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.

**Press Conference at Noon

The Secretary-General will be here at noon, along with Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada, former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo and UN Development Programme Administrator Mark Malloch Brown.  They will be launching the report of the Commission on Private Sector and Development entitled “Unleashing Entrepreneurship:  Making Business Work for the Poor”.

The Secretary-General will not take any questions, but the other three principals will gladly take your questions on this report.  We have advance copies of the report available in my office.

**Haiti -- Humanitarian

Port-au-Prince was still chaotic this morning, with evidence of looting apparent on some of the main streets.  UN staff in the country were advised to stay at home for their safety.  UN humanitarian agencies stand ready to move in food, water and sanitation and medical supplies as soon as security conditions allow.

Humanitarian concerns include:  the inability to assess food-aid requirements in the Central Plateau, where needs are expected to be greatest, and continued shortages of fuel that could incapacitate water pumps and refrigeration for vaccines.  A large number of health facilities in Port-au-Prince are closed.

A consolidated inter-agency humanitarian appeal for Haiti is being finalized and will be launched as soon as possible.

**Haiti

Last night the Security Council met to discuss Haiti and adopted resolution 1529 authorizing the immediate deployment of a Multinational Interim Force to that country for not more than three months.

The Council also declared its readiness to establish a follow-on UN stabilization force to support a peaceful and constitutional political process in Haiti, and requested that the Secretary-General submit recommendations regarding this force, within 30 days.

In order to be able to make these recommendations regarding the size, structure and mandate of such a mission, an assessment team from the Secretariat will be traveling to Haiti in the coming days to gather the required information and plan the future peacekeeping operation.

After the Council’s meeting last night, the Secretary-General said he was happy for the people of Haiti who needed the assistance of the international community.  The world had not forgotten them, he said, adding that international help was “better late than never”.  The international community would be moving fast and would be working with the Haitian people to stabilize the situation and provide aid.  

**Security Council

There are no scheduled meetings or consultations of the Security Council today.

France has assumed the Council Presidency for the month of March and Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sablière is holding bilateral meetings today on the programme of work.  Ambassador de la Sablière is scheduled to brief you on the Council's March programme tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. in this room following consultations.

**Iraq Reconstruction

The United Nations has the expertise and experience to help support Iraq's aspirations for reconstruction and democracy, the Secretary-General’s acting Special Representative for Iraq, Ross Mountain, told a meeting of donors gathered in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.

He pointed out that even over the past year the UN has been conducting humanitarian activities in Iraq, channeling 90 per cent of the $2.2 billion raised by a flash appeal in 2003.

Stressing that the UN has “a repository of expertise and experience” available to help Iraq, he said, “Overall we stand ready for robust re-engagement at all levels as required.”  The full text of his speech is available upstairs as is the final communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.

**African Refugees

Positive developments in countries like Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Sudan present an unprecedented chance to discuss the possibility of voluntary returns and sustainable reintegration, says the UN refugee agency ahead of a high-level meeting on 8 March.

Thanks to ongoing peace efforts in various regions of Africa, there are potentially more than 2 million refugees who may want to return home over the next three to five years, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

UNHCR also reports that after a nearly two-year halt because of heavy fighting, it plans to resume tomorrow land repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees until the remaining 13,000 can return home from Liberia.

**Cyprus

The Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast will be leaving today for Cyprus, at the Secretary-General's request.  While on the island he will be briefed by the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus regarding the status of the ongoing talks.  He will also meet with both the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, and the Greek Cypriot leader, Tassos Papadopoulos.

After sitting in on the talks for a couple of days, Prendergast will return to New York to personally brief the Secretary-General.

**Afghanistan

The UN Mission in Afghanistan reports that recent trends show that more women are registering to vote, with women now comprising close to 27 per cent of voters.  Voter registration on the whole has been growing at a rate of 15 per cent per week since mid-December, while female voter registration alone has grown by 25 per cent since then.  We have more details in yesterday’s briefing notes from Kabul.

**Brookings

The Secretary-General will speak to the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institution when they hold their winter board meeting in the Delegates Dining Room this evening.

In his remarks to the Board, embargoed copies of which will be available upstairs, he will discuss the work that the Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change is currently undertaking to revitalize the United Nations as it seeks to deal with such emerging problems as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

**UNESCO

This past Friday, the Director-General of the UN’s Cultural, Educational and Scientific Organization, Koichiro Matsuura, secured a $112 million loan from a French lending institution to complete the renovation work on the agency’s headquarters.  The French Government has agreed to guarantee and pay for the interest on this 17-year loan.  We have a press release from UNESCO upstairs.

