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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good Afternoon.

**World Health Assembly

The World Health Assembly today in Geneva unanimously adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which aims to curb the widespread use of tobacco that kills about 5 million people each year.

Countries that ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control would be required to restrict tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion, set up new labelling and clean indoor air controls, and clamp down on tobacco smuggling.

The treaty will enter into force after it has been ratified by 40 countries.

“Today, we are acting to save billions of lives and protect people’s health for generations to come”, said outgoing World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland.  “This is a historic moment in global public health,” she continues, “demonstrating the international will to tackle a threat to health head on.”

The World Health Assembly today also confirmed the appointment of the new WHO Director-General, Dr. Jong-Wook Lee, the first national of the Republic of Korea to be chosen to head a UN agency.

We have more in press releases upstairs.

**Iraq

Out of Iraq, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, visited a number of sites around the Iraqi capital this morning –- including a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse, a power station and sewage treatment plant.

The WFP warehouse and the power plant are under the protection of the coalition forces, which have put a stop to the looting of the facilities, though technicians have their vehicles and equipment stolen when they go out to repair power lines.

The situation at the sewage plant is different.  The Al Rustumia plant is one of two such facilities in Baghdad and it is not protected.  Lopes da Silva was told by local staff that looters were operating on a daily basis.  Damage from the fighting is compounded by persistent looting and has rendered the plant inoperational.  As a result, 1 million tons of raw sewage are discharged into the Tigris and Diyala Rivers every day.  “You have bad water, you have children with diarrhoea, you have malnutrition”, Lopes da Silva told journalists.  He added that he would bring up the issue of security for the plant with officials from the US Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.  “So we need to address first the security of this site”, he said, “and then we are prepared to re-engage in rehabilitating it.”

Meanwhile in the north of Iraq, a team from the World Health Organization, along with local officials, delivered today two trucks of medical aid worth $43,000 to the Mosul governorate.  This includes medical supplies, drugs and laboratory items provided under the “oil-for-food” programme.

**Iraq - IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has received a response from the United States to the call it has made to allow IAEA experts to return to Iraq to deal with the safety and security of nuclear materials at the al-Tuwaitha nuclear research centre.

The IAEA and the US Government are in the process of discussing modalities to send a team of Agency experts to al-Tuwaitha.  The Agency hopes to reach an agreement on those modalities as soon as possible.

On Monday, the IAEA Director-General, Mohamed ElBaradei, called on the coalition authorities in Iraq to allow the Agency experts into the country, saying, “I am deeply concerned by the almost daily reports of looting and destruction of nuclear sites and about the potential radiological safety and security implications of nuclear and radiological materials that may no longer be under control.”

**Security Council

The Security Council presidency says Council members would meet at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow to take action on the draft resolution on Iraq.

Following that meeting tomorrow, the Security Council is planning to hold an open briefing on “The Response to the Humanitarian Situation in Iraq”.  The meeting will feature briefings by the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, as well as by representatives from the WFP, WHO, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The Security Council is holding consultations this morning on Georgia.  The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Georgia, Heidi Tagliavini, introduced the Secretary-General's report and briefed the Council on the latest developments on the ground.

In his report, the Secretary-General reminds the parties, in particular the Abkhaz side, that the status question cuts across every aspect of a final peaceful settlement, and he says that without its satisfactory resolution, a sustainable settlement is likely to remain elusive.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

The situation in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains tense.  There have been reports of militias attempting to infiltrate sites where internally displaced persons are currently located.  The United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) is mounting stricter surveillance to prevent infiltrations from taking place.

Based on the agreement reached in Dar-es-Salaam on 16 May, the militia leaders in Bunia met with the leaders of the Ituri interim administration to discuss the cantonment of the armed groups.  Discussions are ongoing.

UN Mission representatives and humanitarian actors have been working closely with the local Red Cross chapter to collect dead bodies in Bunia.  So far, 274 corpses have been picked up, and interred.  The UN Mission is also deploying a human rights officer and a child protection officer to Bunia to collect information.

