DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
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.
**Liberia
Speaking to the press in Bern, the Secretary-General renewed his appeal for a prompt and quick decision on the deployment of a multi national force to Liberia, saying the “situation is urgent”.
In response to a question from a reporter about the Security Council’s reaction to his appeal made in a letter to the Council, he said, “I would have preferred an urgent reaction, and apparently they are talking amongst themselves and from what I hear, Washington is also considering the request” that a force be sent to Liberia urgently.
Yesterday afternoon, the Security Council held closed-door consultations to discuss the Secretary-General's letter, and afterwards, the Council President for June, Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov, said members all shared the concern of the Secretary-General and shared the analysis of the Secretariat of the situation in Liberia given during the briefing.
He said the Council would continue discussing the request made to it in a letter after the return of a Council mission next Saturday from West Africa where it is “at this moment discussing the issue on the ground”.
Meanwhile, on the ground, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that it is making preparations to carry out an evacuation by sea of Sierra Leonean refugees trapped in Monrovia. More than 1,000 Sierra Leonean refugees and displaced Liberians are encamped in UN and embassy premises throughout the city.
Relief assistance to displaced refugees and Liberians has been sporadic. Delivery of aid to the needy populations has been severely hampered by the massive looting and insecurity that have swept Monrovia since the rebel offensive began. UNHCR says, for example, its warehouses in Monrovia are empty after looters carted away supplies of blankets, jerry cans, plastic sheeting provided to refugees to cover their shelters, kitchen sets and other material.
**Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
The following is a statement by the Spokesman on behalf of the Secretary-General on the announcement by President Kabila on the Government of National Unity.
“The Secretary-General welcomes the announcement made last night by the Democratic Republic of the Congo President, Joseph Kabila, naming the Ministers of the new Government of National Unity. The Secretary-General looks forward to the inauguration of this transitional Government as soon as possible. He calls on the Government of National Unity to seize this opportunity to work together to bring about peace and stability in the country.”
The UN Mission in the DRC also welcomed the formation of the transitional Government. President Joseph Kabila named the Government yesterday, which comprises 36 ministers, and 25 deputy ministers divided among the main rebel movements, the Government and the political oppositions.
We have the press release of the UN Mission as well as the list of the transitional Government officials in the Spokesman’s office.
**Secretary-General
The Secretary-General paid a one-day official visit to Bern, Switzerland today. He first met with Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss Foreign Minister. Their meeting was followed by a ceremony at which the Secretary-General was awarded the first “Olé Prize” of the Children’s Parliament of the City of Bern. “With this prize”, he said to the six children-parliamentarians, “you are not only honouring me but the whole United Nations, and its work for a more peaceful, healthier, and fairer world”.
The Secretary-General then held a working session with the President of the Swiss Confederation, Pascal Couchepin. They discussed the situation in Iraq, and in particular, the role of the UN in the region; Afghanistan, and the Middle East and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In responding to a question from a journalist afterwards regarding the Middle East, the Secretary-General said that he was encouraged by the developments in the last 72 hours. “We see it as a beginning, but we have quite a long way to go”, he said, adding “the decision of the Palestinian groups to agree to a ceasefire is important. I want to see a situation where all these movements and groups are transformed into political parties to play a role in democratic Palestine”.
The Secretary-General will now take a break before he travels to Maputo, Mozambique on 7 July to attend the African Union Summit.
**Baghdad
From Baghdad, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, today closed the workshop on transitional justice which we mentioned yesterday.
In his closing statement, Vieira de Mello referred to the suggestion proposed during the Workshop regarding the establishment of a national independent human rights commission to monitor current violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. “Everyone”, he said, meaning “the executive arm of the Iraqi Interim Administration, interim ministers to be designated, the CPA, the UN -– all political actors –- need to know that its behaviour is being monitored by an independent Iraqi body and that none will be above scrutiny of the law and international norms”.
Participants in the workshop were encouraged to take the discussions of the past two days back to the people, to argue, refine and further elaborate the process. The United Nations will now facilitate nationwide discussions aimed at identifying further action required to address past violations.
On a related note, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ Special Envoy for Iraq, Dennis McNamara, was to arrive in Baghdad today as part of his current mission to the region.
