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

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

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

I have got a lot of stuff here today, and we have to be out of here in 19 minutes.  So, we’ll run through it.

**Iraq

Speaking to the press this morning in Baghdad, Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser said that now the Government has been announced, it will be up to the Iraqi people to judge how good a government it is.

They will make up their mind, he said, based on what the Government does and says in the critical months ahead.

Brahimi said he believes that this Government includes within it people who represent many trends in the Iraqi society.

He added that it responds to a large extent, though not 100 per cent, to what he’s heard from the Iraqi people -– a government composed of experienced and honest people that are not related in a narrow meaning to their political parties.

The overall makeup is reflective of a sometimes extremely difficult negotiation process, with hard but realistic compromises having to be made, Brahimi explained.

Mr. Brahimi has now left Iraq, and is on his way back to New York.

We have the official transcript of his remarks in Baghdad today upstairs in my office.

After a country-wide process of nomination, the selection for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq has now been completed and the establishment of the Commission was announced yesterday by the Coalition Provisional Authority.

The Electoral Commission, which will be the exclusive electoral authority throughout Iraq during the transitional period, will be autonomous and non-partisan and fully independent of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

By the end of the week, we expect the UN electoral team to have more information on this from Baghdad.

**Security Council - Iraq

As you know, the Security Council held nearly three hours of consultations starting 5 p.m. yesterday on a new draft resolution on Iraq.

Those discussions are expected to continue at the expert level.

Tomorrow, the Council is expected to meet with the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

**Security Council

The Security Council is holding consultations this morning on the programme of work and other matters.

The Council President for June, Ambassador Lauro Baja of the Philippines, will brief you on that programme at 1 p.m. here in Room 226.

**Democratic Republic of Congo – Fighting in Bukavu

According to the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this morning the town of Bukavu in the east of the country, was taken by dissident forces from the former Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie-Goma (known by its acronym RCD-Goma).

The town is now effectively controlled by the forces of General Nkunda and the dissident deputy regional military commander Colonel Mutebutsi.

The national Congolese army forces have either fled the city or sought refuge with the 1,300 United Nations troops still stationed in Bukavu.

While there is no fighting at present, massive looting is taking place.  The World Food Programme’s warehouse has been sacked and the UNHCR premises have been attacked.

The UN refugee agency is also reporting that some 50 more people crossed the border from Bukavu into Rwanda this morning, joining some 2,000 who fled late last week after the fighting began.

Today, demonstrations have taken place around UN headquarters in Kisangani and in the capital, Kinshasa, with demonstrators expressing anger that a rebel group has been able to take control of Bukavu.  In Kisangani, a UN building and a vehicle were torched.  No casualties have been reported, though the driver of the vehicle remains missing.  In the capital, two UN vehicles were set on fire.  No casualties have been reported there and calm has been restored with the assistance of the Congolese police.

Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, is expected to brief the Security Council on the situation in the DRC this morning, under other matters.

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

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman on the DRC:

“The Secretary-General was deeply concerned by the outbreak of fighting in the Bukavu area leading to an outflow of refugees and internally displaced persons.  He calls on all parties concerned to put an immediate end to the hostilities and strictly abide by the ceasefire.  The Secretary-General encourages the Transitional Government to address the issue in a consensual manner and reaffirms the UN Mission’s availability to assist in this regard.

“The Secretary-General also calls on all concerned to ensure the safety and security of all United Nations and international personnel in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

**Cyprus

In his report to the Security Council on the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, the Secretary-General says he remains convinced that, in the absence of a comprehensive settlement, the presence of the UN peacekeeping force on the island continues to be necessary for the maintenance of the ceasefire.

He goes on to say that, following the watershed referenda vote of 24 April, and as part of an overall reappraisal of the UN peace activities in Cyprus, he intends to conduct a review of the peacekeeping mission’s mandate, force levels and concept of operations, in light of developments on the ground, the positions of the parties and any views the Security Council might have.

The Secretary-General will submit to the Council, within three months, recommendations on the adjustments or restructuring that may be required.

