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.

**Arab Human Development Report

Arab countries need to close a “growing knowledge gap” by investing heavily in education and promoting open intellectual inquiry, according to the authors of the latest Arab Human Development report, which was launched earlier today in a ceremony in Amman, Jordan.

The report, written by a group of distinguished Arab scholars and opinion leaders, is meant to be by Arabs for Arabs.

It outlines a vision of self-determined change, based on internal social reform and scrupulous self-criticism.

The team concluded that successful reform of the region can only be initiated from within.

Drafted during a period of intensifying conflict and political tensions in the region, the report –- the second in a four-part series -– also notes the direct and indirect impact on Arab human development, of recent international and regional events, in Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Also affecting human development, say the authors, are the restrictions on civil liberties imposed under the rubric of counter-terrorism in the West and the Arab world alike.

For more information on this report, you can get it upstairs from UNDP.

**Statement Attributable to Spokesman for Secretary-General

We issued the following statement over the weekend attributable to the Spokesman concerning events in Bolivia.

“The Secretary-General is heartened that a constitutional solution has been found to the crisis that has unfolded in Bolivia.

“He calls on all Bolivians to take this opportunity to engage in constructive cooperation aimed at building a more just society, in which all citizens may channel their social demands through democratic institutions and in which human rights are fully respected.

“He offers the people of Bolivia the assistance of the UN system in helping to address the difficult challenges that they face.”

**Liberia

Over the weekend, UN humanitarian agencies undertook the first assessment mission in four years to Voinjama on Liberia’s northern border with Guinea.

One participant described Voinjama as a broken place in need of assistance, where civilians are forced to scavenge for food in the bush.  All houses were in a state of disrepair –- with less than 10 per cent of the structures in a habitable condition.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Abou Moussa said that only one half of Liberia’s humanitarian programming was funded for this year.  He said that a repeat of this in 2004 will jeopardize the humanitarian community’s ability to provide lifesaving services in Liberia.

On 19 November, the United Nations is scheduled to launch the 2004 Consolidated Appeal for Liberia in Ottawa, Canada.

Meanwhile, in a press release issued on Sunday, the UN Mission in Liberia expressed its concern that all individuals in the new Liberian Government should be of high moral character and integrity, with untainted past records.

**Afghanistan

The UN Mission in Afghanistan said that the security situation in the northern parts of the country has improved significantly, thanks in part to the deployment of an Afghan police unit there.

The UN Mission said that the ceasefire in the north continued to hold and that UN restrictions on road missions have been lifted except in two areas.

The Mission said that with international support, the police unit in Sholgara district in Balkh province had been able to buy vehicles, uniforms, radios and other equipment.

“The result is the emergence of a force that is representative of the population they serve and inclusive of the factions in this area”, the Mission said.

We have the latest briefing note from Kabul available upstairs with more information.

**Pittsburgh Trip

Tomorrow morning, the Secretary-General will travel to the University of Pittsburgh to deliver the Ninth H.J. Heinz Company Foundation Distinguished Lecture.

The Secretary-General will discuss the long-standing and productive relationship between the United States and the United Nations.

He will also stress the need for continuing US engagement in the Organization, working with other nations to pursue their shared interests and to find solutions to common problems.

The University of Pittsburgh will confer the honorary Doctor of Public and International Affairs degree on the Secretary-General in conjunction with his presentation.

**Western Sahara

The Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council on Western Sahara is out as a document today.

In it, the Secretary-General urges Morocco to seize the opportunity and positively engage in the process by accepting and implementing the peace plan for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara presented by his Personal Envoy James Baker.

The report says that following the discussion Baker had with a high-level delegation from Morocco last month, he recommended that the Secretary-General accede to Morocco’s request for more time to reflect and consult before giving its final response, by extending the current mandate of the UN mission, known as MINURSO.

The Secretary-General says he has agreed to that recommendation and hopes to receive Morocco’s response before the end of the calendar year.  He also recommends that the mandate of the mission be extended for three months until

31 January 2004.

The Security Council is scheduled to discuss Western Sahara next Monday.

