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

AND 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,

**SG Travel

The Secretary-General has returned to New York, following a one-day official visit to Burkina Faso.  Following the Iraq conference in Sharm el Sheikh, the Secretary-General needed to follow up on pressing matters relating to the UN presence here in Iraq.

So, late Wednesday evening in Ouagadougou, he met one on one with President Blaise Compaoré for close to forty-five minutes.  He had told reporters earlier in the day that he would discuss Côte d’Ivoire with the President.

Asked in that press encounter if he had a message for the Ivorian people in general and President Laurent Gbagbo in particular, the Secretary-General said it is essential that they engage in a dialogue and reconciliation to save their country.  “There is no military solution”, he said, “so they have to find a way to live together”.  I think we have a full transcript of that press encounter upstairs.

**Francophonie

Although the Secretary-General was not able to attend the Francophonie Summit in Burkina Faso, his Special Representative for the Great Lakes, Ibrahima Fall, was there and delivered a message on his behalf.  In it, the Secretary-General called on the parties to conflicts in places from Côte d’Ivoire to Sudan to live up to their responsibilities with regard to their people.

He also said that indifference is unacceptable in the face of poverty and hunger.  He drew attention to the importance of the September 2005 meeting that will take place in New York to review the progress since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration.  And we have copies of that message in French upstairs.

**Côte d’Ivoire - WFP

The UN Mission in Côte D’Ivoire says that the World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended flights to Man, in the country’s west, until further notice, due to harassment of crew and passengers by armed elements of the Forces Nouvelle.  Yesterday afternoon, a series of gunshots were reportedly fired in the air when a WFP aircraft was about to land in Man.  The Mission says an investigation is under way, and it condemns any aggressive behaviour directed towards UN Staff or property.

The WFP is making the use of the relative calm throughout Côte d’Ivoire to restock its warehouses in the country’s north and west.  We expect to have a press release with more details from the UN Mission later today.

**Sudan

Jan Pronk, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan, today welcomed the meeting that took place yesterday in N’Djamena, Chad, of the Joint Commission reviewing the implementation of the 8 April humanitarian ceasefire agreement.  Pronk strongly urged the parties to see that their commitment to the ceasefire is translated into concrete action on the ground, by an immediate halt to hostilities.

He said that the recent attacks by the rebel Sudan Liberation Army in Tawila and Kalma Camp were acts of revenge that were “not acceptable.  The Abuja Protocols, he said, were meant to be a fresh start.”  He called on the Sudanese Government to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from using aerial bombings against the rebels.  We have the full statement available upstairs.

**Iran

The Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, yesterday told reporters in Vienna that his agency has completed its work verifying suspension activities in Iran, with one exception.  That exception, he said, is Iran’s request to exempt twenty centrifuges for research and development, without using nuclear materials.

He said that the IAEA was now in a position to say that declared materials in Iran have not been diverted, although he added that the agency has a lot of work to do regarding possible undeclared material or activity.

“This is usually a long-term process”, he said.  “We are on the right track, but we still have a lot of work to do.”  We have his comments to the press and his statement yesterday to the IAEA Board of Governors upstairs.

**Lebanon

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, yesterday met in Beirut with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Omar Karami, Deputy Prime Minister Issam Fares, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hamoud and other senior Lebanese officials.  Roed-Larsen emphasized that he and the Lebanese authorities saw eye to eye on the need to revitalize the peace process.  Both sides also agreed that peace in the Middle East would be lasting only if it was comprehensive.

Today, Roed-Larsen concluded his visit by holding meetings with former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt.

**UNHCR – Iranian Kurds in Iraq

The UN refugee agency remains extremely concerned about the fate of some 4,200 Iranian Kurdish refugees from the Al Tash camp, about fifty kilometres from Fallujah.  The agency reports that access to the camp is currently not possible because of poor security conditions.

