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 Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and Djibril Diallo, Spokesman for the General Assembly President.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon.  Following my briefing, we will have the General Assembly briefing and, following that, we have several guests today.  Joining us are Under-Secretary-General Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme, and member of the Commission for Africa, which is also known as the Blair Commission, and Mr. Myles Wickstead, head of that Commission.  They are here to brief you on the work of that Commission.

**Myanmar

Let me start with a statement attributable to the spokesman, on Myanmar:

“The Secretary-General is concerned about the events that have unfolded in Yangon overnight, including the report that Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt has been dismissed and put under house arrest.

“Noting the change in the top leadership of the Government, the Secretary-General calls on the Myanmar authorities to remain committed to the process of national reconciliation and democratization.  To that end, he urges the Myanmar authorities to resume as soon as possible substantive dialogue with the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other political parties, as well as furthering its dialogue with ethnic nationality ceasefire and non-ceasefire groups.

“The Secretary-General is also concerned about the welfare of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her deputy, U Tin Oo, who have been kept under house arrest since May 2003.  He reiterates his call on the Myanmar authorities to release them without further delay.”

**Secretary-General in London

Turning to the Secretary-General, this morning he met with UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.  They talked to the press afterwards, saying they had discussed Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Israel and Palestine, and UN reform, among other topics.

Asked about elections in Iraq, the Secretary-General said that, “for the moment, we believe we are on track”, and should be able to have the elections if the environment holds.

Asked whether the situation in Darfur, Sudan, is a lost cause, he said that we need to give the African Union the support to go in there, and press the parties to find a political solution.  We have the transcript of that encounter upstairs.

The Secretary-General then met with roughly 17 leaders of non-governmental organizations, who asked him what they could do to further his agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

The Secretary-General next went to BuckinghamPalace for an audience with The Queen.

And, at midday, he had a working lunch with Prime Minister Tony Blair.  They discussed Iraq, Sudan, African development, climate change, Iran, and the Middle East.  The two of them met briefly with the press afterwards.

Asked about Iraq, the Secretary-General said that any government with capacity and ability to help should do what they can to help stabilize Iraq so that the Iraqis can get on with their lives.

He also met with the Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn, and met with about a dozen Members of Parliament.

Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General and U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown discussed the follow-up to the Doha round of trade negotiations.  Other topics included the status of funding for the Global Fund on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the current world economy, the impact of oil prices and the role of emerging economies among developing countries.

And we just received the transcript of the press encounter after his meeting with the Prime Minister, and that’s upstairs.

**Sudan

Turning to Sudan, the UN mission in Sudan reports that the security situation remains tense in the three States of Darfur.

Security incidents, including possible cease-fire violation, an attack on a village, an attack on a convoy of World Food Programme-contracted vehicles, militia activities and rapes, cases have been reported.

Meanwhile, on the humanitarian front, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that UNHCR mobile-protection teams are working in western Darfur near the Sudan-Chad border to monitor internal displacement, as well as mapping and assessing the condition of abandoned and destroyed villages.

This work, UNHCR says, is vital in trying to help a complicated mix of internally displaced people, recent returnees from Chad, and even Chadian refugees who are still in Darfur.

**Security Council

Earlier today, here at UN Headquarters, the Security Council adopted a presidential statement on the implementation of resolution 1559.

That resolution, you will recall, called for all foreign troops to withdraw from Lebanon.  It also called for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.

With this statement, Council members note with concern that the requirements set out in the resolution have not been met, as reported by the Secretary-General.  And Council members request that the Secretary-General report back every six months on the implementation of that resolution.

**Security Council - CTC

The Council is currently holding an open meeting on the work of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.

The Chairman of that Committee, Ambassador Andrey Denisov of the Russian Federation, briefed about its work over the past three months.  Over that time, he said, the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate has been consolidated.  The Committee also has been able to speed up the process of reviewing reports by Member States.

The Directorate’s Executive Director, Javier Ruperez, also addressed the Council.

The open meeting is continuing now, and a presidential statement is expected at its conclusion.

**Somalia

Two documents to point out on the racks to the Security Council:  The Secretary-General’s report on Somalia is out.

At this stage of progress in the Somali peace process, the Secretary-General says, there will likely be a call for an expanded peace-building role and presence for the United Nations, in order that it may assist the Somali parties in implementing their agreement.

At the same time, it is clear that the enhanced role for the Organization in Somalia must be incremental, and should be based on the outcome of discussions with the new Government, he says.

