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.

**Security Council

The Secretary-General just briefed the Security Council via satellite link from Nairobi in closed consultations on what he saw and discussions he held regarding Sudan on his trip to Africa.

Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, who was with the Secretary-General on his visit to Sudan and Chad, was in the room and briefed members on the 90-day humanitarian action plan and the constraints and challenges facing relief operations in Darfur.

Jan Egeland is going to brief you, either here in room 226 if he gets out soon or at the Security Council stakeout microphone should consultations last longer than the briefing.

**Darfur

Meanwhile, we have available for you a brief humanitarian snapshot from Darfur today.

Humanitarian agencies report that in North Darfur, there have been outbreaks of fighting between the Sudanese Government and militia groups.  In addition, some agencies report that travelling members of their staff have been searched and looted by military officials on several occasions.

Agencies also point out that the depletion of firewood around some camps is increasing the risk of insecurity among women who are forced to move further away from concentration areas to collect wood for cooking.

Also in North Darfur, agencies have started to provide the necessary assistance to the displaced people who were relocated from El Meshtel to Abu Shouk camp by the Sudanese Government prior to the visit of the Secretary General. 

Agencies report that in the Abu Shouk camp, the health situation has stabilized.

**Secretary-Generalin Kenya

The Secretary-General earlier today departed Ethiopia for Kenya, from where he spoke to the Security Council by videoconference.  He also met with the UN staff in Nairobi.

Upon arrival in Kenya, he told reporters that he looks forward to having discussions with his own team in Nairobi and with President Mwai Kabaki and the Kenyan Government.  He said, “I am sure we will have time to discuss issues of common interest and some of the crises affecting our continent.”

I just received word from the Security Council that Jan Egeland should be here to brief you in about 10 minutes.  It’s never easy to predict the end of consultations, but he should come here.

**Secretary-Generalon Côte d’Ivoire

Again to the Secretary-General, last night in Addis Ababa, the Secretary-General convened a mini-summit on Côte d’Ivoire that brought together the heads of government of nine States in the region, who voiced their concern at the stalemate in that country.

The participants at last night’s meeting agreed in a communiqué to convene a high-level meeting of all Ivorian parties, including the President and Prime Minister, in Accra, Ghana, on 29 July.  We have the communiqué upstairs for you.

**Iraq - IAEA

The Secretary-General has transmitted to the Security Council a letter from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which reports on the transfer of roughly 1.8 tons of low enriched uranium from Iraq to the United States.

In the letter, Mohamed ElBaradei says that the U.S. Government had informed the IAEA of its intention to transfer some nuclear material out of Iraq, because of security concerns.  The United States last week informed the agency that it had performed the transfer on 23 June.

The letter is out on the racks today.

**Quartet

Representatives of the Middle East diplomatic quartet met in Ramallah today with Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei and other senior Palestinian Authority officials.

In a statement released after the meeting, the envoys reaffirmed the need for concrete steps on the ground by the Palestinian Authority in order to revive the Road Map and seize the opportunity represented by Israel’s Gaza withdrawal initiative.  They also expressed their strong support for the Egyptian role in working with the parties and urged the Palestinian Authority to do its part by moving decisively to fulfill its security commitments.

These envoys also discussed with the Prime Minister the humanitarian situation and development needs in the West Bank and Gaza.  The full text of the statement is upstairs.

**Security Council

And also back to the Security Council, at 3 this afternoon, the Security Council has scheduled another set of consultations, and this time it is on the Central African Republic.

**ICC

Today in The Hague, the International Criminal Court decided to assign its first two situations, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Uganda, to pre-trial chambers.  We have transcripts of the Court’s decisions upstairs.

**Southern Africa

Just a couple of bullet points on press releases:  Overall cereal production in southern Africa declined this season, with maize production decreasing by 9 per cent compared to last year, the Food and Agriculture Organization says.  The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has expressed concern about the shortfall in cereal output in Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

**UNHCR/Democratic Republic of Congo

The UNHCR, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, says that hundreds of Congolese refugees have begun returning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to asses the situation in their home villages.