Because of fighting last week, 1,400 refugees fled Al Tash, and the police station in the camp is now unmanned.  In addition to having no police protection, the remaining refugees will not have received their monthly food rations.  We have more information on that upstairs.

**Security Council

There are no meetings or consultations of the Security Council scheduled for today.

**Security Council Mission

The Security Council wrapped up its mission to Central Africa with a visit to Uganda, where the Council delegation met yesterday afternoon with President Yoweri Museveni.

The Council mission, headed by Ambassador Jean Marc de La Sablière of France, discussed the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo with the Ugandan President.  Council members also expressed their concerns about northern Uganda.

The Council mission today headed back to New York, and the Security Council will discuss the trip to Central Africa in an open briefing scheduled for next Tuesday.  We have upstairs the transcript of a press conference by Ambassador de La Sablière delivered in Bujumbura, Burundi, two days ago.

**Meeting with Staff

The Chief of Staff, Iqbal Riza, spoke with the President of the Staff Council, Rosemarie Waters, and agreed to meet next week regarding the Staff Council’s concerns over the handling of their complaints about the Office of Internal Oversight Services.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Staff Council in Vienna adopted a statement last Tuesday, which we were not alerted to until late Wednesday, deploring that they called the “dubious publicity and interpretation” given to the New York Staff Council’s resolution and expressing its “full confidence in the Secretary-General”.  We have copies of that statement available upstairs.

**SG Message on Emissions

We also have the text of a message by the Secretary-General on the Zero Emissions Forum, a UN University-based initiative, that seeks to minimize and recycle industrial waste.

**Press Conferences on Monday

Press conferences on Monday:  at 11:00 a.m. in this room, Jose Antonio Ocampo, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, will launch the UN World Economic and Social Survey 2004, which is the UN’s flagship publication on economic and social issues.  He will be joined by Joseph Chamie, Director of the UN Population Division, and Ian Kinniburgh, Director of the Office for Development Policy and Planning.

Then at 12:30, also in this room, the President of the General Assembly, Jean Ping, will be here to brief you.  And Djibril will probably have more information on that.

**The Week Ahead at the United Nations

On the Week Ahead, you’ll notice we have some details regarding preparations for the launch of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.

On Tuesday at 10 a.m., we will distribute embargoed copies of the Panel’s report, in this room, and there will be some contextual remarks given to you, on a background basis, by a senior UN official.  Then on Wednesday, also at 10 a.m., a senior UN official will give you a background briefing.  So, you will have 24 hours to read the report, and then you can ask questions of this senior official.  But again, that will be on background.

And then finally, on Thursday, 2 December, the Secretary-General will transmit this report to the General Assembly.  And at 10 a.m., the Panel Chair, Anand Panyarachun; and Gro Harlem Brundtland, one of the members of the Panel, will be here to brief you on the record, of course, and to take your questions.

That’s all I have for you.  Liz?

**Questions and Answers

Question:   Fred, I have got two questions.  One on the report; when is the embargo lifted?

Spokesman:  I believe it is at 10 a.m. on 2 December.

Question:   And then the second...(Interrupted)

Spokesman:  So, that means for newspapers, it might have to wait till the third, or whenever you come out.  But it can’t be in the morning newspapers of that date if they come out before 10 a.m.

Question:   And then the second question is on Kojo Annan.  You’ve apparently told The New York Sun, you’ve confirmed that there is a (Inaudible)... beyond what we had been previously told.  That he may have taken payments through 2004 from Cotecna.  Can you explain?

Spokesman:  All I can explain is that we received an enquiry from a journalist regarding payments to Kojo Annan through February of this year.  We had no knowledge of that.  I checked with Kojo’s lawyer, as a service to this journalist, and the lawyer confirmed that indeed that was so.  He explained that this was part of an open-ended no-compete contract between Cotecna and Kojo, and said that they had made this information known to the Volcker Commission.

So, it’s in the hands of the Volcker Commission.  And as I said, this runs counter to what we had told you, because it had been our information that those no-compete contract payments had ceased at the end of 1999.

