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

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE 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 Stephane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General and Michele Montas, Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President.

Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon to you.  We are starting off with a couple of statements we have on behalf of the Secretary-General.

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

On the Geneva Accord

“The Secretary-General welcomes the Geneva Accord drafted by prominent Israelis and Palestinians, which outlines comprehensive and detailed steps to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Such private initiatives, while not a substitute for official diplomatic negotiations between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, deserve praise and encouragement as courageous attempts to break the stalemate on both sides and to generate the popular support needed for peace in the Middle East.

“The Secretary-General considers the Geneva Accord both consistent and compatible with the Quartet’s Road Map, the last phase of which calls for agreement on such sensitive final status issues as Jerusalem, settlements and refugees.

“It is now of paramount importance that the parties start implementing the Road Map provisions without delay.”

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

On the Death of Sharon Capeling-Alakija

In a separate statement: “The Secretary-General was deeply saddened by the death of Sharon Capeling-Alakija, the Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteer Programme.

“Ms. Capeling-Alakija was a deeply committed and creative leader of UNV, which promotes volunteerism and sends some 5,000 UN Volunteers into the field every year and is often described as the “human face” of the UN’s development efforts.

“In that post, as well as in her previous positions as Director of Evaluation and Strategic Planning in UNDP and Director of the UN Development Fund for Women -- she understood the need for the United Nations to reach out as widely as possible and engage people from all walks of life in the Organization’s work.

“Ms. Capeling-Alakija will be sorely missed by her many, many friends in the UN family, and by many thousands of UN Volunteers, past and present, around the world.”

**Security Council

Turning to the Security Council, there are no Council meetings or consultations scheduled for today.  Tomorrow, the Council has scheduled consultations on Liberia.

On the racks today is a letter from the Secretary-General to the Security Council, noting the work of his Representative for Somalia, Winston Tubman, in advancing the cause of peace and reconciliation in that country and asking that his mandate be extended until the end of December 2004.

Also on the racks is a letter from the Chair of the Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee, Ambassador Arias of Spain, listing the 58 States that failed to meet the 31 October deadline for the submission of outstanding reports to the Committee.

**Afghanistan

And as you know, the Security Council’s mission to Afghanistan continues; representatives of all 15 members of the Security Council today spent the day in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where the Council mission’s leader, German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, conveyed a strong message to the two main factional leaders in the region.

After intense discussions with General Usted Atta Mohammad and General Abdul Rashid Dostum at the office of the UN Mission in Afghanistan, Pleuger told reporters that it is important that the two regional leaders lend their full support to the reforms that the Karzai Government has started.  He particularly noted the importance of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of fighters in order to achieve a unified Afghan army and a unified Afghan police force.

The Council delegation began a day of discussions with a meeting with the interim Governor of Balkh province.  The Council members then heard first-hand field accounts from the UN Mission, UN agencies and NGOs about the achievements and obstacles they encounter as they try to help the Afghan people in the region in areas ranging from assisting returning refugees to the provision of water to girls’ education.

The security environment -– a key subject of the Council’s five-day mission to Afghanistan -– was discussed with the representatives of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Mazar-i-Sharif, composed of British soldiers, which has been sent to the northern province to assist with security and reconciliation activities.

Tomorrow is the mission’s last day.  The delegation will hold a press conference in Kabul before heading back to New York.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, yesterday, the UN Mission in the DRC strongly protested to the Congolese Transitional Government about obstacles to its verification mission to Kamina, in Katanga Province, following the crash last weekend of an aircraft that was allegedly transporting weapons intended for armed groups in South Kivu.

The Mission had sent military observers to the area around the crash site, but was not allowed to get near the site, which was guarded by military officers and people wearing civilian clothes.  The team was not in a position to confirm or deny allegations about the cargo on board the plane.

We have a press release with more details on that.

Also, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the DRC, William Swing, in a phone conversation with DRC President Joseph Kabila and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, encouraged the nations in the subregion to continue their cooperation in conformity with Security Council resolution 1493.

And we have a press release on that available as well.

**Ethiopia-Eritrea

The Military Coordination Commission dealing with Ethiopia and Eritrea met today in Nairobi under the chairmanship of the Force Commander of the UN Mission operating in both countries, General Robert Gordon, who noted the importance of military stability amid the continuing political differences between those countries.

General Gordon asked for further reassurance from both parties that they were fully committed to ensuring that nothing would be done to destabilize the current situation, and Ethiopia and Eritrea both gave the Force Commander their strongest assurances that this would be the case.

General Gordon reminded them, in the Secretary-General’s words, to “eschew the rhetoric of war, which is necessary for any difference to be resolved in a calm and peaceful climate”.

More information is available on that upstairs.

**Caspian Sea

Yesterday afternoon, as you know, we put out a statement about the adoption in Tehran of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, which the Secretary-General sees as a significant step forward for that region.

The full text of the statement is available upstairs.

**Secretary-General’s Trip to Latin America

The Secretary-General arrived this morning in Santiago de Chile, on the first leg of his four-country trip to Latin America.  He and Mrs. Annan were met at the airport by Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz, the Permanent Representative of Chile to the UN.

