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.

**Iraq Meetings

As you know, the Secretary-General will be meeting on Monday with delegations from the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

The schedule, as it stands now, is as follows:

At 9 a.m., the Secretary-General will meet the Governing Council delegation on the 38th floor for a courtesy call.  He will do the same with the CPA delegation at 9:30 a.m.  There will be a photo opportunity for both of thee events.

At 10 a.m., the three-way meeting will get under way in Conference Room 8, in the basement.  There will also be a photo opportunity at the start of this meeting.

We then expect the Secretary-General to hold a press conference across the hall in Conference Room 4 after the meeting, some time after 11:30 a.m., to give a chairman’s summary of the discussions.  Accordingly, there will be no noon briefing here on Monday.

At this point, we do not have any information concerning press briefings by either the CPA or the Governing Council delegations.

Over the past few weeks, there had been indications that the Governing Council would be represented by the troika, meaning the current, past and future presidents, which rotate monthly.

It now looks like that the delegation that will be coming will be larger, and will not follow the "troika" system.

**Security Council

The past month has brought little or nothing by way of substantive move towards peace, according to Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast, who updated the Security Council today during one of its periodic briefings on the situation in the Middle East.

He went on to call the situation tragic.  But it is also frustrating, he told Council members, because the solution is evident.  For peace to succeed between Israelis and Palestinians, both parties must show courage and address each others’ concerns through parallel steps, as called for in the Road Map.

He noted that the Palestinian Authority had taken no tangible action to establish control over the various groups using terror and violence and to empower an interior minister to oversee the security services, as called for in the Road Map.

While the Government of Israel has repeatedly stated its commitment to the Road Map, those statements have not been matched by action.  In fact, Prendergast said, settlement outposts have increased, and the construction of the barrier has continued.

While the situation on the ground may be discouraging, Prendergast said, the international community must maintain its involvement in the peace process.  He said collective efforts to persuade the parties to move towards a comprehensive peace must be revived.

Following Prendergast’s briefing, the Council moved into closed consultations, also on the Middle East.

**SC Resolution on Democratic Republic of Congo

Yesterday afternoon, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, welcoming efforts to set up an integrated army brigade in Kisangani.

The new resolution notes that a previous resolution adopted in 2000, which demanded the demilitarization of Kisangani, will no longer apply to the restructured forces which are to become the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s national army and which are considered a key element for the success of the peace process.

**AIDS

The Secretary-General right now is holding his first annual consultations with all his special envoys dealing with HIV/AIDS, as well as with Peter Piot, the Executive Director of UNAIDS.

The Secretary-General intends for this meeting to provide an opportunity for the four special envoys -– who deal with AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific and Africa -– to assess the situation in their respective regions, including the performance of the UN and the Global Fund.

The Secretary-General is to tell the envoys at the closed-door meeting that AIDS is a priority issue for the UN system, and for him personally, and he will stress the envoys’ value in reaching out to countries as they respond to the AIDS epidemic.  The envoys at today’s meetings are George Alleyne, for Latin America and the Caribbean; Lars Kellings for Eastern Europe; Stephen Lewis for Africa; and Nafis Sadik for Asia and the Pacific.

**Secretary-General – Group of 77

The Secretary-General this morning congratulated Qatar as it took over from Morocco as the chairman of the Group of 77 bloc of developing nations, and praised Morocco for presiding over the Group during an extraordinarily difficult year.

Speaking this morning at the handover ceremony, he said that the events of 2003 distracted the world’s leaders from other important threats, including extreme poverty and hunger, unsafe drinking water, environmental degradation and disease.

He said 2004 should “a year of kept promises, and of restored hope”.  The Secretary-General said he hoped that the Doha “development round” of trade negotiations can be pushed forward this year, and also urged nations to mobilize for a comprehensive review next year of the Millennium Declaration.  We have copies of his remarks upstairs.

**Monday’s Meeting

The Foreign Ministers of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are meeting at UN Headquarters on Monday, the 19th, together with a UN mediator to discuss the territorial dispute between the two countries.

Attending the three-way, all-day meeting are Gabon’s Foreign Minister Jean Ping, Equatorial Guinea Foreign Minister Pastor Micha Ondo Bile, and UN mediator Yves Fortier, a former Canadian Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

**Refugees from Ethiopia

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reports that a team sent to southern Sudan have seen people crossing the border from western Ethiopia, most of them young males.

Residents say some 100-200 people are arriving daily.

The team had travelled to the town of Pochalla in southern Sudan to investigate reports that thousands of people were fleeing across the border to escape violence in western Ethiopia.

You can read more about this in the briefing notes from the UN refugee agency in Geneva.

**Press Conference This Afternoon

We have one more press conference today.  It will be at 5 p.m.  The French Minister of Defence, Madame Michele Alliot-Marie, will be here to talk to you right after her meeting with the Secretary-General.

**The Week Ahead at United Nations

And we have the Week Ahead to help you plan your work here next week.

That’s all I have.  Yes, Warren?

**Questions and Answers

Question:   Fred, I just have two or three small questions about that schedule that you began with. 

Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:   The three-way meeting presumably begins after 9:30, 9:45, is that the plan?

Spokesman:  I said that there will be two courtesy calls at 9:00 and 9:30 and then the three-way meeting will begin at 10:00 downstairs.  The two courtesy calls will be upstairs in the Secretary-General’s Office.

Question:   Just so I understand, the three-way meeting, that is CPA, Governing Council and the Secretary-General?

Spokesman:  The Secretary-General, yes.

Question:   Is anybody from the Security Council in that meeting?

