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 Stéphane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

And I’d like to welcome our visiting guests today.  Welcome to the United Nations.

**Secretary-General

I’ll start off with the Secretary-General.  As you know, he is continuing his visit to Ireland today.

Earlier today he met with Irish Defence Minister William O’Dea.  They discussed Ireland’s contributions to UN peacekeeping missions, particularly to the current ongoing mission in Liberia.  The Secretary-General emphasized the need for highly trained and specialized troops which, he said, make the best peacekeepers.  Their talks also touched upon the situation in the Sudan and Iraq.

The Secretary-General then met with Lt. Gen. James Sreenan, the Chief of Staff of the Irish Army.  The General briefed him on the activities in Liberia of the 600-soldier rapid reaction unit made up of Irish and Swedish troops. 

The Secretary-General then addressed the assembled soldiers saying, “Ireland has been one of the few industrialized States to deploy formed military units to sub-Saharan Africa, providing niche capabilities that really hold a peacekeeping operation together.  We need these specialist units very, very badly.”

He praised the Irish contribution, saying they had played a key role, “especially during your recent presidency of the European Union, in promoting cooperation between the EU and the United Nations in crisis management, and in particular the possible use of EU ‘battle groups’ to support UN peacekeeping operations.”

Later in the day the Secretary-General is to meet with the Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern, after which a press encounter is expected, and that will be followed by a working dinner with the Foreign Minister.  And we will, of course, have the transcript of that press encounter available to you.

**Sudan

Turning our attention to the Sudan, the United Nations continues to receive reports from displaced persons of attacks on villages in south Darfur.

Internally displaced persons from the village of Uma Kasara reported that their village was burned down by unidentified gunmen on 2 October, displacing approximately 650 families from their village, and from two adjacent villages as well.

There have been reports of attacks and burnings of four other villages in south Darfur.

New internally displaced persons continue to arrive at the already overcrowded Kalma camp near Nyala, which is located in south Darfur.

**Haiti Update

Turning to Haiti, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti reports that the situation in Port-au-Prince has been relatively calm in the past two days, with joint patrols by UN troops and the Haitian National Police continuing.

Peacekeepers also continue to provide escort to daily humanitarian convoys to the city of Gonaïves and to secure distribution points there.  As you will recall, Gonaïves was hit very hard by recent hurricanes and tropical storms.

Additional UN forces are expected in the coming days.  According to the UN Mission, a formed unit of 125 police from China is expected to arrive on Sunday.

They are expected to be deployed in the Port-au-Prince area.  A further 622 Sri Lankan troops are expected towards the end of October, and the troops making up a joint Spanish/Moroccan battalion are also expected at the end of October. 

Yesterday, interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue announced the names of the three people who will comprise the Commission for Demobilized Military in Haiti.  Based on an 18 September agreement between the interim Government and the former military, the Commission is tasked with implementing reintegration and compensation measures.

**Security Council

Back here in New York, the Security Council members, having considered the nominations for permanent judges of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, yesterday afternoon voted unanimously to pass a draft resolution that forwarded a list of 22 candidates to the General Assembly for their consideration.

At 3:00 p.m. today, the Security Council is scheduled to meet in closed consultations to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

**UNICEF - Iraq Schools Survey

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has welcomed an Iraq school survey, which was released earlier this week by the Iraqi Ministry of Education.

The survey found that while total enrolment rates in Iraq were up, the country’s school infrastructure didn’t come close to satisfying the demand, with many schools overcrowded and badly damaged.

Carol Bellamy, UNICEF’s Executive Director, says the survey is a major milestone for Iraq since it’s the new Government’s first comprehensive look at what’s happened in a key social sector. 

The Ministry conducted the survey, and UNICEF helped support it financially.

And we have more upstairs in a press release from UNICEF. 

**World Food Day

The World Food Programme today marked the occasion of World Food Day by highlighting the plight of hundreds of millions of hungry people around the world whose problems are overshadowed by high-profile emergencies such as the current crisis in Darfur.

In an article circulated to newspapers around the world, WFP Executive Director James Morris emphasized his concern for the victims of Darfur.