Later today, the Secretary-General will meet Alicia Barcena, the Acting Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as well as the heads of the UN agencies in Chile.  This evening he will attend an informal dinner hosted by the Chilean Foreign Minister, Maria-Soledad Alvear at the Diplomatic Academy.

He remains in Chile until Friday afternoon.

**Sierra Leone

Among the documents out today is a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sierra Leone, which notes the substantial progress in the restoration of peace and stability in that country, and suggests that a presence remain in Sierra Leone after the departure of the UN peacekeeping mission there that is capable of monitoring the human rights situation.

**WHO

International efforts to develop a SARS vaccine are encouraging, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  But it is unlikely that such a vaccine will be available in the immediate future.  In the meantime, more traditional methods will have to be used if there is a recurrence of the disease.

Those are some of the conclusions of a conference of SARS experts hosted by WHO in Geneva and we have more information on that upstairs.

**UNEP

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that some 500 environmental, technical and scientific experts will meet in Bangkok next week to develop a plan to improve the way the world deals with chemicals.

The conference hopes to develop a strategic approach for the whole world.  The idea was brought up by UNEP last year and endorsed at the Johannesburg Summit.

There is a UNEP press release upstairs.

**World Chronicle Programme

World Chronicle Programme number 912 with Stan Bernstein, Principal Researcher and Editor of “State of the World Population 2003”, UNFPA, will be shown today at 3:30 on in-house television channels 3 or 31.

**Press Conference Tomorrow

And last, but not least, at 10:30 tomorrow, the Chairman of the UN Foundation, Ted Turner, together with Tim Wirth, President of the Foundation, will be here in this room to brief you on the Foundation’s Board of Directors meeting which began yesterday, and they will also discuss new initiatives by the UN Foundation.

That’s it for me, any questions?  Thank you very much, Michele...

Questions and Answers

Question:  Steph, how many international workers, UN workers, are still out there in Iraq right now?

Associate Spokesman:  The process that we discussed last week is still ongoing, and we expect them to be all out from Baghdad very shortly.  I don’t have hard numbers for the moment.

Question:  The SG’s statement on the Geneva Accord -- what prompted that?  Did something happen that I lost track of?

Associate Spokesman:  We understand the Accords may be published in the near future and this is something that he has supported in the past.  For once we are ahead of the curve, but I think that this is an opinion he has stated in the past -- welcoming private initiatives and underscoring that it’s not any substitute for official negotiations and encouraging both the Palestinians and Israelis to return to the table.

Thank you.

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

Thank you, Stephane.  Good afternoon.

The Assembly voted today, on the global road safety crisis which was debated in plenary on 21 and 22 October.  It also votes on the zone of peace and cooperation of the South Atlantic.  The question of the Malvinas/Falkland Islands, on the agenda this morning, was postponed to the fifty-ninth session.

Twenty-five speakers were listed to address the Assembly on a fourth agenda issue, the assistance in mine action.

A debate is expected this afternoon on support by the United Nations system of the efforts of governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies.  Sixteen speakers are listed on this issue.

Tomorrow morning, (I said morning), the Sixth Committee will take a decision on cloning.  As you know, the Sixth Committee is divided on the issue.  One basic agreement -- all Member States are opposed to the cloning of human embryos for reproductive purposes and agree that the practice should be banned.  However, Member States vehemently disagree on whether or not a ban should apply to the cloning of human embryos for research purposes.  There are two competing resolutions reflecting these views, one, L.2, led by the United States and Costa Rica, the other one L.8, led by Belgium, the United Kingdom, China, Singapore, and Japan.

What will happen in the Sixth Committee tomorrow?  Everybody is calling to ask me.  I understand that there will be a procedural motion by Iran of deferral for 2 years of the draft convention on cloning.  This “no action motion” will be voted on first.  It is presented by Iran on behalf of the Islamic Conference.  According to rule 74 of the General Assembly rules of procedure, a representative may move the adjournment of the debate on an item under discussion.

In addition to the proposer of the motion, two representatives may speak in favour of, and two against, the motion, after which the motion shall immediately be put to the vote.  Only if the “no action” motion is defeated, can the resolutions be put to a vote in the Sixth Committee, before referral, of course, to the General Assembly.

So that vote is scheduled for 10 a.m. in Conference Room 3, not in the afternoon as previously announced.

I cannot tell you for sure what will happen.  Everything is as I explained, difficult to assess at this point.

In the other Committees, the First Committee meets this afternoon to act on a number of draft resolutions submitted under all disarmament and international security agenda items.

The Special Political and Decolonization Committee met this morning on the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People.

You had a press conference on that yesterday.

The Second Committee meets today on macroeconomic policy questions, international trade and development, commodities.

Around the Second Committee, there will be a dialogue between the Second Committee and the new Chief Economist of the World Bank, Mr. François Bourguignon, today, from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. in Conference Room 4.

Mr. Bourguignon will make a presentation on “Towards Pragmatism and Partnership in Development Economics”.

The Third Committee is presently meeting on the right of people to self-determination, and is continuing a debate on the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, questions relating to refugees, returnees and displaced persons.

As you know, the Fifth is still discussing the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2004-2005.

This is all I have for you.  Thank You.

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