DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Michéle Montas, Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President.

Good Afternoon.

It’s nice to have Michéle Montas back, the Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly.  There are some important things happening in the Assembly and we thought you should be updated.

**Kosovo -- Update/1

The UN Mission in Kosovo, reports that the situation there has calmed down in comparison to the previous two days, but the situation remains extremely volatile.  KFOR has deployed more troops –- from the UK, US and France –- and their presence is being felt.

While there are still reports of clashes in various parts of the region, these are on a smaller scale –- however there are still reports of looting and unrest.  UN Police report that the violence has left at least 28 people dead, and between 500 and 600 injured, 55 of them KFOR soldiers.

In the last two days, 110 Serb houses have been burned and 16 churches have been destroyed, six of them yesterday.

Harri Holkeri, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, has been talking with politicians both in Kosovo and in Belgrade, urging them to help calm the situation.

** Kosovo -- Update/2

On the humanitarian front:  The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has welcomed the deployment of additional NATO troops to Kosovo, hoping that this’ll help put an end to violence and destruction of property.

Over the past two days, at least 1,000 minority members –- mostly Serbs, from Gnjilan, Pristina and Pec/Peja areas –- have been evacuated to safety by KFOR troops.  Many of those people’s homes have been torched by angry crowds, and churches have also been set on fire.

UNHCR, alongside other organizations, is trying to deliver some aid to the evacuees.  However, there’s little they can do as all movement in Kosovo has been halted due to security concerns.  We have a press release from HCR.

**SG talks to the press

The Secretary-General was joined by his special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on entering the building this morning, and they spoke to the press together.

The Secretary-General said he had replied to yesterday’s letters from the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) advising them that he intended to send a team headed by Mr. Brahimi back to Baghdad.

The first thing Mr. Brahimi would do on his return, he said in response to a question, would be to talk to the Iraqis now that they’ve had time to digest his first report regarding elections to see how he could help them.

“Security is still a constraint”, he said, but he added that he was relying on the Governing Council and the CPA to assure the security of the team that goes in.

A journalist asked Mr. Brahimi whether the fact that L. Paul Bremer had to apply pressure on the Iraqi Governing Council to send the letter dampened his enthusiasm.  Brahimi replied, “We are not dying to go to Iraq.  If the UN is not needed, he said, “that is perfect from our point of view”.  But, he added, he thought that Iraqis both within the Governing Council and outside it are overwhelmingly demanding that the UN play a role.

Some US officials, a journalist said, claimed that if the UN did not support the war it would be irrelevant.  He asked how the Secretary-General felt a year later.

The Secretary-General said he did not accept the idea that because the Security Council did not vote for the war the UN was going to be irrelevant.  The events since then, he said, have indicated that the UN does have a role to play.  That’s an affirmation, he concluded, of Member States trust and belief in the Organization.

On another subject, the Secretary-General was asked for an update on the UN investigation into the “oil-for-food” programme in Iraq.  He replied that he has been in discussion with members of the Security Council for some time on the scope and the extent of the investigation, which he said would have to be independent.  “I don’t think we need to have our reputation impugned”, he asserted.  “It is highly possible that there’ve been quite a lot of wrongdoing, but we need to investigate and get to see who was responsible…”

“We will go ahead full-speed on our own staff,” he concluded, “and hopefully it can be expanded in other areas.”

**Haiti

The Secretary-General's Special Adviser for Haiti, Reginald Dumas, met yesterday with the Chief of the Organization of American States’ Special Mission in Haiti, Mr. David Lee.  They reviewed the ongoing work of the OAS in Haiti and the possibilities for cooperation between the UN and the OAS.  

Mr. Dumas later met with a group of donors and representatives of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

This morning he and Hocine Medili, who is heading the UN assessment mission, attended a meeting between interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and the heads of the agencies comprising the UN system in Haiti.

As we speak, Mr. Medili is meeting with representatives of Haitian women's organizations.  Topics of discussion at this meeting include peace-building and gender-based violence.

The assessment mission is expected to travel outside Port-au-Prince within the next day or two.

**Sudan

The UN’s top humanitarian official in Sudan called attention to the humanitarian situation in Darfur, which is one of the worst in the world.

