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 Hua Jiang, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good Afternoon.

**Liberia

The Secretary-General has written to the Security Council, saying that, in light of the rapidly unfolding political situation in Liberia, he has decided to appoint Jacques Klein as his Special Representative for Liberia to lead and coordinate the activities of the United Nations in that country.

In anticipation of the early deployment of a multinational force and a consequent improvement in security, he said he has instructed an expeditious return of all UN agencies providing humanitarian assistance to the people in Liberia.

He also mentions the dispatch of Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, his Special Representative for West Africa, to Accra to provide full UN support to the ongoing dialogue among the Liberian parties.

He also requested his Representative for Liberia, Abou Moussa, and the Resident Coordinator Marc de Bernis to return to Monrovia to prepare for the return of UN and associated personnel.

**Secretary-General at African Union Summit

Late yesterday night in Maputo, Mozambique, the Secretary-General attended a high-level meeting among leaders gathering there for the African Union Summit for a discussion about the situation in Liberia.  Then, this morning, he met with leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), again to discuss Liberia.

Also present at that meeting were Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, John Kufuor of Ghana and Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone, as well as the Foreign Ministers of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and the former Nigerian head of State, Gen. Abdelsalami Abubakar, who is ECOWAS envoy for Liberia.

They discussed transitional arrangements for the peaceful transfer of power in Liberia and the role of a possible multinational peacekeeping force there.  They also reviewed the status of the ECOWAS joint verification team that is trying to get into Liberia from Sierra Leone to verify the ceasefire.

At midday, he went to the Presidential Palace to meet for almost an hour with Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, who is about to assume the Presidency of the African Union.  They discussed the current African Union summit meeting, and a series of African issues from Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

At a press encounter afterwards, the Secretary-General made an appeal to Africans everywhere to unite behind the fight against HIV/AIDS and to end the stigma and discrimination that is attached to that disease.

In response to a question on Liberia and the possibility of the United States sending troops there, the Secretary-General said that the immediate challenge had been taken up by ECOWAS with the full support of the African Union.  He said that the United States hasn’t indicated exactly what it is going to do and the nature of its contribution, adding, “I expect it to take the right decision and grant support to the effort.”

Later this evening, the Secretary-General will have a tête-à-tête meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will address the meeting of the African Union’s heads of State, and he is expected to congratulate African leaders on their determination to implement the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, and urge them to apply this determination to all the challenges facing the continent.

**Security Council

The Security Council held an open meeting during which members heard a briefing on the recent Security Council mission to West Africa by Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock (United Kingdom) and Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser (Mexico).

Out as a Security Council document is the report on the mission that took members to Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The mission concluded that although Sierra Leone was much more stable than it had been at the time of the Council’s previous mission in October 2000, the situation in some other countries of the subregion had seriously deteriorated, notably Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau and Liberia.  The report contains a number of specific recommendations for those three countries, as well as for Sierra Leone and the West Africa region as a whole.

On Liberia, the mission recommended that the Security Council should urgently consider authorizing an international stabilization force on the basis of current plans of the Economic Community of West African States, taking account of the ECOWAS appeal for troops and other support from outside the region.  It also said countries in a position to do so should consider rapidly providing financial and logistical support to ECOWAS and its member States to facilitate deployment of a stabilization force.

We have copies of the report in English in our office upstairs.

**Iraq

Today in Baghdad, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, met with US Administrator, Paul Bremer.  The 30-minute meeting focused on the evolving political process in Iraq.

Tomorrow, Vieira de Mello is expected to travel to the city of Al-Hilla as part of his continuing effort to meet with Iraqis outside of Baghdad.

On a related note, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, is holding a three-day meeting, beginning today in Beirut, entitled "Iraq and the Region after the War".

Participants will consider, among other issues, possible action by intellectuals and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) aimed at confronting the challenges of economic, social, cultural and humanitarian reconstruction and development in Iraq.

A press release with more information is available on the racks.

**Iran

Today in Tehran, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is meeting with Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, having met earlier today with Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi.

