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.

**Afghanistan Statement

We issued the following statement attributable to the Spokesman yesterday:

“It is with deep regret that the Secretary-General learnt of the tragic death of 62 Spanish troops returning from service with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and 12 Ukrainian crewmembers, in a plane crash in north-west Turkey.  The troops were returning from having served with ISAF in the selfless contribution to the Afghan peace process.

“The Secretary-General expresses his heartfelt condolences to the Governments of Spain and Ukraine and the bereaved families.”

**Iraq

The Secretary-General wrote the Security Council on Friday to inform them of his intention to appoint Sergio Vieira de Mello, the current UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as his Special Representative for Iraq for a period of four months. 

In a letter sent to the Secretary-General today, the President of the Council said the Council took note of his decision.

In a separate letter sent on Friday to the President of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General announced that he has designated Bertie Ramcharan, the current Deputy High Commissioner, as Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In a short while, at one o’clock, the Secretary-General will come down to this room and officially introduce to you Mr. de Mello.  They will both answer your questions.  Immediately after the press conference, Mr. de Mello will do a briefing for the Portuguese-speaking press.  As you know, he is Brazilian.

Also, the head of the UN Information Centre in London, Ahmed Fawzi, will be going to Baghdad as Mr. de Mello’s spokesman.

**Iraq – Humanitarian

On the humanitarian front, renowned Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti performs his annual "Pavarotti and Friends" concert tonight in Modena, Italy, to raise money to assist the return and reintegration of Iraqi refugees.  He is focusing specifically on the most vulnerable 20,000 of the more than 200,000 Iraqi refugees in Iran.

In Baghdad, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, organized the first meeting of the national working group on protection, which involves the UN, including two Human Rights advisers and various NGOs, including Save the Children and Human Rights Watch.  

Because of yesterday’s holiday in New York, the regular update from the “oil-for-food” programme will be available tomorrow.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

In Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, renewed fighting erupted yesterday afternoon between the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front, with at least five wounded, and two dead.  Military observers from the UN Mission continue to patrol in Bunia town.

The UPC released a statement on the radio this morning, asking all internally displaced persons currently seeking shelter with the UN Mission to return to their homes.  If they did not, the UPC threatened to forcibly remove them from the UN premises.  The UN and its humanitarian partners have strongly condemned the statement, and see any such attempt as a contravention of international law and humanitarian norms.

The hospital in Bunia was attacked on Saturday night.  A number of refrigerators storing vaccines and medicines were removed.  Two of those refrigerators have been returned so far, but the event seriously hampers the vaccination efforts of the humanitarian agencies.

The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, after a visit to Bunia on Sunday, met with President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda in Kampala yesterday.  President Museveni pledged to extend Uganda’s cooperation to the UN Mission in bringing an end to the fighting in Bunia.  The Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Caroline McAskie, was also in Bunia on Sunday to review the humanitarian situation there, and she will brief you here on her trip tomorrow.

**Security Council

The Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, updated the Security Council on the situation in Burundi during closed consultations of the Security Council this morning.

The most noticeable change since the last briefing on 16 April was that on 30 April, President Pierre Buyoya handed over power to Domitien Ndayizeye, the new President, who will lead the second phase of the transition.

A press statement on Burundi is expected to be read by the Council President, Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan.

**Western Sahara

The Secretary-General’s latest report to the Security Council on the UN Mission in Western Sahara is available today.

In it, he proposes a new option, which he recommends that the Council approve.  The peace plan developed by his Personal Envoy James Baker is attached to the report as an annex, as are the responses of the parties and the neighbouring countries.

The plan combines elements of the draft framework agreement and agreed elements of the settlement plan.  The Secretary-General goes on to say that “It is fair and balanced and, following a transitional period of self-government, offers the bona fide residents of Western Sahara an opportunity to determine their future for themselves.”

The Secretary-General says, “After more than 11 years and an amount of assessed contributions close to $500 million, it should be acknowledged that the Security Council is not going to solve the problem of Western Sahara without asking that one or both of the parties do something they are not otherwise prepared to do.”

In order to give the Security Council sufficient time to reflect on its decision, the Secretary-General proposes that the mandate of the mission known as United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) be extended for two more months, until 31 July.

The report is to be discussed by the Council tomorrow afternoon.

** Côte d'Ivoire

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says refugees continued arriving in the south-west part of Côte d'Ivoire over the weekend after fleeing Liberia.  UNHCR says refugees are continuing to cross in significant numbers at 13 border crossings.  The total number of new arrivals is now well over 15,000.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has appealed for $16 million to deliver food assistance in Côte d’Ivoire.  WFP is appealing to the international community to fund an emergency operation to assist over 500,000 people for a period of eight months.  These include refugees from Liberia, people internally displaced by the fighting in the country, as well as families hosting them.

**UNICEF Aid to Algeria

Yesterday, the United Nations Children's Fund launched an emergency flash appeal for $240,000 to assist the victims of the devastating earthquake in Algeria last week.  We have a press release on that.

**SARS

The World Health Organization yesterday added Toronto, Canada, to the list of areas with recent local transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, following the report of 26 suspect and eight probable cases linked to four Toronto hospitals.

There’s a press release on that.

**Budget

And finally in budget news today, Romania became the eighty-fourth Member State to pay its 2003 regular budget dues in full, and that with a payment of more than $780,000.

That’s all I have for you.

Okay, the Secretary-General will be here in about 50 minutes with Sergio Vieira de Mello and they will both take your questions.

Thank you very much.

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