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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Liberia

Marc de Bernis, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Liberia, who was evacuated from that country’s capital on Monday along with the last United Nations international staff remaining in Monrovia, yesterday spoke to the press in neighbouring Sierra Leone and warned that more than a million people are now trying to survive in Monrovia under extremely difficult conditions.  He said that the extremely poor health and sanitation situation in the capital has led to recent outbreaks of cholera, measles and malaria, which could be further intensified if they are not contained immediately.  He also noted the urgent need to secure safe access by humanitarian workers to hundreds of thousands of people living outside Monrovia.

The Humanitarian Coordinator said that, for now, local staff was carrying out United Nations humanitarian work in the capital.  We have a press release from Sierra Leone that includes a transcript of that briefing.

The Office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), meanwhile, says that hundreds of Sierra Leonean refugees, desperate for food and pleading to be evacuated out of Liberia, have jammed the UNHCR compound in Monrovia, with more than 800 people in all at the compound.  By this morning, the compound had run out of food, and the situation there is extremely difficult.

Also yesterday, in Dakar, Senegal, the Foreign Ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met to discuss ways of expediting the arrival of a vanguard force to Liberia.  The Secretary-General this week reiterated the need for the deployment of such a force without delay.

**Sierra Leone Special Court

The Special Court for Sierra Leone announced that, following a request filed last month by Prosecutor David Crane to the Swiss Government to block the account of indicted suspect President Charles Taylor of Liberia, Switzerland’s Justice Office announced today that around 2 million Swiss francs, equivalent to about 1.5 million United States dollars, have been frozen in accounts held by two persons associated with President Taylor.  The Office of the Prosecutor is pleased with the assistance received from the Swiss authorities.

The Special Court yesterday denied a request by lawyers representing former Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh for a stay of proceedings in his trial, until the Court had completed a full psychiatric and physiological examination of him.

The equipment necessary for the examination is not available in Sierra Leone, and a United Nations travel ban on Sankoh is still in place.  A psychiatrist who had made a preliminary examination of Sankoh in March described him as “catatonic”, but could not make a complete diagnosis as to whether the indicted suspect is competent to stand trial.

Also yesterday, the Court denied a request by lawyers representing another suspect, Alex Brima, for bail, as well as a writ of habeas corpus claiming that Brima’s detention is unlawful.

We have two press releases with details.

**Security Council

The Security Council began an open meeting to hear a briefing on the work of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, by the Committee’s Chair and current Security Council President, Ambassador Inocencio Arias of Spain.

Arias told the Council that the Committee not only met its work program for the last three months, but, in some cases, had even gone beyond it.  The Council discussion is now going on, with 10 non-Council members inscribed to speak along with the Council members.

**Kosovo

The United Nations Mission in Kosovo announced that the mortal remains of some 40 people, whose bodies were exhumed in Batajnica, will be repatriated from Serbia proper to Kosovo today.  The bodies have been identified by DNA, and the remains will be ready for release to family members in Kosovo, once forensic inspections are complete.  We have a press release with more information on that.

**United Nations Development Programme

The high-level Commission on the Private Sector and Development is to be launched officially by the Secretary-General at Friday’s noon briefing here, and that Commission is to be co-chaired by Canada’s former Finance Minister, Paul Martin, and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo.

The Secretary-General and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown will introduce the co-chairs at noon in this room on Friday.  In a press release that the UNDP has put out, the Secretary-General says that the Commission has been created as a direct response to the growing notion that the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved only if the private sector is involved.

**Food and Agriculture Organization

In a report released today, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa are facing food emergencies caused mainly by continuous armed conflict, adverse weather conditions, HIV/AIDS and the internal displacement of people leaving rural areas.

The report, “Food Supply Situation and Crop Prospects in Sub-Saharan Africa”, provides for an elaborate overview of the situation per country.  We have the press release if you’re interested.

**Guest at Noon Tomorrow

And finally, our guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.  And he’ll be here to talk about his recent visit to West Africa.

That’s all I have for you.  Thank you very much.

* *** *