But he also stressed that for every hungry child who made world news headlines, there were millions more who went unnoticed.  “When was the last time we read about hungry children in Azerbaijan, Guinea, Sri Lanka or Tajikistan?” Morris asked, adding that occasions like World Food Day gave the 800 million chronically hungry people scattered around the globe a rare chance to be noticed, if only for a few brief moments.

**FAO - World Food Day

In another ceremony to mark World Food Day tomorrow, Dr. Jacques Diouf, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) highlighted today that biological diversity is one of the keys to ending world hunger.

This year's World Food Day theme is:  “Biodiversity for Food Security.”

In his address, Dr. Diouf stressed the need to maintain biodiversity in nature and on farms, to ensure that everyone has access to enough diversified and nutritious food.  And we have more on his comments upstairs.

**WHO - New Malaria Vaccine

Some of you may have seen press reports today about successful clinical trials of a new malaria vaccine.

The World Health Organization welcomes those results, describing them as a breakthrough in malaria vaccine research.

It says that while much more work is still required, the results indicate that an effective vaccine against malaria that could potentially save the lives of millions of children is possible.  We have more from WHO in a press release upstairs.

**Press Conferences Today

Press conferences today:  As you know, at 12:30, the President of the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly Jean Ping will be here to brief you.

And at 3:00 p.m. the Disarmament and Decolonization Affairs Branch will be sponsoring a press conference on the Micah Challenge, which is a global campaign of the World Evangelical Alliance and the Micah Network to mobilize Christians against poverty.  And that will be here.

**Outer Space Briefing

And a “heads-up” that in this room at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, there’ll be a briefing on space technology’s contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

The Chairman of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Mr. Adigun Ade Abiodun, will describe the work being carried out by the UN and the outer space community to turn the usefulness of space technologies into operational capabilities.

**Guest at Noon on Monday

And on Monday our guest at the briefing will be the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Africa, Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari, who will join us to brief you on the progress in Africa’s efforts to secure peace and security, as well as recent African and international initiatives to implement the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, known to you as NEPAD.  He will be highlighting some of the central issues raised in two recent reports by the Secretary-General on these issues, which the General Assembly is scheduled to take up on Monday and Tuesday next week, and will also discuss the inaugural meeting of the Secretary-General’s Advisory Panel on International Support for NEPAD, which is scheduled to be held here in New York from 20 to 22 October.

**The Week Ahead at the United Nations

And today being Friday, we also have The Week Ahead available to you.

Any questions?  Yes?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Stéphane, is there any response by the Secretary-General to the request for peacekeepers in Somalia?

Associate Spokesman:  No.  [The Spokesman later answered that no official request had been received.]

Question:  There is a report out today...

Associate Spokesman:  I haven’t seen the report, but I’ll try and get something for you.  Yes, Mohamed?

Question:  Stéphane, two questions regarding the recent violence in the green zone in Iraq.  Will there be any change in the decision of the UN Security Coordinator in Iraq about the 35 international staff?  And the second question is about Israel.  When and to whom will the investigation team present its report?

Associate Spokesman:  The members of the team are now back in New York.  They will be reporting back to the Secretary-General, but as soon as I have something more on that I will let you know.  As far as the events in the international zone, the Secretary-General is concerned about the increasing numbers of attacks that have taken place recently in and against the international zone in Baghdad.  I think the latest bombings that took place yesterday, in which a number of civilians were killed, underlined the UN’s concern about the overall security situation in Iraq.  As for the decision of the Security Coordinator to lift the ceiling, that decision is taken on a comprehensive basis.  We look at security daily and all sorts of information go into the decision on the ceiling.  But as far as today is concerned, there has been no change in that ceiling.  Anybody else?  Yes, sir? 

Question:  Did you say that Mr. Qazi will be coming shortly to New York?

Associate Spokesman:  No. No, no.  I don’t have any indication that Mr. Qazi is on his way to New York.  Yes, sir?

Question:  Is there any reaction from the Secretary-General about the Chinese engineer that was killed in Pakistan on Sunday?

Associate Spokesman:  In the rescue attempt?

Question:  Yes.

Associate Spokesman:  Sure.  The Secretary-General obviously deplores the loss of life and regrets it, and we send our condolences to the man’s family as well as to the Government of China.  Anyone else?

Thank you very much.  I see the President of the General Assembly is here.  Welcome, sir.

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