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,

**Visiting Journalism Students/Journalists

First, I’d like to welcome our guests from New YorkUniversityJournalismSchool, and journalists from Eastern Europe.  It’s nice to have you here.

**Guest at Noon

Our guest at the briefing today will be Carolyn McAskie, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Burundi.  And she will be briefing on the latest developments in that country.

**SG Report

On Monday, at 10 a.m., the Secretary-General, as you know, will be addressing the General Assembly, to introduce his report, “In Larger Freedom”, which outlines actions to be taken to follow up on the commitments made in the Millennium Declaration.  Aside from an introduction by General Assembly President Jean Ping, there will be no other speakers at that Monday session.

And the Secretary-General afterwards will come here to Room 226, roughly at 10:30, to give a press conference.  And the main thing that I want to flag for you is that he will take questions on no other subject but the report on Monday.  Okay?  So, Monday’s press conference will be exclusively on the subject of the report.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the recent violence in the Ituri district, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s north-east, has left thousands more people homeless, many of whom are now seeking shelter in cramped makeshift camps in the area.

The attacks in the Djugu territory have doubled.  The number of displaced people taking refuge has risen to more than 25,000, in Gina -- 40 kilometres north of Ituri’s capital, Bunia.  OCHA says that there are now more than 88,000 people receiving humanitarian assistance in the territory, after being forced to flee their homes when fighting broke out in the area, late last year.  OCHA says the main humanitarian concern is the plight of thousands of people who are still unaccounted for in the bush and in hard-to-reach areas.  We have more on that upstairs.

**Burundi

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ Fund for International Development is contributing $300,000 towards a UNHCR project for the sustainable reintegration of Burundian returnees.  The funds will be used to finance an urgent operation to assist some 4,000 families who recently returned to two north-eastern provinces.  Voluntary repatriation to Burundi is one of UNHCR's largest return programmes in Africa.

**DSG - Iraq

Yesterday afternoon, the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, met with members of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.  The members expressed their gratitude for the support of the UN for the elections held in January.  The Deputy Secretary-General congratulated the commissioners for a very commendable performance under very difficult conditions.  She assured them that the Secretary-General and the UN would continue to provide support in the next stages, emphasizing that the ownership of the process rested with the Iraqis themselves.

**Security Council

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

**WHO – New Commission

Today, World Health Organization Director-General Lee Jong-wook and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar launched the Commission on Social Determinants of Health, in Santiago, Chile.  The new body will help countries, no matter how rich or poor, to incorporate social approaches into efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals.  Defined as the "causes behind the causes" of ill-health, social determinants include inappropriate housing, unsafe work conditions, inadequate health care, and social exclusion.  We have a press release on this upstairs.

**The Week Ahead at the United Nations

And finally, we have the Week Ahead which will help you plan your coverage of the UN next week.

And I will just remind you that Friday here is a holiday.  It’s the Christian Holy Day of Good Friday, and we will be closed.  So, you’ll have a four-day work week next week.

Hello, Carolyn, welcome.  We’ll be getting to you in just a minute.

Any questions before we go to Carolyn?

Edie?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Fred, is there any word on the results of the investigation of Dileep Nair?

Spokesman:  As I understand it, Mr. Nair is not returning to New York until late today.  So, he’s not expected in the office before Monday.  And Mark Malloch Brown, the Chief of Staff, expects to talk to him on Monday.  And then, I think, we can tell you soon after what the decision is as to whether or not we’re going to reopen the investigation of the charges brought against Mr. Nair by the Staff Council.

Yes?

Question:  The Patriarch of Antioch, Nasrallah Sfeir, is going to meet this afternoon with the Secretary-General.  Do you know if there will be talks about Hezbollah?

Spokesman:  I have no idea, but I think the Patriarch has agreed to speak to the press at the stakeout after that meeting.  So, I think you will be able to ask him directly.

Yes, sir?

Question:  A question about North Korea.  We just had a videotape of a North Korean public execution; execution in public.  It was held at the beginning of March, this month, and near the Chinese border.  And it proves the violation of human rights.

Generally speaking, what is the position of the United Nations vis-à-vis this kind of human rights violation?

Spokesman:  I haven’t seen your tape.  Any other question?

Yes, Bill?

Question:  What kind of follow-up does the Secretary-General plan to this report in terms of meetings or a campaign immediately, you know, over the coming months to sort of get it implemented or get his recommendations done?

Spokesman:  You mean the report of Monday?  The report of Monday will contain his suggestions of the elements of the two reports:  the High-Level Panel report and the Jeffrey Sachs report on development that Member States can achieve, in his view, this year, particularly at the September summit.

So, it’s his suggestion of an agenda for the heads of State.  Following the general release on Monday to the General Assembly, at 10 o’clock, he will be meeting, or his senior staff -- the Deputy Secretary-General -- will be meeting with regional groups, each of the five regional groups, explaining to them what he feels is in it for them.  This is viewed by him as a kind of package deal with something to offer everyone and he would urge them to accept it as a package.

So, that will be his main theme and message in the weeks following the release of the report.

Question:  But, does that mean that the regional groups will be scheduled next week?  Or how soon after the release of the report?

Spokesman:  I don’t think we have a schedule yet.  But as soon as we have one, we can let you know what it is.  If it’s the Deputy Secretary-General who will be doing this, we put out her programme every day for you, so you could see it on her programme.  But we’ll try to flag it for you once we get a schedule.

Question:  I’m sorry; it will either be him or her doing them, or a combination?

Spokesman:  Or Mark Malloch Brown, yes.  The senior management on the 38^th floor will be briefing the regional groups.

Okay.  Carolyn, do you want to switch seats with me?

(Issued separately).

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