The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Shirley Brownell, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly:
Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General
"We could have a serious humanitarian disaster on our hands come December, unless we gain access to the large number of displaced persons within the country", Eric de Mul, Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.
The mission of the Multinational Force in East Timor -- INTERFET - - was going well, and peace and security had been restored, Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning.
Every minute of every day, somewhere in the world, a woman died as the result of complications arising during pregnancy and childbirth, according to a joint statement by four United Nations agencies issued at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.
"Bosnia and Herzegovina is a patient that is recovering from a grave illness and surviving on life support systems", Jacques Klein, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Coordinator of United Nations activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said at a Headquarters briefing this afternoon.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Sergio Vieira de Mello this afternoon briefed correspondents at Headquarters on the situation in East Africa, from which he had just returned, and on his recent appointment as the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for East Timor.