Question:   How do you explain the discrepancy and... (Interrupted)?

Spokesman:  I can’t explain it.  All I can say is it will have to be now for Paul Volcker to explain it.  And clearly, the information is in his hands.

Question:   Fred, one of the things that we were promised as journalists looking into the oil-for-food issue was that there was going to be transparency.  And we were given the telephone number and contact information for Kojo’s lawyer; the one you spoke with, the very same fellow.  And he has been completely closed in terms of giving us information.  He says there is no comment whatsoever.  But now, miraculously, your office has managed to get at least some sort of clarification of a misinterpretation or misinformation that was disseminated earlier.  What is going on with the promise of transparency?

Spokesman:  Well, we don’t control what any of the lawyers might tell you or decline to tell you.  We have turned over all our documentation and made all of our staff working on oil-for-food available to Mr. Volcker.  So, that’s as transparent as we can be.  Mr. Volcker wants to control this documentation in order to have an orderly investigation, and there have been some challenges to that, as you know.  We hope that he and those others who also would like the same information now have some kind of an understanding about when it might be made available, when Mr. Volcker might make it available -- I think he said that at the time of his next report, in January, he could be releasing the internal audits, for example, to other investigative bodies.  But I have no control over Kojo Annan’s lawyer.  Erwin?

Question:   Can you tell us the source of, in your belief, or the information that the payments to Kojo from Cotecna had ended in, was it at the end of...(Interrupted)?

Spokesman:  That was information given to us by Cotecna.

Question:   So, they were obviously aware...(Interrupted)?

Spokesman:  We can’t explain why they told us what they did and why Kojo Annan’s lawyer is saying something different now.

Question:   Fred, does the Secretary-General have any views about this latest development?

Spokesman:  No.  He will leave it to Mr. Volcker to investigate the discrepancy.

Question:   But, I think, if I am not mistaken, that he has been on the record repeating what you just told us before, that it was a previous UN stand on this issue, and... (Interrupted)?

Spokesman:  I don’t know whether he himself said this, but we collectively and officially said it, because it was the information given to us.

Question:   Has he ever talked to his son directly about this, or in the past, or after this latest...?

Spokesman:  His communications with his son, I am afraid, we have to leave private in this case.  Of course, of course...(Interrupted).

Question:   But this is not a private matter; it’s a public matter.

Spokesman:  Of course, of course....  Yes, but you can’t blame the father for the sins of the son, if there are sins of the son.

Question:   I am not blaming him.  I am not blaming him.  I am just saying...(Interrupted).

Spokesman:  Let Mr. Volcker decide if anyone has committed a sin or has broken the law here, ...(Interrupted).

Question:   But the Secretary-General was himself on the record, twice at least...(Interrupted)

Spokesman:  ...and then you want... You want to drag the son into the father’s business; and the father’s business is now in the hands of Mr. Volcker.

Question:   But, Fred, as he is saying, Kofi Annan said in public ...(Interrupted)?

Spokesman:  You’re not going to get anything more out of me on this subject.  This is a matter...(Interrupted).

Question:   But, for the record, the only thing that we have is a statement from the Secretary-General, something in which he affirms something that we have now learned is not true.

Spokesman:  And I have acknowledged the discrepancy between what we said before, which we said in good faith, on the basis of what Cotecna told us in writing, and I cannot explain the discrepancy.  But the discrepancy is known to Mr. Volcker, and we will have to hear from Mr. Volcker what he makes of it.  But I can’t explain it.  And neither can the Secretary-General.

Question:   Do you believe that the Secretary-General was misled by his son?

Spokesman:  I have no comment on that.  Let’s leave it up to Mr. Volcker to determine what actually happened in this case.

Question:   But why don’t you ask the Secretary-General?  You know, you have access to him.

Spokesman:  We’re not talking about this while Mr. Volcker is investigating it.

