DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Secretary-General at Ibero-American Summit in Bolivia

     The Secretary-General is in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to attend the Ibero-American Summit.  He arrived last night from La Paz, together with Bolivian President Carlos Mesa.  The Secretary-General started the day by meeting the regional directors of the UN agencies.  Following that, he met with the Bolivian opposition Congressman, Evo Morales.

In a press conference, the Secretary-General said that his visits to Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia were a sign of his determination to pay greater attention to the area.  He noted that democracy must be strengthened in the region, through the rule of law, greater political participation and a drastic reduction in poverty and inequality.  The Secretary-General said that the international community needed to offer the region greater social investment and debt alleviation.  “These countries need some breathing space”, he said.

The text of the Secretary-General’s opening statement to the press is available upstairs.

The Secretary-General is having a number of bilateral meetings this morning.  He met with the Foreign Minister of Chile and is due to meet with the former President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who chairs the Secretary-General’s Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations Relations with Civil Society.  Then he will hold separate meetings with the Presidents of Colombia, Honduras, Brazil and Venezuela.

At 5 p.m., he will attend the official gathering of the heads of State and government and first ladies who are participating in the Summit.  This will be followed by the formal opening of the Ibero-American Summit, during which the Secretary-General will address the participants.

An embargoed version of the Secretary-General’s statement is available upstairs.

After that, he will resume bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister of Spain and with the President of Mexico.

**Statement Attributable to Spokesman for Secretary-General

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman:

“The Secretary-General welcomes the recent decision by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to conclude the Additional Protocol, to act in accordance with its provisions until its entry into force, and to suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.

“He encourages the IAEA, the Government of Iran and the other governments that have been working with Iran on this matter to continue their efforts in this respect.”

**Security Council

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

On Monday, AIDS and peacekeeping operations will be the subject of an open meeting of the Council.  The head of the Peacekeeping Department, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, and UNAIDS chief, Peter Piot, are both expected to brief Council members.

**Cyprus

In his latest report on the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus, the Secretary-General notes that, as of 2 November, there have some 2 million crossings by Greek Cypriots going north and Turkish Cypriots going south.  This steady flow has occurred with a remarkably low number of incidents.

In his report to the Security Council, the Secretary-General also says the situation along the ceasefire line has been generally calm.

A demining expert recently joined the mission to advise on how to clear the minefields in the buffer zone.  He has been able to have discussions with both sides on how best to proceed.

The Secretary-General recommends to the Security Council that the mission’s mandate be extended a further six months until 15 June 2004.

**Egeland in DRC

Jan Egeland, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator, is continuing his visit to the north-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He arrived today in the town of Bukara, in the south Kivu province.  While the security situation has now improved in that area, just three months ago the situation was very insecure due to fighting between armed foreign groups and Congolese militias.

In Bukara, Egeland commended the work being done by humanitarian workers, often in very difficult circumstances.  He also met with local authorities and local people, who expressed satisfaction with the additional assistance they have been receiving from the international community due to the improvement in the security situation.

Egeland is now in Goma and tomorrow he travels to Bunia.

This visit is part of Egeland’s broader goal of furthering humanitarian access and increasing humanitarian presence in previously difficult to reach areas of the Great Lakes region.

We have more upstairs in a press release.

**Special Representative in DRC

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, William Swing, met Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali, today, to discuss developments in the region.

Swing said that his two-day visit to Rwanda was part of a broader effort to encourage the normalization of relations between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighbours -- Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.

Further details are available in a press release.

**Somalia

The current drought in Sool Plateau and Gebi Valley of Somalia is the worst in living memory, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

For four years, rains have either partially or completely failed.  A recent assessment found that over 90,000 people out of the 650,000 in the area are at risk due to the continued drought.

     People are trying to cope by selling their possessions and getting credit to buy food and water, which is becoming increasingly difficult.

     We have more information on that upstairs.

**Liberia

The Force Commander for the UN Mission in Liberia travelled yesterday to an area where fighting had been reported between former Government troops and rebel forces, where he called for an immediate halt to hostilities.

The Force Commander, General Daniel Opande, directed all sides in Gapo Town, in the county of River Cess, to move roadblocks from major roads to enable civilians to move freely.  He warned that commanders would be held accountable for atrocities committed by their troops.

We put out a press release from the Liberia Mission yesterday with more details.

