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.

Joining us today is Tun Myat, the UN Security Coordinator, who will talk about the security situation in Iraq.

Let me start by reading a statement attributable to the Spokesman regarding recent events in the Middle East.

**Statement on Middle East

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned at the sharp escalation in violence in the Middle East.  While recognizing the right of Israel to live in security, Israel does not have the right to resort to extrajudicial measures, as it used today in the Gaza Strip.

“The Secretary-General calls upon the Government of Israel to exercise restraint and to halt its current military actions, so as to enable the Palestinian Authority to take the necessary steps to bring extremist groups under control and ensure the truce continues.  He urges the Government of Abu Mazen to act rapidly to that end and expresses his strong concern at the announcement that Hamas has renounced the truce.

“The Secretary-General continues to believe that security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians can best be achieved through the political process set out in the Quartet’s ‘Road Map’.”

**Iraq – Secretary-General Address to Staff

The Secretary-General spoke with UN staff in a special meeting this morning to share the sorrow and shock experienced at the United Nations since the Tuesday bombing.  He said that the images of UN colleagues being carried out on stretchers from the Canal Hotel, and the memories of the friends that have been lost, have left the UN staff bewildered and numb.

He said, “We, whose work is so wrapped up in the tragedies of others, now face one of our own.  The ache in our souls is almost too much to bear.”  The Secretary-General told the staff in Baghdad, “Your work has been a source of great inspiration to all of us, and most of all, to the people in Iraq.”

**Secretary-General -– Powell Meeting

The Secretary-General met this morning with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, with whom he discussed the security situation in Iraq and what needs to be done to strengthen security and continue UN operations following Tuesday’s bomb attack on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad.

They also discussed Liberia, where, the Secretary-General said afterwards, “We are making progress, both on the political and the military front”, and reviewed the situation in the Middle East, to ensure that the parties stay on track with the implementation of the Road Map.

Asked by reporters afterwards about any expanded UN mandate in Iraq, the Secretary-General said that, regardless of the differences that existed before the war, the stability of Iraq should be in everyone’s interest.  He said it was possible, given an amount of work and negotiations, to achieve a consensus in the Security Council on Iraq, warning that “an Iraq that is destabilized, an Iraq that is in chaos, is not in the interest of the region or the world, and we do have a responsibility to ensure that”.

We have a full transcript of the Secretary-General’s remarks upstairs.  As usual we did not transcribe the Secretary [of State]’s remarks.

**Iraq -- Yesterday

The Secretary-General yesterday briefed the Security Council in closed consultations about the Tuesday bombing of the UN compound in Baghdad, and told them that the bombing marked one of the darkest days in the history of the United Nations.

He told the Council that an intensive review to determine what is required to ensure the security of UN staff in Iraq has begun, but added that it is equally essential that a general environment of security be created in Iraq.

The Security Council then adopted a presidential statement in a brief formal meeting, unequivocally condemning the terrorist attack and its perpetrators, and expressing its deepest admiration to all the UN personnel who had lost their lives or been injured in the service of the UN and the Iraqi people.

After the Council meeting, the Secretary-General attended a candlelight vigil in honour of the staff who had died or who had been injured in Baghdad and told the gathered staff, “Sometimes it seems as if it were a dream, and we would wake up; I wish it were.”  But the best way to honour the UN’s fallen and wounded colleagues, he added, is to continue the work they had begun, with the clear determination to do what the UN is in Iraq to do.

We have transcripts of his remarks yesterday, including his press comments upon entering the building.  You will find them in my office upstairs.

**Iraq -- Victims

The UN Security Coordinator’s Office says that as of midday, 22 people are believed dead from the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

The breakdown is as follows -– 18 bodies have been identified, including 10 UN international and five national staff.  Two other bodies have not been identified, and another two people are missing and believed dead.

Earlier reports mentioned the figure of 23, but it was learned that one staff member who was believed dead was indeed alive and had made contact with her family.

As the Secretary-General mentioned, work continues to identify both international and local staff who may have been killed.

**Security Council

As you know, the Security Council is holding an open meeting on Iraq today.  Council members heard briefings by the ambassadors of the United States and the United Kingdom.  There is no speakers’ list but Council members are responding to the briefing with statements.  Consultations on Iraq are scheduled immediately after the meeting.

**Iraq -- Lopes da Silva Briefing

Ramiro Lopes da Silva, the acting head of the UN operation in Iraq, briefed the press in Baghdad today to inform them that, with some UN personnel travelling outside Iraq for medical treatment or stress counselling, the total staff numbers, which were at about 300 at the time of the Tuesday bombing, will be at about 200 as of this weekend.

More staff will be rotated into the country as others come out, and he affirmed that, although administrative support may now be handled outside Baghdad, the core work the United Nations is doing in Iraq will continue.

Asked about security concerns in Baghdad, Lopes da Silva said that the United Nations is an open organization, and cannot be divided from the people that it serves, which entails a certain level of vulnerability.  He said that he was unaware of any exchange, however, about any UN refusal to accept a stronger US security presence.

