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.

**Visiting Journalist students

Nearly a full house today.  We have a group of visiting journalist students from Ramapo College; welcome to the UN.  And if you’d like to stay on a bit after the briefing my colleague Stephane would like to speak to you.

**Liberia/Guest

And today we have a guest Jacques Klein, who was recently appointed by the Secretary-General to be his Special Representative for Liberia.  And he will join us in a few minutes.

In terms of Liberia’s political process, we were informed today that the Liberian political parties have started to make submissions to the draft peace agreement at the talks being mediated by General Abdulsalami Abubakar in Accra, Ghana.  It is now clear that the deadline that had been set for those submissions, which ended today, will have to be extended to a new date due to late responses.

**Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

The following is a statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

“The Secretary-General welcomes the installation of the Government of National Unity and Transition in Kinshasa, marked by the swearing-in ceremony of the Vice-Presidents today. 

“This is a historic milestone in the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  The vision of peace and reconciliation articulated in the 1999 Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement is taking shape.

“The Secretary-General calls on the Congolese leaders to fulfill their responsibilities in meeting the daunting challenges of transition; and steering their country onto the path of reconciliation, recovery as well as free and fair elections.  The United Nations stands ready to play its part in assisting the Congolese to consolidate the hard-won gains in the peace process.”

**Security Council

The Security Council is currently in closed consultations on the Middle East following an open briefing by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Lasern.

In his address, Roed-Lasern said that since 13 June, the date of the Council’s last briefing on the Middle East, the revived peace process based on the Quartet’s “Road Map” has made encouraging progress.

(Welcome, Mr. Klein, if you’d like to join us?  Okay.)

Credit for this progress, he said should first go to the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  They should be commended for their courageous pursuit of peace and be encouraged to maintain positive momentum.  The Quartet members, especially the US, have assisted both parties to get to this point, Roed-Lasern added.  He also noted the particular support of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in assisting the Palestinians to reach the 30 June ceasefire.

The challenges to the peace process remain numerous.  Since the Council’s last briefing, some 49 people have lost their lives –- 40 Palestinians and nine Israelis.  However Roed-Lasern noted a sharp decrease in violent attacks and incitement.

Roed-Larsen told council members that the construction of the Separation Wall is continuing, which is not in keeping with the Road Map.

He also took this opportunity to say clearly that a just, lasting and comprehensive peace also requires that progress be made on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks of the peace process.

The full text of his address is available upstairs.  And we do expect him to stop at the stakeout on his way out of the briefing.

**Larsen Clarification

And the Office of the UN Special Coordinator has asked us to issue the following clarification.

“Mr. Roed-Larsen does not usually comment on conversations in diplomatic meetings.  But the account in an Israeli newspaper today regarding his meeting with President Assad of Syria is not correct.

“Therefore Mr. Roed-Larsen feels compelled to set the record straight.  The quotes attributed to President Assad about the whereabouts of the missing Israelis and regarding the United States are not true.

“President Assad did express to Mr. Roed-Larsen his desire to resume negotiations with Israel as soon as possible in order to achieve a comprehensive peace in the region.”

**SG at Council yesterday

The Secretary-General yesterday afternoon briefed the Security Council about last week’s African Union Summit in Mozambique, and told reporters afterwards that the issues that came up during those closed consultations included the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Liberia.

He also mentioned the meeting he and his Special Envoy for Myanmar, Razali Ismail, held earlier that afternoon with U Khin Maung Win, the Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Envoy of Myanmar, in which he asked for Myanmar to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as soon as possible, and underlined the Government’s responsibility for her protection and safety.

He added that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had indicated to Razali that she is prepared to resume dialogue, and he voiced his hope that “the Government would accept the challenge and proceed with dialogue”.  He had sent that message to Senior General Than Shwe, Myanmar’s Prime Minister, and would await a response. 

We also issued a statement by the Secretary-General, in which he called for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues “without delay” and added, “I remain convinced that the only way to build durable peace in Myanmar is to release the detainees, ensure their political freedoms and begin substantive dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi immediately”.  We have the text of the full statement upstairs.

Also during yesterday afternoon’s press encounter, the Secretary-General was asked about discussions going on about a possible expansion of the UN role in Iraq, and he said the issue had come up on Monday when he visited Washington.  He said that US Secretary of State Colin Powell and some Senators had discussed with him how to internationalize the Iraq operation, and added that Security Council members would have to be consulted.

The Secretary-General said, “I think what is important is that all of us accept the responsibility of stabilizing Iraq, because a peaceful and stable Iraq is in the interest, not only of the Iraqis, but of the region and the entire world”.  We have the transcript of that press encounter upstairs.

