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 Denise Cook, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Sudan

From Sudan, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Jan Pronk, has reported that he and the Sudanese Foreign Minister, Mustafa Ismail, reached agreement last night on detailed steps to be taken in the next 30 days to begin to disarm the Janjaweed and other outlaw groups, improve security in Darfur and address the humanitarian crisis.  The text of the agreement must now be cleared by the Sudanese Cabinet.

After wrapping up the second meeting of the Joint Implementation Mechanism, Pronk said this morning that if the text of the agreement was agreed upon by the Sudanese Cabinet as a whole, and if that text was implemented, then he was very hopeful that the Security Council would come to the conclusion that there was indeed substantial progress and that there was no need to consider further action.

With respect to the situation of the internally displaced persons in Darfur, Pronk said that Khartoum had lifted restrictions on humanitarian access to the camps.  He noted that the international community should make full use of this opportunity by coming in with more planes and trucks carrying food and medication.

Still on Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that in South Darfur, around the Ed Daein area, heavy tribal fighting has reportedly caused the displacement of approximately 1,000 families.  Reports of banditry have also been received from areas south-west of Nyala.

OCHA and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are discussing with  Sudanese authorities about government plans to relocate internally displaced persons (IDPs) to different camps in South Darfur, with the humanitarian agencies stressing that the internally displaced persons should be involved in the decision-making process.

In West Darfur, Sudanese authorities informed OCHA of plans to return internally displaced persons currently in Garsilla camp to six locations, each of which would be equipped with 100 police officers.  They also invited the IDP leaders to see some of these locations.  Humanitarian agencies have continued to note that relocation or return of internally displaced persons to their areas of origin does not seem plausible at this time given the precarious security situation.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that food was distributed to 941,000 internally displaced persons in July.  That represents 94 per cent of its target of 1 million persons for the month of July.

In North Darfur, the World Health Organization (WHO) is spraying the camps of Zam Zam and Abu Shouk to control malarial mosquitoes, and UNICEF has started to distribute mosquito nets.

**Secretary-General

The Secretary-General, in comments he made to the press yesterday following the Security Council consultations, talked about his briefing to the Council on Côte d’Ivoire and Sudan.

He said the agreement reached on Côte d’Ivoire in Accra, Ghana, last week is “an opportunity for the Ivorian leaders to come together and work for the sake of their nation and their people”.

On Sudan, he said that General Abubakar, the former Nigerian President, had visited Darfur and Chad and reported to the African heads of State in Accra on his trip, as a result of which the leaders believed that 300 African Union troops for Darfur may be insufficient.

He said that if the African Union is going to deploy a much larger force, it would need the support of the international community, as well as assistance in command and control and logistics.  Consequently, the Secretary-General has decided to send a United Nations team, led by Military Adviser Patrick Cammaert, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss how to assist in restructuring the African Union force.  This team left last night and should be arriving in Addis as we speak.

The Secretary-General said of the Sudanese Government, “They should be able to take steps to calm the situation, to stop the attacks, to protect the people, and continue the disarmament.”

**Sudan -- Meshtel

Still on the question of Sudan, Fred was asked earlier this week about what happened to the internally displaced Sudanese who were relocated from the Meshtel camp to the Abu Shouk camp the evening before the Secretary-General visited Meshtel.

We are informed that, by late last week, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Rescue Committee completed their registration of the people.  Those agencies registered between 4,000 and 5,000 new arrivals, after a delay to determine who wished to remain in the Abu Shouk camp and to distinguish who the new arrivals were.

The newly registered people from Meshtel missed the regular food distribution at Abu Shouk because of the delays in the registration process.  The World Food Programme is planning to distribute food to the new arrivals before the next regular food distribution in the camp.

**Security Council -- Kosovo

The period since the March violence in Kosovo has seen limited but encouraging progress, Hedi Annabi, the Assistant-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told the Security Council today at its open meeting on the United Nations Mission there.

He noted that the overall security situation has been calm and stable, with few significant security incidents -- none of which have been attributed to extremist minorities.

Annabi said Kosovo’s leaders and population face an uphill challenge in ethnic reconciliation, the strengthening of Kosovo’s democratic institutions and the creation of a democratic and tolerant Kosovo.  He added that while ultimate responsibility in these areas lies with Kosovo’s people, international support and engagement remains indispensable.  The Council is currently continuing its open meeting on Kosovo.

**Afghanistan

From Afghanistan, the head of the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, Jean Arnault, today expressed his condolences to the families and friends of two Afghans working for the Malteser non-governmental organization, who were killed in an ambush attack yesterday.  Arnault condemned the attack, saying that violence against aid workers is unacceptable.

We have more details in today’s briefing notes from Kabul, which also mentions the work by the United Nations Mission and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission to collect complaints about the violation of political rights.

**Côte d’Ivoire

And from Côte d’Ivoire, at a ceremony in Abidjan today, Ivorian radio station officials and the United Nations signed an agreement that would allow the United Nations Mission’s radio station, ONUCI FM, to be broadcast on an FM frequency covering greater Abidjan.  Next Monday, the United Nations Mission will launch ONUCI FM.  It hopes the station will be on the air that day.

