DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND SPOKESMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESDIENT

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.

**Arab Journalists

The reason it seems like a full house is that we have Arab journalists here who are participating in an Information Department programme over the next two weeks; a workshop.  So, I would like to welcome you to the briefing.

And I think the rest of you are here to hear Jane Holl Lute, who is the Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.  And she will be here to talk about the investigations into sexual abuse in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and more widely in peacekeeping generally.  So, she will be coming up here in just a few minutes.

**SG Travels

We heard from the Secretary-General’s party today.  He has arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh, in Egypt, where he is to attend the International Conference on Iraq.

On the sidelines of that meeting, he will meet tomorrow evening with the members of the Middle East Quartet.

This evening, after meeting with his senior aides – Lakhdar Brahimi, Terje Roed Larsen and Ashraf Qazi – the Secretary-General will attend an official dinner hosted by the Foreign Minister of Egypt.

The Secretary-General travelled to Egypt from Tanzania, where, on Saturday, he praised the final document put out by the International Conference on the Great Lakes as the product of compromise and dialogue.

He told the assembled heads of State and government, “No one has got everything they wanted from this process, but everyone has got what they need:  a real chance for peace, stability, democracy and development in a vast region”.

He told journalists at a press conference afterward that, “today, at last, we can glimpse a better future on the horizon”.  The real test, he added, starts now, as leaders design the framework for implementing their commitments.

We have his statement to the conference and the transcript of that press encounter upstairs.

**Sudan

The World Food Programme says it is, for the first time, channelling food aid from the United States through Libya.

The US supplies will travel across Libya’s humanitarian corridor in the Sahara, to reach nearly 200,000 refugees from Darfur, who are now in eastern Chad.

Meanwhile, the UN Mission in Sudan reports that the African Union is investigating new attacks in South and North Darfur over the weekend.

Côte d’Ivoire

From Côte d’Ivoire, the situation in Abidjan and the rest of the country remains calm, but unpredictable, as we’ve said before.  According to the UN Mission in that country, economic activities are more brisk in Yamoussoukro due to a relatively calm situation there.

This morning, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Côte d’Ivoire, Albert Tevoedjre, met with Prime Minister Seydou Diarra on his return from his trip to South Africa.

South African President Thabo Mbeki over the weekend met with Diarra and also with Guillaume Soro, the Secretary General of the Forces Nouvelles, in Pretoria as part of the continuing consultations on the way forward in the Ivorian crisis.  Also over the weekend, the new Joint Chief of Staff of Côte d’Ivoire, Philippe Mangou, met with UN military personnel.  He reiterated the Government’s commitment to restore confidence by providing security and protection for all communities; to hold negotiations aimed at recovering unity and national reconciliation; and to rebuilding and restructuring the armed forces.

**Côte d’Ivoire - Humanitarian

On the humanitarian side, UN civilian police community outreach activities have re-commenced, with teams fanning out into villages countrywide to promote dialogue and reconciliation.  Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency said that host families in Liberia are accommodating up to nine or 10 refugees from Côte d’Ivoire in each house, and food is now in very short supply.  Even before the influx of refugees, there was little available for the local population, as Liberia struggles to get back on its feet after 14 years of civil strife.

To remedy this situation, UN agencies and the Liberian Government have agreed that food distribution will now target the population of the host community, as well as of the refugees.  Helicopters of the UN Mission in Liberia are flying over the area to airlift consignments of emergency relief along the border.

**Security Council Mission

The Security Council is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today on the second leg of a Central African mission led by French Ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Marc de La Sablière.  In a press statement after a meeting with DRC President Joseph Kabila, Ambassador de La Sablière noted the importance of holding elections as planned.  The mission began Sunday with a visit to Kigali.

At a joint press encounter with Rwandan President Paul Kagame following their meeting, the French ambassador said that among the many issues discussed had been cooperation in the region, the Great Lakes Conference, the verification mechanism that was set up between the countries of the region and how it will operate.  They also discussed the situation in DRC, the situation in the east, in particular and the question of disarmament and repatriation of the various forces there.

On the Council agenda today is a meeting with the Speaker of the DRC National Assembly and Senate President, as well as various political and civil society leaders and local and international NGOs.  The transcript of the press encounter from Kigali, as well as a short statement in Kinshasa are available.  Tomorrow, the Council travels to Burundi.

