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.

**Background Briefing

Immediately following this briefing, two senior UN officials will be here to give you a background briefing on the Capital Master Plan.  That report, as you will recall, was issued yesterday as a document.

**Nigeria/Cameroon

The Secretary-General met in Geneva for over 90 minutes today with the Presidents of Nigeria and Cameroon, to review the situation regarding the BakassiPeninsula.  After the three men held that meeting, they joined with their delegations for further talks.

During the meeting, it was agreed that a new programme of withdrawal of Nigerian troops would be worked out and agreed upon by the two Presidents and the Secretary-General.  The two Presidents agreed to continue with the process of the delimitation of the maritime boundary, based on the judgment of the International Court of Justice.

After that two-hour meeting, the Secretary-General, President Paul Biya of Cameroon and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria addressed the press.

The Secretary-General said the meeting had provided a useful opportunity to evaluate the work of the Mixed Commission dealing with the follow-up to the 2002 decision by the International Court of Justice, regarding the border between the two countries.

The Secretary-General stressed the need for the Commission to continue its work as expeditiously as possible and called on both Presidents to do their share.

Looking back at the progress already made, the Secretary-General commended both Presidents for the smooth transfer of authority that took place along the land border in 2004, as well as for the generally good atmosphere which prevails in the area.

The Secretary-General met yesterday evening with President Biya.  Before the start of today’s meetings, he had breakfast with President Obasanjo.

The Secretary-General will be on his way back to New York tomorrow.

**SG Press Briefing

In today’s press conference in Geneva, the Secretary-General was also asked about UN reform, including his proposal to replace the existing Commission on Human Rights into a smaller Human Rights Council.  He said, “I think, if we do it, it will help strengthen human rights”, adding that it would work all year and not suffer from selectivity in the matters it considers.

He added that he would expect a new Human Rights Council to be based in Geneva, saying, “Human rights has a very nice home here in Geneva and I don't see any reason for it to be moved elsewhere.”

We have transcripts of the press encounter upstairs.

**Security Council

There are no meetings and consultations of the Security Council scheduled for today here at UN Headquarters.  The Haiti meeting has been rescheduled from today to Friday morning.

And just to recap, following the consultations on Africa yesterday afternoon, early evening, I should say, the Council President, Ambassador Ellen Margrethe Løj of Denmark spoke to reporters and on behalf of the Council members expressed deep concern over the humanitarian situation in many parts of Africa.

Regarding northern Uganda, she said, members of the Council condemned the atrocities carried out by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and called on the LRA to cease all acts of violence and enter into peace negotiations.

She also mentioned that members discussed insufficient funding for humanitarian crises in Africa, and Council members acknowledged the need for prompt and predictable funding.

Her remarks followed a closed-door briefing by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland on the humanitarian situation in Africa.

**Sudan

Turning to Sudan, which the Security Council will take up tomorrow, the Secretary-General’s Special Advisor, Lakhdar Brahimi, and the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, will be visiting Sudan starting tomorrow.

Mr. Brahimi, who has been in close contact with the African Union (AU) on the scope and nature of UN support to the AU mission in Darfur, will be following up on those contacts during his visit, which will focus on Darfur.

And Mr. Guéhenno is on a fact-finding mission to gain the best possible understanding of the situation, in his case in the whole of Sudan, and the UN response.

They are both in the country until 19 May.

**Afghanistan

Turning to Afghanistan, the UN Mission in Afghanistan reports that a student demonstration in Jalalabad, in the country’s south, turned violent, with demonstrators throwing stones and, at one point, setting on fire a guard post outside the UN compound in that city.  An explosive device was also thrown into the compound.

No UN staff members were hurt, although some vehicles inside the compound were damaged by the stone-throwing and the explosive device.  The crowd has since dispersed, and the situation in Jalalabad is described as calm.

**WFP

The World Food Programme says it is planning to launch a weather insurance scheme in Ethiopia early next year.

The plan, which will get technical support from the World Bank, will address the recurrent problem of famine and malnutrition in the African country, by basing insurance contracts on a rainfall index.

If rainfall measurements fall to a level that suggests severe drought, insurance companies will pay out.  Premiums will be met by donors.

WFP says the plan will allow beneficiaries to feel more secure, while allowing donors to make consistent payments, as opposed to being hit with major appeals for billions of dollars in emergency aid.

**ILO

And turning to the International Labour Organization (ILO), at least 12.3 million people throughout the world are subjected to forced labour, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a new study released today.  Of that total, some 9.5 million people are in Asia.

That report, entitled “A global alliance against forced labour”, adds that more than 2 million forced labourers are victims of human trafficking.

The report also provides the first global estimate of profits generated from the exploitation of trafficked workers, calculating that $32 billion are made each year.

ILO Director-General Juan Somavia has called forced labour “a social evil which has no place in the modern world”.  We have a press release on that upstairs.

**General Assembly

And just a reminder:  The General Assembly is scheduled to meet this afternoon at 3 p.m. to confirm the appointment of Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand as the new Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Also this afternoon, the General Assembly will hold a closed meeting to discuss a draft resolution on the organization of its High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, which is scheduled for 27 and 28 June.

