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.

**Security Council

The Security Council this morning unanimously adopted a resolution on the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR), which requests the Secretary-General to nominate a new prosecutor for the Rwanda tribunal.

The resolution also welcomes the intention expressed by the Secretary-General in his letter to the Security Council dated 28 July 2003, in which he conveys his intention to submit the name of Carla Del Ponte as the Prosecutor for the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia following the Council’s action on splitting the positions of the prosecutors of the two tribunals, so that they will be occupied by different people.

The Council is now holding a wrap-up discussion for the month of August on the theme of “The Contribution of Peacekeeping to International Peace and Security” chaired by Council President, Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe of Syria.

As of now, there are no consultations or meetings scheduled for tomorrow.

**Amman Memorial Ceremony for fallen UN staff

Today in Amman, on the last day of his mission, Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) addressed 400 United Nations staff members, Jordanian government officials, diplomats and relatives of those who were killed in last week's bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad at a memorial ceremony for the deceased at the

Al-Hussein Sports City in Amman.

Mr. Malloch Brown said it was shocking to him, who had started his United Nations career in field-based emergency operations, to see coffins draped in blue flags emerging from the great white United Nations plane, instead of rice bags or refugees.

“Terrorists attacked men and women who represented the soul of our organization,” he said. He also reaffirmed the UN’s determination not to be deterred by the attack.

During the ceremony, Limya Eltayeb, a UNDP staff member in Baghdad, handed Malloch Brown the damaged United Nations flag from the Organization’s Baghdad headquarters.  It will be brought back to New York to be given to the Secretary-General.

**Sergio Vieira de Mello laid to rest in Geneva 

Earlier today, the body of Sergio Vieira de Mello was laid to rest at a cemetery in Geneva.  Only family members and the Secretary-General’s wife, Nane Annan, attended the burial.

Prior to the burial, more than 1,000 friends and colleagues joined Vieira de Mello’s family at a service at St. Paul’s church in Geneva.

At the start of the ceremony, 22 candles were lit for the 22 victims of the attack on the United Nations compound in Baghdad.  Mr. Vieira de Mello’s widow, Annie, and his children, Laurent and Adrien lit the 23rd candle.

The Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, the Director-General of the United in Geneva (UNOG), Sergei Ordzhonikidze, many heads of UN agencies, as well Geneva authorities were also present.

Tomorrow, there will be an official memorial ceremony at the United Nations Geneva headquarters for all the victims of the attack.

Meanwhile in Oslo, The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed Larsen, delivered a message on behalf of the Secretary-General at an official ceremony honouring the victims of the Baghdad bombing.

“Whether clerical worker, lawyer, driver or special representative, Iraqi or international, each of these men and women made a unique and invaluable contribution to our work”, the Secretary-General said in his message.  “Each was committed to the human rights, sovereignty and well-being of the Iraqi people”, he went on to add.  The full text of the message is available upstairs.

      **Liberia

As part of his visit to countries neighbouring Liberia, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Jacques Klein, is in Côte d’Ivoire today to discuss the possibility of opening up humanitarian corridors to the war-torn nation.

Among his meetings in Abidjan are those with President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, as well as with the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, Albert Tevoedjre, and humanitarian agencies.

In a humanitarian update from Monrovia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the atmosphere around Monrovia remains stable with a few reported incidents.  ECOMIL (Economic Community of West African States Military Force) troops continue to provide security support for humanitarian operations.  They recently established permanent observation points and initiated patrols between camps for displaced persons in greater Monrovia.

A humanitarian mission that travelled to Kakata, which we reported on yesterday, found that the high tensions had influenced people to relocate, but that they were now returning to their homes, as no attack had been forthcoming.

A press release available in the Spokesman’s Office contains an update on humanitarian aid activities scheduled to resume shortly.

**Afghanistan

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, this morning, opened a workshop by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on the Demobilization and Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers in Afghanistan.

In his brief remarks, Brahimi spoke about the processes of demobilization, disarmament and reconstruction (DDR), where he said there is a lot of misunderstanding in post conflict areas, particularly here in Afghanistan, about what DDR is.

Mr. Brahimi said that DDR is part of the effort to re-establish peace and security.  Here in Afghanistan, in particular, it is part of the security sector reform.  He went on to say that work was necessary to phase out existing factional armies, so that one day there will only be the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. 

You can find a briefing note from Kabul with more details about this and other developments in Afghanistan.

**United Nations Refugee Agency

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to the gradual consolidation and closure of Afghan refugee camps near Pakistan's border, and to help sustain returns by focusing aid in the refugees' communities back in Afghanistan.  You can find more details on UNHCR’s Web site.

**Kazakhstan Conference on Landlocked Countries

Today, a two-day conference on Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries is beginning in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the United Nations High Representative dealing with that issue, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, delivered a message on the Secretary-General’s behalf, saying that the United Nations has long recognized the special needs of landlocked developing countries and remains strongly committed to helping them to overcome the formidable obstacles to their development.  We have copies of that statement in my office.

**Kosovo

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Kosovo, Harri Holkeri, today made his first visit to Mitrovica.  He urged the residents to break the cycle of violence and seek reconciliation and he underlined his commitment to bring the communities closer, but added:  “We cannot bring people together by force”.  For more information on the visit, please pick up the press release upstairs.

**UN Environment Programme

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has sent an emergency response specialist to Pakistan to help authorities there assess damage from the break-up of an Iranian oil tanker two weeks ago.  Pakistan requested assistance amid fears that stormy weather could spread spilled oil to ecologically fragile forests and beaches along the Arabian Sea coast.

That’s all I have for you. Have a very good afternoon.

* *** *