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 Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

I’m sorry I am late.  We had to get a number of updates and statements.

**Statement Attributable to Spokesman for Secretary-General

The first one is a statement attributable to the Spokesman on the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned that recent events in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have compounded an already serious humanitarian situation.  There have been reports of human rights violations, including violence against women and children, population displacements, and massive looting.

“Personnel of UN humanitarian agencies and their non-governmental organization partners have been attacked and their equipment damaged, forcing the suspension of most aid programmes for some 3 million people in the region.

“The Secretary-General stresses to those involved in the recent fighting of their obligation under international humanitarian law to protect civilians caught in armed conflict.  He urges them to provide humanitarian workers with the safe and unhindered access they need to deliver life-sustaining aid.  The Secretary-General calls on neighbouring States to facilitate access by all humanitarian actors, as well as the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the Bukavu area.”

**DRC Update

The UN Mission reports that the situation in that eastern town in South Kivu province is relatively calm although some looting has continued.  This is an update from today.

A 50-person delegation of the DRC Government is due to arrive in Bukavu today.  The group is comprised of senior government officials, and includes the Governor and two Vice-Governors of South Kivu.

A UN human rights team, meanwhile, is continuing its investigation in Bukavu, and is receiving firsthand information about human rights violations which occurred during the recent fighting.  Meanwhile, efforts continue to restore access by humanitarian agencies to all those affected by the fighting and civil unrest in the eastern part of the country.

The UN refugee agency has dispatched a mission to the border of Burundi and the DRC to look into reports that thousands of new refugees have arrived in Burundi fleeing fighting in the Uvira region, south of Bukavu, also in the eastern part of the DRC.  A press release on the refugee movement is available.

And also on the Democratic Republic of the Congo today:  Ambassador Luis Gallegos of Ecuador will be speaking to you, just after the noon briefing here, on his recent mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on behalf of the Executive Board of UNICEF, or the UN Children’s Fund.

**Statement Attributable to Spokesman for Secretary-General

I have another statement.  This one is on the killing of Chinese workers in Afghanistan:

“The Secretary-General was shocked to learn of the killing last night of 11 Chinese construction workers and their Afghan guard on the outskirts of Kunduz city in northern Afghanistan.  He condemns this outrageous and contemptible act against unarmed civilians, which also left five Chinese workers wounded.

“This appalling attack follows a series of other incidents directed against those working in support of the Bonn peace process.  The Secretary-General calls on the Government of Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan (ISAF), and Coalition forces to take the necessary measures to address the security situation.

“The Secretary-General expresses his profound condolences to the Chinese Government and to the bereaved families.”

We also have a statement from the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Afghanistan, Jean Arnault, who also condemned the killings.  And we understand that the Security Council President will be reading a statement on the same subject following consultations.

**Darfur

Turning to Darfur, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is continuing its worldwide airlift of more than 1,700 tonnes of emergency supplies for Sudanese refugees in Chad, hundreds of whom are still arriving weekly amid the start of seasonal rains.

On Wednesday, UNHCR completed the airlift of tents from Pakistan and started similar flights from Tanzania to rush an additional 280 metric tones of aid to Chad.

**SG on Darfur

Also on Darfur, in his commencement address at HarvardUniversity later today, the Secretary-General is expected to draw attention again to the alarming situation in Darfur, where about 1.3 million people need immediate assistance.

He is expected to reiterate his call to the international community to insist that the Sudanese authorities immediately put their house in order and that they must neutralize and disarm the brutal “Janjaweed” militia; allow humanitarian supplies and equipment to reach the population without further delays; and pursue the political negotiations in Darfur with a renewed sense of urgency.

We have embargoed copies of that commencement address upstairs.  It is embargoed for 3 o’clock this afternoon.

**SG - Harvard

Turning to that visit, the Secretary-General is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where this morning he received an honorary degree from HarvardUniversity.  The degree states that the Secretary-General “affirms the dignity of each individual while persevering for peace in a difficult world”.

This afternoon, he will deliver the commencement address, which I just mentioned to you.

He arrived in Boston last night, and attended a dinner honouring him and eight other prominent individuals who are receiving honorary degrees from Harvard.  The host of that dinner, Harvard President Larry Summers, said that the Secretary-General “in a very real sense, bears the weight of the world on his shoulders”.

The Secretary-General responded with a toast, saying he was now tempted to say that he had the best of both worlds -- an MIT education and a Harvard degree.  He added that America's universities today have a special responsibility, more crucial than before, to encourage American students to look outwards from their country and see and understand the extraordinary world beyond it, in all its complexity and richness.

**SG to Travel to Brazil

On another travel item, the Secretary-General is scheduled to go to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to open and attend the 11th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD XI.  While there, he will address a special ministerial meeting marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Group of 77.

He is also expected to hold a number of bilateral meetings, including one with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.  The Secretary-General is expected to arrive in Sao Paulo on Saturday and return to New York on Wednesday.

**Security Council

Here at Headquarters, the Security Council today has scheduled two sets of consultations.

This morning at 10 a.m., Council members heard an update on Côte d’Ivoire by the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno.

Then, at 3 p.m., consultations are scheduled on the most recent report by the panel of experts on Liberia sanctions.  A press statement is expected following those consultations in the afternoon, as well as the statement I mentioned earlier on Afghanistan following the morning session.

**WHO

Turning to the World Health Organization (WHO), violence devastates lives and also imposes major economic costs on societies around the world, some of which spend more than 4 per cent of their gross domestic product on dealing with violence-related injuries.  This and other findings are contained in a new report released today by the WHO at the 7th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, from 6 to 9 June in Vienna.

WHO is actively involved in ongoing efforts to prevent interpersonal violence in all its forms, including child maltreatment, youth violence, intimate partner violence, sexual violence and elder abuse.  There is a press release upstairs with more information.

**UNEP - Environment Pollutants

A two-day international meeting in Geneva sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, is looking into ways of ridding the world of PCBs.  PCBs are environmental pollutants that pose a risk to human health and the environment.  They can be found in air, water, soil and food.  PCBs are one of 12 highly toxic chemicals targeted for elimination by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants that entered into force earlier this year.

**Guinea-Bissau

The Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council on Guinea-Bissau is out today.  In it, he says he is encouraged by progress being made on the political front, but cautions that the democratization process remains fragile.

The country needs international support to complete the transition to constitutional order, he says, and also flagged the need for resources.  He pays special tribute to his former Representative David Stephen, who served in Guinea-Bissau until his retirement in April, noting that his dedicated efforts greatly contributed to the restoration and consolidation of peace in that country.

**Budget

One more item on the budget, I am pleased to report that Ethiopia has paid  $57,441 becoming the eighty-fourth MemberState to pay its dues in full.

**Press Conference This Afternoon

And finally, as I just mentioned, immediately following this briefing, Ambassador Luis Gallegos of Ecuador, Executive Board member of the UN Children’s Fund, will brief on the visit of board members to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

And they’re here, and before I turn the floor to them, do you have any questions for me?  Yes?

**Questions and Answers

Question:   Will the Secretary-General be attending former President Ronald Reagan’s funeral?

Associate Spokesperson:  Yes, he will.

Question:   And can you give us an idea of the rest of the schedule tomorrow?

Associate Spokesperson:  I just mentioned to you that the Secretary-General will be travelling to Brazil to open the UNCTAD Conference and the G-77 meeting there, and he will be ... (interrupted).

Question:   I thought that was Saturday?

Associate Spokesperson:  He will be leaving tomorrow, as well.

If there are no other questions, I’d like to turn the floor over to the UNICEF Executive Board’s mission leader to the DRC.

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