**Security Council – Bosnia and Herzegovina

This morning the Security Council unanimously decided to authorize the establishment of a stabilization force, led by the European Union, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  And the force will succeed the NATO-led operation.

**Burundi

The Secretary-General’s Report to the Security Council on the UN Operation in Burundi is out on the racks today.  In it, the Secretary-General welcomes the unity of vision through which the Burundian parties averted a constitutional crisis.  But, he says, major political and social tensions remain.

It is, therefore, imperative, he says, to urgently address the outstanding tasks of the transition, so as to avoid any further delays beyond the current extension of the transition process.  The Security Council is scheduled to discuss the report next Monday.

**Haiti – SRSG Report

The Secretary-General has called on countries contributing troops and personnel to the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti to do so -– by the deployment schedules that have been agreed to.  The appeal is in the Secretary-General’s latest report to the Security Council on the UN Mission there.

In it, he notes that a framework has been set up to receive and allocate funds from donors -- but the disbursement of those funds has been slow in coming.  He also recommends that the Council extend the UN Mission’s mandate for another 18 months, until May 2006.  You can find that report on the rack.

**Oil-for-Food

Late last week, the Secretary-General wrote letters to two US Senators, Norm Coleman and Carl Levin, responding to their letters to him about the investigation into the “oil-for-food” programme.  He said he is committed to acting decisively on the findings of the Independent Inquiry Committee, headed by Paul Volcker.  And you asked to see copies of that letter, and we have that available in my office.

**ILO – Myanmar

The Governing Body of the International Labour Office decided that a high-level mission should be sent to Myanmar, to determine whether that country will effectively respond to allegations concerning the use of forced labour.  The decision came as the body wrapped up its session on Friday.  We have a press release on that.

**HIV/AIDS

A quick word on some AIDS-related events happening tomorrow.  The first Global Creative Meeting on HIV/AIDS will take place here at UN Headquarters.  It is sponsored by the Department of Public Information (DPI), and it’ll bring together creative experts from major broadcasters around the world to exchange ideas on how best to use programming to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.  Sumner Redstone, the Chairman and CEO of VIACOM, will be in this room tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. to tell you about the meeting.

Also, I’ll have here as my guest tomorrow, Desmond Johns, Director of the New York office of UNAIDS.  He’ll brief you on the AIDS Epidemic Update, which is being launched around the world tomorrow -– and we have embargoed copies of the report available for you upstairs.

**Staff Coordinating Council – Geneva

We just received this from Geneva:  The Executive Bureau of the Staff Coordinating Council in Geneva, which apparently represents some 4,000 staff there, had an extraordinary meeting this afternoon at 4 o’clock and adopted a resolution that, while it noted and supported the resolution on “Integrity & Accountability” that was adopted by the New York Staff Union here on Friday, they expressed their alarm by the media’s incorrect interpretation of the New York Staff Union’s position concerning that issue, and they expressed their full confidence in and support of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.  We have the text of that available upstairs if you are interested.

**UNTV

Finally, the UN TV Programme “World Chronicle” will be shown today.  The topic will be the role of women in development, good governance, and regional cooperation and integration.  The guest will be Ms. Meryat Tallaway, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Council for Western Asia.  And you can watch it on in-house television channels 3 or 31 at 3:30 p.m.

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

Questions and Answers

Question:  Fred, given that UN senior management appears to have lost the confidence of many of the staff, and given that the Secretary-General is the leader of that Organization; does he believe that the buck stops with him and is he, therefore, considering resigning?

Spokesman:  I mean, let’s not get ridiculous about this idea of resignation, okay?  I realize it’s coming from certain segments of the US media.  But that’s out of the question.  Does the buck stop with him?  Of course, it does.  Is he going to be doing something about it?  Of course, he will.  But there was a twist to the reporting –- I don’t know whose fault it was –- on this resolution that came out of the Staff Union on Friday, and there was never a question, according to the Staff Council representatives here, of a no-confidence vote in the Secretary-General.  And I think what you’re seeing today in Geneva is their concern that the media reported it this way initially.  So, ... (Interrupted).

Question:  Does he accept that he is responsible for the behaviour of senior management?

Spokesman:  He is the Chief Executive Officer of this Organization.  Yes, he is number one.  He is responsible.

Question:  But he is not going to consider resigning?

Spokesman:  No.  That is out of the question.  Yes, Laura?

