Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

AND THE SPOKESMAN 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 Djibril Diallo, Spokesman for the General Assembly President.

I hope we’ll have the Spokesman for the General Assembly here.  There is a general debate on, you know.

Good afternoon.

**Security Council - Burundi

At 3 p.m., the Security Council has scheduled a private meeting on Burundi during which members will be briefed by that country’s President, Domitien Ndayizeye.

**Security Council – Sudan

On the Security Council agenda tomorrow is an open briefing by President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, the current Chairman of the African Union.  And that meeting will be on the situation in Darfur, Sudan.

In Khartoum, the UN mission elaborated on the meetings held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Jan Pronk, who is back now in the Sudanese capital.

Jan Pronk had meetings with senior officials of the African Union Peace and Security Council.  Discussions focused on the need for ensuring a speedy deployment of a larger AU monitoring mission to Darfur and the assistance to be provided in this regard by the United Nations.

**Quartet

Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General hosted a meeting of the Middle East Quartet, at the principals level.

In a press release issued afterward, the Quartet members reconfirmed support to the principles reached at past meetings.  They called for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to implement their obligations under the Road Map.

They also expressed their deep concern over the Palestinian Authority's failure to undertake genuine reform measures, and over the Government of Israel's failure to dismantle settlement outposts and to impose a settlement freeze.

In the statement, they expressed encouragement for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza, and reaffirmed the need for a withdrawal to be full and complete, and consistent with the Road Map.

The Quartet also repeated its concerns over the route of the Israeli Barrier, and took note of the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the subject.

In addition to the Secretary-General, the participants were U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU High Representative Javier Solana, European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, and Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, representing the Presidency of the European Union.

We have the full text of the statement available upstairs.

**DR Congo / Rwanda

As you know, yesterday the Secretary-General hosted a lunch with President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo 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.

Following the lunch, we issued a statement in which the Secretary-General said he was pleased to announce that the Governments of the DRC and Rwanda have agreed to launch the Joint Verification Mechanism (JVM) in October.

The Secretary-General said he believed that the JVM will be an effective confidence-building instrument.

He is also grateful to the members of the Regional Support Group and looks forward to their active engagement in the future efforts to assist the DRC and Rwanda to normalize their bilateral relations.

Regarding the ministerial-level meeting of the members of the International Committee in Support of the Transition (known by its French acronym as CIAT), which was convened today under the chairmanship of the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the Secretary-General welcomes the adoption of a statement which, among others, endorsed the critical path of the DRC transition, called for a mechanism for sustained dialogue between the CIAT and the Transitional Institutions, and urged the international community to provide the assistance in military integration and police training.

We have the full text of those statements upstairs.

**Sierra Leone

UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone today handed over security primacy for the so-called “Western Area”, including the capital Freetown, to the Government of Sierra Leone security forces.  It was the last of the country’s four provinces to be handed over.

Speaking at the ceremony in Freetown, the Force Commander for the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, Major General Sajjad Akram, said that the Mission was handing over primacy of security to the police, but peacekeepers would “remain ultimately responsible for security, but now in consultation with the Government”.

As you know, the UN Mission is in the process of gradually reducing its forces, which had an authorized maximum strength of 17,500 military personnel, but now stands at about 8,500.

**Iraq

In Geneva today, the UN Compensation Commission for Iraq concluded its fifty-third session and approved awards of more than $360 million.

Representatives of Kuwait, Iraq, and Sudan addressed the plenary meeting, which was chaired by the Representative of Germany.

To date, the Commission has awarded compensation of approximately $48.9 billion.

And for more information, we have a press release on that upstairs.

**OCHA / Haiti

An update now on the humanitarian situation in Haiti. In Gonaives, in northern Haiti, authorities estimate the total number of deaths currently at 1,013, and there are still 1,200 missing.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that UN staff estimate that these figures could rise quite dramatically, as there are still two areas of the town, which are under water and inaccessible.

Food and water distribution began yesterday at three places where some 40 tons of food was handed out to an estimated 20,000 people.

In general, the distributions were successful and passed without major incident; and while the atmosphere is reported to be tense, there have been no reports of violence.

Also, the health situation is under control, but the danger of epidemics has not been ruled out.

We have more in a press release.

**OCHA / Bangladesh

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also reports that UN humanitarian agencies are bringing aid to Bangladesh, as heavy rains continue in the aftermath of August’s massive flooding there.

Recent floods cut off many transport routes and utilities, inundated buildings and caused further disruptions to livelihoods –- aggravating the impact of the catastrophic monsoon floods earlier this year.

To date, only $62.5 million of the $210 million sought through the Flash Appeal for Bangladesh has been received.

We have more on that upstairs.

**Human Rights

The Secretary-General has tasked Walter Kälin, a law professor at BernUniversity, to act as his Representative on the human rights of internally displaced persons.  Kälin will serve as an independent expert and will work in close cooperation with the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers.  We have a Geneva press release with more details upstairs.

**Indigenous Rights

In his first report, which is out on the racks today, the Special Rapporteur dealing with the rights of indigenous persons calls on governments to take urgent action to guarantee indigenous groups free and equal access to the administration of justice.

The Rapporteur, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, says that the issues of land, territory and access to natural resources remain central to indigenous persons’ rights.  He also draws attention to the importance of native languages and the difficulties faced by millions of indigenous women and children.

**WHO / Heart Atlas

From the World Health Organization, we learn that heart disease and stroke kill some 17 million people a year, which is almost one third of all deaths globally.  And by 2020, they will become the leading cause of both death and disability worldwide, with the number of fatalities projected to increase to over 20 million a year.

