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 Stephane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon, and sorry for the delay.

**Guest at Noon

At my right is Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi of Japan, the Chair-designate of the First Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.  And she is here joining us today to brief you on the work of the weeklong meeting, which begins on Monday.  So, as soon as I am done with my briefing we’ll turn it over to you, Ambassador.

**Deputy Secretary-General

This morning, the General Assembly just adopted the resolution on the prevention of armed conflict after two years of negotiations.

In a statement to the Assembly, the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, welcomed the adoption of this historic resolution, which is a response to the report of the Secretary-General of 2001.

“I hope it will become a landmark for our efforts in this field”, she said.  “As the Secretary-General reminded us in his report, we have an obligation to the victims of violence around the world to take seriously the challenge of prevention and to move from rhetoric to reality.”

She pledged that the Secretariat, for its part, is committed to strengthening the capacity of the United Nations system in order to carry out more effectively its responsibilities for the prevention of armed conflict.

We have a full text of her statement available in our office upstairs.

**Liberia

Turning to the situation in Liberia, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees today reports that a UNHCR rescue ship was steaming today towards Liberia to begin the emergency evacuation of thousands of Sierra Leonean refugees who have fled to the besieged capital city, Monrovia.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of spontaneous arrivals from Liberia are being reported in other West African countries.  A UNHCR staff reports that several vessels, ranging from small fishing boats to larger ships, began arriving in June and are now showing up with increasing frequency in Ghana.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that displaced populations in Monrovia are choosing to remain in impromptu settlements around the city, as the security situation remains tense despite a truce.  Internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain highly susceptible to outbreaks of diseases due to shortages of clean drinking water and sanitation facilities.

In response to reports of cases of measles in Monrovia, UNICEF and the World Health Organization in collaboration with the ministry of health and non-governmental organizations are conducting immunization campaigns against measles and tetanus.

The four water tankers provided by the European Union continue to truck water to both IDPs and Monrovia city residents.  The quantity of water provided to IDPs (approximately four litres per person per day), however, continues to be far below the target of 15 litres per person per day.  If security allows, humanitarian agencies will chlorinate wells around Monrovia, though their chlorine stocks are reported to be low.

Efforts to provide sanitation facilities are complicated by the rainy season and by Monrovia’s terrain, which makes the construction of latrines problematic.  Some areas are very rocky, while others are flat and water logged, which makes them unsuitable for those constructions.

The Force Commander for United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) is in Accra, Ghana, today.  Lieutenant General Daniel Ishmael Opande is attending a meeting of the Defence and Security Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which is discussing the composition and mandate of a force for Liberia as part of the ongoing peace talks in that city.

The Commission is made up of the chiefs of defence staff of ECOWAS members.

**Security Council Mission

Arriving in Conakry, Guinea yesterday, the Mission of Security Council members met with the leader of the rebel movement Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) Seku Conneh, and had scheduled meetings today with President Lansana Conte and/or Prime Minister Lamine Sidime, and Foreign Minister Francois Lonceny Fall.

The Mission, led by British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, is scheduled to depart today for Freetown, Sierra Leone, its last stop, before returning to New York this Saturday.

In Accra, following a series of meetings with participants in the Liberian peace talks that began on 4 June, Ambassador Greenstock outlined a number of points the mission had made clear to the parties, which included full respect for and implementation of the ceasefire that has been agreed between the parties in conflict; urgent progress towards a comprehensive political settlement that there can be no military solution to this crisis; and full and immediate respect on the ground for international human rights and humanitarian law and full and immediate access for humanitarian organizations.

**Security Council

Here in New York, Michael Steiner, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, gave his last briefing to the Security Council during which he read excerpts from an open letter from Kosovo Albanian leaders to “Displaced Residents of Kosovo in Serbia-Montenegro and Macedonia” to return home.

We have copies of both his statement and the letter available upstairs.

Steiner will be here to speak with you shortly and we expect that about 12:45 p.m. or after.