UNHCR is making efforts to arrange for the early and organized returns of some small groups of Iraqi refugees from Iran. In parallel, the return of Iranian refugees from Iraq will be resumed. The Iranian Government agreed on this approach.
Concrete progress on organized returns is necessary in order to avoid potential spontaneous and unorganized movement of returnees across the border. McNamara hopes that the mutual repatriation operation will begin within weeks.
More on these items is available upstairs.
**Roed-Larsen
Terje Roed-Larsen, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, is in Saudi Arabia today where met with Prince Saud Al Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Roed-Larsen briefed the Saudi Minister on the Quartet meeting in Jordan. “Both sides are of the opinion that now there are positive developments regarding the implementation of the “Road Map” peace plan, and it is essential that the international key players stay in close contact in order to coordinate efforts to reach a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East”, Roed-Larsen said.
Roed-Larsen praised Saudi Arabia’s constructive role in shaping and moving forward the Road Map consistent with Crown Prince Abdullah’s initiative that was adopted by the Arab summit in Beirut. The Saudi Foreign Minister and the United Nation’s Special Envoy agreed to stay in close contact.
We have a full note upstairs on Larsen’s activities including his meeting with Syrian officials. He will be travelling next to Egypt and Jordan as part of his regional tour following the recent Quartet meeting.
**Security Council Mission
The Security Council mission to West Africa headed by British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock is wrapping up a day and a half of meetings in Côte d’Ivoire where they just met with President Laurent Gbagbo.
During their stay in Abidjan, the mission reviewed the status of implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis peace agreement by all the parties and pledged support of the international community in the implementation of the accord.
Tomorrow, the Security Council Mission will return to Ghana for talks with the parties involved in the Liberian peace talks, as well as the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the ECOWAS mediator, Gen. Abdelsalami Abubakar, and the Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia, Abou Moussa.
While in Accra, Ghana, yesterday, the Ghanaian Foreign Minister Akufo Addo said ECOWAS was prepared to increase the number of troops in Côte d’Ivoire and to commit a force to Liberia, but was seeking funding to do so from those countries in a position to provide it. Ghana’s President John Agyekum Kufuor currently holds the rotating chairmanship of ECOWAS.
The Council mission expressed pleasure that President Kumba Yala of Guinea-Bissau, following the Mission’s visit, had, as agreed, announced the date for legislative elections, to take place on 12 October 2003.
We have a full update in the Spokesman’s office.
**Security Council
Today is the first day of the Spanish Presidency of the Security Council.
Ambassador Inocencio F. Arias of Spain, who succeeds Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov as President of the Security Council, is holding bilateral meetings with Council members on the program of work for the month ahead.
He is scheduled to brief reporters here in this at approximately 12:45 p.m. tomorrow on the July program.
**Kosovo
Out on the racks is the Secretary-General’s latest report on the UN mission in Kosovo –- UNMIK.
In it, he says that four years into the mission’s mandate, Kosovo has made significant progress in achieving substantial autonomy and self-government, as required under resolution 1244. However, major challenges remain.
The guiding principle for the mission remains working towards the benchmarks set out by his Special Representative, Michael Steiner, within the “standards before status” policy.
He notes that continuing unilateral calls, from Kosovo Serbs, Kosovo Albanians and Belgrade, for mutually exclusive approaches to Kosovo’s future have continued. These calls, he says, not only do not contribute to reconciliation and inter ethnic dialogue but they can have a detrimental effect on Kosovo’s progress. The Secretary-General, therefore, welcomes the recent indications that Prisitina and Belgrade are prepared to enter into a dialogue on practical issues.
Concerning the return of minorities to Kosovo, the Secretary-General writes of the importance of involving municipal authorities in this area. Funding of activities relating to the return of minorities should come from Kosovo’s consolidated budget.
The full report is out on the racks. Also available upstairs are two press releases from the mission.
Also, the head of UNMIK, Michael Steiner, will give a press conference in this room on Thursday at about 1 p.m., after he presents this report to the Council. This will be his last press conference here since he’s leaving his post 8 July.
**IAEA Chief to visit Iran
Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will travel to Iran next week for further talks on the implementation of the Agency’s safeguards agreements in Iran.
