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.

I have just been told that Security Council consultations have adjourned.  If any of you want to run out to the stakeout, I won’t be offended.

**Statement on Iraq and Pakistan

Our first item of today is a statement attributable to the Spokesman concerning the bombing incidents in Iraq and Pakistan:

“The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest possible terms today’s terrorist attacks in Karbala and Baghdad.  He is particularly appalled that these incidents took place in and around Muslim shrines during the holy occasion of Ashura.

“The Secretary-General urges all Iraqis to refrain from acts that could undermine efforts to achieve national reconciliation at this delicate stage of the country’s political situation.  He reiterates that Iraqis from all segments of society should work toward building political consensus and national reconciliation in a peaceful environment.

“The Secretary-General is similarly appalled by reports of another attack, also during a procession today marking Ashura, in the Pakistani city of Quetta, which has resulted in the death and injury of dozens.  Once again, he strongly condemns such cowardly acts.

“The Secretary-General reiterates his position that all terrorist acts, whatever their justifications, are morally reprehensible and wholly indefensible.

“The Secretary-General extends his sincere condolences to the families of all the victims of today’s attacks.”

We also have the text of the statement issued by the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights on this matter.

**SG on Haiti

The people of Haiti, and their efforts to build a better future, should be at the centre of international efforts, the Secretary-General told reporters upon entering UN Headquarters today.

He said that he hopes the international community will be involved in Haiti “for the long haul, and not a quick turn-around”, adding that the effort to stabilize the country may take years.  We have the transcript of that press encounter available for you upstairs.

**Haiti - Humanitarian

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the situation in Haiti remains chaotic and the distribution of humanitarian aid is frozen for the time being.

UN staffers in Haiti returned to their offices yesterday to resume work, especially on the UN Flash Appeal for Haiti which is to be presented to donor countries as soon as possible.  The UN is attempting a rapid assessment of storehouses to see what remains after the widespread looting of the past days.

Meanwhile, UNICEF has issued an emergency appeal for $7.6 million to provide relief for children and women caught up by the collapse of civil society.  UNICEF has also announced that a humanitarian flight will arrive in Port-au-Prince tomorrow, carrying health and educational kits.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reports that most of Haiti’s health centres ceased full operations over the weekend, due to the violence and the lack of electricity and water.  PAHO has asked all parties to respect the neutrality of hospitals, and is doing all it can to coordinate the provision of medical supplies.  We have press releases on these matters upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council is holding consultations on its program for work for the month.

Also this morning, the Security Council was briefed on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno.

The briefing focused on the deterioration of security in the eastern regions of the DRC, recent attacks against UN mission personnel, and the challenges facing the Transitional Government in order to achieve national reconciliation.

The Council President, French Ambassador Jean Marc de La Sablière is expected to read a press statement on the DRC following consultations that may be happening just now.

Around 12:30 here in Room 226, the Ambassador is scheduled to brief you on the March Security Council programme.

**UNMOVIC

The UN Monitoring Verification, and Inspection Commission, better known as UNMOVIC, issued its last quarterly report to the Security Council today.

UNMOVIC’s staff continues to work on a number of on-going projects, notably a compendium of Iraq’s past proscribed weapons programmes –- part of which is included as an annex to the report.

The commission’s Executive Chairman, Demetrius Perricos, also reports that in the last quarter he and his staff received no official information on the work the US-led Iraq Survey Group.  UNMOVIC hopes that the Group’s final report expected out later this year will be made available.  The full report by UNMOVIC is out on the racks.

**Sudanese Refugees

The High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers arrived today in Chad, following a delay of his mission due to flight cancellations over the weekend.

He is scheduled to meet with Chadian President Idriss Deby and discuss the situation of 110,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad, as well as 33,000 refugees from the Central African Republic in the south of the country.

**Brookings

A high-level panel examining change at the UN should show there is no need for a North-South divide when determining the greatest threats to the world, the Secretary-General told the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institution last night.

He said it was important to “get away from the idea” that terrorism and weapons of mass destruction are only of interest to the North, and poverty and hunger only of concern to the South.

He expressed the hope that the Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change that he appointed last year would make specific recommendations for improving the UN.  Some of the solution, he said, may lie in “some kind of new compact between the United States and the rest of the world, comparable to that forged by the Great Powers in 1945”.  We have copies of that speech, as delivered, upstairs and it’s also posted on the Web.

**FAO

Approximately one third of global meat exports, or 6 million tons, are presently being affected by outbreaks of animal disease, the Food and Agriculture Organization said today.

