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 Farhan Haq, Information Officer in the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

**Iraq

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, arrived this morning in Baghdad, along with a small team, at about 10:15, local time.

Upon his arrival, Qazi and his team had a meeting with the Iraqi President, Ghazi al-Yawer.  Later in the afternoon, Qazi met Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.  Both the President and the Prime Minister welcomed the return of the UN Mission to Iraq.  President al-Yawer said the UN should encourage the national dialogue in Iraq, and Prime Minister Allawi said his country needed the United Nations’ good offices, in both the political and economic fields.

Qazi reiterated the UN’s commitment to assist the Iraqi people in the political transition process leading to a constitutional democracy by the end of 2005, as outlined in Security Council Resolution 1546 (2004).  The Special Representative stressed the need for the forthcoming National Conference to be as inclusive of the range of Iraqi opinion as possible, in order for its outcome to have maximum credibility among the Iraqi people.

With respect to the escalation of fighting and loss of life in the holy city of Najaf, Qazi reiterated the Secretary-General’s call for the peaceful settlement of differences, the urgent need to prevent and avoid the loss of life and respect for international humanitarian law, including access for the wounded to medical assistance.  The need for maintaining an appropriate climate for a successful National Conference was also stressed.

And on that, by the way, we expect later this afternoon to be able to have a statement attributable to the Spokesman concerning the recent fighting in Najaf.

**Sudan

On Sudan, the Joint Implementation Mechanism, co-chaired by the UN Special Representative, Jan Pronk, and the Foreign Minister of Sudan, Mustafa Ismail, held its third meeting yesterday evening.  For the first time, diplomats from some Arab States, namely Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, attended the meeting.

The Foreign Minister presented a set of measures and the proposed timetable the Sudanese Government has put in place in order to implement each of the 12 actions specified in the Darfur Plan of Action.  The measures include a list of areas that the Sudanese Government proposes can be made safe and secure within 30 days.  The UN and its partners made some suggestions concerning this proposal, and the Sudanese Government is expected to present its final choice of the selected areas over the weekend.

Mr. Pronk indicated that the 30-day Darfur Plan of Action could be seen as consisting of three phases of 10 days each.  In the first phase, the Government would decide on policies to meet the requirements.  In the second phase, the Government would ensure that its policies would be implemented by all regional and local authorities in Darfur.  The impact of the process, in terms of a verifiable, substantial and irreversible improvement of the security situation, should be demonstrated during the remaining 10 days.  Pronk said, “The first phase is behind us.  The Government has indeed shown its political will to fulfil its commitments, but the coming two phases are crucial”.

The Sudanese Foreign Minister, Mustafa Ismail, stated that, at Pronk’s request, he had sought information from the military headquarters regarding reports of a helicopter gunship bombing in South Darfur.  The military headquarters had denied those allegations.  In turn, Pronk indicated that there had been no confirmation of these reports.

Regarding conditions in Darfur, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has received reports from internally displaced persons on increasing incidents of sexual abuse and exploitation.  In West Darfur, UN agencies report that there has been a significant increase of Janjaweed presence in and around Sissi camp, further restricting the movement of displaced persons.

At the request of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization on Migration (IOM) carried out last month an assessment of camps and gatherings for displaced persons in the Greater Darfur Region.  The report confirms that living conditions in Darfur remain greatly below minimum standards, and it also makes recommendations for efficient and updated registration and tracking mechanisms for the internally displaced; better coordination of assistance that has been delivered to them; and hygiene training and better water management.

**Security Council

On the Council, there are no Security Council meetings or consultations scheduled for today, or, for that matter, next Monday.  The next scheduled Council consultations will be next Tuesday, when Council members expect to discuss Somalia.

**Viet Nam

The World Health Organization (WHO) is meeting with Vietnamese health authorities to work out plans for addressing an outbreak of avian influenza, or “bird flu.”  The disease has killed three more people in Vietnam -– the first officially reported cases of “bird flu” there since late February.  Tests are under way to confirm if the outbreak was caused by the same strain of the virus that caused the earlier outbreak.  The “bird flu” outbreak in South and East Asia earlier this year killed 23 people, and led to the deaths or culling of more than 100 million birds.  We have more on this upstairs.