Meanwhile, he recommends that the Council extends the mission mandate for a further six months, until 15 December this year.  The full report is out on the racks.

**Cyprus Good Offices

The Secretary-General’s report on his Cyprus good offices will be released tomorrow.  That’s a separate report.

**UNRWA – School Shooting Protest

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near-East –- better known as UNRWA –- has condemned a shooting at one of its schools which wounded two boys -– one of them seriously.

UNRWA says the incident occurred yesterday when an Israeli tank opened fire on a district neighbouring the Al-Umariye Elementary Boys’ School.

Several shots hit the school, with one of them entering a classroom and wounding the boys.

UNRWA will protest this incident in the strongest possible terms to the Israeli authorities.  We have more in a press release upstairs.

**Security Council - Counter-Terrorism Committee

There is a note by the President of the Security Council announcing the names of the Chair and Vice-Chairs of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.

The Chair is Russian Ambassador Alexander Konuzin.

**Sierra Leone Special Court

On Sierra Leone, the first trial of the Sierra Leone Special Court is scheduled to commence tomorrow.

There is a statement from Justice Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola, the Court’s President, saying he is determined to ensure that the Special Court fulfils its promise and strives to complete its judicial activities without delay.

The Special Court was set up jointly by the Government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations.  It is mandated to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996.

As of June 2004, 11 persons associated with all three of the country's former warring factions stand indicted by the Special Court.

**Côte d’Ivoire

On Côte d’Ivoire, as part of a series of diplomatic consultations in order to get the peace process back on track and the Government functioning, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, Albert Tevoedjre, has been holding a series of meetings.

He travelled to Bouake yesterday to meet with the leader of the rebel group Forces Nouvelles, Guilaume Soro.  He has held a number of other meetings with the head of State, Prime Minister, diplomats and various political and civil society representatives.

**UNEP/Olympics

On the Olympics, the UN Environment Programme has signed an agreement with the organizers of this year’s summer Olympics to boost the environmental profile of the Games.

The agreement includes joint public awareness and educational campaigns, and a detailed compilation of the environmental challenges and achievements of all aspects of the Games.

As well, UNEP will be establishing contact with the five cities short-listed for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games to discuss how the environment can feature high in their proposals.  We have more information on that in a press release.

**UN University/Governing Council

Fourteen new members have been appointed to the UnitedNationsUniversity’s governing Council.

The Council is the governing body of the University.

The new appointees, who replace 14 retiring members of the 24-member Council, will serve for a term of six years, until 2010.

The appointments were made by the Secretary-General and Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO, in consultation with various UN agencies.  We have the full list upstairs.

**Nane Annan/Adopt-a-Mission

This morning, Nane Annan spoke to some 250 students from six New York City middle schools who were visiting the UN Headquarters as part of a programme called “Adopt-a-Mission”.

It aims to educate children about the work of the United Nations through class work, guided tours of the UN, and visits to Permanent Missions to the UN.

The programme was initiated by the UN Association of the US.

Mrs. Annan welcomed the students and showed slides from some of the UN projects she has visited while travelling with the Secretary-General.

**FAO/Bioenergy

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today called for the urgent integration of bioenergy into agricultural and forestry programmes.

FAO says that bioenergy is an environmentally friendly, cost-effective and locally available source of energy.

It includes fuel-wood and charcoal, energy crops such as sugar cane, and agricultural and forestry residues, and is used to produce energy in forms including heat, ethanol, and bioelectricity.

FAO says bioenergy is often neglected by policy makers despite the fact that its production and use contributes to poverty alleviation and food security, and can help reduce land degradation and mitigate climate change.

We have more on that upstairs.

**Information Security Meeting

A reminder that the “2004 Annual Information Security Meeting” will be held here at Headquarters tomorrow.

Topics up for discussion include potential security concerns and solutions, and the role of information security in support of business.

Speakers include Marjatta Rasi, the President of the Economic and Social Council, and Ambassador Victor Camilleri, the chairperson of the UN Working Group on Informatics.

