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.

**Libya

Around 6 p.m. on Friday here at UN Headquarters, just hours after power was restored following the massive blackout, representatives of Libya, the United Kingdom and the United States met with the Security Council President, Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe of Syria.  The Libyan Ambassador, Ahmed Own, presented a letter stating Libya’s commitment to cooperate in the international fight against terrorism and said that it has arranged for the payment of appropriate compensation in connection with the 1988 explosion of Pan American flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, with the necessary sums to be transmitted to an escrow account within a matter of days.

The US and the UK Ambassadors, in a joint letter, said that in view of Libya’s actions, they are prepared to allow for the lifting of the sanctions measures set out against Libya in Security Council resolutions 748 and 883, once the necessary sums have been transferred into the escrow account.  A resolution regarding those sanctions is expected to be introduced shortly.

In Helsinki last Friday, the Secretary-General was asked by reporters about the Libya sanctions and he replied, “I think we will need to move ahead and resolve the Libyan issue”.  He added that, for all practical purposes, the sanctions, which the Security Council suspended in 1999, have not been in effect, and that he expects the Council to proceed with the formal lifting of the sanctions.

**Liberia

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia, Jacques Klein, is in Accra, Ghana, today where a comprehensive peace agreement for Liberia is expected to be signed later today.  Yesterday, the Special Representative secured a signed agreement by the Liberian warring parties to:  ensure free and unimpeded access to all territories under their control to enable the delivery of humanitarian aid and assistance by international organizations and non-government organizations; and to guarantee the security and safety of all members and equipment of international organizations and non-governmental organizations operating in territory under their control.

The agreement on the distribution of humanitarian aid assistance in Liberia was signed by representatives of the Government of Liberia, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, better known as LURD, and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), and witnessed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and Jacques Klein, on behalf of the United Nations.

The agreement states that it will come into effect immediately, but in order to allow time for the commanders to inform all their fighters, it has been agreed that the provisions will take effect from 23.59 hours on Tuesday, 19 August.

Klein and his team are expected to return to Monrovia tomorrow to undertake preparations for the arrival of the UN assessment team, whose report will form the basis of the request to the Security Council for a mandate for the peacekeeping force in Liberia.

**Liberia -- Humanitarian

The signing of an agreement on humanitarian access is a hopeful sign that it will be possible to meet the needs of Liberia’s long-suffering population, many of whom have been cut off from aid for months or even years.  While UN humanitarian agencies are waiting to see if the agreement will hold, they are conducting assessments that would allow them to re-establish operations in areas that had been cut off from aid by fighting. 

Tomorrow, an assessment team will go to the town of Tubmanburg to evaluate which humanitarian needs are most urgent and to see if security conditions are conducive for resuming humanitarian activities.  Later in the week, a similar assessment will be undertaken in the Liberian port town of Buchanan.  There were also minor improvements in the humanitarian situation in Monrovia over the weekend.  As security in the capital improved, many of Monrovia’s

450,000 internally displaced persons have begun returning to their homes.

The World Food Programme has been distributing the 4,300 metric tonnes of food that were not looted last week.  The UN’s food agency will prioritize urgent distributions to some 200,000 children under five as well as patients in Monrovia’s hospitals.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has begun distribution of the five tonnes of medical supplies that landed in Monrovia last week.

**Security Council

The Security Council this afternoon at 3:00 has scheduled an open meeting on Kosovo.  The Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic is expected to be the first speaker.  That meeting is scheduled to be followed by consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other matters.

**SG in Finland

The Secretary-General met on Friday afternoon in Helsinki with the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, with whom he discussed the lessons learned by the recent experience in Iraq.  They talked about the importance of multilateralism, the role the UN can play in Iraq and the need for the involvement of neighbouring countries.  The President offered her support for the Secretary-General's efforts.  They also discussed the Millennium Development Goals, as well as the subjects of Liberia, disarmament and cooperation among regional organizations.

Afterwards, the Secretary-General spoke to the press and said that “what happens in Iraq does not happen in a vacuum, and the neighbours have to work with us if we are going to stabilize Iraq”.

Asked about a timetable for UN involvement in Iraq, he said that discussions in the Security Council on a greater UN role are at an early stage, adding, “I do not see a second resolution on that for some time, if we are going to get one.”

Asked why former Liberian President Charles Taylor was allowed to go into exile in Nigeria rather than facing trial on war crimes in Sierra Leone, the Secretary-General noted that “there is always that need for justice, but also the need for peace” and he asked, “Which comes first”?  He said that one needs to have a keen sense of judgement and timing to have both, and asserted, “The long arm of the law will still be at work, and the indictment still stands”.

**Iraq

The Office of the Iraq Programme reports that over the past week food contracts valued at more than $1 billion have been prioritized for delivery to Iraq following consultations involving the Coalition Provisional Authority, Iraqi experts and the United Nations.  The World Food Programme will work directly with contractors to expedite shipments of most of the prioritized items, including rice, milk powder and sugar.

The Executive Director of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, has been in Iraq since 13 August to discuss the closure and handover arrangements for the “oil-for-food” program.

In other Iraqi news, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is helping to improve water and medical services in villages where displaced Arabs have returned under a programme to stabilize returnee communities in northern Iraq.  UNHCR says that an estimated 800,000 people have been displaced internally in Iraq by conflicts and the previous expulsions of Iraqi Kurds.  We have more details in a UNHCR press release.

**Afghanistan

In northern Afghanistan, a multi-party commission, including representatives of the UN Mission in that country and members of various factions, has begun a disarmament exercise in Sholgara, which began on Saturday.  Under an agreement signed by the main faction leaders in Mazar-i-Sharif, all military weapons are to be surrendered to the multi-party commission for storage in the respective military units in Mazar, while all personal weapons must be registered.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, over the weekend condemned the vicious attack that took place last Wednesday, which resulted in the death of two national staff members of the Afghan Red Cross.  We have more details in yesterday’s briefing notes from Kabul.

**ICTY

Finally, from The Hague, on Friday, Mitar Rasevic, the commander of guards at the Foca prison camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1994, was transferred to the detention unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and he is having his first appearance before the Tribunal today.  Rasevic is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.  We have a press release with more details upstairs.  That’s all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Regarding or anticipating the expected lifting of sanctions against Libya, does the Secretary-General exclude the possibility of a veto by France?

Spokesman:  We’re not discussing whatever might be going on in the Security Council behind the scenes now.  All I have to give you is what I have already said.  You probably guessed from the way I worded the information that I gave you earlier, that we expect that under “other matters” this afternoon, the item on Libya would be introduced.  Council members, presumably, would then discuss it in closed session.  And you can try to catch members as they come out of the Chamber, if you want to know what went on in those closed discussions.

Question:  Can you tell us -- what are we looking at this week in terms of discussions on lifting the sanctions?

Spokesman:  I don’t want to predict, but I think the expectation is that final action could be taken in the course of this week, possibly towards the end of the week.

Question:  Between maintaining the sanctions, how much say does the Secretary-General of the United Nations have as far as lifting the UN sanctions against Libya?

Spokesman:  This is purely a Security Council matter, and it’s in the hands of the Council now.  Thank you very much.

Question:  What happened to your hand?

Spokesman:  Corrective surgery.  Comes with old age!  (Laughter)

Thank you.

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