Over 300 have returned since 1 July, with another 500 saying that they’re ready to go home.

However, because infrastructure has been severely damaged in the country’s east, and the military tends to harass and steal from the local population, UNHCR isn’t recommending the return of all refugees.

At the same time, small numbers of Congolese continue to flee into Burundi due to tension in the DR Congo’s south Kivu region, also in the east.

**ITU/SPAM Conference

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) today began a meeting on fighting unsolicited commercial mail, also known as SPAM.

The Geneva meeting is part of preparations for the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society.

The Summit has identified SPAM as a potential threat to the full use of digital services and described it as “a significant and growing problem for users, networks and the Internet as a whole”.

Discussion will centre on five key issues, including technical solutions and international cooperation.  There is more on that in a press release from the ITU.

**World Chronicle Television Programme

And finally, we have an announcement of World Chronicle programme no. 943, featuring the FAO Director for North America which will be shown today at
3:30 p.m. on in-house television channel 3 or 31.

I’ll have to get you more information on this programme, because it doesn’t say what it’s about.

That’s all I have for you.  Mr. Egeland, I am told should be here shortly.  Yes?

**Questions and Answers

Question:   Just on the record, the Sudanese all consider themselves African.  But a common description of what’s happening in Darfur in the press is that this is a conflict between ethnic Arabs and ethnic black Africans.  What’s the official UN terminology for describing what’s happening there?

Associate Spokesperson:  The other day the Human Rights Rapporteur was taking these questions, and I think I’d like to go back to her precise wording because that is the only description I have seen made in public.  So, let me look at that and get back to you.  [The Spokeswoman later added that the Special Rapporteur had described the campaign of “promotional Arabization” that the Sudanese Government had launched some years ago and had continued to carry out for some time.  That background contained the ethnic connotations of the conflict being witnessed today.]  Yes?

Question:   Is there any update on the Rudd Lubbers situation?

Associate Spokesperson:  No.

Question:   Can you confirm what the Times reported that there was an internal memo sent by Secretary-General Annan following Mr. Lubbers’ letter to the staff and a letter to a woman who made charges against him saying if she’d drop the allegations there would be no reprisals?  Was there indeed now this Secretary-General memo which talked about investigators from the UN being allowed to carry out their enquiries impartially and without any outside interference?

Associate Spokesperson:  The only part of your question that I can confirm is the memo.  As The New York Times story says, there was a memo from the Secretary-General’s office to the Office of Internal Oversight Services saying what you just outlined in the news report.  But it was simply a confirmation of a memo that they had obtained.  I think, as far as the investigation is concerned, we have no further updates.  I think the last thing we said was that until the process was complete, we’d have no further details.

Question:   Describe to us what you mean by “confirmation of a memo they had obtained”?

Associate Spokesperson:  You had just outlined the contents of The New York Times story.  All I was doing was confirming that the memo to which you refer, the one from the Secretary-General’s office is the one that our office confirmed.

Question:   Will that memo, considering the allegations here, be released?

Associate Spokesperson:  It’s an internal memo.  The simple reason for why we confirmed its existence is because they were in possession of it and we confirmed that it was authentic.

Question:   Did Mr. Annan ask Mr. Lubbers to resign when he met with him or to tell him to consider such an option?

Associate Spokesperson:  The Secretary-General did meet with Ruud Lubbers yesterday towards the end of, well, probably early evening, in Addis Ababa.  They were both there for official business.  And as you know, the issue of African refugees is a huge item for the UNHCR agenda.  I can just confirm that they met.  I believe it was tête-à-tête, and I can’t even tell you what came up in the meeting.  Yes?

Question:   Does the Secretary-General have any further comments on the Quartet meeting for Premier Sharon’s withdrawal from Gaza Strip?  Do you have any further information from the Secretary-General?

Associate Spokesperson:  On the Quartet meeting?  I read a small item on the Quartet item for today.  I don’t have anything further than that.  Specifically, you’re asking ...?

Question:   Does the Secretary-General have any further comments on suggestions to the Quartet meeting?

