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.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon.

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

I will start reading the statement attributable to the Spokesman concerning the death of Yasser Arafat.  We released this text at about just before midnight last night:

“The Secretary-General was deeply moved to learn of the death of President Yasser Arafat.  President Arafat was one of those few leaders who could be instantly recognized by people in any walk of life all around the world.  For nearly four decades, he expressed and symbolized in his person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

“President Arafat will always be remembered for having, in 1988, led the Palestinians to accept the principle of peaceful coexistence between Israel and a future PalestinianState.  By signing the Oslo accords in 1993, he took a giant step towards the realization of this vision.  It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled.  Now that he has gone, both Israelis and Palestinians, and the friends of both peoples throughout the world, must make even greater efforts to bring about the peaceful realization of the Palestinian right of self-determination.”

“The Secretary-General’s deep-felt condolences go to his wife Suha and his young daughter Zahwa and to the Palestinian people.”

**Arafat

The Secretary-General also spoke to reporters a few minutes ago and said that now that President Arafat is gone, the best legacy that his people can live by is to engage constructively and peacefully with the international community and the Israeli Government and people to make his dream, a dream of two States living side by side in peace, a reality.

“I would urge that we all get to work and really press for the achievement of that goal”, he said.  He also noted the smooth transition of the Palestinian leadership.

The Secretary-General has asked Terje Roed Larsen, his Personal Representative to the Palestinian Authority, and his UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, to represent him at President Arafat’s funeral in Cairo.  Here at Headquarters, the UN flag has been lowered to half mast.

At 2:30 this afternoon, the Secretary-General will speak at the General Assembly special tribute to President Arafat.  Djibril Diallo will tell you a bit more about this event.  Copies of the Secretary-General’s statement are available upstairs under embargo.

**Security Council Presidency - Arafat

The Security Council President, Ambassador John Danforth of the United States, read a statement [in his national capacity] at the start of today’s Council meeting, noting that the death of Yasser Arafat is a significant moment in Palestinian history.

He said that for the Palestinian people, he hopes that the future will bring peace and the fulfilment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbours.

[This text corrects an error made at the briefing.]

**Appeal

This morning, the Secretary-General has requested $1.7 billion to help people survive a web of forgotten humanitarian crises, mainly in Africa.  He said, "We are here today to sound an alarm on behalf of 26 million people struggling to survive the ravages of war and other emergencies".

**Guest at Noon

Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, is here and he will be joining us shortly to brief you on the 2005 Humanitarian Appeal.  And with him will be Angelina Atyam, the Chair of Uganda’s Concerned Parents Association, who will talk about the humanitarian emergency situation in northern Uganda.

**Secretary-General Travel

Next week the Secretary-General will attend a high-level meeting of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Arusha, Tanzania.  He will then attend the first day of the Security Council’s meeting on the Sudan, which will be held in Nairobi.

Following Nairobi, the Secretary-General will travel to Tanzania to attend the International Conference on the Great Lakes region.  He is then attending the International Conference on Iraq, hosted by the Egyptian Government.  And finally, he will travel to Burkina Faso for an official visit to that country.  And following the visit he will attend the Summit Meeting of the Organization of La Francophonie, which is also in Burkina Faso.

**Cote d’Ivoire

As UN humanitarian agencies and their partners worked to deliver as much assistance as possible in a precarious environment, the UN mission in Cote d’Ivoire just reported that electricity in some districts in Bouake in the north was restored a short while ago thanks to collaboration between UN engineers and the state-run technicians.  The engineers say they hope that electricity could be restored all over Bouake as early as tomorrow.

The UN Mission has issued an appeal for calm.  While the situation in Abidjan remains volatile, the Mission reports that the city is quieter today.  Businesses are reopening, and more traffic was seen on the roads.

UN peacekeepers have been monitoring the borders, mainly with Liberia, to check if there are cross-border movements.  None have been reported so far, with the exception of a few Liberian refugees leaving Cote d'Ivoire.