**Myanmar

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today signed a grant agreement worth $7 million over two years for a tuberculosis programme in Myanmar.  Myanmar is one of the world’s 22 high-burden countries for tuberculosis, with 80,000 new cases of the life-threatening disease every year.  The grant will strengthen and scale up Myanmar’s national TB programme, expanding it to regions that are not yet covered.  We have more on that upstairs.

**Ethiopia

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that, due to the failure of rains in some parts of Ethiopia and poor rains in many others, food availability there has deteriorated significantly.  As a result, more than 1.5 million of the people who were expected to no longer need help after July will need food aid until the end of the year –- and another 1.35 million people have been added to the list of those receiving aid.  The findings come from a recent multi-agency needs assessment mission in Ethiopia, and we have more information on that upstairs.

**Liberia

The World Food Programme (WFP) says its food pipeline in Liberia is still in danger of breaking next month.  The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that WFP has considered some regional purchases to avert the September shortfall, but additional confirmed contributions are required through December.

WFP’s work is being hindered in some areas by the worsening conditions of roads -– and heavy rains might continue to affect the delivery of food to some people this month.  We have an update on the humanitarian situation in Liberia upstairs.

**Human Rights

The Chairman of the UN Human Rights Commission, Mike Smith, has appointed Okechukwu Ibeanu of Nigeria as a special rapporteur who will study the adverse effects on human rights of toxic waste dumping.  Ibeanu is a professor at the University of Nigeria who has published widely on environmental issues.  We have a press release upstairs on that, as well.

**Refugees

Twenty years after the Cartagena Declaration that addressed the needs of victims of armed conflicts and human rights abuses in Latin America, the UN Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, has begun consultations to discuss new refugee challenges sparked by the war on terrorism.

The first of three regional consultation meetings started in San José, Costa Rica, on Thursday with representatives of governments and civil society from Mexico, Cuba and the Central American countries focusing on the situation of refugees in the region, State practices in terms of protection and the identification of durable solutions.

**Haiti

From Haiti, we have a report that the various components of the UN Mission there met yesterday with representatives of Haitian non-governmental organizations in the country to explain the Mission’s structure and deployment, as well as its ongoing projects.  More details are available in a press release.

Also available is a press release from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) regarding Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo, and his support to anti-poverty activities in Haiti.

**Afghanistan

We would like to point out that a study on Afghanistan by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has won the “Notable Government Documents 2003” award, which is presented by the Library Journal, a publication of the American Library Association.  The report –- “The Opium Economy in Afghanistan:  An International Problem” -– was released in early 2003 and looks into Afghanistan’s opium economy.  We have more on this in a release upstairs from the Drugs and Crime Programme.

**Week Ahead

That is it for now.  We also have upstairs the “Week Ahead” for you.  Along those lines, I would like to point out that next Thursday, 19 August, is the one-year anniversary of the explosion at the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

In Geneva, the Secretary-General will speak at a ceremony honouring those who died in that explosion.  In New York, the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, will unveil a plaque commemorating the 22 people who lost their lives in that attack.  That ceremony is to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday in the Trusteeship Council chamber.

Do I have any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Yesterday, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister was quoted in Interfax as saying that an international conference in Iraq will help with the security situation currently faced.  I am wondering if the Secretary-General has any comments about having an international conference in Iraq sometime soon.

Information Officer:  I will check to get definitive guidance for you.  Right now, our focus is on the National Conference, which, as you know, is scheduled to begin this Sunday, 15 August, and we are going to try to determine to see whether that can have any success at bringing the Iraqis closer together.  To that end, what we have been trying to do is advise the Iraqi Interim Government to ensure that as broad a representation of Iraqis as possible is present at the conference.

So, we are focusing on that, and I shall see whether there are any views about an international conference.  So far, we are concentrating at the national level and, of course, with our representative on the ground we can do more there.  But we will also look into that.

Question:  We know that the Secretary-General is a soccer fan.  Why not his presence in Haiti with Ronaldo?

Information Officer:  In terms of that, as you know the Secretary-General is on his annual leave right now.  We have a soccer match that is scheduled between Brazil and Haiti on 18 August.  On 19 August, the Secretary-General is actually going to be in Geneva for the commemoration of the 19 August explosion.  He was, therefore, unavailable.  But he will, in fact, deliver a video message.  He recorded one in advance.  He will be there in spirit and on video; although, I’m sure he would have liked to see it in person.

Is that it?  Happy weekend, everyone.

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