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 Stephan Dujarric de la Riviere, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and Djibril Diallo, Spokesman for the General Assembly President.

Good afternoon.

Our guest today will be Wolfgang Petritsch, the President-designate of the Nairobi Summit on a Mine Free World, which is the first review of the conference of the Anti-Personnel Mind Ban Treaty.  The conference is scheduled to take place from 29 November to 3 December this year.  And Mr. Petritsch will give you more details about it following my briefing and following Djibril Diallo briefing on the General Assembly.

**Secretary-General’s Statement on Côte d’Ivoire

I have a statement on Côte D’Ivoire.

“The Secretary-General is concerned at the deteriorating security situation in Côte d’Ivoire, in particular the attacks against the ONUCI Sector East offices and staff in Forces nouvelles-controlled areas.

“The Secretary-General strongly appeals to all Ivorian parties to desist from any action that could aggravate the situation in the country.  He expects the Ivorian authorities and political forces to exercise restraint, to refrain from any resort to violence and to fulfil their commitments with regard to the full and unconditional implementation of the peace process.”

And that statement is available upstairs. 

**Secretary-General’s Statement in the Middle East

“The Secretary-General is deeply troubled by the continuing military action and violence in the northern Gaza Strip, with the high toll of death and injuries among the civilian population.  He grieves for the many children who have been killed or wounded in these operations.

“The Secretary-General is also very disturbed by the destruction of civilian property, infrastructure and agricultural land in the northern Gaza Strip in such operations and calls on the Government of Israel to do the utmost to avoid any harm to Palestinian civilians.

“The Secretary-General once again reiterates his deep conviction that there exists no military solution to the conflict, and calls again on both parties to cease all forms of violence and to renew their search for a peaceful settlement of the conflict.  He also urges the leadership on both sides to pay far greater heed to their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians in armed conflicts.”

And that statement is available upstairs.

**UNRWA

Also from Gaza, we have a press release from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

A child sitting at a UN-flagged school in the Gaza Strip was hit in the stomach by gunfire from an Israeli position today, according to UNRWA.

The child, an eleven-year-old girl, was immediately taken to the hospital, where her condition is currently reported as stable.

The Agency says this is the fourth such incident in less than two years.  It has repeatedly called on the Israeli authorities to stop firing at schools.

And we have a press release available upstairs on that issue.

**Afghanistan -- Secretary-GeneralMessage

Turning to Afghanistan, the Secretary-General today warmly congratulated the men and women of Afghanistan on their impressive participation in last Saturday’s elections.

In a message read out on Afghan television and radio by his Special Representative, Jean Arnault, the Secretary-General said that the long walks the Afghan people made to the polling stations were a heart-warming demonstration that democracy is firmly taking root in their country.

He also congratulated the national security forces and the 120,000 Afghans who served as polling staff.  He noted allegations of irregularities and said, “Rest assured that they will be fully clarified.”

The Secretary-General concluded by congratulating the Afghan people for “their patience, resilience and civic maturity”.

And we have copies of that message available upstairs.

**Security Council -- Afghanistan

Also on Afghanistan, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hédi Annabi, briefed the Security Council in an open meeting today on the elections.

Mr. Annabi said that the process of counting ballots is expected to continue for some two to three weeks.

And we have copies of his statement available upstairs.

The Council is now in consultations where it is expected to be discussing the presidential statement welcoming the Afghan elections as historic, and congratulating the Afghan people.

The Council will urge the Government of Afghanistan to continue to confront the remaining challenges, including security, the timely preparations of parliamentary elections next April, reconstruction, disarmament, and the fight against narcotics. 

**Afghanistan

And one last note from Afghanistan.  The UN Mission says one of the UN’s helicopters flying over the Badakhshan region was forced to land this morning because of engine problems.  Three crew members and five passengers were forced to land near the village of Patukh, near the Afghanistan-China border.

The eight people are reported to be fine, and not injured, but they cannot be rescued this evening.  And given the weather conditions and the rugged terrain, they have been provided with warm clothes and shelter material by an air drop, and will hopefully be rescued tomorrow.

**Secretary-Generalin China

Turning to the Secretary-General, as you know, he is in China.  Today, he toured a peacekeeping training centre in the city of Langfang.  The compound was completed just last year for the purpose of training civilian police for UN peacekeeping missions.

He told the 90 Chinese officers undergoing training there, who are about to be sent to Haiti, “There is great need for your talent, your help and your contribution, and I am sure you will do well in Haiti.”

From there, he returned to Beijing, where he was joined by his wife, Nane, for a visit to an AIDS voluntary counselling and confidential testing centre.  They met privately with an AIDS patient who was in counselling, and then with seven other infected individuals.  On exiting, the Secretary-General told journalists that he had met with “courageous people who are not only living with the condition but are also determined to share their experience with others”.  He added that it would be helpful “if we could encourage people we know to come together and get tested”.

And we have more upstairs on the Secretary-General’s programme. 

