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 Marie Okabe, Associate Spokeswoman for the Secretary-General and Michele Montas, Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President.

Associate Spokeswoman:  Good Afternoon.  I’m sorry I’m a little late; we had a lot of statements today.  I’ll start with the first statement attributable to the spokesman on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

“The Secretary-General welcomes encouraging news from Pyongyang that China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea agreed in principle to hold a new round of multilateral talks to continue the Beijing negotiating process.

 “He remains convinced that dialogue is the way to resolve security and related issues facing the Korean Peninsula and calls on the parties concerned to look for creative approaches towards the issues they are facing.

“The Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy will continue supporting these efforts.”

**SG on Financing for Development

The Secretary-General today addressed the high-level dialogue on financing for development, saying that, “if that term is to mean anything, the current net flow of financial resources from the developing world to other countries -– which amounted to nearly $200 billion last year –- must be reversed”.

The Secretary-General highlighted the accomplishments reached at last year’s conference on financing for development in Monterrey, Mexico, saying that “we did reach real breakthroughs there”, including the new commitments to reverse a decade of decline or stagnation in official development assistance.

He told those who were gathered today that such assistance levels still fall far short of what is required, adding, “I hope you are ready to improve on what is very much a mixed report card”.

He concluded, “We face an uncertain economy, wide-ranging social distress and faltering trade negotiations that need a real jump-start at December’s World Trade Organization talks in Geneva. We must stay together, stay engaged, and make this process work.”

We have his remarks upstairs.

Among the other speakers in today’s dialogue, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said that, if we are to meet the goals set at Monterrey, “we must step up our game”, adding that, although there is progress, “I think there is still very much to be done”.

**Security Council

The Security Council today began an open meeting on Kosovo, on which Council members received a briefing from the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Harri Holkeri, who detailed several senseless, violent incidents that have shaken Kosovo in recent weeks.

“Far too many people silently tolerate ethnically-based violence”, Holkeri said.  “This must be opposed.”  Kosovo’s leaders, he said, must explain to their constituents why violence is not a solution.

He warned that, although the overall security situation has improved vastly in most of Kosovo, the dramatic advances enjoyed by the majority community have not been felt by all, and “the rule of law is being openly flouted in many places around Kosovo”.

He noted the start of a dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, at a meeting he chaired in Vienna on October 14, and said that although the delegation members from the two sides did not shake hands, “nevertheless, they did listen carefully to what the other side had to say”.

We have copies of this statement to the Security Council upstairs.

And this afternoon at 3:00, the Security Council will hold consultations on the report of the expert panel dealing with the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The session is the last scheduled one to be held this month under the Presidency of the United States.  Angola takes over next month.

We also have statements on the meeting of the Heads of Principal Organs of the United Nations.

**Statement by Secretary-General on Meeting of Heads of Principal Organs of United Nations

“The heads of the Six Principal Organs of the United Nations (The General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and the Secretariat) held their fifth annual meeting yesterday afternoon, followed by a luncheon hosted by the Secretary-General.

“In 1998, the Secretary-General began the practice of holding meetings among the heads of the six Principal Organs, in order to exchange views and coordinate matters, with a view to improving efficiency in the workings of the Organization.

“The five Presidents and the Secretary-General discussed issues and challenges facing the international community.  They focused on issues of common concern, such as the security of UN staff in conflict areas, revitalization of the work of the Principal Organs, as well as reform of the Organization as a whole.

 “The meeting also discussed matters relating to Iraq, the Middle East, the Millennium Development Goals, and economic development and trade.

“The Deputy Secretary-General reported on progress achieved in the areas of Secretariat reform and HIV/AIDS.”

We have another statement on a meeting with Brazilian Parliamentarians:

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

“The Secretary-General met yesterday with a delegation of Brazilian Parliamentarians headed by Mr. Joao Paulo Cunha, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“The delegation raised important issues such as the links between the UN and civil society, Brazil’s support to the Secretary-General’s initiatives on UN reform, as well as Brazil’s partnership with the United Nations in the fight against hunger and poverty.

“The Secretary-General highlighted that the UN relies on Parliamentarians as one of the channels to convey peoples’ concerns and expressed his appreciation for their commitment to play a greater role at the United Nations.

“In this connection, the Secretary-General welcomed that the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has recently become an observer at the United Nations, as this would contribute to strengthen the work of the Organization.”

**CEB Meeting

The United Nation’s system Chief Executives Board (CEB) will begin tomorrow in New York its Fall 2003 session.

