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.

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Regarding the suicide bombing in Jerusalem today:  

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the suicide bombing that took place today in Jerusalem.  He extends his condolences to the Government of Israel and the families of the victims and wishes speedy recovery for the wounded.  The Secretary-General urges the Palestinian Authority to take all necessary measures to put an end to terror and to bring to justice the organizers of such heinous crimes.”

**Haiti

A second statement that we have today concerns the impact on Haiti of the tropical storm.

“The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the heavy loss of life and destruction suffered by the people of Haiti after the recent devastating floods.  He extends his deepest condolences to the families of the hundreds who have been killed or injured in the floods, especially in the hard-hit northwestern city of Gonaives.”

“The United Nations is supporting Haitian Authorities in the crisis and is increasing efforts to deliver food, shelter, health care and clean water to those most affected by the flooding.  The Secretary-General urges the international community to quickly provide Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries, the support it needs to recover from this devastating natural disaster.”

**Haiti/Humanitarian Update

The World Food Programme (WFP) has sent the first humanitarian convoy to Gonaives.  The convoy of 12 all-terrain trucks carrying 40 metric tons of supplies reached the city last night, and a second convoy is due to leave Port au Prince later today.

As well as leaving the whole of Gonaives submerged, the floods also hit Port de Paix in the north-west, where a joint United Nations assessment team has reported that one third of the city is under water.

Haitian Authorities estimate the total number of dead currently at 691 for the northern region, and the number of missing at some 1,050.  The first part of a seven-member United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team arrived in Haiti today, and the second part of the team arrives tomorrow.

The team is there to support the Government in their response to the emergency and will work with international aid agencies to make certain that critical needs are met, as efficiently as possible.

We have more on this upstairs in a release from WFP, and an update from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

**Secretary-General Meetings

A reminder of two high-level meetings going on today.

The Secretary-General is hosting a luncheon with President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Prime Minister Bernard Makuza of Rwanda, along with members of the Regional Support Group, todiscuss how to enhance bilateral relations between the DRC and Rwanda.  We expect to have a statement available following that meeting.

Later in the afternoon, as you know, the Secretary-General will be hosting an informal meeting of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet.  And a written statement is also expected after that meeting.

**Security Council

The Security Council today is holding a ministerial meeting on “Civilian aspects of conflict management and peace building”, chaired by Miguel Ángel Moratinos, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Spain.

In addition to the Council members, the speakers include senior representatives of the African Union, the European Union and the League of Arab States.  The Secretary-General spoke first.

Peace-building can be successful, he said, referring to El Salvador, Guatemala, Mozambique, Namibia and East Timor.  But, he said, it requires a clear strategy, developed and executed by professionals, grounded in local conditions, reflected in realistic mandates, and supported by the Security Council and all parts of the United Nations system.

He urged the Council to sustain its interest and focus on each and every peace operation, and referred to the “bitter consequences of failed peace-building in Haiti and Liberia.”  We must not repeat those mistakes, he said.

Saying that United Nations peace operations are an excellent investment, he noted that in the entire history of the United Nations, just over $30 billion has been spent in peacekeeping –- which is just one thirtieth of the amount spent last year alone on global military expenditures.

Stressing the need for adequate security, he appealed for support when he proposes a new security measure to the General Assembly.  We have the text of his speech and the speakers’ list in my office.

**Secretary-General/Kosovo Contact Group Meeting

We have a statement upstairs from the Secretary-General on the consultations held here at Headquarters on Monday with key MemberStates and partner organizations dealing with Kosovo.

The Secretary-General says the meetings resulted in a general understanding of, and support for, an integrated strategy.

He says there was broad agreement on the need to focus on the economy, on security, on the need to engage with Belgrade and to bring the Kosovo Serbs into the process, as well as on the importance of the standards process.

He also added that the United Nations Mission in Kosovo will work to identify areas of further transfer and deeper engagement with Kosovo’s Provisional Institutions of Self-Government.

The Secretary-General will consider the results of Monday’s consultations in preparing his recommendations to the Security Council.  We have the full text of that statement upstairs.