Since fighting between rebel groups, armed militia, and the Government of Sudan intensified roughly a year ago, the United Nations has consistently received reports of systematic raids against civilian populations.  These attacks have reportedly included the burning and looting of villages, large-scale killings, and abductions.

More than 700,000 people have been internally displaced within Darfur.  Because of violence and clearance procedures, the majority of these people have been beyond the reach of humanitarian agencies.  Roughly 110,000 have fled into neighbouring Chad, where they are able to receive UN assistance.

**Burundi

The Secretary-General, in a report on Burundi to the Security Council, says the country has never before had such an opportunity for lasting peace.  And he recommends that the Security Council consider authorizing the deployment of a multi-dimensional UN peacekeeping operation to support the peace process in that country.  Given the size and the security situation of Burundi, he says a minimum troop strength of 5,650 would be required for the military component.

The Secretary-General urges a decision, at least in principle, to be taken quickly, possibly before 2 April.  That is the day when the mandate of the African Union peacekeeping mission expires.

The Security Council is scheduled to discuss this report on Monday in consultations.

**Security Council

The Council has nothing on its agenda for today.

**Western Sahara –- Family visits

According to the UN refugee agency, the third round of visits is taking place today between Saharan refugees living in the Tindouf camps in Algeria and people from their home area around Laayoune in Western Sahara.

Around 25 people will be flying in each direction on board a plane provided by the UN Mission for the Western Sahara and remaining with their relatives for five days. 

The family visits initiative was launched on 5 March after months of negotiations.  Since applications to travel far outnumber the transport capacity, UNHCR is giving priority to compassionate cases, such as people who have a close relative who is very sick and parents separated from their children.

**Madagascar –- Flash appeal

The UN is launching today a flash appeal to raise $8.7 million to help the Government of Madagascar deal with urgent relief needs following Cyclone Gafilo –- which struck Madagascar twice in the last 10 days.

        Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, is urging donors to support the appeal quickly before people fall victim to poor sanitation, lack of food, or exposure to the elements.

        Cyclone Gafilo was the worst cyclone to hit the country in 20 years:  it killed 74 people and damaged more than 117,000 hectares of productive land.  Initial estimates suggest some 200 schools and 200 health centres were also damaged or destroyed.  We have copies of the flash appeal upstairs.

**UN peacekeeping operations update

An updated background note on UN peacekeeping operations is now available in my office.  It’s also on the UN Web site.  Among other basic facts contained in it, there are currently 13 peacekeeping operations with an annual budget of about $2.8 billion; some 94 countries are contributing close to 50,000 military and civilian personnel to them.  In addition, there are almost 10,000 international and local civilian staff serving in the missions.

As of 4 April the number of peacekeeping missions will rise to 14, with the addition of the UN operation in Côte d’Ivoire recently authorized by the Security Council.

**Guest at noon –- Monday

Our guest on Monday here at the noon briefing will be Catherine Bertini, the Under-Secretary-General for Management.  And she will brief you on the report on nutrition.

**Week Ahead

And we have The Week Ahead to help you with your UN coverage next week.

That’s all I have for you.  Yes?  I’ll take questions and then we’ll go to Michéle.

Questions and Answers

Question:  A point of clarification about what the Secretary-General said at the stakeout this morning.  I think he may have misspoken.  He said, “…eventually preparations for the elections next year or soon thereafter in Iraq…”.  Are we to presume that he misspoke about elections in Iraq next year or soon thereafter?

Spokesman:  I think you saw in the letter from the Iraqi Governing Council that we received yesterday that they talked about having elections no later than January 2005.  So, that’s next year.  The “soon thereafter” -- I don’t know whether he misspoke or not.  But I don’t think that’s inconsistent with the letter that we received from the Governing Council.  Mark?

Question:  I just wondered if there is any update on the accountability report on the bombing in Baghdad last year?  Just on the question of Darfur, the other thing that the UN humanitarian guy in Nairobi did was to compare the situation there saying it’s coming very close to the situation in Rwanda.  It’s that bad.  Does Kofi Annan, is he sounding an alarm that we are actually beginning to see something with Rwanda-type characteristics taking place in Darfur right now? 