The Council has also scheduled a vote on a draft resolution which gives the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Force a final mandate of three months.  In the draft resolution the Council notes the Force and the DMZ between the two countries are no longer necessary.  During these three months, the Force will be liquidating its assets.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

Concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN Mission in the DRC said that the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD/G) began disengaging its troops from Lubero, North Kivu province early Tuesday at 7 a.m.

This 15-kilometre disengagement from the town of Lubero is in line with the agreement signed last June in Beni between the Government, RCD/G and Congolese Rally for Democracy-Kisangani/Liberation Movement.

The UN Mission also said that security conditions are improving in Bunia and the population began returning gradually to the town.  The World Food Program has provided 600 tons of food and non-food items to assist the populations in dire need in Bunia.

Amos Namanga Ngongi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, has ended his nearly two-year mandate as head of the UN Mission.  His successor, William Swing, is due to arrive in Kinshasa Saturday, 5 July.

**Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, a delegation of the Multi-Party Security Commission, accompanied by the UN Mission in Afghanistan, has managed to broker a ceasefire between the Jamiat and the Jumbesh factions in Mazar-i-Sharif.  While tensions are still high, the UN Mission said that the ceasefire, which was put in place last Sunday night, is holding.

The World Food Programme has announced that it is to step up its support to Afghanistan’s education system through food aid.  It said that, for the next two years, over 2 million school children would be targeted, in an effort to provide food assistance to encourage enrolment, attendance and school performance, especially for girls.  The project cost during the two-year period is estimated at $97 million.

**International Labour Organization

A couple of press releases.  The International Labour Organization, in cooperation with the UN, the World Bank, youth leaders and other organizations, has launched a new initiative to help to create 1 billion new jobs worldwide for youth over the next decade.  The initiative, a so-called five-step road map for national action plans on youth employment, is designed to convert “policy work to action at the country level” and to develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work.

More information is available on that.

**Food and Agriculture Organization

From the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Director-General Jacques Diouf of the FAO yesterday called on African leaders to clearly indicate the key role of agriculture in the economic development and the reduction of poverty and food insecurity in their countries, by putting more effort and funds into the agricultural sector.

**Signing Ceremony

And in a ceremony held earlier at Headquarters, Dr. María del Rocio Sáenz Madrigal, Minister of Health of Costa Rica, signed the “Framework Convention on Tobacco Control”.

**Week Ahead at the United Nations

And that’s it for me, today being the last day of the working week; we do have your Week Ahead.  And before we turn to Ambassador Inoguchi, do you have any questions?

Questions and Answers

Question:  As you probably know, the Staff Union just had a press conference where they’re saying that you, the Secretariat has decided to end the mandate of the Staff Union as of Monday, 7 July.  They accuse you not only you, the Secretariat of interfering with elections, censorship and basically bad-faith negotiations.  What’s your side of this?

Associate Spokesman:  Well, obviously management is not interfering in the work of the Union.  The Staff Council’s own by-laws call for elections every two years.  Those elections are meant to be held through polling officers who also serve for two years.  There was an election for polling officers in May, the elections were held, and the Staff Council ruled the results of the elections invalid.  Therefore, we were in the situation where there were two competing groups of polling officers.  Management did try to facilitate a resolution of that disagreement by encouraging the various parties to meet and discuss.  Those efforts were, unfortunately, not successful so, therefore, elections could not be held.  So, that is not management’s doing.  The Staff Council annulled the elections of the polling officers; therefore, the elections could not take place.

Question:  Wait, excuse me, can I follow up?

Associate Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:  Why is the failure to hold these elections grounds for basically abolishing the Staff Union?

Associate Spokesman:  We’re not abolishing the Staff Union.  Their mandate, their by-laws, say that their term ends and they should have had new officers elected.  The elections did not take place.  It’s important to note that the Staff Regulations as promulgated by the General Assembly, as adopted by the General Assembly, call for biennial elections for staff representatives.  The elections could not take place; therefore, from a reading of their own Staff Council by-laws, their term comes to an end.

Question:  So, the term of the Staff Council comes to an end; the existence of the Staff Union does not come to an end.

