DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Michele Montas, Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good Afternoon.

**UN Further Downsizes Staff in Iraq

The Secretary-General, on the advice of his Security Coordinator, has ordered a temporary redeployment of UN international staff in Iraq.  Today there remain 42 in Baghdad and 44 in the north of the country, and those numbers can be expected to shrink further over the next few days.

This is not an evacuation, just a further downsizing, and the security situation in the country remains under constant review.

Meanwhile, our essential humanitarian activities in Iraq continue, thanks to the efforts of our more than 4,000 national staff in the country.

**Death of Iraqi Governing Council Member

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman.

The Secretary-General was very sad to learn of the death of Dr. Akila al-Hashemi, the member of the Iraqi Governing Council who was attacked last Saturday.  He considers such murderous use of violence wholly inexcusable, and likely only to retard the process of establishing a broad-based and representative government in Iraq, to which sovereignty can be transferred.  He sends his sincere condolences to Dr. al-Hashemi’s family, and to the Governing Council.   

**Death of Edward Said

This statement is also attributable to the Spokesman.

The Secretary-General heard with great sadness of the death of Edward Said, the distinguished Palestinian-American writer and scholar who did so much to explain the Islamic world to the West, and vice versa.  While not sharing all of Professor Said’s opinions, the Secretary-General always enjoyed his company, savoured his wit, and admired the passion with which he pursued his vision of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.  Both the Middle East and the United States will be the poorer without his distinctive voice.

**Sudan

The Secretary-General was encouraged by the news today that the Government of the Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) initialled a framework agreement on the security arrangements for the interim period.  He highly commends the commitment and personal efforts of the First Vice-President of the Sudan, Ali Osman Taha, and the Chairman of the SPLM/A, John Garang, who have been engaged in direct talks in Naivasha, Kenya, for over three weeks.  The Secretary-General urges the parties to sustain the pace of the talks and reach a speedy settlement of the conflict.

**Secretary-General’s Message to G-77 Meeting

The Secretary-General this morning spoke at the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 coalition of developing nations, and said that, although it may be hard to imagine making gains on trade issues following the setback in Cancún, Mexico, earlier this month, the G-77 should play a key role in getting trade negotiations back on track.

He said, “I hope the talks will be seen by everyone not just as a narrow exercise in mutual concessions, but rather as a wider, universal effort to ensure that the impediments to development in the present international trading arrangements are removed.  That is in everyone’s interests.”

The Secretary-General added, “As Cancún showed, together you are stronger.”

We have copies of this address upstairs.

**Afghanistan

The Secretary-General addressed the High-level meeting on Afghanistan yesterday afternoon, appealing for continued help for the Afghan Government.  He noted that it may be necessary to take another look at the assistance to the country beyond the 2004 time frame set by an international donors conference in Bonn in 2001.  He called for a new international meeting early next year to review reconstruction needs.

The Secretary-General noted that the continued lack of security was hampering reconstruction activities and severely threatening political participation across a wide region of the country.  He again called for an expansion of international security assistance beyond Kabul, but underscored that in the long run, security was an Afghan responsibility.  To that end, he urged the Government to accelerate the reform of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior and the intelligence services in a credible manner. 

A joint communiqué was issued at the end of the High-level meeting attended by 22 countries and representatives from the European Commission.

**UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today expressed its serious concern over reported incidents of abduction and trafficking of children in Afghanistan.

Reports received from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the UN Mission in Afghanistan indicate that there has been a series of abductions of children as young as four years old in the northern and north-eastern regions of the country.  Since early 2003, a number of children have reportedly been abducted for the apparent purposes of trafficking to neighbouring countries.

UNICEF has written to the Afghan Government, calling for intervention on this issue and requesting that maximum resources be made available for the investigation.

You can find more details in the Kabul briefing notes upstairs.

**Security Council

There are no meetings or consultations of the Security Council scheduled for today.

The Secretary-General and the Foreign Ministers of the five permanent members of the Council are holding their annual luncheon today.

**Brazil Gift

At a meeting this morning with the Secretary-General, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil made a personal donation of $50,000 to the United Nations.  The President had received this sum as the Prince of Asturias Award, in recognition of his own work and leadership on social issues, and wished it to be given to the United Nations for use in a global initiative to eradicate poverty and hunger, that Brazil launched this week at the United Nations, along with India and South Africa.  The Secretary-General wishes to express his great appreciation for this gift and for the President’s strong gesture of support for the United Nations.