Question:   Is there, though, any comment from the Secretary-General now that it is acknowledged that payments were made through 2004, as to whether that was an appropriate action?  Whether it was appropriate for his son to get paid?

Spokesman:  He’s not going to say anything about that, as long as Mr. Volcker is looking into it.  Let me take...

Question:   Fred, does that mean that Annan’s son received payments in January?

Spokesman:  I am assuming that it means that he continued to receive monthly payments from Cotecna beyond the end of ’99, when we previously thought they had ceased, through February of 2004.  Yes, Jonathan?

Question:   Doesn’t this latest revelation show that there are limitations that the Volcker Commission can have?  That here we have this new thing come out, that apparently all this was said and done and Cotecna was not telling the truth?  They also told us certain things that don’t jive with what we have learned now, disingenuous things.  And one wonders whether, you continually say let the Volcker Commission look into this, and... but, (Interrupted)?

Spokesman:  I don’t know why you say this in any way casts doubt on the ability of Mr. Volcker and his very sophisticated investigators to get at the truth.

Question:   I am not making a comment on their ability.  They’re very capable people.  But the concern is that this is a revelation that has surfaced because of journalists digging around and actually catching Cotecna not being genuine, disingenuous.

Spokesman:  But you have no idea what Mr. Volcker might have found out independently.  So, let his investigators conclude their job, tell you what they’ve found and then we’ll deal with their conclusions whatever they may be.  The Secretary-General has said that if anyone in his employ is found to be suspect by Mr. Volcker, the Secretary-General will waive the immunity of that person so that they can face prosecution.  He can’t do more than that right now.

Question:   Fred, how does that work with his son, who is not directly under his...?

Spokesman:  Well, then his son would not have immunity.  So, he wouldn’t have to waive the immunity.

Question:   No, I know.

Spokesman:  So, if the son has done anything wrong, there would be the appropriate judicial channels to deal with that.  Yes?

Question:   Fred, you said that the payments were made for a non-compete contract.  As a layman, I am not quite sure, could you explain what those payments were?

Spokesman:  We’ve already said that when an employee separates from a company, and the company is concerned that the employee could set up a competing business -- which in fact, I believe, Kojo Annan was setting up his own business when he left Cotecna -- it’s standard practice for such a company to enter into a no-compete understanding where, for a period of time, and I have no idea what a standard period of time in these contracts are, you can ask for yourselves, but I don’t know what they are, for a period of time, payments are made in exchange for this employee now departed from the company agreeing not to compete directly with his former employer -- no-compete contract.  Yes?

Question:   There is another aspect you mentioned, that if Kojo had done anything wrong there would be appropriate judicial channels.  But there is also the possibility that this would be something that would not be a violation of the law, but would be give the appearance of, or conflict of interest.  How would that ...?

Spokesman:  I am not an expert in that.  I don’t want to speculate how many different ways either unlawful or unethical conduct, might have been conducted when this conduct is now being investigated by competent individuals.  So,...(Interrupted).

Question:   The Volcker panel is looking at possibly illegal rather than unethical, or are they covering both?

Spokesman:  The Volcker panel is looking at the facts as they are able to establish them.  They presumably will say this was legal.  They may also have a view on whether something, though not illegal, was unethical.  You’ll have to ask them.  I don’t know.  But we will not anticipate what our reaction will be until they conclude their investigation.

Question:   But a judgement on whether something was unethical or not might be up to the Secretary-General to draw on his own.

Spokesman:  It may be, if it involves his staff.  But again, this is hypothetical.  So, there is no sense speculating what might be.  Let’s wait for the investigation to be concluded.  Jonathan?

Question:   I mean, from this article we’ve all read and we’re referring to, it looks like Kojo was on the payroll of Cotecna for five years after we were told that he was no longer receiving money.  Is not that something that will be scrutinized by the Volcker commission?

