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-Generaland Richard Sydenham, Spokesman for the General AssemblyPresident.

Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good Afternoon.

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

We’re going to start with a statement attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of terrorism. 

“Over the past 24 hours, the world has had to bear witness, yet again, to heinous acts of terrorism.  In both the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia many innocent people, going about their daily lives or asleep in their beds with no warning of what was to come, have lost their lives in cruel ways.  The Secretary-General strongly condemns the vicious acts, which took place in Znamenskoye and Riyadh.  They were against all decent tenets of religion, against human rights, indeed against humanity.  Terrorism can never be justified.”

**Fighting Erupts Again in Bunia

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reports that Lendu militia, who were driven out of Bunia yesterday by rival Hema fighters, have regrouped and a few hours ago launched a counteroffensive to regain control of the town.

Fighting was taking place within 500 metres of the UN headquarters compound in Bunia, while at the airport, where the UN also has a base, mortar fire was reported.

Mission staff are particularly concerned about the welfare of some 8,000 civilians that have taken refuge at both UN locations.  I cannot confirm a wire service report that a woman in the Headquarters compound was killed by a stray bullet.  UN soldiers, however, in limited patrols of the town, spotted at least 40 bodies in the streets.

On entering the building this morning, the Secretary-General said that France had indicated its willingness, in principle, to participate in an international force to be sent to the DRC, provided it has a clear Security Council mandate and other governments join in.  “So we are in touch with other governments”, he said, “trying to see if they will join France in such an effort”.

He added that he had been in touch this morning with South Africa’s President, Thabo Mbeki, who is talking to other leaders in the region about how to respond to the crisis in the DRC and that he had also asked the Ugandan Government to use its influence in the region “to ensure that the militia and the people in the region restrain themselves”.

**Iraq

On his way in to the building this morning, the Secretary-General was also asked for his opinion on the draft resolution on Iraq currently under discussion in the Security Council.  He said the text “touches upon most of the issues we’ve been discussing”, although it does not deal with one or two issues.

He added:  “I think with a good, open, constructive and flexible attitude they will be able to come up with a resolution that will be helpful for everybody”.

The UN presence in Baghdad continues to increase, with more than 250 international staff present throughout the country.

The priority for the UN humanitarian actors in Iraq continues to be security, especially in the capital and in the south, including Basra.  The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, has been insisting on this point at all his meetings with coalition military officials, as well with representatives of the Office for Humanitarian and Reconstruction Affairs.

On the refugee front, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says it is growing increasingly alarmed about the rising number of refugees in Iraq who are being threatened, robbed and forced from their homes, sometimes at the point of a gun.  In addition to the fate of Palestinian refugees, which we’ve mentioned in this briefing, UNHCR says that this worrying phenomenon, brought about by the collapse in governance and the widespread security vacuum, may now be affecting a similar number of Iranian refugees.  In all, there are more than 23,000 Iranian refugees in Iraq.     

On the health issue, the World Health Organization said that in the northern city of Mosul there was a five-fold increase in diarrhoea, especially in adults.  The agency has also detected a seven-fold increase in acute hepatitis.

**Oil-for-Food

The Office of the Iraq Programme tells us that the total value of priority items from the “oil-for-food” programme’s humanitarian pipeline that can be shipped to Iraq by 3 June has now reached $778 million.  Among the priority items are a floating crane for the removal of shipwrecks now obstructing some berths at the port of Umm Qasr, and harbour dredgers to increase the draft available to ships carrying humanitarian supplies.

Benon Sevan, the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, will brief the Security Council on the implementation of resolutions 1472 and 1476 tomorrow.  The full text of the oil-for-food update is available upstairs.

**Security Council

The Secretary-General today encouraged the Security Council’s role in the pacific settlement of disputes, which according to Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter stands at the heart of the Organization's system of collective security.

His remarks were made at the start of today’s open meeting on “The Role of the Security Council in the Pacific Settlement of Disputes” chaired by the Pakistani Foreign Minister in his capacity as Council President.

The Secretary-General said:  “You can help identify and address root causes early, when the opportunities for constructive dialogue and other peaceful means are greatest.  You can ensure an integrated approach that brings together all factors and all actors, including civil society”.

He went on to say:  “Let us be imaginative.  Let us use what influence we have.  And let us focus on implementation and action”.

Sir Brian Urquhart, the former UN Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs, former UN Personal Representative for East Timor Jamsheed Marker, and Nabil Elaraby, Judge of the International Court of Justice, also spoke.

There are 22 other speakers on the list.

After that meeting, the Council will vote on a draft resolution to set up a peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire.

**Mideast message

“Today, we find ourselves at a historic juncture in the quest for peace between Israelis and Palestinians”, said the Secretary-General in a message to the UN international meeting in support of Middle East peace.

The meeting, organized under the auspices of the Committee for the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, is being held in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Recent positive developments, such as the release of the Quartet “Road Map” and the appointment of an empowered Palestinian Prime Minister, should not make us complacent, the Secretary-General said in the message which delivered by Danilo Turk, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs.  “Both sides should recognize that they are partners in this endeavour and can only succeed or fail together.  They should not allow extremists to hijack the process and dictate agendas”, he added.  We have the full text of the message available upstairs.

