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

The Secretary-General spoke to the press at a stakeout earlier today, and in his comments he addressed some of the issues that have been raised at previous briefings.

Asked if he was concerned by the way in which the Security Council adopted the resolution on the Madrid bomb attacks which specifically singled out ETA, the Secretary-General said he thought the Council members themselves have felt uneasy about that.  He added that the Spanish Government has given the members a letter explaining that it acted in good faith, and at the time it informed the Council that ETA was responsible they genuinely thought so.

In regard to whether he was concerned about the effects that terrorism could have on future elections, the Secretary-General said what’s important here is that we need international cooperation -– working across borders -– to defeat and contain terrorism.

He said the international community needs to work together, share information, intelligence, and work diplomatically and politically to contain terrorism.

Regarding the disagreement by some Member States over his ruling on same-sex benefits for UN staff members, the Secretary-General said he’s tried to interpret UN rules and regulations fairly.  He added that the UN is guided by national laws and he thinks it was a fair interpretation, and will wait to see what the General Assembly decides.

Regarding various allegations concerning the “oil-for-food” programme, the Secretary-General said the Office for Internal Oversight Services has already begun its investigations, and it’s in touch with the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) for additional information. 

And lastly, on the return of Lakhdar Brahimi to Iraq, the Secretary-General said the UN is ready to go back and is currently waiting for the signal to do so.

**Haiti

The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Haiti, John Reginald Dumas, was warmly received by Interim President Boniface Alexandre this morning as he began consultations with Haitian officials following his arrival yesterday. 

As we speak, Mr. Dumas is meeting with the new Haitian Prime Minister, Gerard Latortue.  Mr. Dumas is expected to remain in Haiti until the middle of next week.

Meanwhile, the UN integrated assessment mission, which is working under the auspices of Mr. Dumas, continued its consultations with Haitian and other interlocutors.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the situation in Haiti is calm, but still volatile, with sporadic shooting and looting still taking place.  There are also sporadic demonstrations in the streets, particularly in Port-au-Prince.

Although security remains precarious, movement of goods and people along the main roads from Port-au-Prince to Gonaives and Cap Haïtien, to the border with the Dominican Republic and to Hinche, has resumed.  In many places, public transport is functioning, schools are open, and economic activities have resumed.

Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners are scaling up their operations to meet the emergency health needs of Haitians affected by the recent crisis.  We have a press release upstairs.

**Security Council

There are no meetings or consultations of the Security Council scheduled for today.  There are number of Security Council documents out on the racks though, that may of interest to you.

**Security Council Document -- Letter from Spain

A letter from Spanish Ambassador Inocencio Arias to the Security Council President says that when the Security Council adopted resolution 1530 last week, his Government was firmly convinced that the terrorist group ETA was behind the bombings in Madrid.

The letter goes on to say that since then, as a result of the active efforts of the Spanish security forces, new elements have been discovered that suggest other lines of investigation and point to the involvement of citizens of other countries in the attacks.  It says investigations are continuing and that no definitive conclusions can be reached at the moment.  The Spanish Government will inform the Council of the results of the investigations.

**Security Council –- Secretary-General Letter

Also on the racks today is a letter from the Secretary-General to the Security Council President which names an eight-member New York-based Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team to assist the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee in the fulfilment of its mandate.  He was requested to do so by the Security Council.

The individuals are experts in the following areas:  counter-terrorism and related legislation; financing of terrorism and international financial transactions, including technical banking expertise; alternative remittance systems, charities, and the use of couriers; border enforcement, including port security; arms embargoes and export controls; and drug trafficking.

**Security Council –- Report on West Africa

Also out today, and this is the third item on the racks that I mentioned, is the report of the Secretary-General on ways to combat subregional and cross-border problems in West Africa.

He says that the regional issues identified by the Council –- namely, child soldiers, mercenaries and small arms –- have greatly exacerbated poverty and insecurity within West Africa and that addressing those problems in a comprehensive manner will require a fundamental change in the political approach.