Associate Spokesperson:  No.  I was just speaking with his chief spokesman and the Secretary-General has been very much involved all week in African issues.  And, as you can see from between Sudan and his mini-summits on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, as well as discussions on Ethiopia-Eritrea, he has really been immersed in these vital issues of interest for the United Nations.  Yes?

Question:   Maybe I missed something at the top; I know you were talking about videoconferencing.  But can you tell us, I don’t know if we’re getting an answer.  What did he say?  Did he urge sanctions on the government?  Did he say he’s impressed by their willingness to cooperate?

Associate Spokesperson:  The remarks to the Council, unfortunately for you, were made in closed consultations.  So, if Council members ask for those notes, then you may be able to get a copy from Council members.  But as far as the content of the briefing, he briefed them on what he saw on the condition of the people in Sudan and in Chad, the refugees there.  He briefed them on his talks with the officials.  He briefed them on the memorandum.  I think he briefed them on many of the things that we have been flagging to you everyday here.  We’ve asked Jan Egeland to come here when the consultations are over so that he can provide you with a fresh account.  But mostly the Council members now, they’re discussing based on the briefing, what their course of action is and should be.  So, you should talk to them.  Yes?

Question:   Marie, back to UNHCR.  I understand that Mr. Lubbers let go of the Inspector-General of that agency.  I have been told that, anyway.  Can you confirm it, and do you know when or anything and under whose authority?

Associate Spokesperson:  I’d have to look at that one.  [The correspondent was later informed that the UNHCR Inspector-General had recently left to take up a senior position in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  According to UNHCR, the official, Dennis McNamara, was not “let go”.]

Question:   And can you recite more clearly what was in that memo you are confirming?

Associate Spokesperson:  Well, it’s not a memo that we’re proactively reporting on.  So, I can simply confirm that The New York Times story is correct; that we confirm the existence of an internal memo and I’ll leave it at that.

Question:   (Inaudible)

Associate Spokesperson:  If you want to talk to Lubbers, I don’t know if he is available or not.  But as far as this investigation is still ongoing; the process is still ongoing, I am afraid I can’t comment any further.  Yes?

Question:   I know they’re pushing you out here from upstairs, but what is the reasoning behind that memo; of putting it out?  What is the reason to issue that internal memo?

Associate Spokesperson:  The memo was issued, I believe, chronologically, on the day after an e-mail letter was sent out by Mr. Lubbers, and this internal memo from the Secretary-General’s office to the OIOS was issued.  It was in response to Mr. Lubbers’ note to the staff and it simply states a matter of guidance for how the OIOS inspectors should go about their work.  I mean, it’s as stated in The New York Times story.  But as I said, this is not an item that we went out and reported out there.  It was simply to confirm a question from The New York Times.

Question:   I think that’s understood.  The question is whether the UN should be more proactive in reporting this before The New York Times does.

Associate Spokesperson:  I am sure the 38^th floor is hearing your comments on this.

Question:   Does the 38^th floor think that Mr. Lubbers should fall on his humanitarian sword before the GA is here in September?

Associate Spokesperson:  I can’t comment any further on this investigation.  Sorry, Richard. Yes?

Question:   Marie, going back to the Secretary-General’s briefing to the Council.  Was there actually a written briefing?  I mean, was there a written copy that was given to members of the Council?

Associate Spokesperson:  Usually the general practice is, if Council members request a copy of a briefing by a senior Secretariat briefer, then generally, the remarks are distributed to Council members.  That had not happened by the time I left.  And that was about 11:30.

Question:   But then, is there one prepared for them to get or ...?

Associate Spokesperson:  Well, if they ask for it, I am sure they will get one.

Question:   In other words, (inaudible).

Associate Spokesperson:  That I don’t know.

Question:   Does Mr. Annan have the power to fire Mr. Lubbers?

Associate Spokesperson:  Let me get that precise procedure for you because I don’t want to give anything out incorrectly.  Yes?

Well, if there are no more questions, let’s wait for Jan Egeland.  Probably at the stakeout microphone is the best thing at this point.

Thank you.

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