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.

**Secretary-General – Washington Trip

Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General met with President George W. Bush and his senior advisers in the White House, discussing, among other topics, Liberia and Iraq.

In a press encounter afterward, the Secretary-General thanked President Bush for his interest in Africa and his determination to help defeat the AIDS pandemic.

He said he was satisfied with the discussions on Liberia, and added that “we have more or less agreed to a general approach on the Liberian issue.  And I’m pleased with that”.

He noted that the understanding emerging now is for the Economic Community of West African States to send in a vanguard of about 1,000 to 1,500 troops, after which, he believes, President Charles Taylor will leave Liberia.  Then, he said, the force would be strengthened, hopefully with US participation, and eventually UN blue helmets would go in to stabilize the situation.

On Iraq, the Secretary-General said he was encouraged to see the formation over the weekend of the Governing Council.  Regardless of the differences that existed before the Iraq war, he said, the challenge now “is to stabilize Iraq, to help Iraq to become a peaceful, stable and prosperous State.  And I think that everyone needs to help”.

After a meeting with members of the House Committee on International Relations, including Chairman Henry Hyde, the Secretary-General said he believed that both US and UN involvement would be necessary in Liberia, with UN peacekeepers deployed for the longer-term effort.

He also met with Senator Ted Kennedy, and afterward highlighted the importance of the fight against AIDS, saying, “I know the issue is before the Senate and I think what they do is going to have an impact on millions of lives.”

We have the transcripts of his press encounters upstairs.  The Secretary-General has returned to work at UN Headquarters this morning.

**Liberia

Although a relative calm has prevailed in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, for nearly one week, UN and non-governmental agencies are still confronted with great humanitarian needs in and around Monrovia, with many internally displaced persons continuing to suffer from shortages of food, clean water and basic health services.

The World Food Programme (WFP), together with NGOs and Liberian officials, carried out preliminary assessments and began to distribute food to some of the more than 180,000 Monrovians in need of food aid.  Also today, a seven-member team, including personnel from theWFP, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has arrived in Liberia to assess the humanitarian situation there.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that more than 950 Sierra Leonean refugees have so far been assisted home from Liberia by UNHCR since an emergency evacuation operation by sea started on 4 July.

The returnees coming into Sierra Leone report that many more refugees desperately want to go home in the face of declining security in the camps in the Monrovia area.  The returnees said that their already difficult situation in Liberia worsened after the announcement by the Special Court for Sierra Leone of the indictment against Liberian President Charles Taylor, who subsequently made public statements against Sierra Leoneans in Liberia.

Many of the returnees said they had lost property to government soldiers, particularly those manning checkpoints or stationed on the streets of Monrovia.

We have more details in today’s UNHCR briefing notes.

Also, the World Health Organization (WHO), in its cholera update for Liberia, says that the total number of cholera cases in Monrovia is now 1,630, including 15 deaths.  The security situation, it adds, still makes it difficult to obtain the exact numbers of cases and deaths.

**Burundi

UN humanitarian officials say that relative calm prevailed in the capital of Burundi, Bujumbura, and its environs today.  The flow of internally displaced persons into Bujumbura has now ceased, with significant numbers returning home from their impromptu settlements in the capital’s southern suburbs.

The majority of families who had sought shelter from fighting last week remain at their site near the National Unity Monument.  The WFP has provided them with a 7-day ration while Médecins sans frontières and Italian Cooperation continue to provide basic health, water and sanitation services.

**Iraq

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, arrived in Damascus a short while ago.  He is scheduled to meet with Syria’s President, Bashir al Assad, tomorrow.  After that, he will travel to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Mohamed Khatami before returning to Baghdad on Thursday.

Prior to his departure for Syria, Vieira de Mello met with US Administrator L. Paul Bremer.  They discussed the building of democratic institutions in Iraq.

Following that meeting, Vieira de Mello was received by the Governing Council.  The members of the Council told him that they would be looking for UN assistance for a number of problems facing Iraq, notably the issues of refugee return and debt relief.

Members of the Council also told him they would be sending a delegation to New York next week.  That delegation would include Akila Hashami, of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, who led Iraq’s delegation to the recent conference in New York; Adnan Pachachi of the Iraqi Independent Democrats; and Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress.

**Palestinians

In a message delivered to a seminar on assistance to the Palestinian people, the Secretary-General said this was a time of both hope and suffering for the Palestinian people.

The hope springs from the results of the Aqaba summit, which has led to an Israeli withdrawal from parts of Gaza and Bethlehem.

But while Israeli and Palestinian officials talk and work alongside the international community to find a permanent solution, the Palestinian people continue to suffer, the Secretary-General said in his message, which was delivered by Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The stifling closures regime as well as the continuing settlement activities and the construction of a separation fence tear at the very fabric of Palestinian economic and social life, and cause deep frustration and anxiety.

Meanwhile, UNRWA’s vital assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees is threatened by chronic funding shortages.  The Secretary-General appealed to donors to contribute generously to the Agency's regular programmes, as well as its emergency activities, so that it can continue its desperately needed work, not only in the direct provision of food aid, medical care, education and employment, but also in rehabilitation and employment generation.