Spokesman:  We have been reporting from this podium any way, rather consistently, on the situation in Darfur and I think our language has been pretty dramatic… (interrupted)

Question:  I guess the question is, if you say words like “genocide” which is what Rwanda evokes, that implies certain international legal obligations.  So, I am wondering what words the secretariat is using… (interrupted)

Spokesman:  That word “genocide” has not been used by anyone here at Headquarters to date.  We did see that report by the local representative in the Sudan.  I’d have to check whether we’re ready to use that word here.  But I think that it’s intentional that we have not yet used it.  I think the local representative, as we have been trying to do here, has been trying to get global attention to what is widely thought to be the worst humanitarian situation on the planet right now.  So, if the world is listening, so much the better. Yes?

Question:  And, sorry, on the accountability report, any update?

Spokesman:  Nothing new on that.  The Secretary-General is continuing to consult with his senior advisers on the 38^th floor.  He has nothing to say today.

Question:  Do you have any news on the black box from Washington?

Spokesman:  No.  I checked with the Office for Internal Oversight Services this morning.  They said they had no update from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).  The last thing we told you was that ICAO had sent it out to Ottawa for further listening by experts and we haven’t heard anything yet from ICAO on the results of those inspections.  Bill?

Question:  Is the Secretary-General going to dispatch a security assessment team to Iraq within the next couple of days as the first step for Mr. Brahimi’s team?

Spokesman:  There will, of necessity, be a security assessment, but I was told by the Security Coordinator yesterday that it can be done by the security officers who are in Baghdad at the moment.  So, it will not require sending people from New York or elsewhere in the region.  It can be done rather quickly, but there is a second requirement that anyone going to that area would require training.  So, any who have not had the training would have to take it.  And that’s a two-day programme. So, you should probably assume roughly a two-day delay due to security assessment and training.

Question:  Has it been determined how large this political team will be and where it will go and what day it leave?

Spokesman:  Not yet.

Question:  None of that?

Spokesman:  No.

Question:  Will Ms. Pirelli be involved, in addition to Brahimi?

Spokesman:  It’s my understanding that she will head the election component of the team.  And the Secretary-General has already said Mr. Brahimi will be going to head the entire team.  Apostolos?

Question:  Fred, is it possible to give us an update about the meetings or other communications the Secretary-General had on Cyprus?  These days I’ve seen some reports that he discussed Cyprus with Joschka Fischer yesterday.  He has a meeting with Solana this afternoon.  He even met some US congressmen.  I mean, there are a lot of things and we don’t have any announcement.

Spokesman:  Well, the talks that are going on now are intense, as you know.  And we’re keeping our comments to a minimum.  Kieran Prendergast, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, rejoined the talks for a few days and made a few comments to the press on leaving Cyprus yesterday or the day before yesterday, I forget when.  But really, we’re not saying too much.  The action is there.  The door is open.  We’re hoping that both parties as well as Greece and Turkey will keep to their commitments of the February agreement and bring this 40-year standoff to a happy conclusion so that Cyprus can join the European Union unified.  That’s our objective.  Serge?

Question:  Fred, most of the political parties in Haiti are complaining that the present government in Haiti has been done without their participation. 

Spokesman:  Is what?

Question:  The present government in Haiti has been done without their participation.  What is the position of the United Nations on that?

Spokesman:  That the present government is…?

Question:  That the political parties did not participate in the formation of the present government.    

Spokesman:  I am not going to comment on the political side of what’s happening in Haiti.  Mr. Dumas, I believe is returning to New York early next week.  We’ll see if he would come in and talk to you on his role on the political side.  We’ve reported to you the people he’s met with, but we do not have any firm position to give you on what’s going on there except that we’re trying to do everything we can to support the OAS and CARICOM to bring Haiti through this current crisis.  And the Secretary-General is committed to put together an ambitious UN operation there with a long-term commitment to try to get Haiti back on its feet.  Abdurrahim?  [He later said that Mr. Dumas now expected to stay in the region next week.]