**Security Council

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

**Chemical Weapons Convention

The Secretary-General, in a message to the Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, says that the international community remains “deeply concerned about the dangers of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists and is actively engaged in working to counter that threat”.

He urges the roughly 40 States that remain outside the Chemical Weapons Convention to ratify or accede to it without delay.

**Tourism

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette yesterday in Beijing welcomed the work that the World Tourism Organization is doing to complete its transformation into a specialized agency of the United Nations.

She said that the draft agreement between the two organizations is expected to be approved by the General Assembly on 7 November, and added, “The deepening of our relationship reflects the growing importance of tourism in today’s globalized world.”

We have full copies of her address to the World Tourism Organization’s General Assembly in my Office.

**WFP/Iraq

The World Food Programme announced today that some 2 million tonnes of food have now been delivered to Iraq since emergency operations got under way on 1 April this year.

The agency’s Executive Director, James Morris, said, “This is the largest amount of food assistance ever delivered in a single emergency operation over such a brief period.”

**UNICEF

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization (who), in a new study, say that a woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a one in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth.

That rate means that African women are 175 times more likely to die in childbirth than women who live in developed countries.

Of the estimated 529,000 maternal deaths in the year 2000, 95 per cent took place in Africa and Asia, 4 per cent in Latin America, and less than 1 per cent in the more developed regions.

In a press release, which we have upstairs, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy says that the new maternal mortality estimates show an urgent need for increased access to emergency obstetric care, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

      **UNEP

Citing a deadly European heat wave and recent massive power failures in the United States, Scandinavia and Italy, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Toepfer, said that two of the world’s most pressing issues -- energy security and climate change -- will not be solved “by the mindset that created them”.

Speaking at UNEP’s Finance Initiative Global Round Table, Mr. Toepfer said, “Instead of climate change, we need to create the climate for change”, adding that change must be towards sustainable forms of energy to power the global economy.

He said the aim of the UNEP Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative is to engage the finance sector to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

**Locusts

We have another press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is concerned about desert locust outbreaks in three countries:  Mauritania, Niger and the Sudan.

**World Chronicle Programme

We have another World Chronicle Programme to preview today.

This one features Guy-Olivier Segond, the Special Ambassador to the World Summit on the Information Society, and you can see that at 3:30 p.m. on in-house television channel 3 or 31.

**Press Conference Tomorrow

One press conference to highlight for you, tomorrow.

At 11 a.m. in this room, Martin Belinga-Eboutou of Cameroon, the Chairman of the General Assembly’s Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues, will be here to brief you on the Committee’s work programme.

**Correspondents’ Association

And the Correspondents’ Association has again asked me to remind you of the 42^nd Luncheon of the Dag Hammarskjold Memorial Scholarship Fund.

That will be 12:30 p.m. in the Delegates’ Dining Room here.  Special guest will be Paula Zahn, news anchor at CNN, and if you haven’t gotten your ticket, please buy one.

That’s the commercial message.

Any questions, yes Mark?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Two questions from me.  During the Quartet meeting last month, I think it was, the Secretary-General called for bold steps in addressing the Middle East crisis.  Since then, we’ve had various failed Security Council resolutions, moving on to the General Assembly again today.  I was just wondering if you wanted to specify with any more clarity what kind of bold steps are needed at this moment to put the Middle East peace process back on track.  And just another question on Iraq, has there been any progress from the UN’s point of view on the creation of an international advisory monitoring board (IAMB) ... (inaudible) development fund of Iraq, which the UN is meant to be one of the international members?  Thanks.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  On the Middle East, as you know, we haven’t seen any progress on peace efforts.  If anything, there have been steps backward.  I think the Secretary-General realized that the political environment was perhaps not yet suitably dire for bold steps to be taken.  I think he wanted his partners and other governments to start thinking through in more dramatic terms about what might be done.  I think we mentioned at the time that international monitors was one such idea that he had long advocated, should things get so bad that people are ready to do something more than the minimum.

On the IAMB, we still do not have final agreement, but I understand we are very close.  I think there is one, possibly two, outstanding issues that we feel can be resolved.  And I think that we promise to let you know just as soon as we get agreement in writing on those one or two outstanding issues.