The talks will mainly focus on outstanding issues identified in the Director General’s report, which stated that Iran had failed to report material, and activities associated with its nuclear programme.
ElBaradei is scheduled to meet with Iranian officials in Tehran on 9 July.
**WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that no new probable cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome have been reported globally since 15 June. Following the situation, WHO is moving from an emergency response to a research-based agenda, aimed at protecting the world against any future resurgence of SARS.
We have a press release on that upstairs.
**Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights backs forum Barcelona 2004
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed its support for Forum Barcelona 2004, an event being organized by UNESCO and Spain that intends to serve as a dialogue on cultural and social challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.
And we had a Press Release on that.
**Background Notes
Background notes on UN peacekeeping operations and on United Nations political and peace-building missions are now available at the documents counter and on the UN Web site. Among other basic facts, the notes point out that there are currently 14 peacekeeping operations and 12 political and peace-building missions. The approved peacekeeping budgets for the period July 2003 to June 2004 amount to some $2.17 billion. Some 89 countries are currently contributing almost 35,000 military and civilian police personnel to peacekeeping operations.
**Guest at Noon tomorrow
One more thing to mention: Georg Kell, Executive Head of the Global Compact, will be joining us at noon tomorrow to report on the progress and activities of the Compact.
That’s all I have got for you. Any questions? Yes, please?
Questions and Answers
Question: The Secretary-General says he looks forward to the inauguration of the Kabila Government, has he been invited to attend and if invited, will he attend the ceremony?
Deputy Spokesman: Not to my knowledge, no. Yes, Richard?
Question: Can you just state for the record what’s the status of the Security Council delegation’s trip to Liberia?
Deputy Spokesman: What exactly is that you’re looking for? I mean…
Question: They going? If not, why not?
Deputy Spokesman: To?
Question: Liberia.
Deputy Spokesman: Liberia. It was in the original itinerary, but because of the situation there, that place has been knocked out of the itinerary. However, before the Mission left, they did say they would make some new assessment on the security situation there to make a final decision, and so far I haven’t heard that they intend to go.
Question: Did the Department of Peacekeeping issue any advisory to them, was there any internal UN communications on whether they should or shouldn’t go?
Deputy Spokesman: You know that we did send out a team of six people to assess the situation there. However, you must be aware that because of the deteriorating security situation there, all the staff had to be evacuated. I think the evacuation took place at the end of last week. So, we don’t have any local UN staff or international staff to give the assessment of the security situation right now in the city.
Question: Those six people went there or didn’t go there?
Deputy Spokesman: They went there. After the fighting broke out in the capital, all the UN staff were evacuated. However, for a period of time the situation seemed to have calmed down a bit, and there was the signing of the agreement on a ceasefire. So the UN sent six people to go back to the capital to have a look at the situation. However, while they were there, new fighting broke out, and these six had to be evacuated again last Friday.
Anything else? Yes, please?
Question: Has the Secretary-General spoken to Secretary of State Powell on the situation in Liberia?
Deputy Spokesman: He’s been in touch with all the parties very closely. He’s spoken to American Ambassador Negroponte during this trip, and he’s been in touch not only with the US, but also with some other Member States in the Council in order to push the whole process forward. And as you know, the Secretary-General has sent a letter to the Security Council, and today in Bern when questioned on the progress of the discussion in the Council, he said that some people in the Council believe that one should wait for the return of the Mission before a decision is taken. However, he said, I quote, “I don’t necessarily share that view. In these days with modern communication you can always get the information you need without necessarily waiting for the people to return”. So, he is very anxious that a decision should be taken quickly because he thinks that the situation there is urgent, it’s tragic and so he’d like to urge a prompt and quick decision.
Question: So is the Council kind of snubbing the Secretary-General’s urgent call?
Deputy Spokesman: I wouldn’t put it that way. I think the Council has its own considerations. But from the Secretary-General’s point of view -- because of the dire situation on the ground -- he hoped that a quick decision should be made. Yes?
Question: Has the Secretary-General spoken to Secretary of State Powell about President Bush’s trip to Africa next week?
Deputy Spokesman: That I am not aware of. I can check for you afterwards. [The Spokesman later informed the journalists that the Secretary-General called Colin Powell in the evening local time.]
All right, good afternoon then.
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