Those diseases, the FAO added, could result in world trade losses of up to $10 billion, if current import bans last throughout the year.  The impact on small poultry producers in Asia, where more than 100 million birds have been culled or died in recent months because of avian influenza, may be considerable.  There are more details in an FAO press release upstairs.

**UNIS/UN

More than 500 high school students from all over the world will fill the General Assembly hall this Thursday and Friday for the twenty-eighth annual UNIS-UN Conference.  The theme of this year’s gathering, which is organized by the students of the UN International School, also known as UNIS, is “Modern Mass Media:  The Influence of Information”.  Guest speakers will include Professor Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the CEO of Newsweek, Richard Smith.

We have more information in a press release upstairs.

**Guest at Noon Tomorrow

And finally, our guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be Stephen Lewis, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, and he will be here to talk to you about the AIDS situation in Botswana.

That’s all I have for you.  Yes, Warren?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Fred, last week you said that the Secretary-General was expecting a fuller explanation from Sir Emyr Jones Parry of the bugging allegations of last week.  On his schedule was a meeting with the Ambassador this morning.  Did they meet?  Did he get that fuller explanation and is he satisfied with it?

Spokesman:  That meeting actually was requested by the Secretary-General and in the course of the morning, although it had been tentatively scheduled for something like 11 o’clock, Ambassador Jones Parry asked for a postponement.  I don’t know that a new date has been set.  But I think the intent of both the Secretary-General and the Ambassador is to meet to discuss whatever is on their common agenda.  Yes?

Question:  To follow up, Fred, is Ambassador Jones Parry the highest representation from the British Government that the SG has had a contact with since this particular incident?

Spokesman:  Yes.  It was the Ambassador who called him on the day that Clare Short made her allegations saying he was calling on behalf of the Prime Minister.  To my knowledge he [the Secretary-General] has had no contacts with representatives of the British Government since then; and as I say, he asked for this meeting today, which is to be re-scheduled.

Question:  Fred, after what the Secretary-General heard yesterday from the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who gave him a very different account of the departure of President Aristide than what I think he probably had received before, has he had any misgivings about the swift action on Sunday night passing that resolution and have any ambassadors from the Security Council approached him or expressed to the Secretariat their concerns that maybe, as one of them apparently put it, that maybe the Security Council might have sanctioned a coup?

Spokesman:  On your last question, no I am not aware that any member of the Council has discussed that particular matter with him.  I think everyone feels that the quick action taken by the Security Council on Sunday was justified in light of the situation on the ground in Haiti, which was quite threatening.  The Secretary-General listened to what members of the Black Caucus told him yesterday.  But as he said coming into the building this morning, he has also seen reports from the US State Department that are inconsistent with what the members of the Black Caucus told him.  So, he sees that as a disputed point.  It’s for them to sort it out.  But I don’t think he has any misgivings about the quick action taken and the need to get a measure of stability in Haiti with the help of international forces.  And then again, as he said this morning, there is a lot more work to do to build institutions and to bring Haiti to a point where it can stand on its own two feet and he hopes the international community will stay engaged for as long as it takes.  Yes?

Question:  Yesterday, members of the Black Caucus indicated that they
had asked the Security Council to look into the circumstances surrounding
Mr. Aristide’s departure.  What, if any, investigative powers does the Secretary-General have in that regard?

Spokesman:  None.  First of all, any request to the Council would have to come from the administrative branch of the US Government.  Traditionally, it is the State Department and foreign ministries that the Secretariat deals with and that the Council deals with.  I am not aware whom on the Council might have been contacted.  You should ask the Caucus members whom they spoke to.

Question:  On Iraq, Fred, does the SG have an assessment on how today’s violence in Iraq may impact future plans by the UN in that country?

Spokesman:  No.  I mean, from the statement that I just read, he is calling on Iraqis to remain united in the political task they have before them.  I think that one viable proposition is that people who carried out these acts are looking to undermine a peaceful transitional process to the return of Iraq sovereignty and he is hoping that Iraqis won’t be deterred.  Yes, Mark?

Question:  Fred, from what’s happening at the moment, how much is the UN looking at this through a prism of country-by-country case examples, or is the UN beginning in any way to get worried about a broader Shia versus Sunni type situation in the Middle East?

Spokesman:  I mean, we would like to think that these two violent acts carried out in Iraq and Pakistan today are politically motivated and not based on religion, or not solely based on religion.  In Iraq, there has always been a comfortable relationship between Sunni and Shia; and it’s our hope that these two groups can work together as they have shown they can on the drafting of an interim constitution, and continue to work together towards arrangements for the transition period to 30 June and then the handover of sovereignty after that.  I don’t think we want to speculate about any wider conflicts among these two branches of Islam.  Mr. Abbadi?