Spokesman:  No, it’s not fair to say that it was payroll when it was a no-compete contract, which is a well-known device in the industry to regulate competition from former employees.  So, it was a contract, not a payroll arrangement.  The fact is that we have learned in the last two or three days that this no-compete contract lasted much longer than we had been told.  We don’t know why there is this discrepancy between what Cotecna told us and what now has been confirmed by Kojo Annan’s lawyer.

Question:   But, how is it that you don’t know?  Why don’t you ask him?  Why doesn’t the Secretary-General for the sake of transparency ... (Interrupted)... his own son?

Spokesman:  He may well, he may well...(Interrupted).

Question:   ...and let us know completely, on the record, what’s going on instead of us looking and asking you, and going to chase him on his way in or out of the building.  You know this is not going to stop here.  So, why doesn’t he come clean and tell us what’s going on?

Spokesman:  But the fact is that it’s being investigated.  Whether or not this man talks to his son about this matter, it’s being investigated by a competent authority.  So, let’s leave the family relationship out of it.  Let’s leave the professional investigators to look into it and find out.  Let’s get to the bottom of it, whatever it might be.

Question:   Fred, “on the payroll” is the wrong word for that.  “Receiving payments” beyond five years, beyond what you thought is correct, right?

Spokesman:  That’s correct.

Question:   Thanks.

Question:   Do you think this latest revelation undermines the Secretary-General’s ability to go on (inaudible) place and to deal with foreign leaders?

Spokesman:  I think that because the Secretary-General has turned this whole matter over to a respected individual to get to the bottom of it, because he has pledged to cooperate with Mr. Volcker fully; because he has said he will waive the immunity of anyone who is discovered by Mr. Volcker to have done something wrong, or if Mr. Volcker comes up with evidence that anyone has done something wrong, I think that speaks for itself.  I don’t think that stands in the way of his carrying out his normal duties here and I haven’t sensed that any MemberState thinks that it does. 

Djibril?

Question:   Fred, can I just ask one other question on the subject of Iraq?  The statement you’ve made that Annan cut short his trip to come back on pressing matters related to Iraq.  Can you elaborate what the pressing matter is?

Spokesman:  No.  The preparations for the elections are going ahead.  We are continuing to struggle with the security arrangements for additional personnel.  We now have some 20 electoral personnel up from eight in Baghdad.  And we’re training Fijian close protection agents.  But all the pieces aren’t yet together on the security side.  He just felt that, given everything that’s going on here, that he needed to be back here rather than where he was.

Question:   Dopes that other stuff, oil-for-food stuff, Council-related issues, does that factor in as well?

Spokesman:  I haven’t from him that those things were in his thinking.  He mentioned Sudan; he mentioned Côte d’Ivoire.  Yes?

Question:   Fred, was he possibly aware while he was at Sharm el-Sheikh that there is a group of opposition parties, I guess minority parties is a better word, were going to put out a statement calling for the elections to be put off at least six months?  Is this possibly part of that?

Spokesman:  I don’t know whether he was aware of this or not.  I don’t know the answer to that question.  Jonathan?

Question:   Can we have any information on the size of the eminent persons’ report?  The actual report itself and also you mentioned that there will be one person who will be discussing this with us, I think you said on the distribution day, which is Tuesday.  Does that mean there will be just one person from this panel on hand to walk us through?

Spokesman:  It will be a person who is intimately familiar with all aspects of the report.  Why don’t you ask this question of how big a report it is and how many recommendations it has when you’re briefed by this person on Monday?  So, he will make some general comments to you as he gives you embargoed copies of the report.  He’ll come back the next day.  He will take your questions on background once you’ve had 24 hours to read the report.  And then you’ll get the formal press conference the day after that by the chairman and Gro Harlem Brundtland.  Yes?

Question:   One last question, on Congo.  Can you give us an idea of the state of the UN’s knowledge now?  Whether there is fighting by Rwandan forces now going on on DRC soil?  Has the UN been informed of this by the Congolese army?  Is the UN aware of it by it own means?