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations reports that Government troops continue to withdraw to their positions south of the UN-patrolled Zone of Confidence.  Following isolated incidents, the situation has improved somewhat and is being reported as relatively calm.  The UN mission continues to monitor the hate media and whether trends in hate media are changing one way or the other.

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

I have the following statement regarding the use of hate media in Cote d’Ivoire:

“The Secretary-General deeply regrets the loss of life that has occurred in the wake of the recent violent events in Côte d’Ivoire.  The Secretary-General reiterates his call to all parties to ensure an end to violence in the country.  And in this regard, he condemns the use of hate media, which is fuelling the tensions, xenophobia and inciting violent acts.”

“He reminds all concerned that they may be held accountable for their acts, in conformity with international criminal, human rights and humanitarian law.  The Secretary-General reiterates his appeal to the authorities to do everything possible to prevent the devastating resurgence of ethnic conflict and urgently take all necessary measures to put an end to violence against innocent civilians and the destruction of property.”

**Security Council – Coted’Ivoire

For the record, the Security Council met in closed consultations, which ended in the early evening yesterday, and members decided to vote on the Cote d’Ivoire resolution on Monday.

**Sudan

On the Sudan, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said today it is temporarily withdrawing some key international staff from South Darfur because Sudanese authorities are preventing them from carrying out vital protection work on behalf of thousands of internally displaced people.

The Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights of internally displaced persons today voiced his grave concern over continuing reports of forced relocation and other serious human rights violations against displaced persons in Darfur.  Walter Kaelin also called on the Government of the Sudan to fulfil its responsibilities to protect and assist its own people.  He spoke out a day after it was reported that, for the second time in one week, Sudanese authorities stormed the Al Geer camp in South Darfur to forcibly move people who had sought refuge there.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Sudan, Jan Pronk, was in Nyala, South Darfur for a second day today and was attempting a visit to the camp that came under attack yesterday.  The situation as of late afternoon was reported to be “stable”.  The UN Mission also reports increased harassment of internally displaced persons at two camps in North Darfur.

And finally, the International Commission of Inquiry continued their work and flew to Darfur after holding two days of meetings in and around Khartoum.

**Iraq

On Iraq, the Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi today received the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ashraf Qazi, to discuss the latest developments in Iraq.  Qazi is continuing contacts with Iraqi officials and representatives of civil society and political entities to explore means through which the UN can help advance the political process.  Yesterday, he also met with Deputy Iraqi Prime Minister Barham Saleh.

**Afghanistan

The UN Mission in Afghanistan today expressed its appreciation for the many expressions of support and solidarity that it has received throughout the country since the abduction two weeks ago of three UN staff members.

UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva described the past two weeks as “the longest 14 days” in the three staff members’ lives, and reiterated the request to those who are holding them to release them unharmed.

Referring to the Muslim holiday that takes place this weekend, he said, “Eid is a time of happiness, compassion, forgiveness and friendship among people.  We hope that the spirit of peace and understanding shown by all during Eid will be extended to Annetta, Lito and Shqipe”.  We have copies of today’s Kabul briefing notes upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council today is holding an open debate on Bosnia and Herzegovina, starting with a briefing by the High Representative dealing with that country, Paddy Ashdown.  The Council intends to suspend its open meeting briefly and then resume it at 3:30 this afternoon, with a further briefing on Bosnia by NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Then, once the Bosnia meeting ends, at about 5 p.m., the Secretary-General has invited the members of the Security Council to a briefing on the Sudan that will take place in his conference room on the 38th floor.

**Haiti

From Haiti, a 250 strong formed-police unit from Pakistan has arrived in Haiti to join the UN peacekeeping mission there.

The 214 police, who arrived in Haiti yesterday, join an advance party of 36 colleagues from Pakistan who are already there.  The new police, who are trained in crowd control, will assist the United Nations and the interim Government of Haiti to implement public security and protect the population.  They will be deployed in Port au Prince and Gonaïves.  A press release is available upstairs with more information.

