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

AND THE 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,

**Iraq

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Baghdad, Ashraf Qazi, is continuing to hold intensive talks with Iraqi leaders on the political situation in the country and the role the UN will play in the country in supporting the political process in the post election phase.

Qazi met with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.  They explored means through which the UN can help the Iraqis during the transitional process.  This process is set to continue after the convening of the Transitional National Assembly with the drafting of a permanent constitution and adopting it through a national referendum ahead of holding new elections towards the end of the year.

The top UN official in Iraq also held similar talks with the president of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, and with the leading candidate from the United Iraqi Coalition, Iraqi nuclear scientist Hussein al-Shahristani.

Qazi is scheduled to hold further talks this week with leading Iraqi personalities representing various political trends in the country, with a view to encouraging an inclusive political process and discussing UN support for it.

**Tsunami Appointment

I confirmed yesterday afternoon that the Secretary-General has offered to former U.S. President Bill Clinton the position of his Special Envoy for tsunami-affected countries and that President Clinton has accepted.

The Secretary-General is confident that President Clinton will bring energy, dynamism and focus to the task of sustaining world interest in the vital recovery and reconstruction phase following the tsunami disaster that hit South Asia.  He believes that no one could possibly be better qualified for this task.

The terms of reference for President Clinton are still being finalized, but they will focus on reconstruction and recovery in the region, and ensuring that the international community stays engaged for the long term.

I was, therefore, wide of my brief in responding to a question yesterday when I said that, if asked, President Clinton could extend good offices to the Indonesian and Sri Lankan Governments in their respective peace talks.  His mandate will not include the peace processes in those countries that are in the hands of others.

**Sudan Statement

We put out a statement late yesterday expressing the Secretary-General’s serious concern about the recent shooting at two African Union monitors in south Darfur on 31 January.

He strongly condemns this attack, which could jeopardize the fulfilment of the African Union mission in Darfur and which occurred at a time when the military observers were conducting investigations to verify allegations of aerial bombardments and other violations of the ceasefire agreement in the towns of Jayjay and Shangil Tobai.

The Secretary-General calls upon the Government and rebel forces in Darfur to respect the neutrality of African Union monitors, observers and police, as well as all international humanitarian workers, and he also urges them to investigate the shooting incident and take immediate action against those found responsible.

**Sudan

The Special Representative for Sudan will leave Khartoum this evening to come to New York, where he is scheduled to take part in meetings of the Security Council on Sudan.

The UN mission, meanwhile, continues to send reports of insecurity on the ground.

Long-standing tensions over access to water in an area of north Darfur turned violent on Monday when clashes broke out between tribes.  No further details are currently available, but this incident compounds concerns over a general water shortage in the region that has been worsened by the present drought conditions.

In south Darfur, security and military officials from Nyala travelled to a town where a gathering of internally displaced persons was reportedly attacked by militiamen a few days ago.

Meanwhile, three Norwegian Church Aid national staff members, who were detained by local authorities at the beginning of January, were released two days ago, the mission reports.  Jan Pronk had urged the local authorities to release aid workers, during his visit to Darfur last week.

The mission also says it is receiving daily reports of rapes in one area of Darfur and reports that insecurity has caused new displacements of up to 50,000 people.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has appealed to humanitarian agencies to be on the lookout for possible meningitis cases given the recent outbreak in Chad.

**Security Council

The Security Council has approved the programme of work for the month of February.

The Security Council President, Joël W. Adechi, the Permanent Representative of Benin, will brief you here in Room 226 on the month’s programme immediately following the noon briefing.

**Côte d’Ivoire - Security Council

The Security Council yesterday unanimously approved a resolution which authorizes the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire and the French forces in that country to monitor the implementation of sanctions measures, imposed last year by Resolution 1572.

The UN and French forces are also authorized to collect, as appropriate, arms and any related materiel brought into Côte d’Ivoire in violation of the sanctions measures.

The Security Council also requested the Secretary-General to create, within 30 days of the resolution’s adoption, a group of experts to examine the implementation of the sanctions.

**Côte d’Ivoire

The UN mission in Côte d’Ivoire reports that Acting Special Representative Alan Doss, and Force Commander Abdoulaye Fall were in Bouaké to discuss security-related issues with officials of the Forces Nouvelles.

The talks will continue in order to facilitate the return of Forces Nouvelles ministers to cabinet meetings and pave the way to the disarmament process in Côte d’Ivoire, according to the mission.

**Lebanon

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the implementation of Security Council 1559 (2004), Mr. Terje Roed-Larsen, will visit Damascus, Syria, on 5 February and Beirut, Lebanon, on 8 February.  In both capitals he will hold talks with government officials and convey a message from the Secretary-General to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon.

**DSG - DC Speech

The Deputy-Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, is in WashingtonD.C. today, where she’ll be addressing the Women's Foreign Policy Group on “New Challenges for the United Nations.”

She’s expected to mention the importance of the United States in moving forward the UN’s renewal and reform process, and that America’s engagement has always been crucial for a strong and successful UN.

Following her speech, the Deputy-Secretary-General will take part in a question and answer session with participants.  We have copies of her embargoed speech upstairs, and we expect to have copies of the final “as delivered” version either later today or tomorrow.

**Tourism

The UN’s World Tourism Organization reports that, after three years of stagnant growth, international tourism rebounded in 2004.

According to the agency’s latest publication, the number of international tourists reached an all-time record high of 760 million -- which is an increase of 10 per cent over 2003.

