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.

Good Afternoon.

**UNRWA

According to an assessment by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as UNRWA, 114 homes and refugee shelters were demolished during the Israeli military incursion last week into Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip.  As a result, 1,240 individuals are now homeless.

The UN agency has been providing food, in the form of hot meals, and temporary shelter, in the form of tents, to those unable to find immediate accommodation.

The recent incursion brings the total number of Palestinianswho have been made homeless in Rafah since the beginning of the current intifada, to 7,523.  The total for the whole of the Gaza Strip now stands at 11,987.

**Lebanon

Following seven air violations of the Blue Line today by Israeli military jets, the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for southern Lebanon, Staffan de Mistura, once again expressed his concern over these violations.

They come amid an already tense situation in southern Lebanon and the region in general.  De Mistura reiterated his call on Israel to cease these violations and for all parties to exercise restraint and respect fully the Blue Line, in order to avoid a further deterioration of the situation on the ground.

His full statement is available upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council has scheduled consultations at 5:00 this afternoon on Afghanistan, with a view to holding a formal meeting on a draft resolution.

The action follows a letter transmitted by the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) regarding a possible expansion of the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

An open debate on the Middle East is on the Security Council agenda for tomorrow.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said it has launched an investigation into the killing of 16 civilians, primarily women, during an attack on 6 October in Ndunda, in South Kivu Province.

The Mission reported Friday that witnesses said the victims were killed with axes, machetes, clubs, knives and other crude weapons.  It said that two survivors were being treated in Hospital, while four others remain missing.

Witnesses told the Mission that the killings were carried out by a group of 20 who spoke Kirundi, the national language of neighbouring Burundi.  Some of the witnesses told the Mission that they believed the attackers belonged to Burundi’s Forces for the Defence of Democracy, reported to be active in the area.

In a statement issued Friday, the UN Mission strongly condemned this act and reaffirmed the commitment of the international community to bring an end to impunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

**Liberia

On the eve of the inauguration of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, the UN Mission staged a military procession in Monrovia and neighbouring suburbs.  UN peacekeepers from Bangladesh, Ghana and Nigeria took part.

Leading the march was the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Jacques Klein, who rode on an armoured personnel carrier at the front of the convoy.

Also today, Charles Gyude Bryant, the chairman-elect of the National Transitional Government, is expected to arrive from Ghana.  Meanwhile, UN Force Commander Lieutenant-General Daniel Opande expressed gratitude to the Government of Liberia and to the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) for their cooperation in making Monrovia, and neighbouring areas -- Bushrod Island and Paynesville -- a weapons-free zone.  He appealed to the parties to continue to cooperate in this endeavour and to ensure that displaced persons’ camps were also free of weapons.

**Kosovo

Harri Holkeri, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, yesterday announced that Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova will lead the delegation from Kosovo attending the opening of direct talks between Pristina and Belgrade, which will take place tomorrow in Vienna.  Nexhat Daci, the President of the Kosovo Assembly, will also be in the delegation.

We have a press release upstairs containing Holkeri’s statement in full.

**Right to Food

Out on the racks today is a report to the General Assembly on the right to food by the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights who deals with that issue, Jean Ziegler.  The report says that mechanisms to monitor the activities of transnational corporations remain limited, and must be strengthened to ensure that such corporations uphold their human rights obligations.

Ziegler adds that gender discrimination persists in a variety of forms that have profound effects on women’s right to food, and he recommends that all governments take action to address such discrimination, particularly where it contributes to the malnutrition of women and girls.

**Global Compact

Tomorrow morning at 9:30, Georg Kell, the Executive Head of the Global Compact, will officially open trading at the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Kell will be introduced by Bruce Austin, the NASDAQ Executive Vice President, and will say a few words about the Global Compact before he rings the bell.  The event will be broadcast on various financial networks, and the Global Compact logo will also shine over Times Square.

If you’re wondering what it looks like, there it is.  [He shows a copy of the logo.]

The Global Compact, which enshrines nine human rights, labour rights and environmental principles, is increasingly working with the financial markets to increase awareness of corporate citizenship and responsible business practices.

**World Chronicle Screening

From the information department, programme no. 909 will feature Karl Sauvant, Director of the Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development, and you can see that today on in-house channel 3 or 31 at 3:30.

**Press Conferences

At 11:00 tomorrow morning, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury of Bangladesh, the Chairman of the General Assembly’s Second Committee, which deals with Economic and Financial matters, will be here to brief you on the work before that Committee.

Then, immediately following the noon briefing tomorrow, Julia Taft, Director of the UN Development Programme’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, and Nicholas Krafft, the World Bank’s Country Programme Coordinator for Iraq, will be in this room to brief you on the details, methodology and implications of the needs assessments in Iraq. 

**Guest at Noon Tomorrow

Our guest tomorrow will be Ibrahim Gambari, the Under-Secretary-General and the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Africa, and he’ll be talking about the progress in the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD.

That’s all I have for you. Any questions before I go to Michele?  Fine, Michele. 

**Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

Thank you, Fred, and good afternoon.

The General Assembly has been engaged, since this morning, in an examination of the Security Council report, presented at the opening of the session today by the President of the Council, Ambassador Negroponte of the US.  Thirty-six speakers are listed to address the Assembly on this report.  The debate should last until tomorrow when the General Assembly will touch upon another agenda item, the “Question of equitable representation on, and increase in the membership of the Security Council”.  On this last item, representatives of 43 Member States will take the floor. Among them are 4 of the 5 permanent members of the Council.

The interest of Member States on this last item was obvious during the joint debate last week on the Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, and the follow-up of the outcome of the Millennium Summit.  In his closing remarks, on October 9, the President of the Assembly summarizing the joint debate, noted that a number of ideas were put forward on the matter of Security Council reform, indicating that this remains a priority issue, notwithstanding that no comprehensive agreement has been reached over the past 10 years.  It was contended by some that given the strategic importance of the Security Council, its reform should outweigh the single political agenda of any United Nations Member State.  The view was also expressed that restarting the stalled reform process would prove that the United Nations is ready to adapt and adjust, and thereby, to uphold its authority in world affairs.

The President noted in his statement that among the opinions expressed on the specific issue of Security Council membership, it was contended that Member States that wished and were able to shoulder global responsibility as permanent members of the Council should be considered for such membership.  It was also emphasised that “new geopolitical realities and better geographical representation on the Council were key issues for resolution”.  The Security Council will now be the focus of the next two plenary meetings in the General Assembly.

On a related issue, the election of 5 of the 10 non permanent members of the Security Council, whose terms expire on the 31 December, is expected to take place on Thursday 23 October.  Agreement has now been reached by regional groups on the endorsement of Algeria, Benin, the Philippines, Romania and Brazil.  They are expected to replace the 5 retiring members:  Cameroon, Guinea, the Syrian Arab Republic, Bulgaria and Mexico.  Other non-permanent members of the Council will serve one more year.  Their term will expire in December 2004.  This is the case for Angola, Pakistan, Chile, Germany and Spain.

I want to remind you, as Fred already said, that the chairman of the Second Committee, Ambassador Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury of Bangladesh, will hold a press conference tomorrow.  This is the third of a series of meetings with United Nations correspondents initiated by the President of the 58^th Session, on issues debated in each committee.

Thank you.