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 Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**SG/Iraq

Good afternoon.  I’ll start off with a statement on Iraq.

“The Secretary-General is deeply dismayed by the rash of attacks in recent days against representatives of the international diplomatic community in Iraq.  He vehemently condemns these incidents, including the kidnapping of the chargé d’affaires of Egypt, as well as the attempted assassinations of diplomats from Bahrain and Pakistan.

“There can be no justification for the targeting of diplomats.  As with earlier attacks against the United Nations and other international actors in Iraq, the Secretary-General hopes that these latest attacks will not weaken the resolve of the international community to stand with the Iraqi people at this critical juncture in their history.  The Secretary-General expects that the perpetrators of these acts will be quickly apprehended and brought to justice.”

**SG Travels

Turning to the Secretary-General’s travels, yesterday he told African leaders that this September’s Summit will be an opportunity for all humankind.  Noting that Security Council reform was being discussed at the African Union Summit taking place in Sirte, Libya, the Secretary-General told the gathered leaders, “I urge you to seize this precious opportunity.”

He noted the key goals he intends to push in September that affect Africa, including the need for breakthrough on aid, trade and debt; the importance of strengthening UN peacekeeping; the call on leaders to affirm the principle of the responsibility to protect; and the proposal to transform the Human Rights Commission into a Human Rights Council.

The Secretary-General, in his speech, announced the creation of a UN Democracy Fund, which will provide assistance to countries seeking to re-establish or strengthen their democracy.  A number of Member States have already indicated their intention to contribute to that Fund.  We have copies of the press encounter available upstairs.

The Secretary-General is now travelling from Libya to London and, as you know, he is scheduled to attend the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland later this week.  He was also in London on Saturday afternoon, before going to Libya, where he and his wife, Nane, attended the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, aimed at the leaders gathering at the G-8 summit.  The Secretary-General later made a brief appearance on stage, telling the crowd that “the whole world has come together in solidarity with the poor”.

**Zimbabwe

Turning to Zimbabwe, Anna Tibaijuka, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy is continuing her visit to that country.  Today, she is scheduled to travel to the city of Bulawayo.  Miss Tibaijuka has now extended her visit until Friday.  She is making an assessment of the eviction of some 200,000 people in and around the urban areas of the country.  To that end, she has met with officials, evictees, UN agencies and NGOs.  And she is expected to report back to the Secretary-General at the end of her trip.

**Security Council

Turning to “oil-for-food” matters, we have received no objections from the Security Council regarding access by the Volcker Committee to the unofficial notes of the Security Council’s informal consultations.  We will now be working closely with the Volcker Committee to insure the full transfer of those notes to Mr. Volcker and his team.

On the Security Council, today the Council members held consultations on their programme of work for July.  These are the first under the new Presidency of Ambassador Vassilakis of Greece.  The Ambassador will brief you on the Council’s programme of work at about 1:15 in this room, following the end of consultations.  Council members will also be briefed today on the situation in the Central African Republic by the Secretary-General’s personal representative for that country, General Lamine Cissé.  And we flagged the Secretary-General’s report on the Central African Republic to you last week.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in an update we received from the UN peacekeeping forces in the eastern part of that country, they’re telling us the latest operation, called Operation Falcon Sweep, began today and will continue until mid-July.  This operation is being undertaken by a quick reaction force composed of two Pakistani battalions, Guatemalan Special Forces, as well as troops from the National Congolese army, with air support by Indian attack helicopters.

The purpose of the operation is for the UN mission to assert control of areas in South Kivu province.  It also hopes to bolster the confidence of the local population in the UN peacekeepers and to carry out effective search missions, with a view of flushing out armed groups from that area.  And we will provide you with updates as they come in later in the day.

**Kosovo

Over the weekend, the UN Mission in Kosovo was attacked in Pristina.  No one was injured, but three vehicles in the main UN compound were damaged.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Kosovo, Søren Jessen-Petersen, strongly condemned the attacks, which also targeted the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and a government building.  But he was relieved that no one was injured.  Saying that such actions won’t be allowed to damage the democratic process in Kosovo, Jessen-Petersen also appealed to the public to come forward with any information, as investigations into these explosions continued.

**Afghanistan

Also over the weekend, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Jean Arnault, encouraged all those in Afghanistan who have not yet turned in their weapons to complete the disarmament without delay.

He noted that to comply with electoral law, senior public officials must resign from their positions to compete in the upcoming elections, while those who command or belong to armed groups must disarm.  Arnault said that the door for registering to compete in the elections remains open until July 7.  We have a press release available upstairs with more information.

**WFP – Somalia

A couple of more items.  The World Food Programme (WFP) yesterday suspended all humanitarian shipments to Somalia, following last week’s pirating of a WFP-chartered vessel off Somalia’s coast.  The ship had been carrying two months worth of food aid for 28,000 tsunami survivors.

