a total of 3,293 reported cases, with 159 deaths, from

24 countries.  More information is available in press releases upstairs.

**Swaziland

Dato Param Cumaraswamy, the special rapporteur dealing with the independence of judges and lawyers, reiterated his grave concern over the deteriorating rule of law in Swaziland.

Citing the resignation in protest by the country’s High Court Chief Justice and the demotion and impending deportation of other senior legal officials, he contended, “The justice system cannot function in this environment of mistrust”.  We have more details in a press release, issued yesterday.

**Liberia -- Humanitarian

Carolyn McAskie, the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a press release, calls for all parties to ensure that attacks on civilians do not occur and that conditions should be created to allow humanitarian workers safe access to people in need.

McAskie says, “Recent attacks on internally displaced persons in Liberia are clear violations of international humanitarian law.  All parties to the conflict must ensure that attacks on civilians do not occur.  We call on the Government of Liberia to do everything in their power to protect civilians”.

Flagging that humanitarian workers have access to only four of Liberia’s 15 counties, she says “Violence means workers can’t get to thousands of people, especially in the north west and eastern parts of the country, in great need.  Conditions should be created for humanitarian workers to safely access areas where people need help”.

**UNDP

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is organizing a complimentary showing at 5:45 today in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium of the film that won the

2003 Grand Prize at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival.  The film -– “Heremakono”, or “Waiting for Happiness” –- is a portrait by a Mauritanian director of a small desert town in the process of change.  UNDP has a press release with more details on the racks.

**College Model United Nations Conference

This week, the United Nations will host the National Model United Nations Conference (NMUN) on Saturday, 19 April 2003.  The NMUN will bring a total of over 3,500 college students from across the United States and from other countries to UN Headquarters for a full day of plenary sessions and for their closing sessions and ceremonies.  For more information, please contact the Group Programmes Unit of the Department of Public Information.

**Budget

On the budget, Afghanistan became the 74^th Member State to pay its

2003 regular budget contribution in full with a payment of more than $13,000.

**Press Conferences tomorrow

At 11:15 tomorrow in this room, Ambassador Murari Raj Sharma of Nepal will launch the “Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the pacific 2003”, which is the flagship publication of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Following the noon briefing tomorrow, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will hold a press video-conference in this room with the experts who are meeting today and tomorrow at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on the state of Iraq’s heritage.  This will allow you to ask the experts your questions directly.

**World Chronicle television programme

World Chronicle programme no. 890 with Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, will be shown today at 3:30 p.m. on in-house television channel 3 or 31.

That’s all I have.  Any questions?  Yes, please?

Questions and Answers

Question:   The new disease found in some cities of Iraq like Amarah and others, is there any plan for the United Nations to combat this disease?

Deputy Spokesman:  As you may be aware, UN staff still cannot go back to Iraq for security reasons, apart from some daily trips to certain parts of the country.  However, a security assessment is being done and hopefully UN staff will be able to go back to the country.  So, once we are there, then we’ll see what we can do.  Yes?

Question:   You quoted the Secretary-General.  He said that the main thing is to heal the divisions within the Security Council.  Does he have any specific ideas how to achieve that, that you can share with us?

Deputy Spokesman:  I think the Secretary-General’s idea is that the people meeting in Athens now should concentrate first on what they can agree upon, like the principles regarding, you know, post-conflict Iraq and also the humanitarian operations.  So, these are very important issues and (on these) they can reach agreement fairly soon and fairly easily.  So, after that, with the more difficult issues, we can leave those matters maybe until later.  I think the Secretary-General thinks what Brahimi said would be valid in this case, that is in order to go fast you sometimes have to go slow.  So, some of the issues maybe cannot be resolved right away, in the next day or two or even in the next week or two. However, there are things that we can reach agreement on fairly soon.

Thank you.

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