The Board is chaired by the Secretary-General, and comprises the heads of the Specialized Agencies, Bretton Woods Institutions, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World Trade Organization and UN Funds and Programmes.

We have a press release with more information on this two-day meeting upstairs.

**SG Travel

And we have an announcement of the Secretary-General’s travels next week.

Starting Tuesday evening, this coming Tuesday, the Secretary-General is scheduled to begin official visits to Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

In Bolivia, he will attend the meeting of the Ibero-American Summit.

The Secretary-General is expected to return to New York on 15 November.

**ECLAC

And we have an appointment.  The Secretary-General has decided to appoint José Luis Machinea of Argentina to be the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (known as ECLAC).

Mr. Machinea was a former Minister of the Economy for Argentina, and has also worked as a consultant to the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

We have his bio-data upstairs.

**Afghanistan

The UN Mission in Afghanistan said that the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process in Kunduz is moving ahead, with nearly half of the 1,008 former soldiers who have been disarmed in that area have now gone through demobilization. 

You can read more about that in the briefing note from Kabul, which we have upstairs.

**Côte d’Ivoire

In an exchange of letters on Cote d’Ivoire, which is available on the racks, the Security Council informed the Secretary-General that, as the UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire nears its November expiration, Council members will review the possible designation of that Mission as a peacekeeping mission, and will evaluate the possible reinforcement of the UN presence in that country.

The Secretary-General, in response, welcomed the Security Council’s willingness to consider the possible reinforcement of the UN Mission, and hoped that the Council will reach an early agreement on such reinforcement.

**Somalia

From Somalia, we have a press release from the UN Humanitarian Coordinator there expressing his concern regarding the potential failure of the short season of rains there and its impact on agriculture.

And you can read more about that in a press release.

**FAO, WFP

Also there is a press release from two agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP), on the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea, which is marking another substantial food deficit in 2004, and there is an appeal on that upstairs.

**Press Conferences This Afternoon

And in 10 minutes (12:30), Ambassador Gunter Pleuger of Germany, will be here to talk to you about the Security Council’s mission to Afghanistan, which he will be leading.

That mission leaves tomorrow.  On the racks there is a revised composition of the mission and they should be providing you with an itinerary of that mission when the press briefing starts.

At 1:45, we have General Assembly President Julian Hunte, who will be here to present an assessment of the two-day ministerial dialogue in the General Assembly on the financing for development, which we just reported to you on.

At 4:30, we have Noeleen Heyzer, the Executive Director of the UN Development Fund for Women, who will be joined by actress Jessica Lange and others, to launch UNIFEM’s web portal on women, peace and security.

And finally, the guest at the noon briefing tomorrow is Jacques Diouf, Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, who will be joining us to launch the International Year of Rice, which is being observed next year –- in the year 2004.

And we have three press conferences tomorrow starting at 10 a.m. with Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile, who is the Chairman of the Sanctions Committee against Al-Qaida and the Taliban, who will be here to brief you on that committee’s report and his recent mission to the region.

And at 11:00, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs will be launching its publication, “World Public Sector Report 2003: E-Government at the Crossroads”.

And at 12:40, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN office on Drugs and Crime, will be here to brief you on the Convention against Corruption.

So that’s what I have for you in terms of announcements.  Before I turn to Michele, any questions from you? 

Questions and Answers

Question:  Can you tell me which UN official made the decision to pull staff out of Baghdad?  And what were the factors leading to that decision?    

Associate Spokeswoman:  As you know the Secretary-General has been keeping the situation in Iraq under constant and close review, particularly in light of the recent wave of violence in Baghdad which included the attack on Monday on the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In light of these developments, he has asked the small remaining team of international officials in Baghdad to come out temporarily for consultations with people from Headquarters (that’s UN Headquarters) so that they we can thoroughly reconsider our operations in Iraq and the security arrangements that we will need, if we are to continue working there.  This applies to Baghdad and there is no change in the staff situation in the north of Iraq.     

Question:  How many people were pulled out and have you received any further threat assessments that led to this?

Associate Spokeswoman:  I don’t think we want to get into the numbers on the ground.  I can tell you that, as of today, there are close to 60 international staff in Iraq, but I don’t want to get into further details of where they are, as the situation, as you know, changes from day to day.  I would also like to stress that this is a temporary relocation and it is part of an ongoing process of a constant review of the situation on the ground, given the volatile conditions there, and that, it does not represent a policy decision to disengage from Iraq.  I don’t know who was first, Mark?