That approach, which has promoted authoritarianism and resulted in a culture of impunity, violence, exclusion and extortion, should be replaced with one that promotes democracy, accountability, peace, tolerance, gender equality and transparency.  The report outlines a number of recommendations.

**Sierra Leone

As you’ll recall, there was an exchange of letters between the Secretary-General and the Security Council President in which the Secretary-General drew attention to the difficulties faced by the Sierra Leone Special Court with regard to its third budget year.  He had proposed that the matter be brought to the attention of the General Assembly to seek the appropriation of funds for the Court.

That report, in response to the exchange of letters, is out today as a General Assembly document.  The approval of up to $40 million is sought from the General Assembly.

**UNODC/EUROPOL

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the European Police Office today signed an agreement to expand cooperation between the two.

The two will enhance cooperation in areas of common interests such as:  the collection of accurate data and statistics on crime and trafficking offences; the early identification of current and emerging trends; the strategic analysis of such information; and its fast and effective circulation.  The signing of the agreement took place during the 47^th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which is currently under way in Vienna.  And we have a press release with more.

**WHO/TB

Tuberculosis patients in parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are 10 times more likely to have multi-drug-resistant TB than in the rest of the world, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).  The report confirms geographical concentrations of TB drug resistance across the Commonwealth of Independent States –- with six out of the top 10 global hotspots being:  Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, parts of the Russian Federation and Uzbekistan.  The WHO says TB drug resistance is an urgent public health issue for these countries, and it’s in the interest of every country to support rapid scale-up of TB control in order to overcome multi-drug resistant TB.  The WHO estimates there are 300,000 new cases per year of multi-drug resistant TB worldwide.  We have more upstairs.

**WHO/Flu

On a related topic:  The WHO is convening a meeting of more than a 100 health experts in Geneva today with the aim of analysing possible public health interventions before and during an influenza pandemic.

Poultry culling and other measures may have reduced the likelihood of a human pandemic influenza strain emerging soon from Asia as a consequence of avian influenza or “bird flu”.  However, experts believe that because these outbreaks come in cycles, a human influenza pandemic must still be expected at some time in the future.  We have a press release on that.

**WFP/Colombia

The World Food Programme (WFP) has expressed concern today over the plight of 2 million Colombians displaced by armed conflict –- with 80 per cent of them lacking access to food.  WFP’s Senior Deputy Executive Director, Jean Jacques Graisse, voiced this concern at the end of a five-day official visit, during which he met government officials and had a visit to a reception area for internally displaced people.  Colombia has the largest internally displaced persons population in the western hemisphere, and the WFP currently provides food to some 350,000 internally displaced persons there.

**Secretary-General Lecture Series -- Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, will be the guest speaker at the Secretary-General's Lecture Series tomorrow.  He’ll be speaking on the topic:  “God's Word and World Politics”.  The lecture will take place from 1:10 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.

**Guest at Noon Tomorrow

And finally, our guest at tomorrow’s noon briefing will be Ibrahim Gambari; he is the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Africa and Special Envoy to Nigeria for polio eradication.  And he has just returned from Nigeria and he will talk to you about the polio eradication campaign in that country.

That’s all I have for you.  Philippe?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Do you have any news on the black box and when we can expect to have results of the reading of it?

Spokesman:  Still not.  I don’t know whether the weather is a factor, but we will announce to you the minute we hear that it has arrived safely in Washington, D.C.  Again, I think, as I said earlier, it could take hours, days or even longer, depending on the quality of the tape and what they find when they open up this instrument.  So, you’ll have to ask the experts.  Yes, Philippe?

Question:  On the Cyprus talks, can you confirm that they are going to be moved to Switzerland towards the end of the end of the month?

Spokesman:  I cannot confirm that.  We’ve seen reports of that, but I cannot confirm that officially.

Thank you very much.

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