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.

**Memorial March

A short while ago, about 2,000 staff members at UN Headquarters held a silent march to honour the memory of UN colleagues who were killed in Baghdad.  The Secretary-General joined the marchers, as did a number of members of permanent missions.  Approximately 3,000 UN employees took part in a similar march in Geneva earlier today.

**Iraq

Earlier today in Baghdad, the bodies of five UN staff members killed in the bombing were flown out to Amman, Jordan.  Those are Reham al Farra, Jean Selim Kanaan, Chris Klein Beekman, Fiona Watson and Nadia Younes.

Mark Malloch Brown, the UN Development Programme Administrator, will receive the bodies upon their arrival at this hour in Amman.

He is to say, in honour of the five fallen staff, that their lives changed the people that they touched, while their deaths have, tragically, changed the United Nations.  He will add, “You leave us now the even harder task of finishing what you began, but your sacrifice must be our commitment”.

The latest count that we have is 23 dead, of which 19 were UN staff –- 11 internationals and 8 nationals.

**Deputy Secretary-General

      Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette will leave New York this evening for Geneva.  On Thursday 2 p.m., 28 August, she will attend a religious memorial service for Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq. 

In the evening, at 7 p.m., she will also attend a commemoration jointly organized by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights. 

On Friday at 11 a.m., she will attend a ceremony for all staff members who were victims of the Baghdad bombing last Tuesday.  We have the details of the memorial service available upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council this morning unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the States that participate in the multinational force in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, to provide assistance to the UN contingent that is to replace them on September 1, if the UN Mission requests such assistance.  The multinational force’s disengagement is to last, at the latest, until September 15.

The vote on a draft resolution on the protection of UN, associated and humanitarian personnel, meanwhile, was postponed, and the subject will be discussed during today’s consultations.

The Council then began consultations on missing Kuwaiti and third-country nationals in Iraq, on which it received a report from the Secretary-General last week, noting progress in finding out the fate of such nationals in recent months and suggesting that the mandate of the High-Level Coordinator for Iraq, Yuli Vorontsov, might be ended by this December.  Vorontsov briefed the Council on the report.

After that, the Council started consultations on Liberia, first by hearing from Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, who chairs the Council’s sanctions committee on Liberia, about that sanctions regime.  The Council will afterward hear an update on developments in Liberia, delivered by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hédi Annabi.

**Liberia

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) reports that Monrovia, the Liberian capital, is still relatively calm, despite heavy looting at government buildings last week.  Life is slowly returning to normal, with some businesses opening in the city.

Special Humanitarian Coordinator Ross Mountain is pursuing discussions with government and rebel forces to promote safe and unhindered access to areas outside Monrovia.  The UN has sent assessment missions to several parts of Liberia, noting that an estimated 45,000 displaced people are present in the second-largest city, Buchanan, while the situation in Tubmanburg remains precarious.

Information on the situation in the rest of the country remains largely anecdotal, but some 3,000 to 4,000 people are reportedly on the road from Gbatala to displaced camps in central Liberia, amid reports of fresh fighting between government and rebel forces.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Liberia, Jacques Klein, is scheduled to be travelling to Guinea today as part of his series of talks with regional leaders.

**Somalia

The independent expert on human rights in Somalia, Ghanim Alnajjar, arrived in the region this week for an 11-day mission, and he is to visit Somalia starting today, on a trip to last through September 1.

Alnajjar said of Somalia, “The situation right now is not promising”, and added that the human rights picture in Somalia depends on the fate of the peace process.  We have a press release with more details upstairs.

**Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

The World Health Organization (WHO), following extensive investigations, today dispelled fears that outbreaks of respiratory illness in Surrey and Vancouver, Canada might be linked to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

WHO said it has now gathered, together with Canadian health authorities, enough evidence to conclude that the outbreak is not SARS and that Canada continues to be a safe destination for travel.

**United Nations Environment Programme

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Mongolian Government today signed an agreement to support sustainable development and environmental protection in Mongolia.  We have a press release on that upstairs.

That is all I have for you. Any questions?

Question:  There were some indications that level-four security was declared around the UN compound in Baghdad and that evacuation was advised, but that there was no follow-up.  Could you clarify that?

Deputy Spokesman:  You must be aware that we don’t discuss security arrangements in public, so I am afraid that I cannot make a specific comment on that.

All right then, have a very good afternoon. Thank you.

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