The Director-General is hoping to make progress on answering questions about Iran’s nuclear programme, and is also trying to obtain a commitment from Iran to sign an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

He will leave to return to Vienna tonight, but he will leave behind a senior team of experts, who will conduct technical talks with their Iranian counterparts over the next several days.

Also, the special rapporteur dealing with the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Ambeyi Ligabo, will visit Iran from 17 to 27 July, at the invitation of the Government.  He will meet with Iranian authorities, representatives of the UN system and members of the media and academics during his visit.  We have a press release with more details.

**Burundi

Marie-Thérèse Keita Bocoum, the Special Rapporteur dealing with human rights in Burundi, has appealed to the fighting parties in Burundi to respect the rights of the civilian population.  The appeal comes after an upsurge in the fighting and the deterioration of the security situation in Burundi, especially the new confrontations which started on 7 July in the rural province of Bujumbura and in the capital.

The scale of the violations of human rights as a result of the conflict was so grave that it was imperative and urgent for the fighting to halt, she said.  She also called on the international community to continue all efforts to get the armed groups and the Government to start negotiations.

**Kosovo

A new report commissioned by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) says that there are between 330,000 and 460,000 firearms in civilian hands in Kosovo, with most of those guns unregistered and uncontrolled.  The report, “Kosovo and the Gun”, was launched today in Pristina.

**ICTY

The President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Judge Theodor Meron, today granted an early release to the former commander of the Celebici prison camp, who had already served two thirds of his sentence and had expressed his resolve to reintegrate into society.  The prisoner, Zdravko Mucic, had been serving a nine-year prison sentence.

**FAO/World Health Organization

We also have a press release from the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization on a landmark agreement adopted today on how to assess the risks to consumers from foods derived from biotechnology, including genetically modified foods.

A new standard for irradiated foods that accepts higher levels of radiation on food products was also adopted.  We have a press release available upstairs.

**UNESCO

We have a series of press releases available upstairs regarding the Director General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koïchiro Matsuura, and his travels to Indonesia, Timor-Leste and India.

**DPI Launches Russian-Language UN News Centre Web Site

The Department of Public Information (DPI) has asked me to inform you that as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure multilingual development of the United Nations Web site, DPI has just launched the Russian-language version of the UN News Centre portal on the Internet.

The Russian News Centre uses many of the same database-driven features that are available in English, French and Arabic.  Work is currently under way on the News Centre sites in other official languages.

That’s all I have, anything?  Yes, please?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Where is Jacques Klein, right now, physically?

Deputy Spokesman:  I can’t tell you precisely where he is now, but I can say that he will come to New York Headquarters early next week.

Question:  And when does he plan to go to Liberia?

Deputy Spokesman:  I think he will have to have a series of meetings with the relevant departments here to get an assessment of the situation on the ground before he sets off.  No date has been fixed for his departure yet.  Yes, please?

Question:  What, if anything, should be read into the fact that Jacques Klein is an American and to what extent should we read into that as far as what sort of commitment the SG thinks he’s getting from the Americans in Liberia?

Deputy Spokesman:  I think if you look at his bio, you would be able to say, as the Secretary-General, that he is a very capable, able person and he has rich experience in peacekeeping, as well as, you know, in negotiations in troubled spots.  So, the Secretary-General thinks that he is the best candidate for this role.  But whether he is American or not, I don’t think that is one of the major considerations.

Question:  So it shouldn’t be taken as an indication of what level of American involvement there will be in Liberia?

Deputy Spokesman:  No.

Question:  For instance, an American SRSG coordinating with a multinational force with American involvement?

Deputy Spokesman:  No, I wouldn’t interpret it that way, no.  Yes, please?

Question:  Is the Secretary-General coming to New York on Monday, do you know at all?

Deputy Spokesman:  His trip will finish on the 14th.  But I expect he will be coming back to the office the next day, not on the same day.

Thank you, have a very good afternoon.

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