**Bangladesh

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says Bangladesh will need at least a year to recover from the massive damage caused by the recent floods.  UNDP says tens of millions of Bangladeshis now face grave food insecurity, waterborne diseases, a badly mangled infrastructure and extremely poor prospects for the next rice crop.

The United Nations is preparing a comprehensive plan to help Bangladesh recover, and it expects to present the plan next week to donors for funding.  And we have more on this in a press release upstairs.

**FAO -- Locust Update

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that while the locust problem is lessening in Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, large swarms continue to arrive in other West African countries.

FAO is urging donor countries to provide additional funds to support massive national control operations as many affected countries do not have sufficient resources to control swarms and avoid serious crop losses this summer.  Aircraft, pesticides, vehicles and technical support are lacking in all affected countries.  And we have more on this upstairs.

**WFP –- Kenya Appeal

The World Food Programme has launched an emergency appeal for $82 million for immediate food assistance to 2.3 million people affected by drought in Kenya.  The announcement follows a presidential appeal for international emergency help until at least the end of January next year for people struggling with food shortages.

The situation is so bad that many people are missing out on meals to preserve food stocks and children are skipping school to help their parents in the hunt for food.  WFP ways that if rains are poor later in the year, another  1 million people will require food assistance next year.  And we have a press release about that, as well.

**WFP -- Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea Donation

Still on the World Food Programme, the WFP has welcomed the Japanese Government’s donation of some $40 million to help millions of people in North Korea.  The WFP says the donation comes a critical point for its work there -- while it had hoped to feed 6.5 million people, a severe fund shortage had forced it to cut back dramatically.  In July, it was able to provide food to only 1.8 million of the most vulnerable women, children, and the elderly.  We have more on that upstairs.

And that’s all I have for you today. 

**Questions and Answers

Question:  The Palestinians have apparently asked the Secretary-General for help in trying to open the Rafah crossing point, which the Israelis have apparently blocked.  Is there any reaction to this appeal?

Spokesperson:  I don’t have a reaction on that as of now, but we’ll try and find out for you.

Question:  Peter Hansen of UNRWA relocated some of his staff to Amman.  Do you know how many staff were relocated, how many are remaining and what measures have been taken to ensure their security?

Spokesperson:  I don’t have that number off-hand.  I know that there was some relocation of headquarters staff, but some of the regional offices remain open.  So I’ll have to find out for you on that.

[The Spokesman’s Office later announced that 17 UNRWA staff members had been temporarily relocated to Amman, on top of 19 UNRWA staff previously relocated to Jerusalem.  Nine international UNRWA staff remained in Gaza.]

Question:  Could you be more specific about what kind of details are in this agreement that was drawn up between Pronk and the Sudanese Foreign Minister in terms of to what extent it went beyond the 3 July commitments?  Were there any other aspects to it, and what kind of timetable or timing was built into this plan that hasn’t already been spoken of, or wasn’t included in the Security Council resolution?

Spokesperson:  We can’t be specific about what’s in this agreement because it’s only just been signed and it still has to be cleared by the Sudanese Cabinet.  So it’s not considered an official or public document as of yet. 

The information we have is that it contains detailed steps to be taken in the next 30 days on how to begin to disarm the Janjaweed and other outlaw groups, on improving security in Darfur and on addressing the humanitarian crisis.  But we’ll have to wait for this agreement to be cleared by the Sudanese cabinet before it actually does become public.

Question:  Is Pronk now coming back to the United Nations, or what’s the next step as far as he’s personally concerned?

Spokesperson:  I haven’t heard of him returning in the next few days, so my understanding is that he would remain there for the time being.

Question:  Any idea when the next step of the Sudanese Government would be taken or how that might play out in terms of timing.

Spokesperson:  Well, the clock is ticking on the 30 days, so presumably if there are a number of steps that have to be taken during that period, and they have to be set out in detail in the agreement, I would imagine that there would be a reaction fairly soon.

Question:  How long in Khartoum has he been working on this?  Has it been two or three days?

Spokesperson:  I believe Mr. Pronk arrived over the weekend, last weekend, Sunday.  So, he’s been there for a few days.

Question:  Was this an issue that he brought and he said, here’s the plan we’re presenting and we’d like to get you guys to endorse this and move forward, or is something he just negotiated?

Spokesperson:  I think it was a joint process.  This is part of the Joint Implementation Mechanism.  It’s the second meeting they had.  They started to meet on Sunday, had a series of meetings and continued last night.  The idea was to try to come up with steps that could be agreed on how to implement what’s required in the resolution. 

Question:  Could you please be a little more specific on when Mr. Annan will deploy the Special Representative to Iraq with a small team.  Is it going to happen before the National Conference, which I assume will take place
15 August or so?

Spokesperson:  Yes, I believe the Secretary-General did say when he met with the press when he came out of the Security Council briefings that he expected that his Special Representative would be there in time for the National Conference.  He did say that there would be a small team with him.

Question:  So it would happen before 15 August?

Spokesperson:  That is what he said.

Question:  But you don’t have any dates.

Spokesperson:  No, and we usually do not provide that sort of detail.

Thank you very much.

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