DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
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.
**Security Council
There are no meetings or consultations of the Security Council scheduled for today.
The Security Council presidency has informed us that consultations are now scheduled for 10:30 a.m. tomorrow on a letter from Iraq.
The Council President, Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz, told reporters at the stakeout microphone yesterday afternoon that there had been request from Iraq to meet with the Security Council on Monday, the 19th of January.
**Iran Update
The recent earthquake in Bam seriously damaged the area’s irrigation system and other agricultural infrastructure. That’s from an initial assessment conducted by the experts from the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) who are currently touring Bam.
The farming sector provides about a quarter of the employment in the area.
Repairing irrigation systems to restore water supply for most affected fruit plantations and providing support for livestock farmers will be the main focus of FAO's emergency assistance.
This project will be funded by the recently launched flash appeal $31 million.
On a related note, the UN’s refugee agency is repatriating 365 Afghan refugees who had been living in Bam. They left the area last night and were expected to have crossed back into Afghanistan earlier today.
More information on these stories is available upstairs.
**Kosovo
“Kosovo is at a crossroads and must choose whether to take the high road taken by the new democracies of central and eastern Europe.” That was a key theme of a speech given by Harri Holkeri, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, at an Orthodox New year reception in Pristina today.
Holkeri stressed that the aim of the UN Mission in Kosovo is to help prepare Kosovo to resolve its future status and then leave. But to get there, efforts must be made across a range of areas, he said.
These include that minority communities must feel safe and secure and returnees mustn’t feel threatened.
We have copies of Holkeri’s full speech available upstairs.
**Chad/Sudan
UN refugee agency workers in eastern Chad are set to begin pre-registering the first of tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees Thursday in the region bordering the Sudan, in preparation for their relocation to a safer camp further inland.
Humanitarian actors in eastern Chad have continued regular aid distributions to the refugees still waiting along the remote and insecure border. The World Food Programme (WFP) said it needed $11 million quickly so that it could pre-position food.
Meanwhile, needs in Sudan’s war-torn region of Darfur were not being met, primarily due to insecurity. Only 15 per cent of vulnerable people in the area were accessible to humanitarian staff.
**Sierra Leone
The newly appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sierra Leone, Daudi Mwakawago, upon arrival in Freetown said the subregional dimension of the conflicts in West Africa was critical to Sierra Leone. He added that it will be addressed at all levels and in all quarters.
**WHO/Bird Flu
Avian influenza virus strain A, sometimes referred to as “bird flu” or “chicken flu”, has been found in humans, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Lab results received on Sunday confirmed the presence of the potentially fatal virus in humans. The samples were taken from three people admitted to hospital with severe respiratory illness in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Normally, the flu only infects birds.
The WHO says that at present there isn’t any evidence that human-to-human transmission of the disease occurred.
The WHO is providing support to Vietnamese health authorities in their investigation of the cases and in helping prevent the disease’s spread.
We have a press release on that.
**SARS
The World Health Organization has received information from China’s Ministry of Health about a man in Guangdong Province who is now considered to be infected with the SARS virus.
That man, WHO was told, is isolated and in stable condition at a hospital, and 24 people who had contact with him have been traced and are reported to be in good condition. He remains the only confirmed SARS case, according to the agency.
The WHO also received information that another suspected case, a waitress in Guangdong, is currently stable, while 100 people who had contact with her have shown no medical abnormalities.
We have details of the WHO team’s joint mission with the Chinese Health Ministry in a press release upstairs.
**Bangladesh
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean Marie Guéhenno is returning this week from a visit to Asia to encourage countries to contribute more troops to UN peacekeeping missions.
Over the weekend, he visited Bangladesh, which he praised in a press conference on Saturday for its outstanding performance in UN peacekeeping. He especially highlighted the role Bangladeshi peacekeepers have played in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
**UNDP
Bangladesh and India will jointly start a census of tigers tomorrow, with the support of the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The census is among the first activities between the two countries under a cross-border initiative aimed at preserving the world’s largest Mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.
The UNDP will have a press release out this afternoon with more details.
**Burns lecture
The Secretary-General will speak this evening on “the Brotherhood of Man”, as he delivers the Robert Burns Memorial Lecture in the Delegates’ Dining Room starting at about 7 p.m.
Immediately following this briefing, we will have a background briefing in this room with a senior UN official who will talk to you about the substance of that speech. We expect to make embargoed copies of the speech available to you at that time.
**Press Conferences Tomorrow
Press conferences tomorrow: 10:15 a.m., Major General Mountaga Diallo, the outgoing Force Commander of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will be here to brief on the situation in that country.
And then at 11:15 a.m., Jose Antonio Ocampo, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, will launch the report, “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2004”. Embargoed copies of the report and a press release are available in my Office.
**Guest at Noon Tomorrow
And then at the noon briefing tomorrow our guest will be the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu. And he will be here to brief you on the situation of children in armed conflict in advance of the Security Council’s debate on that subject scheduled for next week.
That’s all I have for you. Good. Well, if you just wait a few minutes the Emergency ... Oh, you woke up. Hi, what is it Mark?
**Questions and Answers
Question: Just to double-check. When is Lakhdar Brahimi meeting the Secretary-General?
Spokesman: I don’t have a specific time. It will be tomorrow. And he arrived last night, as I said yesterday. I believe he will actually be in the Building today with meetings with other senior UN officials; meeting the Secretary-General tomorrow; briefing the Security Council on Afghanistan on Thursday.
Question: Do you know what time he might meet the Secretary-General tomorrow and will there be any press availability?
Spokesman: I don’t have the programme for tomorrow. If you check with my Office afterwards, we might be able to get an advance word from them on what time that meeting is scheduled. It’s considered an internal meeting, so we normally don’t schedule photo ops for internal meetings. And, of course, if there were photo ops we don’t allow questions at photo ops. So ...
Question: When might the Secretary-General or the UN feel free to give a clear sense of what job is being offered to him exactly?
Spokesman: I indicated to you yesterday that he wants to speak to Mr. Brahimi first and then if we have anything to announce, we will announce it after that meeting. I don’t know if it would be one hour or a day or a week after that meeting. The Secretary-General hasn’t told me.
Question: Is there any way you can hazard a guess about tomorrow’s meeting in the Security Council?
Spokesman: I have no details except what I have given you. I think if you have any questions, you should call the President’s Office. Irwin?
Question: Is there any update on who might be attending that January 19th meeting for the American side?
Spokesman: Still nothing specific. I have no information, sorry.
Question: Is there any more clarity when there might be an announcement on the new Special Representative for Afghanistan?
Spokesman: No. As you know the deputy, Jean Arnault, is the officer-in-charge pending the announcement of a replacement for Mr. Brahimi. But we have nothing further on that today.
Okay? Well, then if you just give us two minutes to adjust the systems and then we’ll bring up the briefer on tonight’s speech.
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