Question:  (inaudible)… I mean one of the main findings of the Ahtisaari Report was that nobody knew how many people were there, people were over-inflating figures, people were breaking their own guidelines.  Isn’t it time for the UN to start being a little more open and transparent and stop sweeping this stuff under the carpet and stop giving misleading information?      

Associate Spokeswoman:  The reason why I said we didn’t want to give information on the numbers –- the precise numbers on the ground is for security reasons.  We know the number of people on the ground, as I said it is close to 60, as of today.  Back there and then Evelyn.

Question:  Marie, can you specify, you said you know the number of people there, can you specify the number of people –- international staffers that were in Baghdad?  And can you also be a little bit specific about what they were actually doing on the ground and how they will continue to achieve whatever it is they were achieving?  In addition to that -- I’m sorry -- in addition to that will you be providing extra security for the staff that has stayed on?    

Associate Spokesman:  I really don’t have much guidance beyond what I’ve told you already.  The numbers of staff in Baghdad, I think we have been reporting to you in the last week or two, the numbers in Baghdad and in the north, and as I said the number hasn’t really changed since then, it’s close to 60, as of today.  They have been providing as much assistance as they can to the Iraqis, together with the 4,000 national staff as the Secretary-General has been telling you about.  As you know, the United Nations has been asked to play a vital role there, and you know that role can only be played if we are on the ground.  The Iraqi people also want us to be there and on the ground, and what we are trying to do is help the Iraqis the best as we can without risking lives.  It is not a static situation, and that’s what we’re faced with.    

Question:  Can you address the security situation for those remaining? 

Associate Spokeswoman:  I can’t go into security conditions.  I mean this is an issue we never go into -- security measures on the ground.  Evelyn?

Question:  Marie, a bit of housekeeping, you know we admire you to bits, but when you have a withdrawal of UN staff from Baghdad, it needs an announcement not just somebody running into you in the corridor and you saying yes.  It’s too big of a story.  I don’t know if that was your decision or the decision of the 38^th Floor, but a number of us here thought it was not a very good way to handle it last night.  And secondly, do you know whether the CPA or the US Mission across the street was informed of this reduction?     

Associate Spokeswoman:  On the latter, I can only tell you that the Secretary-General is in constant touch with the US officials either through Secretary of State Colin Powell or Ambassador Negroponte, and he is in constant touch with both of them.  On your former complaint, I want only to say that this is not a withdrawal, it is a consultation process and as I mentioned before, they are being asked to consult with a team that will be sent from here so that they can continue the process of evaluating whether or not we can continue to operate there.  There was no policy decision made, so the decision made from the 38^th Floor was not to make an announcement.  And when we are talking about staff movements, this is not something that we generally announce.  In this case, the Washington Post had the story and asked us to confirm the facts and that’s what I did and when others called me based on the information I gave the Post, I gave them the same information.  So it was available on an if asked basis and I was available all night to provide it.   

Question:  Marie, that’s still not the way to handle it; now I’m miffed and the reason I’m making this point again -- it is not a routine consultation every last person does know or whatever was pulled out of Baghdad.  Usually when the UN has rotation, six go another six come in (inaudible)… and I don’t know what you call it, but if every last international staff is out of the capital, this is not a routine, temporary little dislocation.  That’s not the way the UN has done things over the years.

Associate Spokeswoman:  Just to clarify.  When we have evacuated personnel out of dangerous duty stations, we do not announce that, and that’s for the security of staff, and generally what happens is we confirm an evacuation.  Once it happens.  Having said that, this is not an evacuation.  I was simply clarifying a story that a correspondent was working on to clarify that -- that it wasn’t an evacuation; it was not a relocation; and they were being asked to gather for consultations.  The consultations have not happened yet; the staff are not out yet; so there was no announcement for us to make.      

Question:  You say the staff is not out yet, when do you expect them all to be out of there?  

Associate Spokeswoman:  This is a security issue and I cannot get into that. 

Question:  When were they put on notice that they were going to be leaving?  

Question:  Yesterday, today, the day before?  When were they asked for this consultation, quote unquote?

Associate Spokeswoman:  Yesterday.

Question:  Will you confirm when they are all out?   

Associate Spokesman:  I think you would probably hear from the people on the ground once they are out.     

Question:  (inaudible)… according to our Baghdad Bureau, none of them are talking.  Nobody is saying anything, is there some reason for that?  

Associate Spokeswoman:  That you will have to ask the people on the ground.  But we still have staff in Baghdad, and generally when they leave, the wires seem to get their arrival at the next destination faster than we can confirm it.  Yes Colum?   