Also from Haiti, the spokesman of the UN Mission there reports that humanitarian assistance in Gonaïves is now in transition between the emergency phase and the rehabilitation phase. From now on aid in the city will be provided through ration cards, rather than through mass distribution.

**Security Council Mission to Central Africa

The French Ambassador to the United Nations Jean-Marc de La Sabliere is scheduled to brief to you here in room 226 on Monday on the upcoming Security Council mission to Central Africa that he will lead.  We expect that to be Monday morning and we’ll give you the precise time once it’s fixed.  The French mission informs us that the scheduled timing of the briefing may be changed depending on when the Security Council decides to vote on the resolution on Cote d’Ivoire, which is also expected for Monday.

Meanwhile, a letter from the Security Council President informing the Secretary-General of the Central African Mission including its composition and terms of reference has been circulated to Council members.

**Guatemala

On Guatemala, in a ceremony held this morning in Guatemala City’s San CarlosUniversity, the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala, which is soon to wrap up its activities, donated all the documents pertaining to its ten-year verification of the peace process to the new Library of Peace.

Also deposited this morning at the library were the papers of the Historical Clarification Commission, which documented the human rights abuses committed in Guatemala during its 30-year war.  In addition, the UN’s audiovisual material was given to Guatemala’s Channel 33 and the University’s film and radio library.

According to a press release issued by the Mission, it is hoped that all Guatemalans will be guaranteed full access to this material, so that they can better understand their county’s recent history and the positive steps taken since the peace accords were signed in 1996.

**DSG’S Trip to Denmark

A word on the Deputy Secretary-General.  Louise Fréchette is on an official visit to Denmark.  This morning she addressed the staff of the United Nations in Copenhagen.  With over 700 staff, Copenhagen is the sixth largest UN centre in the world.

Tomorrow, Ms. Fréchette will address the Danish Council for International Development Cooperation, an advisory body to the Government comprised of civil society representatives.  She will also have meetings with the Danish Ministers responsible for foreign affairs, defence and integration and development.  In addition, she will hold a dialogue with the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament.

**Internet Governance

The Secretary-General today announced the establishment of a Working Group on Internet Governance.  That body will be chaired by Nitin Desai, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the World Summit on the Information Society, and will include 40 members from governments, the private sector and civil society.

The Working Group is intended to facilitate the negotiations that will take place in the second phase of the World Summit, which is to be held in Tunis in November of next year.  Desai said that the group will “strive to establish a dialogue of good faith among all participants”.  We have a press release with more on that upstairs.

**The Week Ahead at the United Nations

Tomorrow, as you know, is an official UN holiday –- Eid Al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan.  This being the last briefing of the week, we have the Week Ahead at the United Nations for you to help you plan your coverage of the UN next week.

I would like to flag the following press conference.  On Wednesday, the Canadian Mission is sponsoring a briefing by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Health Canada and the World Health Organization.  Speakers will include Deputy Canadian Prime Minister Anne McLellan, Ted Turner, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and former US Senator Sam Nunn, the other co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

That’s all I have for you.  Yes, Jonathan?

Questions and Answers

Question:   Is Kofi Annan considering stopping by Ivory Coast while he is in Africa?

Spokesman:  No.  No, the decision to hold the international conference on Iraq required us to re-jigger the programme.  There had been earlier some thought that he could visit a few African peacekeeping missions while he was there, but now that won’t be possible.

Question:   And in the case of Rudd Lubbers, has there been anything new on that front?  Anything that you can share with us?  Any developments?

Spokesman:  No.  Not to my knowledge.  We were informed that the complainant withdrew her action from the UN’s [Joint] Appeals Board.  I think that’s the latest development.  There is no change in our position.

Question:   Were there any specifics in regard to that withdrawal decision on her part?

Spokesman:  You’ll have to ask her or her lawyer.  But I am not aware of anything that was said publicly.