Associate Spokesman:  Staff will continue to be represented.  And the term itself “Staff Union” means the staff as a whole, so you know, the Staff, as a whole, will continue to have access through management directly.  And, more importantly, there is still representation at the unit level.  There are elections held at the unit level within the Secretariat Staff; there are about 50 units.  Those representatives still hold office and are representative of the Staff.  So, there’s still Staff representation.  Erwin?

Question:  I mean, who can, without the Staff Union, without the Staff Union’s staff in place, who can organize elections?

Associate Spokesman:  The polling officers.  But they would have to...

Question:  But they’re disagreeing...

Associate Spokesman:  Right, they would have to, there has to be an agreement between the various groups of polling officers as to who won that election.  We take no side between the two groups; we tried to facilitate that.  They have to then come to an agreement on finding polling officers that are duly elected.

Question:  The bottom line seems to be that there is no way, without people in place, to get out of this morass; there’s no way out.  And the Staff Union says that they think that this is the Secretariat’s way of preventing them from protecting the rights of the workers.

Associate Spokesman:  We’re not interfering.  The polling officers are, and if my reading of the Staff Council regulations is right, the polling officers are elected by the unit representatives and unit chairs whose mandate is still valid; who are still in office.  So, they can hold these elections to elect polling officers.  It is up to them to do that.  We tried; they were in a bind, we tried to facilitate the disagreement on both sides and that was unsuccessful.  But we’re in no way blocking, cancelling the Staff Council.

Question:  The officers, who just gave the press conference, just had a couple of things; first, this has never happened before in the past.  There’s been a continuation of the Union under such circumstances or the Council, anyway, -- I am not sure what’s what, -- Council, Committee, Union.  But they’re saying that this is unprecedented.  Why this year has it been closed down whereas it hasn’t been in the past?  And then on just another issue, they’re claiming that Management has censored Union publications, it’s been shut down because basically management was unhappy with their stance, for example on the new staff selection system.  I was wondering if you could respond to those?

Associate Spokesman:  On staff issues that were to be worked out with Management through what is normally called the Staff Management Coordinating Committee, the representatives of the Staff Council did not participate and left the discussions when there were discussions on the issue of permanent contracts.  I think that management has been discussing these issues in good faith with the Staff Council.  As to what happened previously, I can’t speak to that, I can only speak to the current situation.

Question:  Just to follow up.  On permanent contracts, essentially, a system was put in place in the nineties to end the system of permanent contracts.  The Union got upset, you guys supposedly started talking but then they just walked out of the talks because they refused to engage on the subject?  Can you just give a little sense of what’s happening here?

Associate Spokesman:  My understanding is that they walked out of these discussions.  As to why they walked out, I think you’ll have to ask them.  All I know is that they did not participate in the talks.  Any other questions?

Question:  Can I ask one on Liberia?

Associate Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:  Have you had any indications from the US Government as to when they might respond to the Secretary-General’s call for an emergency peacekeeping force to be sent there, a coalition of the willing or...?

Associate Spokesman:  I don’t have any information on timing.  David?

Question:  How about the SG’s telephone call with Secretary of State Powell yesterday afternoon?  Do you have anything on what was discussed?

Associate Spokesman:  The Secretary-General and the Secretary of State have had a number of phone calls over the last 48 hours, all mostly focusing on Liberia, as you can imagine.  But, I think all these discussions are ongoing, so I don’t have any details to share with you.

Question:  Do you know what they were discussing during those phone calls..., no timetable?

Associate Spokesman:  I don’t have any exact details to share with you on those phone calls.

Question:  Is there a plan for them to meet?

Associate Spokesman:  I don’t know of a plan for them to meet, but I do know they stay in close touch by telephone.

Question:  On this, I mean, during the Ituri situation, the Secretariat played quite an active role in helping to facilitate whatever, think about terms of the mandate and all the rest, for the French-led mission.  But is that not the case here is basically the Secretariat taking a much more of a back seat waiting to see what the US suggests?

Associate Spokesman:  The Secretariat is very much involved through phone calls between the Secretary-General and the Secretary of State; through the participation, as I just told you, of the Force Commander of UNAMSIL and the ECOWAS military committee, and ECOWAS would very likely play a role in any multinational force.  So, we’re engaged.

Ambassador, over to you.

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