**Sudan

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was meeting with African Union officials to discuss how the United Nations and the African Union could work better together in Darfur.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the number of people affected by conflict in Darfur has climbed to 1.8 million, of whom 1.45 million were internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The new figures represent an increase of 220,000 internally displaced since the 1^st of August.

**Lebanon

In a statement issued today, the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for Southern Lebanon, Staffan de Mistura, expressed his serious concern at the nine Israeli air violations that have taken place over the last 24 hours.

The United Nations renews its urgent call on Israel to cease these violations and reminds all parties that one violation cannot justify another.  The full text of that statement is available upstairs.

**Treaties

Regarding treaties, at 3 o’clock this afternoon, the Chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, Charles Gyude Bryant, is scheduled to sign, ratify or accede to 18 treaties, most of them concerning the protection of civilians.

Liberia’s actions are part of the “Focus 2004” treaty signing event this week at United Nations Headquarters, where world leaders are signing and ratifying a substantial number of treaties on the protection of civilians.  Yesterday, the event began when six countries (Bahrain, Burundi, Estonia, Lichtenstein, Malawi and Slovakia) took action on 12 different treaties.

**Liberia

For those of you who may have missed it, out as a press release is the text of the Final Communiqué issued following the first meeting of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States Coordination Mechanism.

They expressed concern at the slow pace at which funding is being made available for Liberia’s reconstruction and recovery.  To date, only $253 million has been received from the $520 million pledged by donors in February.

**FAO/UNEP/Pesticides

From agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Environment Programme are calling on governments to strengthen the protection available to agricultural workers in order to contain – or better yet reduce – the number of pesticide poisonings that farmers suffer.

An estimated one to five million cases of pesticide poisoning occur every year, resulting in several thousand fatalities among agricultural workers.

Most of these poisonings occur in the developing world, where safe health standards can be inadequate or nonexistent.

Although these countries use only 25 per cent of global pesticide production, they account for 99 per cent of the related deaths.

We have more on that upstairs.

**Press Conferences This Afternoon

Finally, press conferences.  Again, there’s a long list.  Starting with this afternoon, 12:45, Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada; 2:00, Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals, will be joined by Georg Kell, the Executive Head of the Global Compact, and they’ll be here to launch the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s World Investment Report 2004.  At 4:30, President Elias Antonio Saca of El Salvador.  At 7 p.m., Mr. Hatsuhisa Takashima, Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Japan.

**Press Conferences Tomorrow

Tomorrow, 11:30 in the morning, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Japan will launch a Ministerial statement in support of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Then at 3 in the afternoon, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria; 3:45, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan; 6 o’clock, Don McKinnon, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Secretariat; and 7, a spokesman for the Japanese Government.

That’s all I have for you.  Yes?

**Questions and Answers

Question:   Thank you.  The Israeli Foreign Minister met with the SG and they spoke about the immediate Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.  Any views from the SG on this matter?

Spokesman:  At this point, no.  I think you are expecting the Secretary-General to give a report on this subject in about ten days’ time.  But I have nothing to say to you today on that subject.

Question:   I have another question.  Is the SG going to meet with the Vice President of Lebanon, who is heading the delegation?

Spokesman:  I’d have to check with you the macro list of meetings to answer that question.  So, if you check with me after the briefing, I’ll let you know.  Yes, lady in the back?

Question:   I would like to know what was the reaction of the UN to President Bush’s speech yesterday?

Spokesman:  Well, you’ll have to ask the various delegates who listened to it.  When you say the UN, do you mean the Secretariat?

Question:   Yes.

Spokesman:  Well, the Secretariat really doesn’t go giving its views publicly on individual speeches given in the General Assembly.  The speeches are not to the Secretariat; they’re to the governments and to the world.  So, I think you ought to place that question elsewhere.  Yes?

Question:   Is there any reaction, yet, from the Secretary-General to the Israeli request for a special seminar on anti-Semitism?

Spokesman:  I’ll have to check on that.  I don’t have any guidance on that point.  But, we can talk after the briefing.

Okay, now Djibril Diallo told me that he did not have anything of substance to give you today.  So, with me is Nicholas Gouede, of the United Nations Development Programme, a press officer there, in case you have any questions from the General Assembly.  If not, thank you very much.  Thank you.

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