The meeting will be held in Conference Room 2, and runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

We have more on that upstairs.

**Press Conference today

Press conferences:  Immediately following this briefing, and I understand she’s already in the Protocol Room right next door, is Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate.  And she will be holding a press conference in this room, giving you a presentation on Women, Democracy and Islam.

I’m sorry, first she’ll talk to you in this room, and then she’ll speak on Women, Democracy and Islam in Conference Room 3 starting at 1:15 p.m.  Two separate events.

**Press Conference tomorrow

And finally, at 11:15 tomorrow, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Tassos Papadopoulos, will have a press conference in this room.

Now, Aburrahim?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Is there an end date pegged to Brahimi’s mission in Iraq now?  And...

Spokesman:  Today.

Question:  Sorry?

Spokesman:  Well, I mean, he’s left Iraq.  And so he’ll be coming here.  The Security Council may want to hear from him.  We’re waiting to hear from them on that.  The Secretary-General and the Security Council members will be going on a retreat this weekend, Friday and Saturday.  So there is a chance Mr. Brahimi will be pressed into service to go to that retreat.  So he’ll be busy here at Headquarters.  And I think the rest is in the hands of the Iraqis and the CPA, as they work out the details of the transition.

Question:  Do you have any idea if he’ll be going back to Iraq at some point, or that’s it, now he’s done with Iraq?

Spokesman:  I don’t think we can say one way or the other.  I am not aware of any plans he has at this time to return to Iraq.

Question:  And just a quick one on the draft resolution; based on any discussions that the SG may have had with the Americans and the British, the draft resolution talks about the end of the mandate of the Multinational Force and it pegs it to the end, to the completion of the political process.  What’s the SG’s understanding of what that actually means?

Spokesman:  I can’t discuss a draft resolution when it’s under consideration by the Security Council.  Sorry, I can’t answer that question.  Yes, Laura?

Question:  Does the Secretary-General have any comment on the dissolving of the Saudi Arabian charities (inaudible)?

Spokesman:  No.  Yes?

Question:  Fred, is the Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari travelling alone or is he travelling with a delegation, and how long is he going to be in New York?

Spokesman:  You’ll have to ask the Iraqi mission that.  I don’t know whether he’s travelling with a delegation.  I think he is the principal who is expected to meet with the Security Council members tomorrow.  Any other details you’d have to get from the Iraqis.  Yes, Mark?

Question:  Two questions:  One, I just wondered if there was any form of final preparation going over with the Secretariat now for what looks like an eventual, I’m trying to remember the exact words, but “leading role” in sorting out the conference and so forth in Iraq.  There seems to be a large role going to the UN, with the comment “as circumstances permit”, and I just wondered what preparations there were in the Secretariat before that role?  Just on another thing:  I missed some of the details of what’s been happening in the Congo, and it sounds quite serious.  Why was the UN peacekeeping force unable to stop any of this from happening?

Spokesman:  On the Congo first.  The 1,300 or whatever peacekeepers that are in Bukavu in the judgement of the head of the Mission were not militarily capable, nor were they ever intended under their mandate, to fight a war with these parties.  So if you have one party violating the agreement, taking over a town, and carrying out wholesale looting, that’s a problem that will have to be sorted out among the parties with the assistance of the United Nations Mission.  But we’re not going to start battling one or another of them.

Question:  But doesn’t that just bring us back to the string of failures and everything that went wrong with peacekeeping in the early ‘90s?  And I suppose we have the Brahimi report which says, “we’re not going to accept mandates which don’t equip us to do our job properly in these areas”, and again we’re in a situation where you’ve got 1,300 UN troops stationed in a town and the town goes (inaudible), and the UN can’t do anything about it.  Doesn’t that say something about...(interrupted).

Spokesman:  No.  No...(interrupted).

Question:  ...the nature of missions that the UN is accepting?