Question:   And how about the fact of the investigation being carried on in Geneva or any other investigations that are underway within the UN itself...(Interrupted)?

Spokesman:  Well, the only investigation was the one by the Office of Internal Oversight [Services], and you know what the outcome of that was.  The Secretary-General reviewed it, reviewed Mr. Lubber’s response to it, and decided that the allegations against Mr. Lubbers could not be sustained.  So, for the Secretary-General, the matter was closed as of that point.  The staff member has different avenues of appeal, but the main one would be to go to the Joint Appeals Board.  And as I just said, we understand that having made an initial approach to that Board, she subsequently informed them that she was no longer pursuing the case.  Yes, Bill?

Question:   I have three things, Fred.  One, will the text or subject, the details of the Secretary-General’s briefing on the Sudan be made available to us?

Spokesman:  I don’t think so.  I’ll see if we can get anything in the way of a read out.  But of course, with all the members of the Security Council in the room, they’re your probably most likely sources of what was said in the room.

Question:   Secondly, what went in the Secretary-General’s thinking in terms of the decision not to attend President Arafat’s funeral in Cairo?

Spokesman:  I just don’t think it was possible for him to make the arrangements to go there at such short notice.

Question:   And also... (Interrupted).

Spokesman:  It probably would have required a private plane and it just wasn’t possible to put those arrangements in place overnight.

Question:   Is there anything you can tell us, on another matter, about the OIOS report that went to the Secretary-General regarding Mr. Nair?

Spokesman:  Only that it went [to the Secretary-General] yesterday, as I think I told you privately, and we will now wait for the Secretary-General’s reaction on it.  Mohammad?

Question:   Two questions, Fred.  What is your reaction about the kidnapping of three relatives of Mr. Iyad Allawi?  And my second is about the result of the negotiations between Mr. Volcker and the Secretary-General.

Spokesman:  On the first, of course, the Secretary-General is appalled by the kidnapping of the three relatives of the Iraqi Prime Minister.  It’s another element of a lawless situation in Iraq that he hopes can be corrected over time.  His recommendations to the Government of Iraq to broaden the political process to bring in as many elements of Iraqi society as possible, he hopes, would, over time, reduce the lawlessness and the violence in the country.

On the discussions with Mr. Volcker regarding the letter received from two U.S. Senators to the Secretary-General on oil-for-food, I understand that there were discussions yesterday between our legal staff here and members of Mr. Volcker’s staff, and that they were to have met with him this morning, and we have not yet heard from them what the outcome of that meeting was.  But I would hope to have, following Mr. Volcker’s decision, whatever it was, I would hope to have something for you updating you on our position regarding documentation, witnesses, etc.  Yes?

Question:   Fred, does the Secretary-General have any further plan for a Quartet meeting, and does the Secretary-General have any comment on the get back to the peace talks negotiations with the new Palestinian leadership?

Spokesman:  The Quartet, the last time they met, I think the Secretary-General told you this on the record, did anticipate that with the elections in the U.S. out of the way, he thought that the U.S. and the other three members of the Quartet would probably take a fresh initiative on the Middle East.  I think he said that might come early next year.  So, I don’t think that the death of President Arafat would change that.  If anything, it might accelerate that.  But I am not aware of any specific plans at this time for the next meeting of the Quartet.  And as for the new Palestinian leadership, let’s wait for it to settle in and see what their posture might be.  But we would anticipate that they too would be supportive of the Quartet’s involvement in the peace process.  Bill?

Question:   Fred, how long will the UN flag be at half staff for the death of President Arafat?

Spokesman:  Whatever the standard is; I think it’s one day, I’d have to double check for you, but whatever the standard treatment is for a head of State.  The General Assembly over the years has accorded President Arafat the status of head of State and it was decided to accord him that same status in death as in life.  And that was the Secretary-General’s proposal and the General Assembly agreed with that.  Yes?

Question:   Fred, what kind of message is the Secretary-General sending by not attending the funeral?