Question:  Fred, last week you said that, in Palestine, in terms of the new elections that are going to happen in January, you haven’t had any request for assistance.  Colin Powell made that statement saying that the US, and he also asked Israel to help.  Has the Secretary-General received any sort of request from the US, or from Israel, or from any other party?

Spokesman:  No.  I’ll stand by the statement I gave you last week that indicated that we have had involvement with the preparations for the Palestinian elections, but that, most recently, a European Union official has been named the head of the group providing that assistance.  Whether there has been any subsequent contact either from Israel or from the US, I’d have to check.  I am not aware of any.  But I’ll check after the briefing for you.  Richard?

Question:  Isn’t it true though there are the accusations of media misreporting, that one of the original proposals at that Staff Union meeting someone did have a resolution mentioning the Secretary-General and his performance and also when a resolution is passed indicting senior management, I mean, who is kidding whom?  So, is it fair to say it’s really misreporting?

Spokesman:  Well, you have to ask what the intention of the Council was.  Now, the first draft of the resolution that I saw, the mention of the Secretary-General is that they wanted to call to the Secretary-General’s and the General Assembly’s attention their no confidence in senior management.  So, even the first draft seemed to focus the criticism below the level of Secretary-General.

Question:  In other words the Secretary-General in effect made the final decision and in their case and in Lubbers’ case?

Spokesman:  But what was their intention?  And then by the fact that the resolution that they finally adopted later in the afternoon had eliminated any of that language, I think shows their intention.  And then the head of the Staff Council, stopped by a TV crew in the corridor, said “we have the utmost confidence in the Secretary-General”.  And now you have the Staff Union in Geneva saying “we have the utmost confidence in the Secretary-General”.  So, I mean, we’re trying... the way the story was originally reported, the staff had turned against the Secretary-General and lost confidence in him.  That was the story that ran on the wires Thursday night.  Yes?

Question:  Fred, Without...(Inaudible) that reported it, and the final resolution that was adopted on Friday spoke of “exonerations” –- plural, of senior officials.  So, by those “exonerations” I assume they mean not just Mr. Nair, who was talked about in the resolution, but also at least one other person.  And I assume they are talking about Ruud Lubbers and Louise Fréchette, and there have been two other exonerations.  Does he have any plans to re-visit his exoneration, because those were his personal decisions not to accept Louise Fréchette’s resignation and to overrule the enquiry into Mr. Lubbers?  Does the Secretary-General have any intention of re-visiting the exonerations of senior officials, as requested by the Staff Union?

Spokesman:  Absolutely not.  In those three cases he considers the matter closed, as he said.

Question:  So, he is not actually, going to respond to the Staff Union’s concerns, as expressed in its resolution, then?

Spokesman:  He is willing to talk to them; he will talk to them.  Other senior officials have offered to talk to them in the course of this week.  If you want to know when that meeting is set up, we’ll let you know.  But he has declared the matter of Ruud Lubbers closed; he has given his view through the Under-Secretary-General for Management, on Dileep Nair in OIOS, and he explained to you his decision on Louise Fréchette, going back a year and a half, or whatever it was.  Jonathan?

Question:  Fred, the Staff Union, though, complained about not being included in the process and the determination on a couple of those cases.  And you’re saying that Kofi Annan is at this point not willing to open things up again.  How is he addressing that concern by the Staff Union about inclusion?

Spokesman:  He will talk to them about the amount of consultation they had or didn’t have if they want to raise that with him.  He is opening the door to them; he will listen to whatever it is that they want to raise.

Question:  But isn’t it a bit late, though?  I mean, shouldn’t he re-open the investigation, including the Staff Union’s point of view?

Spokesman:  He will listen to whatever they have to say.  Yes?

Question:  Yes, last week you talked about the possibility of a meeting this week between the Staff Council and the Chef de Cabinet.  Is that happening?

Spokesman:  I said just a minute ago, I’ll let you know once that’s scheduled.  The head of the Department of Management is not around this week, but if they want to meet with any other officials we will schedule that meeting this week.  Whatever they want.

Question:  Does senior UN management consider the Staff Union or this action representative of the wider UN staff?

Spokesman:  I think I answered that Friday.  These representatives are nominated by their peers.  We consider them the legal representative of the staff as set up by the General Assembly as a Staff Council.  So, yes, we accept them as representing the staff.  James?

Question:  Well, there is evidently a pattern in recent months of exoneration of senior officials who, in some cases, even found to have done things they shouldn’t have done by enquiries.  What confidence can we have, when we are rocked here by another scandal, that this same thing won’t happen in this new scandal?