**INCB Annual Report

And now a reminder that the 2003 annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board will be released, in Vienna, on Wednesday of this week.

The report’s main focus is the impact of drug abuse and violence at the community level.  Vincent McClean, the Representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in New York, will hold a press conference on the embargoed report in this room at 11 a.m. tomorrow.  We have more in a background press release available in my office.

**Women

Finally, the Commission on the Status of Women is holding its forty-eighth session through March 12 in Conference Room 2.  It will focus on the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality; and women's equal participation in conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace-building.  Later at 1:15 p.m., there will be a panel discussion on the role of parliamentarians in the strengthening the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Black Caucus

This afternoon at 3:30 pm a delegation of the US Congressional Black Caucus, will meet the Secretary-General.  The delegation is being led by the Chairman of the Caucus, Congress Elijah Cummings.

After the meeting, the delegation, which also includes Congressman Charles Rangel and Congresswoman Barbara Lee among others, will take your questions at the Security Council stakeout.  The delegation’s full list is available upstairs.

That’s all I have for you.  Any questions before we do the 12 o’clock big bang?  Yes, Edie?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Fred, is the Secretary-General planning any other follow-ups to ensure, in his own words, that what happens in Haiti is not just a band aid solution?

Spokesman:  Well, the resolution of last night pointed to the need for broad reconstruction activities in Haiti across the board.  Not just repairing buildings, but repairing political and social institutions.  And I think the reason the follow on mission, which will be a UN peacekeeping mission but is called a stabilization force, is that it will involve much more than just training police, but get into the many other activities of a complex peacekeeping mission of the sort we’ve seen since probably the ’89 mission in Namibia.  In other words, a strong human rights office, encouraging free press institutions, working with civil society, as well as working, of course, on free and fair elections.  Yes, sir?

Question:  Fred, is there a timeline at all on how long the stabilization force will be in the country?

Spokesman:  No.  All we know is that it is to take over from the multinational force no more than three months from today.  And how long it would be necessary to continue, I don’t know.  But clearly the Secretary-General’s comment that let’s not just apply a band aid suggests that it would be a long-term endeavour.  Yes?

Question:  Last night the Secretary-General indicated he was comfortable that the transition of power in Haiti was in keeping with that country’s constitution.  Is the Secretary-General under the impression that Mr. Aristide left the country under his own volition?

Spokesman:  He chose not to comment on the President’s departure.  The President resigned.  There is a procedure in the Haitian constitution for the resignation of the President and the power passed to the Chief Justice as called for in the constitution.  I think we are now looking forward to see how we can carry out the constitutional provisions for elections to put in a new government.  I think the constitution says that that should happen within three months.

Question:  And under his own volition?

Spokesman:  We’re not commenting on… I mean, he resigned.  That’s a fact.  Yes, Mark?

Question:  I have two questions.  First, does the Secretary-General share the concern of the so many Caribbean countries that what happened in Haiti could set a precedent of condoning military action to remove a seated elected president?  And the second question is, why did the UN leave in 2001?  What was the reason for that?

Spokesman:  I’d refer you to the history books on your second question.  The first one, military action by whom? I am not quite sure what you’re referring to.

Question:  Well, the rebels.  There are a lot of complaints or concerns being raised in the Caribbean that this sets a precedent of essentially condoning military action to remove a seated elected president.  Does the Secretary-General share any of those concerns?

Spokesman:  Clearly in terms of constitutional processes, the Secretary-General feels that governments should change only by constitutional means.  But you had a clear crisis in Haiti and the President chose, as one way of resolving that crisis, to resign and allow elections to go forward on a constitutional basis.  I am not sure that we’re concerned about precedents, but rather just looking at how to put Haiti on a solid institutional basis so that it can conduct its affairs in the future along predictable lines.  Yes?

Question:  In the resolution it refers to the force commander.  Now, how is the force going to be organized and who is going to select the commander?

Spokesman:  The multinational force?

Question:  Yeah, the multinational force commander, I mean.

Spokesman:  The Security Council merely authorized a multinational force to go in.  Any details you want to know about how that multinational force is organized or will carry out its work you should ask those who are providing the troops.

Question:  But the resolution asks those who provide the troops to let the Secretary-General know that they are providing the troops.

Spokesman:  The first step is for the troop contributors to organize themselves into a multinational force and to intervene, and then you’ll have to ask them along what basis they’re organizing the force.  I mean, if they are reporting back to the Secretary-General, fine.  But we have no reports as of this morning so, that’s why I am directing you back to them as far as force commander and the other organizational details.  Richard?