Also on Liberia, we have a comprehensive update on the work being done by UN agencies to meet the needs of vulnerable Liberians, especially internally displaced persons.

     **ICTY

The Secretary-General has appointed Kevin Horace Parker to serve as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, starting on 4 December.  He would serve out the remainder of Judge David Hunt’s term, which will expire on 16 November 2005; both judges are Australian.

The Secretary-General took that decision following consultations with the Security Council and General Assembly.

We have copies of Judge Parker’s bio-data upstairs.

**WHO

The number of cases of diabetes in developing countries is likely to increase more than twofold in the next 30 years, from 115 million in the year 2000 to 284 million in 2030, according to the World Health Organization.

WHO has marked World Diabetes Day, today, with a commitment to increase its efforts to reduce the impact of diabetes and its complications, particularly among low- and middle-income communities, in collaboration with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

**Tolerance

This Sunday is the International Day for Tolerance, so I hope you will all be a little more tolerant this weekend.

The Secretary-General, to mark the occasion, says the upsurge of intolerance represents a universal threat to democracy, peace and security.  He warns that no modern society can be built, or can flourish, by cultivating intolerance.

We have copies of his message marking the day upstairs.

**UNICEF

The UN Children’s Fund says it supports the urgent call from leaders of the Education for All (EFA) movement to "drastically accelerate" actions on behalf of the estimated 65 million girls who are currently denied their right to an education.

The children’s agency is pleased with the agreements made at the EFA meeting in New Delhi that concluded this week, particularly the recommendations to support UNICEF's own acceleration strategy to get more girls into school and to strengthen the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative.

**Ciampi Accepts Disability Award

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi of Italy, on behalf of his country, will accept the seventh annual Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award here at the United Nations on Monday.

The ceremony will take place in the Economic and Social Council chamber at 11 a.m., and will also include disability rights advocate Christopher Reeve, General Assembly President Julian Hunte and Mrs. Nane Annan.

Italy is being honoured for its exemplary efforts to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

**Guests at Noon on Monday

     Finally, guests at the noon briefing on Monday will be Kul Gautam, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, and David Heymann, Representative of the World Health Organization’s Director-General for Polio Eradication.  They will be here to talk about the latest developments in the global effort to eliminate polio.

     That’s my report to you.  Yes, Colum?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Does the Secretary-General’s reading of the IAEA Report suggest to him, in his view, that the Iranians have been deliberately concealing efforts to develop a nuclear weapon?  Does he believe that the recent cooperation that he described is sufficient to continue discussions between the IAEA and the Iranians, rather than taking the step of coming to the Security Council and bringing it here?

Spokesman:  I can’t give you the answer to either of those questions.  I don’t know that the Secretary-General wants to interpret an IAEA report, and as for next steps, I would have to ask for specific guidance that I don’t have.  [He later said that, as the IAEA report was still being discussed by the Executive Board, it would not be appropriate to comment.  As to whether the matter should be brought before the Security Council, that would be for the IAEA Governing Board to decide.]

Question:  But the guidance that you did read to us earlier suggested that he thought it was wise to continue the cooperation, should that be read in any sense that this is his prescription for the course of events involving, you know, the UN’s relations with Iran?

Spokesman:  I don’t want to interpret beyond the words that I read, the meaning of the statement.  He said, “He encourages all of them to keep working together on this matter”.  I will have to see if I can say anything more interpretive, but from here, now, I can’t.

Yes?

Question:  This concerns Iraq security -– do the meetings in Cyprus end, you say, this weekend?

Spokesman:  They were scheduled to end tomorrow.

Question:  And is there going to be a report, or what are the staff going to do after that?

Spokesman:  One of the participants in those talks was Kevin Kennedy of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  He briefed journalists this morning and one of the things he said was that there is still no definite date for the return of international UN staff to Baghdad.  This group will report to the Secretary-General and he will then take whatever actions he feels are justified.  It is not going to be made public.  Did I answer all aspects of your question?  Yes, Colum?

Question:  There was a report out of Geneva, I’m not sure if it was UNHCR, but essentially, the UN indicating or advising countries not to force asylum refugees to return to Iraq because of the continuing security situation.  Do you have anything on that?

Spokesman:  Have to check with UNHCR, I don’t have anything, no.  [He later confirmed that, in Geneva today, UNHCR advised States to continue a ban on forced returns to Iraq because the situation in the country remains volatile.]

Okay, thank you very much.

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