**Iraq

As you know, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, just returned to Baghdad following visits to Iran and Syria.

In a meeting this morning in Tehran, President Mohammed Khatami of Iran expressed his country’s strong support for the United Nations engagement in Iraq, and said that a greater role for the UN would bring a greater chance for the establishment of peace.  He added that his country stands willing to work with the UN to restore peace and stability in Iraq, which would benefit the entire region.

Vieira de Mello briefed President Khatami on the formation of the newly-created Governing Council in Iraq, which he believed had been given tangible prerogatives and reflected the various national components of Iraq.  The Council, he said, needed all the support it could get in order to assert itself as the true, independent authority of Iraq, and be able to steer the Country to election of a democratic, representative government.

The Special Representative later met Foreign Minister Dr. Kamal Kharrazi.  They also discussed the role of the UN in Iraq now and in the future.

More on Vieira de Mello’s activities is available upstairs.

**Iraq

Regarding the UN’s humanitarian activities in Iraq, the Office of the Iraq programme tells us that more than $1.9 billion worth of contracts for heavy equipment and spare parts for Iraq’s oil and electricity sectors have been prioritized for immediate delivery following consultations this month with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Iraqi representatives and UN agencies. 

The relevant UN agencies and programmes will begin to work directly with suppliers concerned with the prioritized contracts to expedite shipments once locations have been identified for their delivery. 

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that although the conflict may be largely over, Iraqi children continue to be maimed and killed at a steady pace by the remnants of war.  Since the end of the war, more than a thousand children have been injured by weapons such as cluster bombs dropped by coalition forces, or the thousands of tonnes of munitions stockpiled and abandoned by Iraqi forces in public buildings and residential areas of Iraq.

One particular and newly identified danger, UNICEF says, comes from children playing with Soviet-era missiles abandoned by Iraqi forces.  There are around 100 surface to air missiles, many lying around Baghdad in various stages of decay.  Many of these have been looted for scrap metal, dangerously weakening the superstructures. Experts say that small leaks through punctures or cracks produce a dark yellow smoke which if inhaled, can be deadly. 

We have more information on that upstairs.

**Iraq

On another Iraq related note, the UN Compensation Commission in Geneva, made available today more than $190 million to 25 governments and one international organization for distribution to more than 1,000 claimants.

The largest recipients of this round of payments are from Kuwait, Syria and India.

More information including a full table of payments is available in the Spokesman’s office.

**Afghanistan

The UN Mission in Afghanistan said that all demining activities along the Kabul to Kandahar road have resumed following the suspension of operations on 22 May and are moving along at a fast pace thanks to a new technology, which is being used there.

The technology is called the Mechanical Explosive Dog Detection System.  It means that instead of taking the mine dogs to the minefield, samples from the contaminated area are brought to the dogs who work in a laboratory.

The UN Mine Action Centre has also decided to resume demining in the south-east and southern regions.  Demining was suspended in 10 provinces in the south-west and south-east of Afghanistan on 22 May. 

The Mission also said that President Hamid Karzai has issued a decree on the convening of the Constitutional Loya Jirga.  The decree says that there will be 450 elected members and 50 selected members totaling 500 constitutional Loya Jirga delegates and sets out the procedures for election of those representatives.

You can find more information on the above from the Kabul briefing note.

**Bertini

Catherine Bertini, former Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) and current Under-Secretary-General for Management, has been selected to receive the World Food Prize for 2003.  She was chosen for the Prize last night by the World Food Prize Foundation for her decade of leadership at the WFP, changing the agency into a relief organization that delivered food aid to more than 700 million people in more than 100 countries during her term.  She also received credit for pioneering the channeling of food aid through women.

The prize is worth $250,000.

**HABITAT

We have upstairs a press release from UN-HABITAT on a decision taken at the recent African Union summit asking the agency to work more closely with the AU to help in the fight against the urbanization of poverty.

**FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization and the European Commission today in Brussels signed an agreement designed to create a closer strategic partnership between the two institutions in the fields of development and humanitarian aid.

And we have a press release with more details upstairs.

That’s all I have got for you.  Any questions before we move to Mr. Klein?  Yes, please?

Questions and Answers

Question:  On the question of the possibility of internationalizing the situation in Iraq, you indicated that the Security Council must be consulted.  Does the Secretary-General think that the Security Council must be consulted, or is it the Council that should decide?

Deputy Spokesman:  I think it is a Council matter to start with.  So the Secretary-General made it very clear that it’s up to the Members to make a decision on that.  Mr. Klein, would you like to join us now?

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