Spokesman:  I don’t know what pattern you’re talking about.  We talked about two cases.  I gave you the Secretary-General’s reasoning for his decisions in the case of Mr. Lubbers and in the case of OIOS and Mr. Nair.  What’s the pattern?

Question:  Three cases isn’t a pattern to you?

Spokesman:  What’s the third one?

Question:  Nair, OIOS; I mean, Nair, Lubbers, Louise Fréchette.

Spokesman:  Oh, now you’re going back to a year and a half ago!  It’s up to you whether you want to call that a pattern.

Question:  It wasn’t a year and half ago.  It was in response to the Walzer Report.  That wasn’t a year and half ago.  The bombing was a year and half ago.  You know, with the Walzer Report it was security lapses ... it was much more recent.

Spokesman:  Granted.  That’s correct.  I don’t see that as a pattern.  If you do, you’re free to.  If you want to apply it to DPKO, I feel sorry for Jane.  But you can put that question to Jane.  If I were you, I would deal with each of these cases independently and separately.  I think the reasons for the Secretary-General’s decisions in each case were not related to the other cases.  Richard?

Question:  Considering what’s going on at the UN, and the future role in Iraq and elsewhere, does the UN senior management find the Staff Council resolution helpful at this time, and has UN senior management underestimated the displeasure of the staff and could have perhaps, cut this off earlier?  Was there a mistake made in not judging what the staff was feeling?

Spokesman:  All I have said is that we’re willing to talk to them.  They’re free, of course, to adopt any resolution that they want, any time that they want.  Could we have headed this off?  Frankly, I don’t know.  But we’re willing to talk to them about their concerns, and if we can calm things down through these talks, so much the better.

Question:  Fred, there has been some suggestion that the watering down of the resolution through Friday was the result of pressure from senior management, including Mr. Riza himself.  Do you have any comment on that?

Spokesman:  No.  I mean, that is absolutely false.  If you know the Staff Council you know that it represents a variety of views, and it doesn’t surprise me that when they collectively sat down to discuss this, that there were some modification to the draft originally proposed.

Question:  Are you confident there was no contact between Mr. Riza and ...(Interrupted)?

Spokesman:  No, I reported here on Friday that Mr. Riza had spoken to the head of the Staff Union to offer to meet with her or have any other senior UN official meet with her to discuss her concerns.  There was no pressure on her.  And, in any case, she doesn’t control this Council of some 13 members, the Council leadership.  But there was no pressure from Mr. Riza on Rosemary Walters to change that resolution.

Question:  As far as you know, is this the first time the Staff Council has sent such a letter regarding the performance of senior management to the Secretariat about...? (Interrupted).

Spokesman:  You’d better ask them that.  I am not aware.  All dried up?

Jane Holl Lute, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Affairs, come on up.  (Issued separately.)

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon.

I have three items from the General Assembly’s meeting on Friday to give you before going on to today’s session.

The first item has to do with the election of 14 judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.  That election was completed by the General Assembly on Friday following seven rounds of voting over two days.  And the 14 judges are elected for four-year terms beginning on 17 November 2005.

By way of background, the International Tribunal was established on 25 May 1993 by Security Council resolution 827 (1993).  In accordance with article 11 of its statues, as originally adopted, the International Tribunal consisted of two trial chambers and an appeals chamber.  The third trial chamber was by the Security Council in its resolution 1166 (1998).  Fourteen judges were elected in 2001 and their terms of office will expire on 16 November 2005.

The second item from Friday’s General Assembly session has to do with Africa Industrialization Day, which is observed on 20 November.  And this year’s theme is “Strengthening Productive Capacity for Poverty Reduction within the Framework of NEPAD”, NEPAD being the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

A statement by the President of the General Assembly, Jean Ping, said that successful industrialization was the motivation for applying new technologies and promoting the development of entrepreneurship in Africa.  The President also said that it provided an enabling environment for human capital development, boosted institutional change, modernized export structures and created new employment opportunities.  Referring to poverty alleviation, the President added that African countries must introduce good industrial policies and promote domestic and foreign investment, expansion of markets, infrastructure development, employment and technological change.  The President also said that he was confident that Africa, with its vast human and natural resources, as well as its strong commitment to development goals, would be able to achieve the objectives of NEPAD.  More details on the statement are in a press release of last Friday.

