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 Secretary General

Good Afternoon.

**Middle East

In a statement issued in New York, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, condemned last night’s attacks from Lebanese territory across the Blue Line, which killed an Israeli soldier.  This constitutes a clear violation of the Blue Line and Security Council resolutions, and could escalate tension between Israel and its northern neighbours.  Roed-Larsen urges the Government of Lebanon to exert control over the use of force from all its territory.  He calls on all sides to abstain from further action that could increase the already high level of tension in the region, and work exclusively through peaceful means.

To this end, the Secretary-General has asked the Special Coordinator to be active in his contacts with all the parties, including regional governments, at this difficult and dangerous juncture.  The Secretary-General is increasingly concerned at the risk of escalation.

In Jerusalem, in a few minutes, the Special Coordinator will be meeting with the Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Yoav Birar.  Meanwhile on the ground, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon is investigating the incident and it has increased its patrols along the Blue Line.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has found 65 bodies at Katchele, north-east of Bunia.  The Mission sent an investigation team to the area after being alerted by the leader of Union of Congolese Patriots.  The team found 23 people killed in a church, and others who were buried in a mass grave; most of the dead were children.  There are also some 20 wounded who are being treated in hospitals.

From the evidence gathered, a group of Lendu, believed to be from nearby villages, armed with rifles and machetes, attacked Katchele early on the morning of 6 October.  The Mission has deployed a good number of Pakistani soldiers to the location.  It will also launch a full-scale investigation of the incident and will search for weapons, which could be linked to the massacre, and individuals who might be involved.

**Security Council

There are no meetings or consultations of the Security Council scheduled for today.  The Security Council President, US Ambassador John Negroponte, is scheduled to hold a press conference here at 12:30 p.m. on the program of work for this month.

Yesterday afternoon, the Council met for about three hours.  Council members discussed the US draft resolution on Iraq.  No further discussions on the resolution are scheduled at this time.

In addition to Iraq, the Security Council took up three other subjects under “other matters”.  The United Kingdom introduced a draft presidential statement on the Sudan peace process.  There was a brief discussion on Afghanistan and on the draft resolution on the Middle East submitted on Sunday by Syria.

**Kosovo

Harri Holkeri, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, today sent out formal invitations to the leaders of Serbia and Montenegro and the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Kosovo, so that they can take part in the launch of a direct dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade on practical issues of mutual concern.  That event will take place on 14 October in Vienna.

Holkeri also invited the Contact Group’s member governments –- the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Russia -– to participate as facilitators in the dialogue.

**UNIKOM

Out on the racks is the Secretary-General’s final report to the Security Council on the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission.  As you know, the mission’s mandate came to an end yesterday.

The report, which covers the period of 16 June to 1 October, explains that during that time, the mission provided support to the UN humanitarian agencies operating in Iraq.  The mission’s staff now consists mostly of civilian, both local and international, who are focusing on the liquidation of the mission, which is to be completed in about a month.

**Pacem in Terris

This afternoon, the Secretary-General will address a seminar in the Economic and Social Council Chamber to mark the 40th anniversary of the Papal encyclical “Pacem in Terris” (Peace on Earth) and will note that, in it, Pope John XXIII wanted to see a time when the United Nations can effectively safeguard human rights.

The Secretary-General will say that, many times, many human beings have not found the United Nations to be an effective safeguard of their personal rights, in places from Rwanda in the mid-1990s to countries whose problems were met with a hesitant or tardy response, like Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo this year.  He will note that with UN bodies, Member States become reluctant and cautious to embarrass other governments.

In the prepared remarks, embargoed copies of which we have upstairs, he is to say, “In the Commission on Human Rights, especially, we have increasingly seen States motivated more by political solidarity with each other than by an impartial concern to uphold human rights throughout the world”.

**African-American Civil Society

As part of the Secretary-General’s initiative to strengthen UN ties with civil society, representatives of nearly 80 organizations representing the African-American community will meet with the Secretary-General for lunch at the United Nations today, and will also take part in a day-long series of briefings on the work the United Nations does.

At today’s lunch, the Secretary-General is to discuss his conviction that it is in America’s interest today to work through the United Nations, just as it was in the days when Ralph Bunche and other African-Americans played vital roles in drafting the UN Charter and creating the multilateral framework.

We have embargoed copies of his remarks, and we also have more details in a note to correspondents from the Department of Public Information, which is organizing today’s event.

**Tributes

The Secretary-General, in remarks to a Gala Awards Dinner in New York tonight, in tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev for his work as the founding president of Green Cross International, says that the Green Cross programmes reflect Gorbachev’s unwavering commitment to peace, especially by addressing the environmental causes and consequences of conflict.

The Secretary-General is expected to drop by tonight at a dinner hosted by the US Council for International Business, in honour of Charles Holliday Jr., the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dupont.  In remarks, embargoed copies of which we have upstairs, he will talk at that event about the work done through the Global Compact to promote corporate citizenship and bring the United Nations and businesses together in seeking solutions to societal problems.