Spokesman:  No.  No, no, no.  The mandate was not to make war.  The mandate was based on a peace agreement.  Here the peace agreement has been violently breached.  It’s for the parties to sort out.  Once they can sort out their differences and reaffirm their peace agreement, then there is a role for the UN.  When war breaks out, the role of peacekeepers ends.  What was your first question, I am sorry?  [He later added that the UN was also mandated to protect the civilian population, which the peacekeepers in Bukava had effectively done.]

Question:  Was there some preparations for the leading role in Iraq?

Spokesman:  I can’t go into too much detail here, but for several months now, we have been preparing for the possible return of UN international staff, looking at possible headquarters premises and negotiating with possible troop contributors to the Multinational Force who would assume special responsibility for the security of UN staff.  But any return would certainly be contingent on the security situation in Iraq improving from where it is today.  So on a contingency basis, planning is going full speed ahead for a return on 1 July or sometime thereafter, should local conditions permit.

Question:  I’m just trying to understand this:  So the UN has been negotiating with potential possible troop contributors to the UN protection force, is that correct?

Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:  Okay, that flies in the face of what was said before, because it was always said before that this was not being done by the UN.  But now the UN is negotiating.  So I was wondering what progress you were making?  Have you got any sense of the countries that are... (interrupted)?

Spokesman:  No, we’ve had detailed discussions of how to protect our staff in Iraq.  And the concept that emerges is that within the Multinational Force and integrated within its chain of command there would be one unit designated to take responsibility for close protection and perimeter security for the UN.  And we have been talking to a number of, well, a number of troop contributors have come forward to us saying they would be interested in assuming this responsibility.  So we’ve been talking to them about the details, and I can’t obviously give you any.

Now, we’re out of time.  We’re one minute over time, so let me take Bennie.

Question:  Okay, two quick ones:  A) Does Brahimi intend to be on that retreat to formally brief the Security Council?  Secondly, is there any progress on the Special Representative nominated by the Secretary-General?

Spokesman:  Brahimi is at the disposal of the Council.  So should they ask him to brief them, I think he’d be happy to do that.  And I don’t yet have any indication of whether they would waive that request, should he be able to attend the retreat.  I mean, that would be the Council’s call.  I am sorry, my mind is a sieve here...your?

Question:  The Special Representative?

Spokesman:  No, there is nothing to announce on a Special Representative at this time.  Mr. Abbadi, quickly please.

Question:  Fred, on “oil-for-food” programme, Mr. Sevan has written an e-mail that is the subject of the press today, where he intends to defend the Organization while criticizing the Security Council, which is part of the Organization.  Can you ask him to come to the press and...(interrupted)?

Spokesman:  No, absolutely not.  Those issues are matters for the Volcker panel to investigate.  This was a personal e-mail to friends who had sent him messages of support.  I am not going to comment on its contents; it was never intended to be made public and the rest is up to Volcker.  Yes, sir?

Question:  The Turkish-Cypriot side changed the regulation to allow EU citizens, including Greek-Cypriots, to pass through the north without passports.  And also they agreed to reopen the middle school in (inaudible) for Greek-Cypriots.  How do you see these steps and why were they not reflected in the latest (inaudible) ...accord?

Spokesman:  I don’t know.  It’s probably a matter of timing.  I’d have to get back to you with those details.  (To correspondents still raising their hands) You’re questioning me now, okay.  We’re three minutes late.  Yes, your question?

Question:  Any word on the (inaudible)...in Afghanistan?  Any information on that?

Spokesman:  No, I have nothing on that.

Question:  I mean, if Sevan, if he doesn’t want to make it public but when you send out a personal e-mail on such a hot profile issue, you know it’s going to get out.  What’s he trying to say, because obviously we can’t expect him to be here and it’s under the Volcker thing?  He does talk about the UN, the Security Council, in your sense, you’ve seen it, what is he trying to tell the world?

Spokesman:  He spoke to friends in a private e-mail.  There will be no official comment by me on anything he said in that e-mail.  It was not intended to be made public.  To go into the public domain is to pre-empt Mr. Volcker’s investigation.

(To a correspondent still waiving for attention)  No.  Thank you very much.

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