Pending his recommendations in this regard and the decisions by the Council, the Secretary-General proposes that the resources available to the UN Political Office for Somalia for 2004-2005 be maintained at the current level.

He reiterated the crucial importance of progress in the political arena being accompanied by serious efforts on the part of Somali leaders to bring about tangible improvements in the security situation on the ground.

He also appealed for generous support by the international community to the Somali people at this critical juncture in its history.

**Security Council – Women, Peace and Security

The report of the Secretary-General on women and peace and security is out as a document today.

Despite significant achievements, he says, major gaps and challenges remain in all areas.  Some of the gaps the report cites are in relation to women’s participation in conflict prevention and peace processes; the integration of gender perspectives in peace agreements; attention to the contributions and needs of women in humanitarian and reconstruction processes; and representation of women in decision-making positions.

It also reports increased incidents of sexual and gender-based violence in recent years and the failure to provide adequate protection.

An open debate on this subject is scheduled for next Thursday in the Security Council.

**Afghanistan

The UN Mission in Afghanistan reported that, yesterday, a vehicle was destroyed in an explosion in a southern province, killing five people:  an electoral worker, a driver and three others.  The area where the incident happened is known to have many mines and improvised explosive devices.

**Haiti Update

The UN Mission in Haiti reports that following the recent tension and violence in Port-au-Prince, the situation in the capital has been relatively calm for the past week.  Children are back in school, shops have reopened and port facilities are functioning.  UN and Haitian national police continue their joint patrols.  Police activity has been strengthened by the arrival over the weekend of a formed police unit from China.  The 125-strong unit is well equipped and especially trained in crowd control.

On the humanitarian side, a World Food Programme convoy taking supplies from the capital to the flood-damaged city of Gonaïves left this morning.  The convoys, which now function every other day, are protected by UN troops, and take food aid to three distribution points in the city.

**Press Conference Tomorrow

Just a couple more announcements.  At 3 p.m. tomorrow, the U.S. Mission will be sponsoring a press conference in this room on human trafficking and the child sex-tour industry.  Speakers will include musician and child advocate Ricky Martin, and officials from the US Department of State and Department of Homeland Security.

**Guest at Noon Tomorrow

Our guest at the noon briefing will be Mervat Tallawy, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, known as ESCWA.  She’ll brief on the priority areas of the Commission, namely, the programme in Iraq and Palestine, and its efforts to achieve Arab regional integration.

**Background Note on UN Peacekeeping Operations

And a new background note on UN peacekeeping operations is now available in the Spokesman’s Office and posted on the UN Web site.  The facts in the note point out that there are currently 16 peacekeeping operations with 102 countries contributing over 62,000 military and civilian police personnel.  There is also some 3,900 international civilian and almost 7,300 locally recruited staff.

The note, prepared by the Department of Public Information, says that this is the first time that the number of contributors of military and civilian police personnel passed the 100 landmark, with the addition of two more countries by the 30^th of September.  And that’s Madagascar and Sierra Leone.

**FAO/Hunger and UNICEF/Ethiopia Drilling-Rigs

We have a couple of press releases upstairs:  One from the FAO on hunger eradication and poverty alleviation programmes.  And then one from UNICEF regarding shallow-well drilling rigs in Ethiopia.

**DSG – Inter-Parliamentary Union

And one speech to flag to you:  in remarks delivered this morning to the annual UN hearing of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette reminded parliamentarians that they can do much to help the world deal with the challenges it is facing.

She focused on the work of the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, and on the Millennium Development Goals.

We have the full text of her speech upstairs.  And that’s all I have for you.  I’d like to turn to Djibril.  But, before that, yes?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  What exactly is the UN’s role in the forthcoming AU peacekeeping mission to Darfur?

Spokesman:  The Secretary-General, as well as the Security Council, have put the current priority on getting the security situation in Darfur under control by helping the African Union, which is about to take a decision in the coming days.  It’s the Peace and Security Council that is about to take a political decision in the coming days on the force.  You’ve seen press reports on the size of the force, anywhere ranging from 3,500 to about 4,000.  These are press reports.  The Council will, the AU Council will be taking a decision on this.  The Secretary-General, in his daily encounters with the press these few days, has been appealing for countries to help support this AU force -- logistically, with resources, with anything it can, because it lacks capacity to engage in the deployment on its own.  The Secretary-General has also deployed a small cell on Darfur, in Addis Ababa, and that cell is assisting the AU in its planning for this expanded force, which we hope will serve as a deterrent to prevent further attacks on the people on the ground.