Spokesman:  Yes?

Question:  Could you comment at all on the Secretary-General’s reaction to the new agency being opened for managing funds in Iraq?

Spokesman:  No.  He has not commented, and I think there may have been some confusion created by the press accounts of this idea of creating a new agency.  We are not aware that there is an actual proposal to create a new agency.  There has been for some time, in fact, since the first meeting with the donors in June, an agreement in principle with both the knowledge and support of the United States and the Coalition Provisional Authority to set up a new funding mechanism under the joint control of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank.  Donors indicated that they would want such a mechanism and so we think, this is what the article that ran today was talking about.

Spokesman:  Yes, Mr. Abbadi?

Question:  There seems to be some tension developing between Ethiopia and Eritrea regarding the border dispute, and Ambassador Legwaila assured us that this conflict would be resolved quickly.  Is the Secretary-General concerned about this situation and what’s being done to defuse tension?

Spokesman:  He is concerned about it, and I think we quoted from Ambassador Legwaila’s comments to the press last week, saying that the peace process between those two countries was under stress.  He is doing everything he can to lessen tensions.  What we want both countries to do is to agree to demarcate the boundary 100 per cent –- a hundred per cent of the boundary.  The area in disagreement represents just 15 per cent of the border, but it is 100 per cent of the problem and we are looking at ways to encourage full cooperation with the demarcation exercise.  But as Legwaila said, the process is “under stress”, in his words.

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

Thank you Fred and good afternoon.

The Assembly, as you know, met this morning on the report of the Economic and Social Council and on the report of the Secretary General on several issues related to the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance.

The debate started this morning and will continue tomorrow, because, as you know, this afternoon there is the resumption of the special session.

The General Assembly will resume then its tenth special emergency session on “illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory”, for the second time this session.

It was resumed as you might remember on 19 September.

I had a number of questions this morning about the draft resolution.

There is no draft resolution officially out yet, for the new resumption.  We can only say that there are two resolutions that we can only qualify “as a work in progress”.

The first one is similar or almost identical to the one submitted to the Security Council.  The second one would ask for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, on one question:  “Is Israel, the occupying Power, under legal obligation to cease its construction of the above-mentioned wall in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and to dismantle the existing parts of the wall under relevant provisions of international law and taking into account relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions?”

This is the operative paragraph, but as I mentioned the resolution is not yet out as a formal resolution, there are still a number of discussions taking place and you probably won’t have it until a few minutes before the 10^th emergency session resumes this afternoon at 3 o’clock.

So far, we have 13 speakers on the list to address the Assembly this afternoon.  The list is not complete either, we expect a number of other speakers to come, and we also expect there will be a number of speakers speaking on the right of reply.

As you can imagine, the second resolution is being actively discussed.

Just to attract your attention on two coming events.

A panel discussion on International Cooperation in Tax matters.  It will be chaired by the President of the Assembly and co-chaired by the Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs.  This will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Conference Room 2.

Also attracting your attention on another panel discussion on “Microcredit, Poverty Eradication and the Empowerment of Women”.

All these are organized by the Second Committee and that panel discussion is organized by the Department for Economic and Social Affairs and will be held on Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.

I will have more information for you, if you call me later this afternoon on the emergency session, for the time being I have none other.

That’s all I have for you, thank you.

Questions and Answers

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  Questions, yes sir?

Question:  The second resolution that they are going to discuss -- what is it, the International?

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President:  They are asking for the International Court of Justice to give an opinion on that question, I cited.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  Nothing else?  Thank you very much.

** Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the death of Alija Izetbegovic

This statement is in response to a question asked on the death of Alija Izetbegovic after today’s briefing.

“The Secretary-General has learned with sadness of the death of the former President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Alija Izetbegovic.

President Izetbegovic will be remembered for his historic role in preserving the unity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and establishing the Bosnian State.

The Secretary-General conveys his personal sympathy and condolences to the family of Mr. Izetbegovic and his fellow countrymen.”

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