And speaking of tourism, the 38 millionth visitor to the UN is expected to take a guided tour of the building early this month.  Close tallies of visitors have been kept since the first guided tour took place in 1952.  We have press releases on both those items upstairs.

**WFP – Correction

Regarding the Guyana floods, I’d like to correct a number I read out yesterday.  I said that, according to the World Food Programme, some 375,000 people still remained in shelters.  That number is actually 3,750.

Apologies for that.

**Flag

And just to inform you -- as you may have noticed, the UN flag is flying at half-mast today.  This is in observance of the official mourning for Mr. Sami Kronfol, the Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations, who passed away yesterday.

That’s all I have for you.

Laura?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Does the Secretary-General have any comment on the reports that Israel is not going to pull out of parts of the West Bank and Gaza?

Spokesman:  I don’t have anything on that.  I believe that, as he usually does after he’s been away on a trip, he is prepared to talk to you on his way into the building this afternoon.  So, you might put that question directly to him.

Question:  What time?

Spokesman:  Two-thirtyish.  We’ll squawk it when he is on the way.

Question:  Fred, (Inaudible), ... a matter of housekeeping.  You’re talking about the tourists coming to the United Nations; there is one tour which has been added as Hindi.  Hindi has been added.  Hindi is unique to India.  Both the languages are spoken in Pakistan and also in Indiahas just as many people who speak Urdu.  Most of the Indian movies are made in Urdu.  Why can’t the United Nations also consider having Urdu language to the tours?

Spokesman:  I’ll have to put that question to the people who run the guided tours.  I have no idea.

Yes?

Question:  Fred, could you give us a reason why Clinton’s mandate changed from what you thought it was yesterday?

Spokesman:  That was just my mistake, and I apologize for that.

Question:  Did anybody, I mean was the mandate changed at all... (Interrupted)?

Spokesman:  No.  That was just my misunderstanding of the mandate.

Okay, I’ll ask Djibril Diallo to come up, the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

Spokesman for General Assembly President

The revitalization of the General Assembly was the subject of a meeting President Jean Ping had yesterday with the facilitators appointed to that effect.  The facilitators from Cost Rica, Kenya, Singapore, Sweden and the CzechRepublic shared with the President early ideas about ways to bring about a culture of even more efficiency, focus and flexibility in the work of the Assembly.

The facilitators, as you may recall, are appointed following regional consultations, and they help the President to conduct the affairs of the General Assembly.  And they will continue to consult Member States and come up with proposals to enable the General Assembly to fulfil its role in the United Nations as a vibrant engine for interaction on current issues facing the international community.

Among the issues that they will focus on will be the agenda and organization of the work of the General Assembly, the working methods of the General Assembly, the Committees, as well as the presentation of reports and other documents.  For the past few days we have had the informal meeting of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and other issues, and this is another aspect of the work of the General Assembly that the President is focusing on vigorously.

As I have said repeatedly in these briefings, the idea behind this revitalization is to try and see how the General Assembly can find ways in which it can have on its agenda a focus on the right mix between long-term and short-term issues, and also to consider new ways of bringing about flexibility and focus in its work.

That’s all I have for you.

Yes?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Djibril, one of the things that’s been said in this debate in the General Assembly is that there was, one of divisions between certain MemberStates and so-called (Inaudible), are quite large.  But they can replace and they can, as a social compromise formula (Inaudible).  Is that being looked at by Mr. Jean Ping?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  What are you talking about, the High-Level panel?

Question:  The High-Level Panel.

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  I shared with you yesterday in my briefing some of the key points coming out of that consultation and it’s going on.  So, I can’t have some sort of definite position as of now.  But consultations are going on not only among the regional groups that you mentioned, you know, the Group of 77, the Non-Aligned, but also among individual Member States.  The next date that you need to look at in this connection will be 22 February when there will be another meeting.

Question:  Do you see another formula emerging also?  Is it a possibility?  A new formula, especially in the constitution of the Security Council?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  It’s too early to say what would be the outcome of these consultations because delegations made comments on the two models that we talked about here.  Again, this being Model A, Model B.  And in the case of Africa, news reports indicate that there is going to be another meeting after the African Union summit in Abuja; this time in Swaziland, to streamline further the African position.  So, delegations are vigorously consulting each other, and 22 February will be one date and even beyond.  It’s an ongoing consultative mechanism.

Yes?

Question:  Prior to the 22 February meeting, is the President hosting other sorts of informal consultations as an opportunity to get Member States together, whose differences are quite stark, sort of work out their differences on the two options?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  I am giving you these dates just as signposts in which the President takes a temperature of these consultations.  You may recall that the report -- after its being issued on 2 December, there was consultation on 8 and 9 December, and then this consultation took place, and 22 February will be another one.  But in between, there are many consultations going on with the President, with the facilitators and in the capitals of the different regions as well.

Question:  ...(inaudible) in taking up the role of hosting, sort of gatherings of Member State representatives so they can work out their differences on some of these issues of UN reform, he’s inviting the Member States sort of to take the initiative on their own in that respect?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  No. He has, as the President, a leadership role which has been quite effective in terms of being plugged into the system, among other things, through the system of the facilitators and his door being open also to the Member States who would like to express to him their views.  And after all this, he will be communicating formally to the Secretary-General as to the position of Member States, which will help the Secretary-General to prepare his report that will come out in March.

Okay?  Thank you.

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