The humanitarian situation in Bunia remains critical.  The total number of displaced persons seeking shelter at MONUC premises in Bunia town is 4,000 and at the logistics base at the airport, 9,000. 

Humanitarian conditions outside Bunia remain a great concern.  Security constraints and landmines pose serious impediments to humanitarian access outside of Bunia, and have made it difficult to assess the number and condition of the thousands affected throughout the Ituri district.

**Aceh

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, along with UNICEF and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO, in Indonesia are appealing to all parties to the conflict in Aceh to protect educational facilities from destruction.

Responding to reports that over 170 schools have been burnt in the past two days, the UN humanitarian agencies urged all parties to ensure that educational facilities remain zones of peace, and are not targeted, damaged or destroyed. Reports suggest over 60,000 children have already been affected.

The UNICEF will dispatch 300 emergency school kits along with 50 school tents to Aceh for internally displaced children, as well as communities where schools have been destroyed.  They will be set up in partnership with the provincial government in Aceh.

**Cyprus

Just to bring you up to date on the flow across the Buffer Zone in Cyprus, the UN mission there says that since 23 April, more than 231,000 Greek Cypriots have gone north, while more than 137,000 Turkish Cypriots have crossed in the opposite direction.

The staff of the UN mission continues to facilitate the transit of people and vehicles through the Buffer Zone.

**Sri Lanka

On Sri Lanka, the UN system is responding to heavy monsoon rain that has affected the south and south-west of Sri Lanka, leading to the most serious flooding and landslides in over 50 years.  There are reports of over 200 dead and some 171,000 families affected.

Today, three UN inter-agency teams went to the five affected districts to make an assessment of emergency needs, together with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Social Welfare.

Through the government counterparts, UN agencies are providing humanitarian assistance.  The World Food Programme is putting in 10,000 family food packets, while the UNICEF is providing mats, cooking sets, and school uniform material.  The WHO plans to distribute some 100,000 water purification tablets, typhoid vaccines, and emergency health kits.

**ICTY

Today in The Hague, the judges ruled that a plea agreement reached between Dragan Obrenovic, a suspect on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the Prosecutor’s Office was satisfactory.

Under the plea agreement, Obrenovic pleaded guilty to persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds as a crime against humanity, and promised complete cooperation with the Prosecutor’s Office.  In return, prosecutors recommended that Obrenovic should receive a sentence of between 15 and 20 years in prison, with the remaining charges against him to be dismissed.

Accordingly, the Tribunal found him guilty on the persecution count and will set a time and date for his sentencing in due course.

**SARS

The WHO today extended its travel advisory concerning the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), to all of Taiwan Province, China.  This is an extension of the advice issued on 8 May recommending the postponement of non-essential travel to Taipei, as the disease spread beyond the city, and 39 new cases were reported on the island.

In other SARS news, the WHO has removed the Philippines from its list of areas with recent local transmission of SARS as 20 days have passed with no further cases reported.

The latest statistics indicate a total of 7,919 SARS cases, including 662 deaths, reported from 28 countries.

We have more information in press releases.

**Budget

We have some budget news today.  Guatemala has made a payment of more than $364,000 to the regular budget to become the 83rd fully paid-up Member State for this year.

And we have a couple of large payments to the peacekeeping budget.  Spain paid more than $5 million and the United Kingdom made a payment of more than

$15 million.

**Press Conference This Afternoon

Finally, a press conference here in this room:  this afternoon at 3 p.m., the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will be sponsoring a press conference on the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in relation to indigenous people there.  Among those present will be two representatives of the Mbuti or Batwa people of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

That’s all I have.  Yeah?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Fred, on Colombia, I wasn’t here on Monday and yesterday, so I don’t know whether this has been addressed before.  But the Government of Colombia is quite upset about the role of and some comments made by the United Nations representative there.  I don’t know if you’re aware of that, and if you are, can you clarify why he said what he said?

Spokesman:  You’re talking about James LeMoyne and an interview that he gave at the weekend.  I think the bottom line there, and I am sure Mr. LeMoyne is explaining this to the Government, that in the exercise of good offices we make an effort to understand those involved in the conflict so as to be able to deal with them.  This must not, however, be read to be taking sides with any of the parties.  That’s the essence of any good offices effort.  So, I think Mr. LeMoyne is trying to reassure the Government that that is the UN’s position.