Spokesman:  I am told that we have heard rumours of incidents along the border, including of Rwandan infiltrations into the DRC.  The UN Mission continues its reconnaissance along that border, both by road patrol and helicopter.  And, so far, they have no confirmation of any such activities.  You’ll recall that we did say though, last week on Wednesday, that Rwanda’s announcement that it might take military action in the DRC seriously threatens the transition process.

Question:   One last question on Kojo Annan, Fred.  Do you know when the Secretary-General knew about the discrepancy?

Spokesman:  I believe it was when we informed him.

Question:   Which is...?

Spokesman:  When we had heard from the journalist.  Which was, I think, Tuesday.

Djibril?

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon. 

As Fred already mentioned, on Monday at 12:30, General Assembly President Jean Ping will give a briefing.  This follows a three-day visit to Pyongynag, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, where he met with the authorities.  He was also in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, where he addressed the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security.  Monday, 12:30, up-date for you on that visit.

The theme of his statement at the Institute was the United Nations at a turning point:  how to deal effectively with global challenges confronting humanity.  President Ping ended his presentation by quoting Pope John Paul VI, who wrote in his 1967 encyclical letter, “development is the other name for peace”.  The Assembly President went on to say, “I’m deeply convinced that without long-term investment in development, there can be no peace.  Likewise, in the absence of peace, it is almost in vain to hope for sustainable development.”  He concluded his statement with seven points, including, first, that our world has tremendously changed; second, we face new threats and challenges; third, that globalization is the new driving force of international relations; fourth, that collective efforts are required to deal effectively and durably with global challenges; fifth, that the United Nations, as the sole universal and legitimate international body, can best enable us to deal with these challenges.  Global challenges require a global response.

Next, he said a weakened United Nations can be a source of instability and insecurity at national, regional and international levels; and seventh, there was a collective duty to reform and strengthen the United Nations.

On the work of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), by a recorded vote of 91 in favour and 74 against, with 11 abstentions, the Committee approved a motion to adjourn the debate on the Sudan.  The Committee did the same thing when it voted on a no-action motion on Zimbabwe by a recorded vote of 92 in favour and 72 against with nine abstentions.  Speaking on behalf of the African Group, South Africa’s representative, who introduced the no-action motion, deplored the double-standards in the tabling of country-specific draft resolutions before the Committee.

He added that it gave the impression that human rights were only violated in developing countries, and said that the draft was a direct affront to the integrity of the African political leadership.  The South African delegate also said that the efforts of the Commission on Human Rights to cooperate in a constructive manner with States in order to eliminate violations of human rights had been derailed by attempts to name and shame certain countries, often incorrectly.  The representatives of Cuba, Malaysia and Senegal spoke in favour of the two no-action motions, while Australia, the Netherlands, on behalf of the European Union, and the United States, spoke against them.

The full texts of the press release on this and other items are available upstairs under document number GA/SHC/3811.

The Third Committee also approved other outstanding texts, including a revised text on global efforts for the total elimination of racism and racial discrimination, as well as the role of regional arrangements in promoting and consolidating democracy.  The Committee also adopted four other resolutions by consensus.

I’d like to flag for you again other references of documents summarizing coverage of other Committees -- document number GA/EF/3100 on the work of the Second Committee, document GA/SPD/307 on the work of the Fourth Committee, all of these on 24 November, of course, and document GA/AB/3652 on the budget Committee.

Flagging for you meetings next week, there will be a meeting of the Bureau of the General Assembly on Monday morning.  On Monday afternoon, the agenda item will be twofold -- one on the question of Palestine and two on the situation in the Middle East, the report of the Secretary-General.