Question:  On the numbers, I know you don’t want to talk about too much, but many of the briefings, we get slightly different numbers.  My understanding is that in (inaudible)… part of the numbers, in addition to the 10 permanent staff there, there was an additional 25 -- they were described as some sort of mission that did not have a permanent role there.  Is that correct, and will that group be taken out?    

Associate Spokeswoman:  Just to clarify our position on the north, as I mentioned initially, the consultations are for the remaining officials in Baghdad.  The situation in the north remains the same; the staff in the north is not affected by this development.  The numbers of the people on the ground right now, as I said the reason why we don’t want to pinpoint numbers is because there is a constant (inaudible) coming in and out and that changes from day to day.  There is a team on the ground -- I said they are close to 60; about 40 of them are in the north now, and many of them are there to work on the final stages of the hand-over of the oil-for-food programme, so it’s a temporary bulge in the numbers.  So let me leave it at that.     

Question:  So they will stay until it is ended?

Associate Spokeswoman:  Until their work is complete.  But the situation in Erbel is not affected by the same considerations.    

Question:  So are we talking about two dozen that will probably go to consultations at your request?

Associate Spokesman:  I said close to 60, if I just said 43 in Erbel, then you can do the subtraction.  David?

Question:  Just to clarify, I think your statement said that the SG decided that the staff should come out of Baghdad.  I just want to clarify -- are they staying in Iraq for the moment; will these meetings take place in Iraq; and could you give us a little better indication of who is traveling to Iraq to meet with this team; and should this meeting be taken as a kind of decision-making meeting, will a policy come out of this meeting to perhaps withdraw those personnel or to bring them back to Baghdad?

Associate Spokeswoman:  The only question I can definitively answer is your first one.  The consultations will take place in the region; the team will be dispatched from Headquarters and will go to the region.  They are coming out of Baghdad so they will be in the region and the team from New York will be going to the region.  The team from New York has not been appointed yet, so I cannot give you any more information on that except to say that it will be a multidisciplinary team.  Your third question was…?  

Question:  If you mean by in the region, not in Iraq or you just don’t want to get into that?

Associate Spokeswoman:  It will probably take place in Larnaca.

Question:  Three things -- one thing is that as a relatively new member of the UN Press Corps, I have to say I was a bit surprised as well in the way this news came out because Fred sat here and told us last time that there was a serious (inaudible), so I was a bit miffed and not happy about it as well.  Secondly, to ask you, you said you didn’t really want to publicize it -- is that because a decision was made in part based on the revelations in the Ahtasaari Report and the pressure that the Secretary-General may have been under to pull out staff; and thirdly, is Baghdad now Phase Five?     

Associate Spokeswoman:  Okay let me start at the bottom.  Baghdad is not Phase Five; the Secretary-General has decided to retain the small core group of international staff there.  They are being asked to come out temporarily for consultations, it does not mean they will be disengaged from our operations, as I mentioned earlier.  Your second question was, sorry?

Question:  You said you didn’t want to publicize it.  Was this in part because the Secretary-General may have felt under pressure to pull staff out, given the revelations of the Ahtisaari Report?

Associate Spokeswoman:  Although the two subjects that you are talking about concern the staff security situation in Iraq, in the case of this consultation, as I mentioned initially, given the rise in the violence this week, I think he felt it was necessary to hold this consultation.  So I will leave it at that.  Was that all?   

Question:  Unless you wanted to respond to me being miffed?

Associate Spokeswoman:  The point is being noted upstairs, but I won’t go through the same explanation.

Question:  I just want to say one thing.  Everybody has been giving you a hard time about not making a public announcement, but the idea that when we reporters are doing our work and breaking a story, that when we ask for confirmation that it should be confirmed to everybody by the UN Spokesman’s office seems to me a little bit bizarre and ridiculous.  I mean everybody wants to break stories, I just don’t understand.

Associate Spokeswoman:  Can I give Betsy a chance before you?

Question:  On Larnaca?  You said the team that is heading out to have these consultations hasn’t been selected yet.  Can you tell us anything at all about the composition of that team?  And also when this meeting is likely to take place?

Associate Spokeswoman:  Unfortunately, no because I don’t know when the meetings are going to take place.  As I said, the reason why I didn’t even make this announcement today is because none of these details are even worked out yet.  The reason why we are talking about this is because I was asked to confirm some information from one reporter.  And the team hasn’t been selected; the staff is still there; the dates of this consultation are still up in the air.  A lot of this is a process, and I was asked to confirm something in mid-process, so therefore, there was no announcement to make and there probably still isn’t.  But I’m trying to answer as many questions as I can, based on the information that I have now.

Question:  Is there a sense of urgency about this?