**Democratic Republic of Congo -- Returnees

Turning to the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after six days of stand-off at the border, the Congolese Government has agreed to allow some 1,300 Congolese refugees to return from Burundi.  According to the UN refugee agency, the border was opened early yesterday afternoon, and a first group of 200 refugees were taken into the DRC under the protection of UN officers to a transit centre near the city of Uvira.  The rest are due to return to the DRC today after verification by the UN Mission, as well as Congolese authorities.

The returning refugees are part of some 20,000 who arrived in Burundi after they fled fighting in the eastern DRC, earlier this year, in June.

According to a UNHCR spokesman, the refugees have been repeatedly advised that the situation in their home region of South Kivu remains volatile, and that return at this stage could be difficult.  Given their determination to return home, the agency is putting in place an emergency programme to assist them and they will be opening an office in Uvira.

And more information is available on that upstairs.

**IAEA -- Iraq

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to be concerned about the widespread and apparently systematic dismantlement that has taken place in Iraq of nuclear sites that the Agency had previously monitored.

In a letter to the Security Council, IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei says that “the imagery shows in many instances the dismantlement of entire buildings that housed high precision equipment”.

He adds that the disappearance of high-quality dual-use equipment may be significant in terms of nuclear proliferation, and he asks that any State that has information about the location of such items provide it to the IAEA.

**Africa/Good Governance

Turning to the Economic Commission for Africa, a new report released today by that Commissionfinds that African governance is improving, but significant challenges remain.

The report, entitled “Striving for Good Governance in Africa”, is an overview of the state of governance in 28 countries covering 72 per cent of Africa’s population.

The report says that while African political governance is improving in some areas such as tax evasion and corruption, there’s still a long way to go. 

It also proposes a 10-point action plan for reversing Africa’s governance deficits.

And we have more on this upstairs.

**Security Report

On a report issued by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly yesterday, he called for a new Directorate of Security, which would include the Office of Security Coordinator, the UN Security and Safety Services, and the security components of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

The report says that the Directorate should be headed by an Under-Secretary-General who would report directly to the Secretary-General. The report also called for a significant increase in the number of security personnel, particularly in the field.

We had intended for the Deputy Secretary-General to provide a briefing on the report for you tomorrow.  However, that briefing has now been postponed until 1 November, once the full budget figures for the Security Directorate are out.

**UNTSO

The Secretary-General announced today the appointment of Brigadier-General Clive Lilley of New Zealand, as the new Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, known as UNTSO, based in Jerusalem.

The General succeeds Major-General Carl Dodd of Ireland who gave up his post at the end of September.

A press release and an exchange of letters with the Council are available upstairs.

**Secretary-General’s Statement on Death of Former Force Commander

And we also learned yesterday of the sudden death of Major-General Lalit Mohan Tewari, who had been the head of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

In a statement, the Secretary-General said he was saddened to learn of the sudden passing of the General.  From August 2001 to February 2004, General Tewari served with distinction as the Force Commander of UNIFIL.  Earlier in his career, he’d served as the Chief Military Observer for the Observer Group in Costa Rica.

General Tewari’s long and honourable service is a credit to both his country and to the United Nations.  The Secretary-General offers his deepest condolences to the Government of India, the Indian Armed Forces, and General Tewari’s family and friends in this most difficult of times.

**UNFPA/End Fistula

Just a couple of more items, I’d like to draw your attention to a new web site, which was launched today, for the Global Campaign to End Fistula.

Fistula is a childbirth injury that affects at least 2 million women in developing countries.  It is also preventable, and can be treated through surgery that costs under $300.

The web site is sponsored by the UN Population Fund, and more information is available upstairs.

**UNFPA

This week here at Headquarters, there will be a number of events to mark the tenth anniversary of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development.

I’ll just highlight two of those:

Tomorrow at 10:30 in the morning, in this room, the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, Thoraya Obeid, will be joined by the UN Foundation founder, Ted Turner, as well as the Foundation’s President, Tim Wirth.  They will discuss a statement signed by a diverse cross-section of global leaders reaffirming the Cairo’s Conference’s action plan and urging its full implementation in the next 10 years as part of the effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

And, on Thursday, there will be a commemorative meeting in the General Assembly Hall.  Speakers will include ministers of planning and other senior officials from around the world.

And more information is available upstairs.

**DPI

The Department of Public Information (DPI) today launched its new version of the Daily Highlights, which will now be called the UN Daily News.  The revamped digest will continue to be available as a press release on the racks –- but you can now access it online in printer-friendly format on the UN News Centre web page. 

In addition, DPI has made language adaptations for its Daily News available in Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian versions of the News Centre.  And work is being completed on the Arabic version, as well.

Also, the Highlights of the Noon briefing are now available in French, courtesy of our colleagues in the French service of the Press Section of DPI.

**World Chronicle

And lastly, World Chronicle programme 497, hosted by Tony Jenkins, will be shown today, at 3:30 p.m. on in-house channel 31.  The guest is Juan Mendez, the UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide.  And the focus of the discussion is on the UN role in detecting and preventing genocide, as well as identifying indicators of possible genocide.

I’ve spoken enough, do you have any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  How does the UN plan to deal with the issue of materials being away from the nuclear site in Iraq?