Other meetings. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people will hold a meeting on Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. in the Trusteeship Council.  Two other meetings.  One organized by the United States Mission to the United Nations on the occasion of World Aids Day will be at 1:15 on 30 November -- a panel discussion on innovative avenues for addressing HIV/AIDS; and, also that day, a meeting sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Mauritius to the United Nations on cooperation between the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

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

Questions and Answers

Question:   Will the Monday afternoon meeting on the question of Palestine be with the full General Assembly?

General Assembly Spokesperson:      That’s right.  It will be a plenary session at 3:00 p.m.

Question:   What exactly are they doing?

General Assembly Spokesperson:      This is agenda item 37 of the General Assembly.  They will look at the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which is in document A/59/35.  Secondly, they will look at the report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, contained in document A/59/574.  Regarding documents on the situation in the Middle East, the report of the Secretary-General is A/59/431 and the second document is A/59/574, which I mentioned earlier.

Question:  Is there a schedule yet on the item in the Third Committee on racism and racial discrimination?  When it will go to the full General Assembly?

General Assembly Spokesperson:  No, but it was adopted by the Third Committee, so it will just move on, at a time to be determined, to the General Assembly.

Question:  Regarding the Third Committee on the Sudan.  Where does that leave the 1.6 million Darfurians who are living in squalor and refugee camps now?

General Assembly Spokesperson:  I’d like to refer you again to the release summarizing the debate that went on around this issue.  It basically mentioned that there are quite a few issues going on right now regarding the resolution of the situation in the Sudan, including the fact that the Security Council just met in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Africans are taking a number of actions.  Off the top of my head, I can say that the no-vote motion was more to do with the fact that they had quite a few irons in the fire that needed to come to fruition as quickly as possible.

Question:  How difficult will it be to bring that issue up for discussion again?  Or will it be put to sleep for some time?

General Assembly Spokesperson:  There has been very, very strong and serious concern on the part of Africans in Africa regarding the situation in Darfur, which is almost independent from what’s going on in the Third Committee.  This goes on at the level of heads of State, as well as the level of average Africans.  I don’t know that this in any way will have an implication for the issues going on in the continent regarding moving as swiftly as possible to protect the rights of the people in the Sudan, in Darfur.

Question:  Does this show that the United Nations is going to be incapable of handling that situation then, that’s its going to fall solely on the shoulders of the African Union and African nations to work independently, that the United Nations could not find a unified voice to deal with the crisis?

General Assembly Spokesperson:  As I mentioned earlier, the actions of the Third Committee follow a pattern regarding which countries are specifically brought to the agenda of the Third Committee, independent of the countries of Africa, which are doing everything possible.  The African Union, as you know, is the one lead organization right now, supported by the international community, in trying to resolve this issue.  So, you have, on the one hand, an issue of procedure that was presented by the representative of South Africa.  On the other hand, you have specific actions on the ground being undertaken by the African governments, supported by the international community.

Question:  Did President Ping have any comments on the Third Committee action on Sudan -- the no-action vote?

General Assembly Spokesperson:  I haven’t spoken to him.  He has been travelling, so I have no comment at this stage.  I will suggest that he come to you on 9 December, at 12:30 again, because by then the high-level panel would have submitted its report to the General Assembly.  I think it’s important to bring the President of the General Assembly, to give you the perspective of the General Assembly, around that time.  Every time there is something of news value, you can have direct access to him for half an hour.

Question:  Fred mentioned that the report would be presented to the General Assembly.  What happens after it’s presented to the General Assembly?  What action is taken?

General Assembly Spokesperson:  There will probably be consultations on a General Assembly-wide basis, and then we will take a little bit of time to link the members of the General Assembly in New York with those who are in the capital.  Possibly by February or March, we will have full feedback on the part of the General Assembly.

Question:  Would it come back in the form of a vote endorsing it, or what could we expect?  

General Assembly Spokesperson:  Whether it’s consensus or a vote would depend on the outcome, just like with different resolutions in the Committees.  You have 191 sovereign Member States and the mechanism they use takes different forms -- no vote, consensus or vote.  It cannot be determined until consultations are held.

Thank you.

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