Then, tomorrow morning there will be a special closed GA meeting to establish the list of speakers for the September 2005 General Assembly summit, by a drawing of lots.

And that’s all I have for you today.

As I mentioned, at 12:30 we will have a background briefing on the Capital Master Plan.  But, Mark you have a question?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Yes.  Would the Secretary-General consider a North Korean nuclear test a threat to international peace and security?

Associate Spokesperson:  I don’t have anything new on the Secretary-General’s pronouncements on North Korea today; unless he spoke about it in Geneva.  But, I know that, as recently as in the recent visits to Asia, in which he went to both New Delhi and in the Asian-African summit in Jakarta, when he was asked, he has been a proponent of the six-party talks to get back on track.  So, that has been his consistent position on that.  If there is anything further from today, I’ll let you know.

Yes, Massoud; and then Mohammad.

Question:  On Afghanistan, the situation in the last two or three days has been getting worse, as far as the UN is concerned.  There have been two attacks.  Has the United Nations thought about seeking help from International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) or US forces over there?  What’s the situation over there?  (Inaudible)...worse like in Iraq?

Associate Spokesperson:  Well, today’s incident is certainly another reminder of the need for improved security in Afghanistan.  As we and the UN mission have repeatedly stated, improved security is particularly important in the context of the upcoming elections.  And in terms of your question about ISAF, security is the responsibility of the Afghan authorities and the international forces.  There is concern in the context of the upcoming elections, but in this case -- I know I mentioned today an incident involving a UN compound -- we’re told that there is no reason to believe that the United Nations was specifically targeted.  Yes, Mohammad?

Question:  Marie, when exactly will the 10,000 UN peacekeeping forces be deployed in Sudan?  And is Mr. Guéhenno’s visit linked to the deployment of the peacekeeping forces in the (Inaudible)...and other areas?

Associate Spokesperson:  Well, as you know, yes, the deployment of the mission has started.  We had some senior officials here, on Monday, briefing on the status of that deployment.  Mr. Guéhenno’s trip, obviously, as I mentioned earlier, coincides with the start-up of the implementation of the North-South peace agreement and the deployment of peacekeepers there.  But he will be looking into the overall situation.  He wants to have a first-hand look, to get the best possible picture of what’s going on and to see how the UN is responding to it.  So, it’s a fact-finding mission.  Yes, Mark?

Question:  Would the Secretary-General consider a decision by Iran to resume enrichment activities a threat to international peace and security?

Associate Spokesperson:  I don’t have anything on that.  I’ll have to get back to you after the briefing.  Yes, Mark?

Question:  Does the UN share any concern that the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference still hasn’t decided on an agenda?  And does it call on Egypt, the country which is holding out against the agenda, to stop messing things up and agree to one?

Associate Spokesperson:  We’re still trying to get you a briefing on the status of the NPT.  I don’t have anything further to comment on that from the Secretary-General.

Question:  So, the UN doesn’t have a position on the North Korean nuclear, Iran nuclear, or the collapse of the NPT, as of today?

Associate Spokesperson:  Well, the latter, you’re drawing your own conclusions on the latter.  I don’t think there has been any collapse.  I think in terms of both issues of nuclear proliferation, the Secretary-General had a very strong statement at the very beginning of the conference, and, in fact, he took it even one step further when the Mayor for Peace were here.  I think he encouraged their efforts... (Interrupted).

Question:  I understand that; it’s just that there has been, moving on since then, Iran has basically indicated it’s going to start enrichment activities and announced that by the end of the week.  This is a new development.  Or that there has been new information about Korea basically planning an imminent nuclear test.  This is new information that’s happened since.  And a week and half after the Secretary-General gave the speech there is still no agenda.  This is also new information.  So, these are new things that have happened.  Things have moved on in the past week and a half.  And I am wondering whether the Secretary-General wants to take the position on what’s beginning to look like a rather scary confluence of events.

Associate Spokesperson:  I think his general position has been not changed.  And on the specific reactions, if there were some specific reactions, I’ll get them for you after the briefing.  Yes, Massoud?

Question:  Marie, has there been any movement in the inquiry on Mr. Strong’s hiring of his stepdaughter?  I was talking to Stéphane the other day -- we asked Stéphane.  He said we’re looking into the charges whether the appointment, which was in fact, against rules and regulations.  Has there been any development as to where this stands now?

Associate Spokesperson:  I have nothing new to report on that.  I will look into that after the briefing to see if there have been some developments that we can report on.  But, nothing further.  Yes, Beni?

Question:  There was report last week about an investigation in UNDP regarding Justin Leites (Sp).  Has there been any new development on that? 

Associate Spokesperson:  I don’t have anything on it for today.  I don’t know if there has been anything new; I’ll look into that for you as well.

Well, if there are no other questions; I guess our guests are here.  So, give us a second to adjust the podium.  It’s a background briefing on the Capital Master Plan.

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