Question:  It is early, it’s three months out, but the resolution talked about a programme of action for the UN.  What is the UN doing now?  What is the focus for what the role of the UN will be?  Will the primary goal at the moment be humanitarian?  We don’t know what’s going to happen on the ground; can you outline the planning in the building today or anything? 

Spokesman:  I think we have to let the Peacekeeping Department do the planning.  The mandate is clear that this is to be a wide-ranging effort.  I already mentioned the kinds of things that might be done by a so-called stabilization force.  But I describe it basically as complex peacekeeping.  Not just troops; but police, police training, human rights support, press freedom support, civil society…

Question:  Was all that done in the other missions in the ‘90s, though?  Was there anything different that you know that would be in this mission?

Spokesman:  It’s too early to say.  The planning is just getting under way.  But, typically, complex peacekeeping operations involved all these other things.  Prior to 1989 they tended to be military observers patrolling a ceasefire line.  With Namibia ’89-’90, it took on all these other things.  Organizing elections, writing a constitution and so on. Will Haiti be different?  Most likely. There’s something that will be tailored for the particular needs of this country.  But that’s what I anticipate the Peacekeeping Department is planning now.  Yes?

Question:  Just to go back to the timeline of the stabilization force, one of the criticisms of the last endeavour in Haiti was that it was there and gone.  It was just a flash and that didn’t last very long and that led supposedly to many of the problems that we see today.  Is there a sense inside the building that that’s a problem that has to be tackled?  That if there is going to be a stabilization force –- you called it a long-term endeavour -– but is there a sense that one of the issues has to be a commitment for a decently lengthy, serious length of time?

Spokesman:  I think we need commitment on both sides.  Last night the international community committed to work with Haiti to rebuild its institutions.  The last time the United Nations carried out a police training programme, their work was undone by the government.  So, I think we need both the Haitians and the international community pulling in the same direction and over a sustained period of time for something to work.  Bill?

Question:  Has there been any further communication between the Secretary-General and the British Government over the bugging issue, steps taken by the Secretary-General to investigate or initiate legal action?

Spokesman:  To my knowledge, no, he’s not had any contacts with representatives of the British Government.  I think I already commented last week about investigations outside this building.  We have no power or capacity to investigate.  Legal action, no we don’t anticipate taking any legal action.  Ruth?

Question:  Now that there is an interim constitution in Iraq, is there any sense of when there will be a government or an interim government?

Spokesman:  No, we are studying that document that was agreed upon by the Iraqi National Governing Council just early this morning and I don’t have any comment on it yet.  I understand it’s to be formally approved and signed on Wednesday of this week.  Yes, sir?

Question:  When Mr. Prendergast leaves for Cyprus tomorrow, do you think he has the possibility of meeting RossMountain by visiting the Headquarters of UNAMI?

Spokesman:  That’s a good question, but I haven’t heard that that will happen.  I don’t know whether RossMountain will be in Cyprus these next few days when Mr. Prendergast will be there.  It’s clearly not the objective of Mr. Prendergast’s mission.  I can’t rule out the possibility that it might happen.  Mark?

Question:  Is the accountability report ready yet and is the Secretary-General going to publish it?

Spokesman:  The team doing that report asked for two more days.  So, I think we’re now expecting it to be given to the Secretary-General on Wednesday.  And, as I have said to you before, its intent was for the Secretary-General’s internal use.  And I can’t tell you whether any part of it might be made available.  We wouldn’t make any judgements until after the Secretary-General sees the report and has a chance to study it.

Question:  So, you’re deciding whether to publish it on the basis of what it says?

Spokesman:  No, our preference would be to keep it as an internal document.  Now, whether it’s structured in a way that would allow it in an integral way to be partially made public, for example if there is an executive summary that could be made public.  But, I am just speculating now.  No one has seen the report.  So, we will see it, we will see what shape it’s in.  And the main thing is what the Secretary-General will decide in response to whatever the report recommends.  Yes?

Question:  I am sorry if I misunderstood you, but did you say Mr. Prendergast will go to Europe to brief the Secretary-General?

Spokesman:  No, he will come back to New York after being in Cyprus for a few days to report to the Secretary-General.  Bill?

Question:  Has the Secretary-General received anything from the Iraqi Governing Council that might take the form of an invitation or overture to get UN or UN political team back to Iraq?

Spokesman:  Not yet.  Not yet.  Okay.  So, in five more minutes we’ll get the special press conference going here on unleashing entrepreneurship.

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