Question:  Back on Iraq.  In the past there were concerns at the United Nations about the perception that working under the protection of the CPA that may create in people’s minds in the region.  Now that the Secretary-General is saying that he wants protection from the CPA; are we to understand from that those concerns no longer exist?

Spokesman:  Which concerns?

Question:  The concerns about the association of the UN with the CPA.

Spokesman:  Well, this morning he didn’t just say CPA; he said also the Governing Council.  So, we would be dependent on the security apparatus that’s been set up in Iraq.  Not just the foreign troops, but the newly formed Iraqi military and police.  The host country is always responsible for the security of the UN personnel working in that country.  And so we really just have to put blinders on to perceptions and say “we’re going in there with a purpose; the purpose is clear.  It’s also clear we need security support; the host country will provide it, including the occupying Powers”.  Let me take David.

Question:  Fred, in answer to one of the questions that you pointed out earlier on oil-for-food yesterday, you said that it’s highly possible that there has been quite a lot of wrongdoing; and I just want to get the context right into that.  Is he implying within the UN side of it that it’s highly possible that there has been a lot of wrongdoing?  Or was he implying in the broader context -- with governments, with companies and individuals outside of the UN?

Spokesman:  It’s the broader context.  The allegations that have appeared in the press focus on the activities of companies and to a certain extent, governments.  And we’re also aware of allegations made against our own people.  He says he would like to see a comprehensive and independent investigation of the whole shooting match.  Bill?

Question:  Concerning that, he mentioned he’d like to get Security Council agreement on, primarily, ways to expand that investigation beyond just the UN, to include governments.  But he did say not necessarily a resolution.  What kind of agreement would he want from the Council?  What form would it take?

Spokesman:  Let’s see.  The Council could issue a statement, they could reply to a letter that he would send them, but I don’t want to narrow the options.  But clearly there is more than one way for the Council to signal its endorsement.  And I think that’s what he was saying to you this morning.  It doesn’t have to be a resolution.  Yes?

Question:  On that same subject, the Secretary-General said this morning that he has been in discussions with Council members for some time.  Could you be more specific?  Would that be one week, two weeks, six weeks, six months?

Spokesman:  It’s been a matter, I would say, of a week to two weeks that both he and the Deputy Secretary-General have been meeting individually with Council members talking to them about what he sees as the need for a broader investigation than what he is authorized to do through OIOS.  And I think he feels that Council members are beginning to agree with this need and I think they’re now just talking about the means of carrying out such an investigation.  Bill?

Question:  What are his intentions in terms of approaching the Council formally?  He mentions a letter. Is that in the works, for example?

Spokesman:  I don’t want to talk about how it’s going to be done.  When it happens we’ll let you know how it happens.  The consultations are continuing today.

Question:  With whom?

Spokesman:  Members of the Council.

Question:  Which ones?

Spokesman:  The Deputy Secretary-General.  Look at the programme.  Yes, Bill?

Question:  Has he received any replies from the parties in the Cyprus talks to his letters?  You know, responses to the letters specifically?

Spokesman:  I’ll have to check.  I don’t know.  [The Spokesman later announced that the Secretary-General had received no replies from any of the parties to date.]

Michéle?

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

Thank you Fred. Good afternoon, all.

The General Assembly will meet this coming Monday, the 22 of March for open-ended informal consultations on the revitalization of the work of the Assembly.  As you know, the General Assembly approved last December a set of sweeping changes concerning its work.  These changes range from sharpening the focus of the Assembly’s decisions, to paring down its workload, and deepening cooperation between the Presidents of Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council.

The consultations on Monday concern the reorganization of the work of the Assembly.  President Julian Robert Hunte, working with the help of six facilitators, the permanent representatives of Algeria, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Singapore, Slovenia and South Africa, has submitted an informal text proposing that the Assembly meets in two substantive sessions, one from September to December and the second one from February to April.

The Second Committee dealing with economic matters, and the third dealing with the UN social Agenda would also meet in the first period.  The First Committee on disarmament issues, the Fourth, Special Political Committee and the Sixth, focusing on legal issues would meet in the spring.  The Fifth, dealing with financial and budgetary matters, would extend its work over both sessions.  This entails a complete reorganization of the agenda items in the General Assembly.  It entails also rescheduling a number of meetings of other bodies and working groups reporting to each of the main Committees in New York, Geneva and Vienna.