**Sudan -- Humanitarian

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today said that the situation in the Greater Darfur Region of western Sudan continues to deteriorate in spite of a ceasefire agreement.

The Office says militias continue to destroy livelihoods and cause displacement.  Malnutrition rates have reportedly increased, and humanitarian groups do not have the human and financial resources to cope.  You can read more about this in a press release on the humanitarian update on the Sudan, home to the world's largest internally displaced population.

**UNHCR

We have two items to flag from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees today.

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie today released two journals on her recent experiences with displaced people in Kosovo and Sri Lanka.  And you can read them on the UNHCR Web site.

The refugee agency and a private-enterprise initiative are launching today a comprehensive study of the situation of hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Colombia’s capital.  The study draws attention to the critical situation of IDPs in the capital, where they have fled to escape the fighting between irregular armed groups and the Colombian Army.

**UNA-USA/BCUN

Tomorrow evening, the Secretary-General will accept an award that has been given posthumously to his former Special Representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.  The United Nations Association of the USA and the Business Council for the United Nations will confer the Global Humanitarian Action Award to Vieira de Mello at a dinner tomorrow.

**WFP Chief Appeals for Peace to Lessen Food Crises in East and Central Africa

We have a press release upstairs in which James Morris, Executive Director of the World Food Programme in Kampala today reiterated his appeal for one-and-a-half billion dollars to purchase over 2.8 million tonnes of food, which 11 countries in East and Central Africa badly need.

**Delegates from 40 African Countries Discuss Access to Science and Technology

At the UN Economic Commission for Africa, delegates from 40 African countries will attend the third meeting of the Committee of Sustainable Development in Addis Ababa today to discuss access to science and technology for the poor in Africa.  We have a press release on that.

**Budget

Barbados and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have both paid their UN regular budget dues in full for this year, bringing to 111 the number of countries that are paid in full.  Barbados paid its full assessment of more than $121,000, while the DRC paid more than $54,000.

**Press Conference Tomorrow

Ann Erb Leoncavallo and Laura Laski of the UN Population Fund will be joined by Ellen Themmen of Family Care International at 11:00 in this room to launch the report, The State of World Population 2003.

This year’s report, subtitled “Making 1 Billion Count:  Investing in Adolescents’ Health and Rights”, examines the challenges and risks, including early pregnancy and high rates of HIV infection, facing 1.2 billion adolescents.

Embargoed copies of the report and related materials are available at the press documents counter on the third floor.

That’s my report for today.

Questions and Answers

Question:  With the discovery of the bodies in the Congo (inaudible) are we going backwards or (inaudible)?

Spokesman:  Well, it indicates that the security situation in this particular area of the Congo is still not under control and the increased number of peacekeepers that we have there will have to redouble their efforts to try to get this situation under control.  Okay, Michele, what’s happening in the General Assembly?

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

Thank you Fred.  Good afternoon.

The debate in the General Assembly continues on the joint issues of UN reform and the Millennium Goals.

Reform has emerged as a compelling theme in the statements made by delegations over the last day and a half during the joint consideration of the two items on the Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, and the follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit.

The reform that Member States seem to consider necessary is, however, not the reform of quick fixes, procedural adjustments or minor changes in working methods, but a reform that will ensure reinforcement of the UN's central position in maintaining international peace and security, promoting the economic and social progress of the developing countries, and inculcating human rights norms and standards worldwide.

As the debate continues, Member States are indicating that they wish to see action taken soon.  They have become impatient, apparently, after a decade of discussion on the question of equitable representation and enlargement of the Security Council and over a decade of discussions on the revitalization of the General Assembly.

You met earlier with the President of the Assembly, who mentioned some of these things.

Progress has been at a snail's pace, according to a number of speakers, in regard to Security Council reform.

While the changes made in the methods and procedures of work of the General Assembly were undoubtedly useful, they have not yet succeeded in fulfilling the goal enunciated at the Millennium Summit for the General Assembly -– which was to occupy the central position “as the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative organ of the United Nations and to enable it to play that role effectively”.

This is for the debate at the General Assembly.  The joint debate will continue this afternoon and also tomorrow, from what I hear.

In the First Committee, the general debate on disarmament also continues, with 13 speakers registered to speak today.

The Second Committee has 38 speakers on its list for the general debate, on development issues.

And for those who are interested in those issues, the keynote address to the Second Committee will be made by Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate and Professor of Economics and Finance, Columbia University, on the “Prospects for Economic Growth and Future of Development Cooperation”.

It will be next Wednesday, 15 October, from 9:30 to 11:30 in Conference Room 2.  It is open to the United Nations media.

That’s all I have. Thank you.

Question:  On the status of the Iraqi representation in the General Assembly, can you bring us up-to-date?  Who will be the accredited representative of Iraq in the General Assembly in the foreseeable future?

Spokeswoman:  Well actually, the Credentials Committee has not met.  They have not received all the credentials yet, so the Credentials Committee has not met on the credentials received so far.  So, we expect to have an answer from them, when they will meet, in the next few days, I expect. We do not know at this point.

Thank you very much.

* *** *