**Iraq -- Condolence Books

Books of condolences in memory of the UN staff who died in Baghdad will be placed on the second floor of the General Assembly building, for the diplomatic community to sign, and in the south lobby of the Secretariat building, for UN staff to sign.  Another book of condolences will be available for visitors to the United Nations and the public at large in the visitors’ lobby of the General Assembly building.

**Liberia

On Liberia, we just spoke with the spokeswoman for the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Liberia, Jacques Klein, who was on his way back from the airport with an 11-member UN assessment team, which had just arrived.

The team was dispatched by the Secretary-General, who has been asked by the Security Council to submit recommendations for the size, structure and mandate of a UN force to support a transitional government and to assist in the implementation of a comprehensive peace agreement for Liberia.

On the humanitarian front, the UN refugee agency reports on a mission that went in yesterday beyond Monrovia to get a clearer picture of displacement and humanitarian needs in areas outside the Liberian capital.

UNHCR joined an inter-agency mission to Tubmanburg, a town about 50 kilometres north of Monrovia where an estimated 20,000 people have been displaced amid the recent fighting.  UNHCR says the displaced have been surviving mainly on cassava leaves and palm cabbage, and are in desperate need of food, health care and sanitation.  The local hospital is empty, with all the medicine and equipment looted.  Makeshift medical facilities have been set up at a nearby church.

The World Food Programme continued distribution to some 9,000 displaced, bringing the total number of people reached with food aid this week to 45,000.  UNICEF and its NGO partners continued their operation to chlorinate some 3,000 wells around Monrovia.  In Monrovia itself, security is still a problem, with daily reports of looting, carjacking, rape and burglary.

**SARS

A team of experts from the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization has been sent to China to assist the Chinese Government in designing further investigations into the potential presence of the SARS coronavirus in animals and its transmission to humans.  The experts will present their findings today to the Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Science and Technology.  We have more in a press release.

**Budget

Finally, some budget information.  Saudi Arabia today completed payment on its $7.5 million dues to the regular budget for this year, becoming the ninety-ninth Member State to pay in full.  That’s all I have for you.

Questions and Answers

Question:  Will victims of the attack in Baghdad and their families receive insurance or compensation of one kind or another?

Spokesman:  Let me get a precise answer to that question for you later.  But my understanding is that the United Nations pays compensation to its staff members who are injured and killed while on service from a fund maintained for that purpose.  We have no insurance or insurance policy on these people.  I believe that’s the system and there’s a scale of how much compensation you get for what kind of injury.  That’s what I believe the situation is.  But let me double-check for you with the administration people afterwards.

Question:  You have said that the UN did not refuse protection from the coalition.  Does this mean that the coalition did offer protection to the UN compound?

Spokesman:  I can’t really interpret for you Ramiro’s comments.  Baghdad should do that.  There is no record anywhere of any exchange with the United States or the coalition authorities involving an offer of security that we turned down.

Question:  Future protection assurances?  Has there been any contact since the bombing so that now there would be protection for the UN staff there?

Spokesman:  That’s really something that you have to ask Baghdad.  You have the statement of the Secretary-General yesterday, saying that we will have to re-assess our own security arrangements in Baghdad and Iraq generally, and that we need some help from the coalition to improve security nationwide.  What has taken place today between the UN Mission and the coalition authorities, I have no information.

Question:  You have been saying that you’d stay the course in Baghdad, despite the bombing and also pulling out roughly one third of the staff.  How can you continue at the same level of service with two thirds of your staff?

Spokesman: First of all, I think what we said is that we will be rotating people back in to replace those that we’re pulling out.  Those that we’re pulling out are the injured and traumatized.  Some agencies have assessed specific tasks that don’t have to be done in Iraq and so they are looking at those aspects of their operations that don’t necessarily have to take place in Baghdad, taking place somewhere outside.  So, although there could be some reduction of the staff in Baghdad, there is not, at present, any plan to reduce our level of activity.  I know that the World Food Programme, for one, is talking about moving some of its administrative people who don’t have to be in Baghdad to someplace else.  They are contemplating Amman, Jordan, for example.  We also have a humanitarian coordination operation in Larnaka, Cyprus.  So, we are looking at alternative places to do non-essential work, while still maintaining the same level of activity.

Question:  Mr. (Michael) McCann (Chief of Security and Safety Service) was in Baghdad a few weeks ago to look at headquarters security and Sergio’s office was quite exposed.  My question is whether he’s still going back there or whether he still has the full confidence of the Secretary-General?

Spokesman:  I’ll have to ask him whether he’s going back there.  I have heard no suggestion that anyone thought that the assessment by Chief McCann was inadequate.  This is the first time I have heard that.

Question:  Any change in security measures at UN Headquarters in Nairobi?

Spokesman:  I think I answered that yesterday.  First, we don’t discuss those in any detail, but what I said yesterday was that an attack of the kind we experienced in Baghdad would obviously send an alert throughout the whole system.  There were additional measures taken here at UN Headquarters.  But our assessment was that that particular threat was Baghdad-specific.