**Malaysia Gift

This morning the Secretary-General accepted, on behalf of the United Nations, a gift from the people of Malaysia.

The gift, which was presented by the Prime Minister, is a tepak sireh, a ceremonial vessel to hold the ingredients for betel chewing, a very significant social custom for the Malays.

The Secretary-General said he was delighted and honoured to receive this gift, which stood for communication and harmony among peoples.

His full remarks on receiving the gift are available upstairs.

**Disarmament

Out on the racks today is the Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly on the Work of the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters.

The Board notes that global military expenditures have been rising since 1998, after an observable general decline immediately after the end of the cold war, surging to $794 billion in 2002.  The report points out that the military expenditures of just one country accounted for 43 per cent of world military expenditure.

The Board recommended that the UN identify the best way to preserve the expertise and knowledge of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission for Iraq with a view to maintaining the Organization’s readiness to address future non-compliance cases.

**Budget

Rwanda paid more than $24,000 today to become the 106th Member State to pay its current regular budget assessments in full.

**Press Conferences This Afternoon

Press conferences, 12:30, in just 15 minutes, Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia will be here to brief you.

And then at 5 p.m. this afternoon, Commonwealth Secretary-General Donald McKinnon will be joined by Foreign Ministers Oluyemi Adeniji of Nigeria and Alexander Downer of Australia at a press conference in this room to brief you on the meeting of Commonwealth Ministers for Foreign Affairs, which is taking place this afternoon.

**Guests at Noon Tomorrow

And finally, our guests at tomorrow’s noon briefing will be Hans Corell, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, and Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.  And they’ll be here to brief you on treaties against transnational organized crime and terrorism, including the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which will enter into force on Monday, the 29^th.

That’s all I have for you.

Yes?

Questions and Answers

Question:  On the question of what you called, “further downsizing”, but not an evacuation.  When you say evacuation, do you mean that it’s not a Phase 5 evacuation of staff in Iraq?

Spokesman:  That’s right.  By evacuation we would mean taking out all our international staff.

Question:  When you say there’s a temporary redeployment, will everybody be redeployed or will there be some people remaining in Iraq, international staff?

Spokesman:  Well, first of all, we’re not saying that all staff are being moved out to Amman, Jordan.  We’re reducing the numbers.  We’re keeping the matter under continual review, and by temporary redeployment we mean we’ll most likely be keeping these people in Amman for possible return to Baghdad, should conditions there permit.  

Question:  So how many people will remain in Baghdad?  Do we know?

Spokesman:  At this time, we don’t know.  The numbers for today as I said are 42 and 44.  More people will go out tomorrow, a few more Saturday, and we’ll see what…  

Question:  How many people will be going out tomorrow, and how many people will be going out this afternoon?

Spokesman:  I don’t have those specific numbers and we’ll have to see. It’s partly the judgement of the people on the ground, who are in charge.

Question:  In Nigeria, Amina Lawal, she was released today after a brief struggle in the courts to be released.  What does the UN comments about (inaudible) in Nigeria?

Spokesman:  I don’t have any guidance on that, I’ll see if I can get some.  [He later said that the UN welcomes the decision taken in Nigeria today in the case of Amina Lawal, which is in line with international human rights standards.  We are happy that Amina Lawal’s life has been spared.]

Question:  Can you give us any, even a rough estimate of how many people will remain in the country of Iraq?  Is it less than 100?

Spokesman:  It’s less than 100 there now.

Question:  I know, but in terms of…

Spokesman:  Forty in Baghdad, 40 in the north, roughly 42-44.  They’ll be further reduced over the next two days.  When that process is complete, we’ll let you know what that number is that are remaining.

Question:  So as of right now, 42 in…

Spokesman:  Forty-two in Baghdad, 44 in the north.

Question:  When will this be taking place?  Over what period of time?   

Spokesman:  Over the next two days.      

Question:  Why did the Secretary-General make this decision?  

Spokesman:  Why?  On the recommendation of the Security Coordinator, who has been assessing, on a regular basis, the security situation in the country.      

Question:  Where will the people be going?     

Spokesman:  Amman, Jordan, initially.