The third item has to do with the United Nations Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation last Friday.  That item was introduced by the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation.  He stressed the importance of international unity, particularly at a time when the world was getting ready to observe the fiftieth anniversary of the Second World War next year.  The end of that war marked the beginning of a new era for all people.

Those are the three major items from the General Assembly last Friday.

I now move on to today’s session of the General Assembly.  And this morning, that session started considering, in a joint debate, agenda item 41 entitled “Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields”, and agenda item 55, entitled “Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit”.  Under agenda items 45 and 55, the General Assembly has before it the report of the Secretary-General circulated in document A/59/545.  Under agenda item 55, the General Assembly also has the following documents:

-- The report of the Secretary-General circulated in document A/59/282 and Corrigendum 1.

-- A note by the Secretary-General transmitting the report of the Joint Inspection Unit entitled “Achieving the Universal Primary Education Goal of the Millennium Declaration”.  And that report is circulated in document A/59/76, Addendum 1 and Addendum 1/Corrigendum 1.

-- A letter dated 2 June 2004 from the Permanent Representative of Finland and the United Republic of Tanzania, transmitting the report entitled “A fair globalization:  creating opportunities for all”.  And that letter is contained in document A/59/98.

-- A draft resolution is also issued as a document, A/59/L.30.

You may recall that the United Nations Declaration was adopted in the year 2000, and the General Assembly of that year requested the Secretary-General to urgently prepare a long-term road map towards implementation of the Millennium Declaration within the United Nations system.  It was the General Assembly of the following year -- that is, the fifty-sixth session, in the year 2001 -- that adopted the decision requesting the Secretary-General to prepare an annual report and a comprehensive report every five years on progress achieved by the United Nations system and Member States.  The year after, in 2002, the General Assembly decided to consider at its session the following year, that is 2003, the idea of convening a high-level plenary meeting during the sixtieth session to review the implementation of the Millennium Declaration.  The Assembly of 2003 also requested the Secretary-General to study the ways and means to promote a more comprehensive and coherent response to the global threats and challenges of the twenty-first century.  And those items are included in resolution A/57/145.

Now I go to Committee work.

The Third Committee, you will recall, has to do with social, humanitarian and cultural affairs.  That Committee adopted, on Friday, seven draft resolutions ranging from the advancement of women through human rights questions, to questions related to the right to food, globalization, the use of mercenaries and unilateral coercive measures.  Again, more details are available in a press release upstairs.

The second item has to do with the Sixth Committee (Legal) and this item has been the subject of tremendous inquiries on the part of the media.  And on Friday, the Sixth Committee averted a divisive vote on the question of an international convention against human reproductive cloning by deciding to take up the issue again as a declaration at its resumed session in February 2005.

Italy’s representative introduced the resolution containing a declaration on human cloning; the declaration will form the basis for discussions of a working group.  That working group will meet on 14, 15 and 18 February, with the Committee taking action on its report on the afternoon of the last day.  The text of the upcoming declaration would call on Member States of the United Nations to adopt and implement national legislation prohibiting attempts to create human life through cloning, and to ensure respect for human life in the application of science, particularly by barring the exploitation of women.

Member States would also be called upon to prohibit genetic engineering techniques contrary to human dignity.  The Committee accepted the proposal to establish the working group after the Committee Chairman, Ambassador Mohammed Bennouna of Morocco, presented it based on informal consultations.  The Chairman said that the working group would be open to all MemberStates and members of specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency, with himself as chair.

This initiative from the Chairman enjoyed general support.  The Chairman also said that the issue of cloning was highly charged.  It would have been damaging for the Committee not to come together on a matter with such grave consequences for humanity.  The Italian proposal, you will recall, essentially replaces the two earlier texts by Costa Rica and Belgium.  And you will recall that these resolutions by Costa Rica and by Belgium call for a convention against human cloning, but had different views regarding cloning for therapeutic purposes.

The Committee also approved a resolution on the International Criminal Court without a vote as it concluded its current session.  As was mentioned in earlier briefings, the cloning item was first introduced in the agenda of the General Assembly in 2001 as a supplementary item.  Again, for your own background purposes, that document is A/56/192.

Also today, there will be a panel discussion on the “Millennium Development Goals four years after”.  And that discussion will be moderated by the Permanent Representative of Gabon to the United Nations.  It will take place in Conference Room 5 and it is going on right now.  It started three minutes ago and it will go on until 2:45 p.m.

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

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