WFP’s decision was taken because of the insecurity along Somalia’s coast, but will be reviewed based on whether or not the detained food, vessel and crew are released.  It is the first time in WFP’s history that a ship carrying food aid has been pirated.

**UNHCR

UNHCR reports that its staff is rushing to relocate some 10,000 refugees in remote areas of southern Chad.  The refugees from the Central African Republic may soon be cut off from help by the start of the rainy season.

And in other news, UNHCR says it is extremely concerned by the detention of a high-profile Uzbek human rights activist in Kazakhstan.  The agency is urging the Kazakh authorities not to forcibly return Mr. Lutufullo Shamsuddinov to Uzbekistan, saying that would be a violation of the Geneva Convention.  We have more on that from UNHCR notes upstairs.

**CARICOM

In a message sent to the leaders of the Caribbean Community, known as CARICOM, the Secretary-General urged them to develop national strategies that are “bold enough to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015”.

In remarks to CARICOM heads of government meeting in Saint Lucia on Sunday -- the message delivered by Under-Secretary-General Anwarul K. Chowdhury -- the Secretary-General said to reach that goal developing countries should have their plans under way by next year.  He said that developed countries should support them with action on aid, trade and debt relief.  And the full statement is available upstairs.

**ECOSOC

And today, the Economic and Social Council is having a meeting of the Executive Secretaries of Regional Commissions on achieving development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.  The executive secretaries from Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as Africa and West Asia are all listed to speak.

**Women

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW, began today in New York meeting to discuss the reports of the following eight countries:  Benin, Burkina Faso, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Gambia, Guyana, Ireland, Israel and Lebanon.

**C8 UNICEF

And lastly from UNICEF, young people from a UNICEF Children’s Summit, or what they’re calling the C8 meeting in Scotland, have come up with a list of recommendations for the G-8 summit.  Their manifesto includes a call for immediate access to free and quality education for all children and action for children and young people affected by HIV/AIDS.  And we have the full copy of their manifesto available upstairs.  And that is it for me.  Any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  On Iraq, in the last few days we have seen there have been a kidnapping of an Egyptian envoy, an attack on a Pakistani envoy, an attack on a Bahraini envoy, a killing of four staffers at the Baghdad airport.  Has the United Nations taken notice that it has enough protection from Coalition forces?

Spokesman:  Yes, we did take notice ... I read out a statement right at the beginning of the briefing on that effect.

Question:  Indonesia says it will not accept the findings that a tribunal is necessary for what happened in East Timor.  What’s the UN response?

Spokesman: I’ll get you some guidance on that right after the briefing.

Question:  Did the complaint from the Iraq UN ambassador on the Marine’s killing his relatives reach the Secretary-General and if so, any comment from the UN?

Spokesman:  Not that I’m aware of, but I can check.

Question:  The documents that have been requested by the Volcker Committee, how many are there and any [inaudible].

Spokesman:  I’ll try to be brief, because we’ve had extensive discussions on this here.  They are informal notes taken by the United Nation’s Secretariat staff of Security Council informal consultations.  And these notes began in 1992.

Question:  Some are surprised and wonder why it’s taken... why they haven’t been handed in already?  Are there any more documents?  Or is this the end of it?

Spokesman:  No, this resolves that issue regarding those notes.

Question:  The [inaudible] reported that oil-for-food committee... the Volcker Committee... may expand its investigation and go back on oil-for-food as far back as 1991 or the 2.2 escrow account set-up.  Is that a possibility, if they go back to investigate that?  [Second Reporter:  There was no oil-for-food, was there?  First Reporter:  No, there was no oil-for-food.]

Spokesman:  I’ve not heard anything to that effect.

Question:  Can you give us an update on how long Anna Tibaijuka is expected to be in Zimbabwe and when her report is going to come out?

Spokesman:  Until next Friday.  And then she will report back to the Secretary-General.

Question:  How long would that report take?

Spokesman:  We would expect her to report back to the Secretary-General very quickly after that.

Question:  After the report ... what will be the next step?

Spokesman:  He’ll decide on what the next step will be.  Any other questions?

Question:  Every year, they run the United Nations Handicap at Monmouth Racetrack in New Jersey.  And considering what the UN has been going through and the media coverage and the investigations, I was wondering if you’d comment on the fact that the winner was “Better Talk Now”, third place “Request for Parole”, other losers were “Licensed to Run”, “Shake the Bank” and “Gunning For”.  Do you have any comment on the placing and outcome of this race?

Spokesman:  I think there was no insider betting involved in that race.

Question:  More trouble ahead on oil-for-food perhaps?  Or money [inaudible] ahead for the US?

Spokesman:  No comment.  Thank you.

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