Spokesman:  This is an issue that’s been of concern both to the IAEA and UNMOVIC.  UNMOVIC has raised in a number of its reports that they had found material in scrap yards, in Jordan and as far away as the Netherlands.  The important thing, as Mohamed ElBaradei said, is that any information that Member States have on this equipment be forwarded to UNMOVIC and IAEA so that they can follow up.

Question:  Will the letter be available to us?

Spokesman:  Yes, the report is out on the racks.

Question:  One more question.  Are there any developments in the Israeli allegations that the UN ambulances are carrying the rockets?

Spokesman:  The UN team, as you know, is in the region.  They’re meeting with Israeli officials.  They took note of Prime Minister Sharon’s statement today, in the press, acknowledging that a stretcher had been, in fact, misidentified as a Kasam rocket.  They’re continuing to travel and are expected back soon to report to the Secretary-General.

Any other questions?

Question:  Do you have anything new on the investigative team in Afghanistan [inaudible]?

Spokesman:  No, the presidential candidates had until 6 p.m. this evening to file their complaints.  It’s already past 6 in Kabul, so I’m sure that’s being done, and now the work of the commission will begin and they’ll examine those complaints.

Question:  Is there either a report or ...?

Spokesman:  Literally, I don’t know exactly with the time difference, but we’re talking about a few hours since they’ve begun their work, so as soon as we have an update, we’ll pass it along to you.

Thank you very much.  Djibril?

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon.  The General Assembly turned its spotlight yesterday on two items on its agenda concerning the work of the Security Council.  These two items are the report of the Security Council and the question of equitable representation and increasing the membership of that body, and related matters.  The item registered such a large number of speakers – 107 -- that the allocated time will not be enough for those wanting to take the floor.  The agenda item had, originally, three days -- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday -- and it is likely to spill over beyond that period.

In view of the importance of these items, and as I promised you at the beginning of this General Assembly, I’ve suggested to the President of the General Assembly, President Jean Ping, to come and talk to you this Friday.  And I will work with the Secretary-General’s Spokesman’s Office, and we will try to put it together for 12:30.  So, whenever there is an issue of major interest to you, I will suggest to the President to come in person and talk to you about it.  So, this Friday, possibly at 12:30, President Jean Ping.  During that period, he will give you an assessment of how things went regarding the intervention, so I will not delve into what the Member States said yesterday.  I’ll let the session continue and then have President Jean Ping come in and talk to you.

But I can give you a snapshot of some of the items.  One, is there was a sense of determination, on the part of delegations that spoke yesterday, to do everything possible to untangle some of the more complex issues that have deadlocked the Security Council reform efforts for more than 10 years now.  These are well known to you, because you talk to me a lot about them.  They range from making the Security Council’s work more open, more transparent, to expanding its membership and reforming the veto.

The report of the Security Council was introduced by the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council.  The report, and I’ll give the reference again for those of you who did not have it before, it’s A/59/2.  That report detailed an intense year, the year being from 1 August 2003 to 31 July 2004, an intense year, and it covered a whole range of conflicts and other issues.  The key issues covered by the Security Council during that period included Iraq, the situation in the Middle East, Kosovo, Africa; and also the threat of international terrorism was a topic addressed by the Council throughout the year.

The second item taken up by the General Assembly was the report of the Fifth Committee, the Administrative and Budgetary Committee.  That report was on the scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations and is contained in document A/59/421.  In that report, the Fifth Committee recommended a draft resolution by which the General Assembly would agree that the failure of the following countries, the Central African Republic, the Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, the Republic of Moldova, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and Tajikistan -- that the failure of those countries to pay the minimum amount necessary to avoid application of Article 19 of the Charter was due to conditions beyond their control, and would, therefore, decide that those States should be permitted to vote in the Assembly until 30 June 2005.  The Assembly also decided that Georgia and Liberia should be permitted to vote in the Assembly until 30 June 2005.

Again, as all the committees are now operational, I can give you some pointers on story ideas without giving you a long list of the work of the committees, but just some pointers that may be helpful to you in terms of story ideas coming out of the committees.  And I picked up two or three such story ideas for this briefing.  One is the work of the Third Committee on its discussion on crime prevention and criminal justice and international drug control.  In yesterday’s discussion, the message was that international cooperation was essential to combating transnational organized crime and that message was stressed by several speakers addressing the Committee; issues ranging from trafficking of illicit drugs, human beings, small arms; to international terrorism to corruption and related economic fraud.  Member States highlighted the fact that advances in communications, in travel and banking, had propelled globalization of national economies but, at the same time, had also been used by criminal groups making transnational crime a clear threat to national and international peace and security.

The Fourth Committee focused on the report of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.  Here, there is something which is coming to the plenary, which is the recommendations of UNISPACE III, which stands for the UN Conference on Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.  The President of the Fourth Committee from Myanmar said that the peaceful uses of space could contribute to the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, as well as declarations on sustainable development and bridging of the information gap.  More information is available from our unit, with my colleague Israa Hamad, on this matter.  So, again, let me emphasize the fact that this item will be dealt with, for the first time, at the plenary level.  That’s all I have for you.  Any questions?  If not, thank you.

[Briefing by Mr. Petritsch covered separately.]

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