Question:  Could you tell us about the negotiations between the Secretary-General and Secretary Powell concerning the nature of security in Iraq?

Spokesman:  I can’t give you any more than what they gave you at the stake-out after their meeting.

Question:  Do you have anything on reports that Mr. Vieira de Mello’s plane was shot at while returning from a visit to a neighbouring country recently?

Spokesman:  We saw that report, I believe in a Lebanese newspaper.  I don’t know whether we have been able to confirm it.  Let me see whether we can get anything more on that.

Question:  How does the attack on the UN compound compare with the attack on the refugee camp in southern Lebanon in 1996?

Spokesman:  I think it is apples and oranges.  In that case, there was an attack indeed on United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping mission facility.  The victims were Lebanese refugees, whereas the unusual thing about the Baghdad attack was that it was against UN Headquarters personnel with a large number of deaths and injuries.  The deaths in the former were larger, I think about 100.

Question:  When do you expect to have a list of the dead identified, and also how many people are still considered missing?

Spokesman:  On the dead, as the identification is confirmed, and the families notified, we are authorized to put out the names, and so we are gradually adding names to the list that we make available to you.  I think we have a list in writing in our office that we update from time to time.  Marie, (of Spokesman’s office), why don’t you come up here.  Do you have an answer to the second question concerning the missing?

Marie Okabe:  According to Ramiro, who gave a press briefing earlier today (in Baghdad), there are 2 missing who have been identified.  There might still be people buried in the rubble.

Question:  Where are the staff remaining working, as there are no visible office space?

Spokesman:  Canal Hotel, we have assessed, is pretty much unusable now.  The force of the blast was such that, although a lot of the structure is there, much of it is usable.  So we are looking at alternative space.  We had some tents in place called “Tent City”, and I understand some people have been working out of there.  And then there was another location somewhere in town where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had offices that they had recently vacated, but the lease hadn’t expired.  And so, we are moving some people into that building as well.

Question:  Why do you have to keep some 200 people still at post where it is very clearly dangerous?

Spokesman:  Because both the Security Council and the Security-General have committed the United Nations to continue its work in Iraq.  We’ll be making some adjustments on security basis, and Tun Myat, the UN Security Coordinator, will be joining us, and he can tell you more about that.  But, basically, we’re going to keep core staff there, keep core operations going and take additional security measures necessary to protect our remaining staff and you can ask questions of Tun about that.

Question:  When did Mr. McCann make his security assessment, and can you give us a little bit more details about where he went and what his assessment was?

Spokesman:  I’ll let Mr. Myat answer that question.  There’s one thing more I’d like to do before handing over to Mr. Myat, concerning a former member of the Spokesman’s office who was confirmed dead yesterday –- Nadia.  And I’ll ask Marie to read something, because I’ll get weepy.

**Nadia

In the Spokesman’s Office, we waited with dread for news of our colleague, former Spokeswoman for the Secretary-General Nadia Younes, who was serving in Baghdad as Sergio Vieira de Mello’s chief of staff.

Her name was on a list of people who were to have attended the meeting Sergio was having at the time of the explosion.  Officially, she was listed as missing yesterday, but no one had heard from her in 24 hours.

That no one would hear from Nadia for 24 hours was unthinkable.  She had exuberant friendships.  Her throaty laughter could be heard three offices away.  And one of the things that endeared her to everyone was that she could find a funny angle to any story.

As External Relations Director of the World Health Organization, she had a hand in coming up with the name for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.  The doctors at WHO wanted to call it Acute Respiratory Syndrome.  Nadia added the “Severe”.  “It’s redundant”, she quipped, “ but we couldn’t call it ARS”.  [Pronounced “arse”.]

She could also laugh at herself.  As Kofi Annan’s Chief of Protocol, she once introduced the President of Burkina Faso to the Secretary-General as the President of Burundi.  The Secretary-General, of course, knew the difference and warmly greeted the President.  Once Nadia was out of the room, she roared with laughter.  “Do you realize what I just did?” she laughed, eyes wide with mock terror.

For many of you in this room, you remember the years she spent in the Spokesman’s Office as deputy to Spokesman Francois Giuliani under Javier Perez de Cuellar and Boutros Boutros-Ghali.  And perhaps you were lucky enough to attend one of the ad hoc and raucous after-hour gatherings in that office.

There is one detail I would like to share with you.  You’ll remember that among her many assignments was one as Spokeswoman for Bernard Kouchner when he was head of the UN Mission in Kosovo.  A local staff member who used to drive her around remembered how much she liked to listen to a Puccini aria while in the car to help her relax.  The driver has sent an audio tape of that aria, Nessun Dorma, sung by Pavarotti, to some of her closest friends around the world, as his message of condolence.

Yesterday, we received confirmation that Nadia’s body was retrieved from the wreckage.  To her family and to all her friends, and particularly to her colleagues here at the United Nations, the Spokesman’s Office sends sympathy, but also, to Nadia, a salute of respect.  Thank You.

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