The Secretary-General, as requested by the Assembly, has presented various options for consideration by the Assembly for its decision by July 2004.  The rescheduling is to take effect from the sixtieth session, which means not the next one, but the one following.

The objective is to improve the Assembly’s efficiency and effectiveness and to make its outcomes more productive.  Several delegations large and small have indicated to President Julian Hunte that they find it increasingly difficult to adequately cope with the present workload of the Assembly in the September to December period.  The General Assembly recognized last December that its agenda is too long, that it is burdened with too much documentation, that its resolutions should be better focused.

The work on the revitalization of the Assembly is ongoing and I will inform you as decisions are taken.  Informal consultations are also being held on reforms of the Security Council.  It is, as you can imagine, a much slower process, as positions are very entrenched on this issue.

Several correspondents have called me about some items being discussed in the Fifth Committee, Administrative and Budgetary.  I, once more apologize to the journalists who did not have access this morning to the Committee meeting room.  It was a meeting open to the delegations but the Committee decided not to open it to the press.  It is their prerogative.

This morning the debate concluded on the issues of human resources management.  Decisions have yet to be taken by the Committee.

A staff bulletin issued by the Secretary-General in January to clarify the family status of staff for the purpose of United Nations entitlements has become the focus of debate in the Fifth Committee, as it took up last week several reports on human resources management.

Of particular interest to the participants of the discussion was the paragraph of the bulletin, according to which “a legally recognized domestic partnership, contracted by a staff member under the law of the country of his or her nationality will also qualify that staff member to receive the entitlements provided for eligible family members”.

Many delegations supported the position of Iran, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, whose representative wondered if the document was consistent with the existing rules and regulations of the United Nations and insisted that it was the prerogative of Member States to supplement or amend those rules.  Whereas no decision had been taken by the Assembly to change the long-established scope of the family definition for the purposes of entitlements, there was no justification, he said, for the approval of expenses pertaining to the possible implementation of the Secretariat bulletin.

Several other delegations, including Canada, speaking also on behalf of Australia and New Zealand, on the other hand, said that the bulletin was not an issue for the General Assembly to act upon, because it dealt with an administrative issue within managerial purview of the Secretary-General as chief administrative officer.  The issue, he said, was not whether Member States agreed or disagreed with any particular family model or relationship, but rather whether the United Nations should continue to apply national norms.  By basing itself on national norms, the United Nations practice reflected the cultural and religious diversity of Member States.  These are the two positions expressed within the discussions in the Fifth.  And within the framework of the human resources management discussion, speakers addressed the issues of gender balance within the United Nations and equitable representation of Member States, and I am sure they will take decisions in the next few days.

This is all I have for you today.  Thank you.  Yes?

Questions and Answers

Question:  When will the discussion on this marriage issue again continue?

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President:  Well, it’s finished today.  It was over today and they are supposed to give recommendations.  As you know, they are supposed to give an opinion on the budgetary implications of that decision; of the bulletin.  Yes?

Question:  Do you know when they are expected to give that decision?

Spokeswoman:  Probably Monday or Tuesday.

Question:  Is there a proposal for a General Assembly resolution to overturn the Secretary-General’s order on that?

Spokeswoman:  Well, at any rate the General Assembly has to approve the Fifth Committee decisions.  So, it is a possibility that the General Assembly will discuss this issue.  Yes?

Question:  When?

Spokeswoman:  I don’t know yet.  We have to wait for the Fifth Committee to finish its work.  Yes?

Question:  On Haiti, some time ago a number of the Caribbean countries basically were calling for a UN investigation.  Now, that lobbying seems to have quietly been shelved.  I was just wondering, has there been any GA-level discussion about that request or is it now just forgotten about?

Spokeswoman:  Well, the GA has not talked about that agenda item.  As you know all agenda items were discussed in a briefing at the General Assembly a few weeks ago.  The item is not on the agenda right now and it will not be discussed, as far as I know, in the Assembly within the next few days.

Thank you.

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