**Korea

Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General met with President Roh Moo-hyun of the Republic of Korea, telling him that the United Nations would press ahead on humanitarian assistance, and eventually development assistance, to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

That evening, the Secretary-General issued a message to the annual dinner of the Korea Society, which was in honour of President Roh, in which he noted

the consensus in the international community that the Korean peninsula should remain free from nuclear weapons and that this should be achieved by peaceful means.

He voiced his hope that the recent trilateral talks in Beijing mark the beginning of a diplomatic process that will lead to a resolution of the matter.  That process, he added, may be difficult and even frustrating at times, but there is no alternative to it.  He pledged the United Nations full support.  We have copies of that message upstairs.

**DSG

The Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette is in Poland, where yesterday she met with government officials and UN staff.  In the afternoon, she addressed the Diplomatic Academy in Warsaw on the challenges faced by the international community.  Today, she visits Krakow and will meet this afternoon with students at the Jagiellonian University.  She leaves Poland tomorrow for Strasbourg.

**Trafficking in Human Beings

Human trafficking is the focus of discussion at the twelfth session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, which began today in Vienna, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says its new database findings confirm that women and children are the majority of trafficking victims.

The Office adds that Asia, the former Soviet Republics and Africa are the major regions of origin for trafficked persons, and that Central Asia and Eastern Europe have served as transit areas for such trafficking.  We have a press release with more details.

**Polio Campaign

The United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization and their partners in the Polio Eradication Initiative today announced a shift in tactics for dealing with the disease.  Immunization campaigns in 93 countries where polio transmission has already been stopped will be revised to commit more resources to those seven countries in which the disease is still endemic.

For the rest of this year and during 2004, eradication campaigns will focus on the seven countries:  Afghanistan, Egypt, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan and Somalia – as well as six other countries where the there is a high risk of reinfection -- Angola, Bangladesh, DRC -- that’s the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- Ethiopia, Nepal and Sudan.  The new policy will result in 297 million doses of oral polio vaccine and $35 million in additional resources being shifted to the 13 countries.

We have a press release with more details.

**Report on AIDS Funding Gap

The first-ever analysis of the gap between current efforts and future needs in preventing HIV says that by 2005, global funding will fall short by $3.8 billion.  The new report, “Access to HIV Prevention:  Closing the Gap” says that fewer than one in five people at risk of HIV infection today have access to prevention programmes.  Only 5 per cent of pregnant women have access to voluntary HIV counseling and testing and only 24 per cent of people at high risk have access to AIDS education.

The report identifies key prevention priorities for each region in the world and recommends that global spending from all sources should be increased from the current level of $1.9 billion to $5.7 billion by 2005 and then to

$6.6 billion by 2007.  It also recommends that prevention and treatment programmes must be scaled up to ensure those who test positive have fast access to treatment and the tools to protect others from infection.

The report was produced by the Global HIV Prevention Working Group that includes the Joint Programme on UN HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization and the Pan-American Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Bank.  And it is available on the UNAIDS Web site.

**Budget

On budget news today, the Republic of Moldova became the 79th Member State to pay its 2003 regular budget contribution in full with payment of more than $27,000.

**Signings

In signings, this morning, Uruguay became the 56th country to sign the Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations.

**World Chronicle

And World Chronicle programme no. 900 features Shashi Tharoor, the Under-Secretary-General in the Department of Public Information.  And you can see it today at 3:30 p.m. on in-house television channel 3 or 31.

Any questions before we go to Richard?  Yeah?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Is there anything you can tell us about the expulsion of seven Cuban diplomats by the US?

Spokesman:  No.  Under the Host Country Agreement, the Host Country, the United States, is expected to inform the United Nations of any such action and I am told that the UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell was in fact informed of that decision last night.  So, under the established procedures there’s nothing more for the United Nations to do.  It’s a matter between Cuba and the United States.  Yeah?

Question:  Is the Secretary-General concerned that the Security Council’s trip to West Africa will distract them from concentrating on the US resolution on running Iraq?

Spokesman:  I think you’d better put that question to Council members themselves.  I believe there’s been some discussion of that.  But a decision, if there is one, to change the programme would have to be made by them.  Okay, I’ll turn it over to Richard.

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Following the recommendation of the Third Committee, the General Assembly plenary this morning adopted the draft resolution entitled “Khmer Rouge trials” without a vote.  The Acting President at this meeting was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Her Excellency Ms. Nina Pacari Vega.

Last Thursday and Friday, President Kavan attended the 37th Plenary Assembly of the World Federation of UN Associations and delivered an address on the theme:  :The UN:  Our Hope, Our Future”.

In his address, he said, “The potential and importance of partnerships between the United Nations and civil society, multilateral organizations, the private sector, non-governmental and philanthropic organizations, academics, Nobel Laureates and journalists, as well as volunteers in every community, to attain the Millennium Development Goals, is essential and represents the spirit embodied in the opening lines of the United Nations Charter ‘We, the peoples of the United Nations…’”.

Copies of this address are available at the 3^rd floor documents counter and will be available on the GA President’s Web site.

While in Barcelona, he also met with representatives of WFUNA and local government officials.  President Kavan is now in Prague attending a session of the Czech parliament.

And on the home front, the second part of the resumed session of the

5^th Committee continues in session until 30 May.

Any questions?

Thank you.

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