Question:  Did I hear you right when you said that the Secretary-General feels that there is going to be some kind of compact in the United States and the rest of the world; and if so, what kind of compact does he have in mind?

Spokesman:  I was quoting from the speech of last night and the full text is upstairs and I’d refer you that text.  Richard?

Question:  I know that you’re not working with UNMOVIC, but they are all upstairs and busy.  Based upon what you know, is this report more direct in saying that the Americans were wrong, that there really were no weapons of mass destruction discovered after 1994 and this report highlights that more than the other quarterly report?

Spokesman:  It’s not for me to interpret their report.  I know you asked that same question of the Secretary-General this morning and all he said was that he wasn’t surprised.  No, I think you’ll have to ask them to characterize the report.  I am not going to do that.  I don’t speak for them.

Question:  Last week you said the UN would like a fuller explanation from the British Government on the spy allegations.  A few days have passed; is that still the story?  If there was a meeting with the British, what would the UN want to know?

Spokesman:  I think that’s the second time around for that question.  I don’t know if you came in late.  The meeting with the British Ambassador did not take place this morning... (Interrupted)

Question:  ...No, I heard that.

Spokesman:  So, you heard my answer?

Question:  I got it, but it didn’t say what you would like told to you.  What do you want to know?

Spokesman:  We’ll let the Secretary-General discuss that with the British Ambassador when they get together.

Question:  Cyprus:  Did Mr. Prendergast arrive?  Can you refresh us for our CNN Turkish colleagues over there?  Is the UN expecting Kofi Annan will have to fill in the blanks because of differences yesterday?

Spokesman:  Well, we’re not at that point yet.  The two sides are discussing the possible changes to the draft plan.  Mr. Prendergast is in Cyprus; I spoke to him this morning.  He is sitting in on these talks for a couple of days and he will come back to report to the Secretary-General on his personal assessment of how they are going.  Mr. Abbadi?

Question:  Did President Aristide try to contact the Secretary-General in any way since he left office?

Spokesman:  Not since he’s left office, no.  He called the Secretary-General twice in the last week, but prior to his leaving Haiti.  David?

Question:  Just a matter of what I typically call housekeeping here.  Yesterday in the Brookings event, the speech of the Secretary-General was released to the press, to some of the press or all of the press.  But television broadcasters were excluded from covering the event, which makes it purely a story for print journalists rather than broadcast journalists.  I wonder if there is a policy which guides your department as to when television cameras can be included in an event in which his remarks were released to the press?

Spokesman:  Well, as you know, at your request we tried to get TV coverage at least of the Secretary-General’s speech at that event and the hosts turned us down.  It was their board meeting, a private meeting, and it was their call that they didn’t want television present.  We’re free to distribute the text of the Secretary-General’s remarks, but when it comes to television coverage we’ve got to negotiate that with our guests in this house.  And in this case, the guests said “no”.  It would be our preference to give you the maximum coverage possible, equal treatment to broadcast media and print media; in this case it wasn’t possible.  Richard?

Question:  Is the Walzer security report still on target for delivery to the Secretary-General tomorrow?

Spokesman:  As far as we know, yes.  I haven’t seen the SG’s programme for tomorrow but we were told by Mr. Walzer that he expects to present it to the Secretary-General tomorrow.

Question:  Maybe I asked this five weeks ago, but can we possibly get a UN TV camera just for the report handover?

Spokesman:  We’ll have to see if that’s possible, but we’ll ask for you.  Erol?

Question:  Does the Secretary-General intend to give any interview soon to any broadcasters or print media and how can we know about that?

Spokesman:  I think that’s between him and the broadcaster that he gives interviews to.  As you know, he does about two a month.  We usually don’t tell you who he is giving interviews to, but if you want to know we’ll tell you; it’s not a secret because eventually it gets published or it gets broadcast.

Question:  And what are the criteria, if you can elaborate on that?

Spokesman:  We have about a 150 outstanding requests now, from large media and small.  Sometimes we peg it to a trip.  If he is going to region, we’ll consult the list of standing interview requests from media from that region.  If he visits a specific country, we look at the outstanding request from media from that country.  Sometimes he may feel that he wants to send a message out on a particular issue; let’s say, the Middle East, in which case we look at all the outstanding requests from Middle East regional media.  And sometimes he has a worldwide message; and we look at what media have worldwide reach that we would like to give this interview to.  It’s usually done on the basis of recommendation by my Office and Edward Mortimer’s office, the Director of Communications.  And the UNCA Executive Committee is meeting with the Secretary-General right now and I think this question of interviews is on their agenda.

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