Spokesman:  No message is intended.  As I indicated to you, it was a matter of the physical limitations being able to move across the Atlantic on such short notice when...(Interrupted).

Question:   But the guy has been dying for two weeks!  I mean, what kind of arrangements do you need?

Spokesman:  There were conflicting signals throughout that two-week period.

Question:   You mean you couldn’t have a plane ready to go?  I mean, in terms of logistics, how is it possible that...(interrupted)?

Spokesman:  If the General Assembly wants to give us an airplane to facilitate the Secretary-General’s travel, we would be grateful.  We’ve been asking for it for 25 or 30 years and they’ve never felt that the cost was justified, and the Secretary-General travels commercial, as you know.  It was not possible for him to get to Cairo by today.

Question:   Is he afraid of (inaudible) the U.S.?

Spokesman:  I am not going to answer that question.

Okay, before Djibril comes up, then we’ll ask Jan Egeland to come up with his guest from Uganda.

(Mr. Egeland’s briefing is issued separately.)

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon.

There will be a tribute to the late Yasser Arafat, in the Plenary this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The President will open the session and there will be a minute of silence before the President gives the floor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who will address the Assembly.  Then, the chairmen of the regional groups will take the floor followed by the European Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.

Today also the General Assembly is considering agenda item 39 entitled “Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance” and its sub-items (a) and (c).  And we just had the briefing of Under-Secretary-General Jan Egeland in this connection.

Under agenda item 39, the report of the Secretary-General will be considered.  Again, the reference to that report is A/59/332.

Under sub-item (a) entitled “Strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations” the report of the Secretary-General will be considered.

There is another sub-item (c) entitled “Assistance to the Palestinian people.”  Under that sub-item, the report of the Secretary-General will be taken up.  And again the reference of the document is A/59/121.  In this connection, General Assembly also has before it a draft resolution for consideration; the document number of the draft resolution is A/59/L.24.

As for sub-item (b) “Special economic assistance to individual countries or regions”, the Assembly, on the recommendation of the General Committee, decided to allocate this sub-item to the Second Committee.  Concerned countries under this sub-item include Angola, Tajikistan, Mozambique, Liberia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Somalia, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Sub-item (d) entitled “Emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan” will be considered, in a joint debate with agenda item 27.  Agenda item 27 is entitled “The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security”.  Those items will be considered jointly on Wednesday 8 December 2004.

By way of background for you, it was in 1991 that the item entitled “Strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations”, was included in the agenda of the then forty-sixth session of the General Assembly.  And that inclusion was at the request of the Netherlands, speaking on behalf of the European Community.

During that session, the General Assembly adopted guiding principles and a framework for strengthening the coordination of humanitarian emergency assistance of the United Nations system.  And the Assembly has considered the question annually since that time.

The General Committee yesterday decided to defer to a later date consideration, a request for the inclusion of an additional agenda item related to “groups of countries in special situations”.

The request for the inclusion of that sub-item, as you may recall, was entitled “Rendering assistance to the poor mountain countries to overcome obstacles in socio-economic and ecological areas”.  The sub-item was requested by the Permanent Representatives of Afghanistan, Costa Rica, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Nepal.  The document number is A/59/238.  Members of the Committee acknowledged the significance of the issue, but maintained that adding yet another item to the General Assembly’s agenda ran counter to last year’s key decisions to streamline the General Assembly’s work.

We’ve had a lot of questions on the issue of cloning.  There is no expected outcome for today.  The Sixth Committee will take it up next Friday, 19 November.

Since, as was mentioned earlier, tomorrow is a holiday at the United Nations, I would like to give you some highlights of the week ahead from the perspective of the General Assembly.

On Monday 15 November, the General Assembly will discuss the report of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia.  On Tuesday, 16 November, agenda item 49, Oceans and the law of the sea, will be taken up.  And on 18 November, the General Assembly will proceed to elect judges of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

That’s all I have for you.  Any questions?  Okay.  Thank you.

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