Associate Spokeswoman:  I don’t quite follow your question?

Question:  Is this considered a priority for the Secretariat to have these consultations to decide whether or not to remain in Baghdad?

Associate Spokeswoman:  Given the extremely volatile situation on the ground, given that the security of staff is one of the crucial factors in our ability to assist the Iraqis or not, it is essential that we review this closely and carefully and make the right decisions, and the Secretary-General is trying to strike the right balance between being on the ground to be able to provide that assistance.  The UN has been asked to play a vital role, but we can’t do that if we don’t have staff on the ground, and yet in order to have staff on the ground, we have to ensure that their security is ensured, so that’s the situation we are confronting.  Yes Mark?

Question:  Two questions, -- one on security:  is there any change in the appreciation of the threat facing the UN local staff in Iraq, because where I used to work, local staff always used to get (inaudible).

Associate Spokeswoman:  On your second question, as you know the Secretary-General says that he takes this report very seriously and that he would immediately move to implement its recommendations.  I was hoping that by the briefing I would be able to share with you a letter to the staff that outlines some of the immediate steps that ought to be taken.  Unfortunately, it was not ready yet, but I am told that we would have it to share that before the end of the day.

Question:  Would it address the issue of accountability, and who is accountable for this?

Associate Spokeswoman:  This letter would address that subject.  Your first question about local staff?  Local staff as you know in Iraq have been the backbone of our operations, as they have been in many of our operations around the world, including in Afghanistan, and without them we can’t carry on our work.  Their security is of great concern to us, and I think we do our best to try to ensure that they are secure in many situations.  Pulling them out of a situation is not the easiest solution.  From my own experience with the Refugee Agency, many times families opt to stay together at home as opposed to moving en-masse, so it is really a case-by-case situation.

Question:  Is this assessment of risk and threat considered different for the local staff as opposed to the international staff?

Associate Spokeswoman:  I’m sorry?

Question:  You said that the judgement of the threat following all of these bombings and everything was such a case that international staff had to leave Baghdad.  Is the assessment of threat facing local staff the same as that assessment of threat facing international staff?

Associate Spokeswoman:  I am not the security expert, so I cannot give you a precise answer on that.  What I can tell you though is the Secretary-General’s decision even after 19 August was to retain a small group of international staff on the ground.  So he made an assessment based on the conditions that were there. 

[She later told the reporter that local staff, in insecure conditions, can be asked to stay home and not report to headquarters, the other options include relocation within country and in rare circumstances relocation outside the country.]

I have Ambassador Pleuger outside, who wants to brief you on the mission he is leading.  So can I take just one more question?  Yes.

Question:   (inaudible)…?

Associate Spokeswoman:  I’m sorry I didn’t?

Question:  Would Monday’s Red Cross headquarters bombing affect any further UN staff in Baghdad?

Associate Spokeswoman:  This decision that the Secretary-General has taken now has taken into account the recent wave of violence, including Monday’s attack on the ICRC headquarters in Baghdad.

Okay, I have to turn to Michele before we get Ambassador Pleuger.

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

Yes I will make this short today, as I know you have another press conference in a few minutes.

As you know, we are on the second day of the two-day Ministerial Dialogue in the UN General Assembly on issues relating to trade, aid, debt, investment, domestic finance.

Sixty-four ministers of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Finance and Cooperation, Deputy Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of agencies are attending the high-level round tables, plenaries and informal interactive dialogues.

President Julian Hunte is now chairing such an informal interactive dialogue in Conference Room 4.  The dialogue will continue this afternoon at 3 p.m.

Ten speakers addressed the plenary this morning.  The plenary will resume this afternoon at 6 p.m. in the GA Hall after the informal interactive dialogue.

President Julian Hunte will assess this two-day meeting this evening in the plenary.  UN correspondents will have a preview of this when President Hunte meets you at 1:45 this afternoon for a press briefinghere in room 226.

Tomorrow, Friday, the General Assembly will hold only one plenary meeting, in the morning.  On the agenda is the Report of the International Court of Justice, crime prevention and criminal justice.  This last item is debated for the purpose of taking action on the draft convention against corruption.  The Secretary-General will make a statement on this occasion.

The cluster of items on revitalization and reform will be discussed next, in order to hear the assessment by the President of the General Assembly of the deliberations.

The fourth item on the agenda at the plenary tomorrow is the follow-up to the United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage and the return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin.

This is all I will say, anything else you can call me and get more information. 

Associate Spokeswoman:  Thank you Michele for keeping that brief and thank you everybody.

* *** *