The full text of the message is available upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council today is holding consultations on the Central African Republic -- in fact, those consultations have just ended -- with a briefing by the Secretary-General’s Representative to that country, General Lamine Cissé.

General Cissé noted developments in the Central African Republic since the 15 March coup in which General François Bozizé overthrew President Ange-Félix Patassé.  He drew the Council’s attention to the insecurity that continues in the country, notably in its interior, and the need to restructure the defence and security forces.

Council members are expected to issue a statement to the press on the Central African Republic once the consultations are finished.  We haven’t got that one yet.

**Afghanistan

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with support from the Government of Italy, has rebuilt and refurbished a hospital in north-west Kabul, the Khair Khana Hospital, resulting in a doubling of its initial capacity.  According to UNFPA, mothers and infants now have a far better chance of surviving childbirth due to the renovations.

We have a press release with more details.

**Human Rights

The mission to Iran of the Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, originally scheduled for 17 to 27 July 2003, was postponed today at the request of the Iran Government.  Ambeyi Ligabo, the Rapporteur, and the Iranian authorities are discussing rescheduling the visit for later this year.

**World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) today in Paris called for free anti-tuberculosis drugs and quality care to be made widely available to people living with HIV in developing countries.

According to WHO, an estimated one third of the 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are co-infected with tuberculosis, which currently is the biggest killer of people with HIV/AIDS.

We have a press release with more details upstairs.

**Drugs

The Caribbean Drug Information Network (CARIDIN), in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, has released its National Drug Reports for 2002/2003.

The National Reports can be accessed at the UNODC/Web site.

That’s all I have got for you.  Any questions?  Yes, please?

Questions and Answers

Question:  The Secretary-General was encouraged by the formation of the Governing Council in Iraq.  What specific role did the Special Representative of the Secretary-General play in the establishment of this Council?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, if you can recall the provisions in resolution 1483 that one of the roles for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq is to work intensively with the authority and the people of Iraq and others concerned, to advance the efforts to restore and establish national and local institutions for representative governance.  So, it is mandated in the resolution that he should closely work with the authorities in helping establishing interim administration, which will eventually lead to general elections in the country.  Bernard?

Question:  According to a British newspaper this morning, the UN announced yesterday that the UN was going to send to Baghdad next month a delegation to help organize the elections.  Can you tell us when this statement was made?

Deputy Spokesman:  I can’t confirm the news that the UN will send a delegation.  However, I have read that FT article and I talked to the UN office in Iraq.  What I can say is that the establishment on Sunday of the Governing Council was a first step towards the democratic government taking hold in Iraq; and for that, you would, of course, need elections.  And that’s an area where the UN could assist through our electoral assistance unit, and Vieira de Mello was very clear in his address on Sunday when he said that the UN would stand ready to assist the Governing Council.  He has always maintained that it is an area where the UN has vast experience.  But, at this stage, I cannot confirm that the UN has or will send an election team in the near future.

Question:  So (am) I (to) understand that there was no such statement made yesterday?

Deputy Spokesman:  It may come from an interview done by UN officials in Iraq.  But there are so many interviews being done by the officials there, I can’t keep track of all of them, but that’s where it may (have) come from.  Yes?

Question:  Several questions.  Could we have some details about this delegation of the Governing Council that you announced, and especially when this delegation is coming?  And is it going to address the Security Council maybe, and which date?

Deputy Spokesman:  We’ve learned that the delegation will be here next week, but I can’t tell you the exact date.  As to whether they will address the Security Council, that will be up to the members of the Security Council to see if they would allow it.  Yes?

Question:  President Bush said yesterday that American troops posted in Liberia will not be under the UN flag.  Can you explain to us the implications of such a move?

Deputy Spokesman:  I think the details about where and how and if the Americans will send peacekeepers to that country are still under discussion, so I cannot comment on something which hasn’t happened yet.  I think the Security Council will need to take up the matter and discuss the mandate.  So whether the Americans will be under the mandate of the UN or not -- that issue hasn’t come up in the Council itself, so I cannot...

Question:  President Bush said that he had discussed it with the Secretary-General; that’s what he said yesterday.

Deputy Spokesman:  What I have read from the press encounters by the Secretary-General and the President is that they discussed the matter, and the President said he hasn’t made up his mind yet; he is still waiting for the assessment team’s report to make a final decision.  So, I will just leave it there.  Yes, please?

Question:  A follow-up to another question.  Is there any information on how the three-man delegation coming to New York has been selected, and what is its goal in coming to New York?

Deputy Spokesman:  That’s a very good question.  First of all, the selection, the UN hasn’t played a part in that, I guess they worked it out among the members of the Governing Council, but I can’t confirm that.  Under what banner will they come into the UN; whether they will be part of the CPA delegations; or whether they will come in on their own or as the Iraqi representatives, I am not quite sure at this stage.  We’re trying to find out, in fact.

All right, thank you.  Have a very good afternoon.

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