Question:  How big is the cell?  Which department of the UN is actually in charge of the UN’s policy in Darfur, because I understand there’s a bit of a confusion whether it’s DPK or DPA, or whoever?  And, to what extent does the AU actually want the UN’s help in making the plan, because I understand that in several occasions the AU has basically gone a different way to the way the UN has recommended?

Spokesman: Well, as I said, the AU has yet to take its final political decision on the dispatch of the force.  But, in the recent public statements, as you’ve seen, by Mr.(AU Chairman Olusegun) Obasanjo, who was here recently, talking to you and to the Security Council.  They have taken their lead on this matter, and the UN is there in a supportive role.  Who is in the cell?  Well, currently, I believe there are up to about six, and let me confirm the exact number, of personnel dispatched from the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and they include the usual support cell:  planning, logistics, and, in this case, I believe, police specialists as well.  Who is in charge of the UN operation in Darfur, Sudan?  As you know, it’s the Secretary-General.  He has a special representative, Jan Pronk, who has been briefing the Council every
30 days on the progress of the Sudanese Government’s commitments to the communiqué that it has signed, and the mission is a comprehensive one, looking at everything from the security, to the humanitarian, to the political.

Question:  And one last question:  Is part of the UN’s job to do the advocacy and force generation on behalf of the AU?  Otherwise, you know, what is the UN’s role in that?  Is it up to the UN to go around to European and other governments in order to say “We need this, that, and the other”?  Or, is that for the AU to do?

Spokesman:  The African Union would have to, first, take the decision to deploy and only after it’s done that can the UN then come up with specific ways in which it can help.  But, it needs to come up with the plan, and it needs to identify what exactly it needs to deploy the troops that have been committed to the African Union -- the troops, military observers, police, whatever configuration that this operation is going to take.  Yes?

Question:  First of all, was the Secretary-General’s report on Somalia released today, or was it, when was it, you said it’s out on the racks, but I just wanted to know when it was released, first?  And, second of all, has he received correspondence from the Somali Government about adding peacekeeping troops?

Spokesman:  The report came out as a document today.  It was posted on the Internet yesterday, and the last time I checked, and I think I got back to you, we had not received any correspondence from the new Somali Government on assistance.  But, if we get something like that, and there’s something to announce, we’ll let you know.  Okay, Djibril?  Thank you for your patience.

Spokesman for the General Assembly President

Good afternoon.  The General Assembly is continuing its consideration in a joint debate of Agenda items 38:  New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Progress in Implementation and International Support, and its sub-item,
2001-2010, Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa.  As I mentioned before, in this connection, there will be a briefing to give an update on the work of the Commission for Africa, and the new agenda for Africa’s development today, from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m., in Conference Room 2, organized by the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa.

A very quick overview for your attention, on topics discussed in the main committees, by way of story ideas.  Second committee:  discussion on sustainable development issues, which will go on until next week.  In the context of those discussions, there will be an information session on the newly released draft international implementation scheme for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.  As you know, this Decade will go from 2005 to 2014 and, as I mentioned yesterday, UNESCO is the lead agency in this connection, and UNESCO is organizing this meeting in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of Japan.  It will take place at 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. in Conference Room 6.

Third Committee Agenda item 101, promotion and protection of the rights of children.  This item will be considered until Thursday morning.  The Third Committee will then take up the issue of programme of activities for the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.  The Decade being 1995 to 2004.  The Decade ends this year.  There is a possibility of a consideration of an extension of a decade through another meeting of the Committee.

Fifth Committee Agenda item 113, scale of assessment.  Item 110, which is improving the financial situation of the United Nations, and the financing of some of the UN peacekeeping missions, namely, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire and Haiti.

Sixth Committee, will continue its discussion on measures to eliminate international terrorism.  That discussion is taking place today.  Tomorrow’s discussion will focus on the scope of legal protection under the Convention on the Safety of UN and associated personnel.  And, Thursday and Friday, this is in response to questions that many of you have asked me, Thursday’s discussion will be on the international convention against the reproductive cloning of human beings.

President Jean Ping is speaking at three panels today.  This morning, he chaired a panel on malaria and the Millennium Development Goals, organized by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Millennium Project, and the World Health Organization.  Panellists included Professor Jeffrey Sachs; Mr. Kul Gautam, the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF; and Dr. Fatouma Nafo-Traore of WHO.  President Ping’s remarks are available upstairs in our Office.