Spokesman:  No.  This is the Secretary-General’s meeting.  He extended the invitation and the meeting with the Security Council members will take place at 5:00 o’clock, as the President of the Council announced.  And in between those two, there will be the monthly luncheon between the Secretary-General and the Security Council members.

Question:   To which the visitors will be invited, or do we know that?

Spokesman:  The Council President said that that would not be the case.  That rather they would meet together, the Council and the two parties, later in the day at 5:00 o’clock.

Question:   Just one final thing:  The 11:30 press conference is the Secretary-General’s?

Spokesman:  We said he may do that.  He hasn’t yet committed to that.  But as Chairman, he is considering giving a Chairman’s summary of the 10:30 meeting and that would be done most likely in a conference room in the same area where the meeting takes place.  Lee?

Question:   Will there be any additional security on Monday that we would have to come through?

Spokesman:  I have not heard from UN Security that there would be anything that would affect your normal routine.  It might be safe though if we double check with them and let you know if there will be any changes.  Mohamed?  [There is no change that will affect journalists, he later said.]

Question:   Fred, have you heard any American officials requesting -- or better to say emphasizing -- an appropriate level of US representative in the three parties talks, or did the United States choose Mr. Bremer on its own?

Spokesman:  I can’t really get into that, Mohamed, except to repeat what I said yesterday that the Secretary-General is pleased at the level of representation.  That with Mr. Bremer here, I think it is the optimal situation as far as he is concerned.  So, he is happy it turned out this way.  But I wouldn’t say whether anyone twisted anyone’s arm.  Yes, Debbie?

Question:   Fred, do we expect to see an afternoon session after the Secretary-General’s lunch with the Security Council, or is he going to go back ...?

Spokesman:  Right now, there is nothing planned.  I think I said earlier that we don’t want to limit their flexibility should they feel there is something important that they would need to resume discussing in the afternoon.  But as of now, it’s not the case.  Mark?

Question:   Fred, the Ahtisaari report (inaudible) ... is the SG satisfied that any request for a UN role in Iraq now is legitimate and ... (inaudible)?

Spokesman:  He has been saying for some time that for the UN to assume any role in Iraq, he would want a united governing council and the support of all elements, really, of Iraqi society.  So, he kind of wants universal support from the Council, universal support from Iraqis and probably the support of the neighbours, as well.  So, before he goes back in, he wants everyone comfortable with the role that the UN would play.

Question:   To follow up on that then:  Does the SG think that the delegation that’s coming should be representative ... (inaudible)?

Spokesman:  With the gradual broadening of the number of people coming from the Council, I think the representation gets more inclusive by the day.  I don’t know whether we have a final and an official list; but it’s a relatively large number now of members who plan to come to New York.  But it’s not for us to pick their delegation.  They pick their delegation.

Question:   Fred, just to clarify:  So, you’re saying then that basically all the neighbours must also be in agreement about the UN going back or must be in agreement about the role ...?

Spokesman:  Whether to go back or not is primarily a security assessment taken in connection with an assessment of the significance of the role that we’re being asked to play.  We’ve said that over and over again.  But we’ve also said that we want, as far as the role that we might play -- we want strong and broad Iraqi support for that -- support from the neighbours and support from the Council --  broad support.  Yes?

Question:   As far as you know, is Mr. Bremer going to alone represent the coalition here?  Will he head a delegation?  If so, will there be members of the Bush Administration who are not CPA people coming along?

Spokesman:  Ask across the street.  Please ask the US Mission. I can’t answer for them.

Question:   As far as you know?

Spokesman:  I understand there will be a delegation.  Mr. Bremer will be attending.  I assume he will be the head of the delegation.  I don’t know that to be a fact.  But please check with the Americans.

Question:   Sir Jeremy Greenstock also is coming, isn’t he?

Spokesman:  Check with the Brits.  It is our understanding that Sir Jeremy Greenstock will be there, as well.  But double-check with the Brits.  Debbie?

Question:   Do you have a ballpark figure on the size of the Iraqi delegation?

Spokesman:  Half a dozen or more.  Serge?

Question:   Is the Minister of Defence of France here at her own request or at the request of the Secretary-General?

Spokesman:  She is in the United States for meetings, I understand.  I believe she is in Washington today.  And I believe she asked to see the Secretary-General while she is on this side of the Atlantic.  Double-check with the French on that.  But that’s my understanding.  Yes?

Question:   The Secretary-General will obviously be the host at Monday’s meeting.

Spokesman:  That’s right.

Question:   How does he view the relationship among the three parties that will be participating?

Spokesman:  The fact that the three sides –- if I can describe them that way -– are sitting down together, I think is an encouraging sign that we’re beginning to work more inclusively.  The international community, represented in effect by the Secretary-General, the Iraqis represented by the Governing Council, the coalition by the CPA.  It’s not going to be easy to achieve the objective of the transfer of sovereignty by the 30^th of June.  But I think we all want to see that objective reached, and we want to work together to see that it is reached within the deadline, if at all possible.  So, this is the beginning of what we hope will become a fruitful dialogue on how best to achieve that objective that we all agree on.  Yes?

Question:   Fred, on that.  Raising the possibility that the deadline isn’t met; what is the Secretary-General’s ... (inaudible)?

Spokesman:  We never speculate about worst-case scenarios.  We have the objective.  The coalition and the Iraqis have agreed on a plan to reach this objective by the 30^th of June.  The Secretary-General personally recommended that an early date for the transfer of sovereignty be set.  So, he is pleased that they are moving towards this objective and he wants to help them in any way he can.

Thank you very much.

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