Question:  Well, the Government seems to have interpreted his comments in a very different light?

Spokesman: Well, subsequent to that complaint by the Government, Mr. LeMoyne is explaining this position to the Government.  That, I believe happened yesterday.  Yeah?

Question:  You said earlier something about the IAEA and Washington.  I was just wondering if you could elaborate a little bit about where that particular topic stands now with regard to the IAEA wanting to go back to Iraq?

Spokesman:  As you know, and as we’ve reported to you, the IAEA for some time now has been waiting for a response to a letter that they sent to the United States asking that their inspectors be allowed back to look at facilities that had been under IAEA safeguards because of reports of looting.  So, the United States has now responded in the affirmative and the IAEA is talking to the US about the modalities for sending a team back in.  I can give you the text of exactly what I said, then you’d pick it up from that point.

Question:  Is there any news on the status of UNMOVIC, whether there are any discussions now between the UN and Washington about sending UNMOVIC, at some point, back to Iraq?

Spokesman:  As you probably know from statements made at the stakeout by different Permanent Representatives during the closed consultations on the current draft resolution on Iraq, the discussion of UNMOVIC has been taking place in the Council, and the Council has made a decision.  You have to wait, I think you might have seen the draft resolution in blue in which, in the more recent drafts, the Council commits itself to return to that subject.  So, it is not dealt with directly in the current draft, but it is the Council’s intention, according to the current draft, to return to the issue of the status of UNMOVIC and what it should do.  So, I think you should probably see it for the moment consideration is postponed, but is not off the table.

Question:  Fred, back on Colombia, does the Secretary-General share the comments made by Mr. LeMoyne?

Spokesman:  I think Mr. LeMoyne doesn’t share the interpretation of the Government of his comments.

Question:  But I am asking if the Secretary-General shares the views expressed by Mr. LeMoyne in this particular conflict.

Spokesman:  The Secretary-General’s views are that in exercising his good offices, neither he nor any representative of the Secretary-General takes sides in the conflict.  So, it was not Mr. LeMoyne’s intention to take sides, and if what he said was interpreted in that way, I think he’s seeking to assure the Government that he was not taking sides, and as a Special Envoy, he will not take sides in this conflict.  Yes?

Question:  I want to know how soon ...

Spokesman:  How soon what?

Question:  How soon the military presence of the UN in Bunia will be intensified, because pictures from there this morning indicated that massive killings were still going on and survivors were crying that since the UN body has forgotten about them; that maybe at the end of the day agencies will succeed in helping their dead bodies to be buried and not to save them?

Spokesman:  I mean, you’re right that the situation is dangerously tense.  It appears to be escalating, although it was calm today; the underlying issues have not been resolved.  The Secretary-General’s view is that an international intervention force under the enforcement provisions of the UN Charter is what is needed.  He’s been calling for this.  I think governments have been making a good-faith effort to work out arrangements among themselves for a force that would have the necessary strength and also the political balance to be most acceptable to all the parties in this conflict.  That is taking longer than we had hoped, but we feel that they’re still making progress and we hope that the last remaining issues can be resolved and this force can be deployed quickly.  It’s not quickly enough because of what you described is still happening there, which we would hope that the international force could bring under control quickly.

Question:  Fred, if I may just ask one more about Iraq?  What is the latest on the appointment of the Special Representative for Iraq?  Do we know the range of people who may be eligible for that post; are there any particular people in mind that you can tell us about at this stage?

Spokesman:  We never discuss candidates.  The latest that you have on that is what the Secretary-General said yesterday coming into the Building; that he will quickly appoint a Special Representative once the resolution is adopted and that that person would get on the ground in Iraq “as quickly as practicable”, I think he said, but his intention is to make a quick appointment.  He has not shared with me or many other people, to my knowledge, who he has in mind or who the candidates might be.  But he seems prepared to act quickly once the resolution is adopted.

Thank you very much.

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