Question:  Our understanding is that the Security Coordinator recommended a full evacuation.  Why did the Secretary-General not order a full evacuation? I’m sure this is an issue the UN staff (inaudible).       

Spokesman:  This is the Secretary-General’s decision, it’s for him to make, and him alone to make.  We don’t discuss what recommendations may or may not have been made to him by his advisers.        

Question:  Can you give us a comment on how this affects discussions taking place in the Security Council to increase the role of the UN in Iraq?        

Spokesman:  I don’t think there’s a direct relationship there.  Members of the Council are negotiating very difficult issues regarding a possible second resolution on Iraq.  The Secretary-General, you’ll recall, in his statement to the Assembly, said that subject to security considerations, the United Nations system is prepared to play its full role in Iraq.  So there are two elements there:  What will the new resolution, if there is one, say; and what will the security situation in the country be?

Question:  What’s going to be left after this temporary deployment?  Is there going to be an agency or agencies that are going to be best represented, or how is that going to be…

Spokesman:  I think it’s too early to say, but I think that the various agencies that are most active in Iraq are likely to maintain some representation among those who will stay in Baghdad.

Question:  Who will be the most senior official left?

Spokesman:  We’ll have to see, right now I assume it’s Ramiro Lopez

da Silva, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the UN.

[Later, the Spokesman issued a correction, saying Kevin Kennedy was currently the most senior official in Baghdad.  The Acting Special Representative, Ramiro Lopez da Silva, was out of the country but expected back in Baghdad at the end of the month.]

Question:  How would you describe, sir, the level of activity the remaining people will be capable of after this redeployment takes place?

Spokesman:  I don’t know that the level of activity will decline.  We have 4,233 local staff at work, so that with some international supervision, it’s assumed they can continue carrying on the essential humanitarian activities we have going on now.

Question:  (Inaudible)

Spokesman:  We’ve been working with the coalition to steadily increase the security around our compound.  There’s no 100 per cent guarantee that any one can be safe, anywhere in the world, really.  But we’re taking every step we can with the support of the coalition forces to secure our headquarters compound. Yes?

Question:  Sir, it seems like you had a couple options.  You could have asked the coalition forces for increased security at some of the UN offices in Iraq as one way to protect the people.  Or, have this temporary deployment, redeployment I should say, to Amman.  Why not do the former, which is, call for increased support and protection from the coalition?

Spokesman:  I said that we have been working with the coalition to increase the security around our compound.  The assessment of the Security Coordinator was that we would be better to downsize and temporarily redeploy many of our international staff in the country, which we’re in the process of doing.  You can see these numbers are a bit lower than what I said they were yesterday, and they will further diminish over the next two days.

Question:  What I don’t understand is given that the UN has come down from 800 to 86 over the last couple of weeks, why are you announcing a downsizing?

Spokesman:  Because this was a decision that was just taken yesterday, is being acted on today and over the next two days, it’s a new decision.  I thought you might like to know about it.

Question:  I’m sorry, the peak international number was…

Spokesman:  It depends on when you’re talking about but there was a little over 300 in Baghdad, and a similar number in the north.  So there was something like 650 about the time of the 19 August attack.

Spokesman:  Michele?

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

Thank you, Fred.  Good afternoon all.

As you know today is the fourth day of the general debate.  Three heads of State, six heads of government have spoken this morning.  President Mugabe of Zimbabwe has been rescheduled to speak on Friday.  We have 28 speakers, which are listed for today. 

The President of the General Assembly met this morning with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, presently chairing the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).  The exchange focused on the common concerns of the Movement and of the Presidency of the Assembly, with a number of economic issues, on the impact of globalization on third world economies, the questions of commodities and non-tariff barriers to trade.  The Prime Minister underlined the importance of UN reforms and offered the assistance of NAM in bringing development issues to the forefront.  The Prime Minister will hold a press conference in a few minutes, so I will not say more about his statements.

Similar questions were addressed last night when the President of the General Assembly met with the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Sir Anerood Jugnauth. Mauritius will be, in August 2004, the host of the “SIDS+10” Conference that will evaluate the progress made by Small Island Developing States in the last decade.

President Hunte also met this morning with the Prime Minister of Malta, Dr. Edward Fenech-Adami, who stressed the importance of this session at this particular juncture.  Discussions centred on reforms at the UN, the role of the European Union and the situation in the Middle East.

That’s all I have for you, thank you.

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