To help fight this problem, the World Health Organization today launched “The atlas of heart disease and stroke”, ahead of World Health Day, which is this Sunday.  We have more on that upstairs.

**UNICEF / Nepal Health

The UN Children’s Fund, known as UNICEF, is concerned over recent reports of the destruction of a health facility in Udayapur, Nepal.  UNICEF said it is distressing that the bombing of the health post destroyed medical supplies, including vaccines meant for the measles immunization campaign that started last Tuesday. 

The agency hopes that the bombing was an isolated incident and does not herald a setback in the campaign in any way.

Every year 5,000 of the 150,000 children affected with measles in Nepal succumb to complications from the disease, and disruption of immunization services could mean an increase in the number of these deaths.

Arrangements are already being made to replenish the measles vaccines destroyed in the blast. We have more on that upstairs.

**UNESCO / Murdered Journalist

UNESCO has condemned the murder of Juan Andújar, a Dominican correspondent with the Santo Domingo-based daily, Listín Diario.  The journalist was gunned down in the southern town of Azua on 14 September, just after he had completed a radio broadcast on the crime wave that has shaken that town.  UNESCO’s Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura has called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.  We have more in a press release from UNESCO.

**Afghanistan

We have available upstairs the briefing notes from Kabul, Afghanistan, which note that rules have been established for the display of political posters, and the UN Mission urged political parties to lobby their supporters to cease the practice of interfering with the posters of other candidates.

**Press Conferences This Afternoon

Finally, a long list of press conferences, starting with this afternoon:

3:00 – President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria,

3:45 - President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan,

5:15 – Hatsuhisa Takashima, Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Japan, and

6:00 – Don McKinnon, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

**Press Conferences Tomorrow

Tomorrow, at 11:15 a.m., Romanian Ambassador Mihnea Ioan Motoc will brief you on the work of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 of 2004, which is on arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Then, at 12:45, the Foreign Minister of Spain, Miguel Àngel Moratinos Cuyaubé. And finally, at 7, the spokesman for the Japanese Foreign Ministry, once again.

That’s all I have for you.  It’s good to see Djibril here. Any questions before we go to Djibril?  Yes.

**Questions and Answers

Question:   Do you have any reaction to what we are reading today in the New York Times that Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani has contacted Lakhdar Brahimi to express his concerns that elections in Iraq might be delayed and that changes should be made so that Shiites are more represented there.  Do you have any reaction to that?

Spokesman:  Yes.  Mr. Brahimi did call me this morning to say that, although he has had contact with a number of Iraqis by telephone, that he had no contact with Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, nor has he had any conversations of the sort described in that article.

Anything else? If not, Djibril, come on up.

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon.

Two days into the General Debate with the heads of State and heads of Government, President Jean Ping is noticing a number of key themes, which are coming out of the statements.  The one issue, which is at the top, if not near the top, is the issue of the importance of United Nations reform. Very, very high on the agenda of the statements of the delegations is the issue of the reform of the Security Council.  In the corridors, delegations have noted the parallel between the fact that, in 1945, 11 nations were members of the Security Council and today there are 15. Also, recognised has been the parallel that when the UN was formed in 1945, there were 50 Member States against today’s 191 Member States.

Also evident in the statements are suggestions to make the United Nations more effective by dealing with the issue of revitalization of the General Assembly and trying to stop the erosion of the authority of the United Nations system, on the one hand.

On the other hand, there are the global issues that the United Nations has been addressing, which were also permeating many of the statements:  the fight against terrorism; dealing frontally with the fight on poverty and hunger; the issue of HIV/AIDS; gender; and the consequences of wars and conflicts.  And the statements made reference to the fact that only through the United Nations can global solutions be found to these global problems.  So the main issues reflected in the statements are at two levels –-peace and security on the one hand, and then sustainable development on the other.

Next to those issues are the burning issues of the day, which the delegations are mentioning.  As you may have noticed, some of your media arrangements were disrupted at the opening of the general debate, when your cameras were focused on covering the annual report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.  But because of the unfortunate effects of hurricanes on Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two heads of delegations of those countries were asked to take the floor.  So that is an example of a burning issue of the day taking precedence, with the agreement of the Member States, over the normal agenda of the United Nations.

So these are some of the themes that are coming out.  And for some of your coverage, I think, to help you in terms of the messaging, we will be coming to share some of these key messages with you.

Another item that has come out very strongly is really the need to accelerate the operationalization -- big word! —- on the ground, of the Millennium Development Goals. Many delegations are concerned that attention needs to be focused on accelerating the process of making the Millennium Development Goals a reality on the ground, as much as possible.

Among the items on the agenda of appointments of the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Jean Ping -- are meetings he has had with the Foreign Ministers of Poland, Macedonia, Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe.  Again, these are bilateral meetings in which Member States emphasize some of the key issues they would like to see the President of the General Assembly emphasize during his presidency.

Some factoids for those of you who are interested in updates, as of the 23 September:  61 heads of State; 21 heads of Government; two vice-presidents -– namely Ghana and Palau; one Crown Prince -– Monaco, 12 deputy prime ministers; 87 foreign affairs ministers; one minister, from Brunei Darussalam; three deputy foreign ministers –- Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Hungary, and Viet Nam; three chairmen of delegation -– Australia, Mongolia and Nauru; one chairman of the observer delegation –- Palestine; and one country, Somalia, is not inscribed.

That’s all.  Questions? If not, thank you.

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