He also addressed the meeting organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union that was referred to earlier.  This meeting has become an annual hearing between the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations.  In this specific instance, President Ping took note of the statement by the Inter-Parliamentary Union referring to the Secretary-General’s report, the Cardoso report, whereby the Inter-Parliamentary Union called for a clearer distinction to made between civil societies and parliaments.  And it also, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, called for a parliamentary dimension to be respected within the work of the United Nations system.

Finally, in his statement, President Jean Ping talked about the importance of paying special attention to the proliferation of arms of destruction and smaller arms and, in this connection, he called for specific action by parliaments in their countries of origin, for collective and efficient action in this connection.

Third item was on the role of civil society in the prevention of armed conflicts.  For the sake of brevity, I’ll just have his statement available upstairs to you.  And, that’s all I have for you.  Any questions?  Yes, please.

Questions and Answers

Question:  Is there any clarity on when you might, at this stage, have a [inaudible]

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  The item, as I said, is being discussed on Thursday and Friday.  And, depending on the number of speakers, we’ll say how far we go.

Question:  Do you think there’s any chance of a vote on Friday?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  No idea at this stage.  But, if there is one, I’ll get back to you.

Question:  What role is the President playing, the President of the General Assembly, playing in the work of the High Level Panel on reforms of the United Nations?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  As you know, the High-Level Panel is a panel appointed by the Secretary-General that will report to the Secretary-General in early December, I believe on the first of December.  At the same time, as the President mentioned during his briefings here, many, many delegations spoke on this panel, in support of the panel, so obviously the President takes note of the interest that Member States have in the outcome of the work of the panel, and then we’ll try to move the process forward once the panel delivers its own findings to the Secretary-General.  Yes?

Question:  One of the general criticisms of the General Assembly is that it spends an inordinate amount of time discussing very trivial agenda items, and this is part of the whole reform of the General Assembly’s streamlining.  [inaudible] Is there a sense that this year’s General Assembly, what items have been knocked off the Agenda from last year that basically demonstrates that the General Assembly is taking this seriously?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  Well, off the top of my head, I can’t give you items, but I can come back to you bilaterally.  But, I can tell you that from students of United Nations affairs perspective, there has been a sense of the business-like perspective of the General Assembly affairs, ranging from what might appear to you as small items, like the time allocated to Heads of State, as recommendation to the time allocated to individual delegations, to trying to deal with items in different committee levels or bilateral levels, there is a whole streamlining of General Assembly affairs that has been done.  But, without prejudice to the capacity of Member States to have all the information that Member States need in order to be able to conduct their affairs in a coherent and most informed manner.

Question:  [inaudible] at this stage, has there been any analysis done on the success or non-success of actually streamlining the General Assembly?  Has there been, is there any monitoring, evaluation, or anything of that, is it something that we have to take through anecdotal evidence?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  Anecdotal evidence, no, because the whole issue of the reform of the United Nations system is about strengthening the efficiency, the capacity of the United Nations, on the understanding that the General Assembly, with 191 Member States, is the only democratic forum on this planet where, no matter what the size of the countries, they have a way of coming to try and resolve global issues in a global platform.  At the same time, we’ve had several discussions here on the reform of the Security Council, the work, the closer working relationships between the General Assembly, ECOSOC, the Security Council, and so on.  All of those measures should

be taken as part of this concerted effort to strengthen the work, the efficiency, not just of the General Assembly, but the whole working of the United Nations system.

Question:  Are there any studies or evaluation being done on the streamlining right now to see how effective it is?  What’s actually, what changes are actually occurring?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  Well, I would, if you’re talking about specific studies, I will have to get back to you on them.  But, if you’re talking about efficiency over time, then obviously that is something that I can say that it is happening.  But, I’ll get back to you if I find any kinds of studies.  Yes?

Question:  A follow-up to my question.  This morning, the Deputy Secretary-General, speaking to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, spoke about the panel, High-Level Panel on Reform, and she said, and I quote, “They have to [inaudible] as they have to [inaudible] with their work”.  Have these consultations taken, include the President of the General Assembly?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  The President of the General Assembly is a parliamentarian himself, in his country of origin, Gabon.  So, he mentioned in his statement this morning that, in fact, there is nobody which is more geographically representative than the Inter-Parliamentary Union.  And he has had interaction with the Inter-Parliamentary Union even before he was president, and he has had also consultations with the Inter-Parliamentary Union during this General Assembly.

Question:  Has the President been consulted by the members of the panel, the High-Level Panel, regarding their work and the preparation of the report?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  The Secretary-General’s panel?

Question:  Yes.

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  Yes, the President has had meetings with some members of the panel. Any other questions?

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