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

And the spokesperson for the General Assembly president

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and Ashraf Kamal, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by Deputy Spokesperson for Secretary-General

Good afternoon. Sorry for the confusion. We were trying to get Ian Martin here immediately after the Security Council. We’re waiting for him, I’ll go ahead. We’re also waiting for two statements: one on climate change that was issued earlier today and another on the agreement between Chad and Sudan. So, that should be coming down in the course of the briefing. But, let me at least read to you the briefing I have so far.

**Security Council

The Security Council, as I just mentioned, held consultations on the UN Mission in Nepal with a briefing by the head of that Mission, Ian Martin. And Mr. Martin has just arrived. Well, I’ll just turn over to you right now. And he just briefed the Security Council on his latest report. So here he is ,and I’ll turn the floor over to him first.

(Following Mr. Martin’s briefing, which was issued separately.)

I will resume the noon briefing.

**Secretary-General in Sharm El-Sheikh

So, about the Secretary-General, who is spending his last day in Egypt today, this morning he attended a meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh of the foreign ministers of the countries neighbouring Iraq, and he told them that he is strongly committed to having the United Nations do more for Iraq, particularly in areas where the Organization has a comparative advantage, such as political facilitation and humanitarian assistance.

The Secretary-General told the foreign ministers: “Security in Iraq will not be achieved through military means alone.” He called for national reconciliation in Iraq, and urged the neighbouring countries to do their part in denouncing sectarian violence, strengthening bilateral exchange in the region and encouraging national dialogue within Iraq.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General took part in a working group meeting on the Arab Peace Initiative concerning the Israelis and Palestinians, which brought together Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan, as well as the League of Arab States, with principal members of the Middle East Quartet. This was a briefing on the Arabs’ initiative, and not a formal meeting of the Quartet; a Quartet meeting may take place in the region shortly.

In comments to reporters afterward, the Secretary-General said that he had been very much encouraged by the candid dialogue with the Arab partners. Now, he said, it was important to seize the momentum to realize the two-state vision.

He also said he was encouraged by the meetings both of the International Compact and of the neighbouring countries of Iraq. He said that the important thing now is to translate the commitments made in Sharm el-Sheikh into deeds and actions. The Secretary-General will be back at work at UN Headquarters on Monday. And he is leaving the region later today.

**Climate Change Report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report today in Bangkok.

The assessment, which focuses on mitigating climate change, concludes that, unless action is taken, emissions of the six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol will rise by between 25 and 90 per cent over 2000 levels by 2030. Those emissions can be slowed and eventually reversed through cost-effective policies and the use of current and emerging technologies, at a cost of less than 0.12 per cent of annual GDP, the report estimates.

Specific recommendations contained in the report include encouraging the use of natural gas and renewable energy in place of more carbon-intensive fossil fuels; reducing emissions from buildings through more energy-efficient design; using cleaner industrial emission technologies; and arresting the high levels of deforestation around the world. It adds that Governments can play a major role in motivating the private sector to invest in innovative technologies by providing clear, predictable and long-term incentives.

The Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de Boer, noted that more than two thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy supply sector. He said that market-based flexible mechanisms, such as the international carbon market created by the Clean Development Mechanism, must be at the heart of any new international agreement to address climate change. And we have copies of the IPCC’s report upstairs.

The Secretary-General, earlier this week, did announce his appointment of the Climate Change Envoys. He displayed the priority he has placed on this issue of trying to galvanize world action on this issue. And he expects the Climate Change Envoys to come to New York on 8 May, and he will speak to them then.

** Lebanon

Now turning to Lebanon, the Force Commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major-General Claudio Graziano, today began the first in a series of meetings with local authorities in southern Lebanon, meeting with officials representing the municipal authorities in Tyre.

Speaking at the end of the meeting, Major-General Graziano said that he considers the relationship between UNIFIL and the local communities a high priority. UNIFIL, he said, remains committed to maintaining these relations and protecting and supporting the population in the south. We have a press release from UNIFIL with more details upstairs.

** Somalia

Turning now to Somalia, the UN refugee agency’s Assistant High Commissioner for Operations just ended a trip to south-central Somalia. Judy Cheng-Hopkins said she was shocked by the living conditions of people who have been displaced after fleeing recent heavy fighting in Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the United Nations’ consolidated appeal for Somalia remains only 37 per cent funded. While food needs have been generally covered, funding is still urgently needed for the areas of health, water, shelter and protection. OCHA also reports that, as of today, of the 394,000 Somalis who were displaced in the recent fighting, 250,000 have received humanitarian assistance.

** Zambia / Democratic Republic of the Congo

The UN refugee agency also announced today the launch of a three-year voluntary repatriation programme to help Congolese refugees in Zambia return home to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The agency plans to help up to 20,000 Congolese in Zambia return to their country before the end of this year. There is more information on that from briefing notes from Geneva today.

**Central Asia

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, today wrapped up a two-day visit to Turkmenistan, thereby ending her mission to Central Asia, which included stops in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Arbour and the Government of Turkmenistan agreed to embark on developing, in close collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), a concrete and extensive technical assistance programme in the area of human rights. And there is more on her visit to Central Asia upstairs, again from the briefing notes from Geneva.

**Cancer in Africa

And one final press release: With Africa on the brink of a cancer epidemic likely to affect more than a million each year by the year 2020, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the University of Oxford are bringing together some of the world’s top cancer experts and policymakers in London for consultations and discussion next week under the banner “Cancer Control in Africa.”

The IAEA says that the cancer-care services in Africa are desperately limited, with life-saving radiotherapy available in only 21 countries. That is less than 20 per cent of the population. And there is more on this upstairs, in the Spokesperson’s Office.

**The Week Ahead

We also have “The Week Ahead”, and if somebody from my office would bring it down, I can let you know what press conferences are scheduled on Monday, if there are any.

And then we have the GA Spokesman today, who will give you an update and a look ahead at next week.

Is there a question for me before I turn over... George.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Just briefly, and I realize that I’m asking you a medical question and you’re not a doctor. Has anyone historically come forward and hazarded the wildest, roughest guess as to why all of a sudden cancer is endemic in Africa? I mean it’s a horrible disease, but it’s not even a disease you associate with the word “epidemic.”

Spokesperson: Why don’t we look at the press release first and then go from there. And then talk to the experts at the IAEA.

Question: You said that the Quartet meeting may take place shortly. Could you be a little more specific as to the venue and the date?

Spokesperson: When the last Quartet met officially, all I can tell you is, in that concluding statement, they mentioned that the next Quartet meeting would take place in the region. So, as far as I know that’s still the case and they are discussing the exact time and venue.

Question: Has the Secretary-General made the final decision on the appointment of the new special envoy to Sudan?

Spokesperson: First of all, I’d like to clarify. We are expecting a joint announcement by the African Union and the United Nations on the top leadership of the joint operation in Darfur on Monday, so that I can alert you to. And the top post, though, let me clarify, is the AU-UN Joint Special Representative for Darfur. So it is for the Darfur operation, not to be confused with the Special Representative for the entire UN operation.

Question: Can you confirm that Mr.(inaudible) will be the choice?

Spokesperson: I can let you know on Monday. Because it is an arrangement where the UN and the AU are jointly collaborating on the announcement, I can’t officially tell you anything until Monday.

Question: You’re not denying that (inaudible)?

Spokesperson: I can confirm for you and read the list for you on Monday.

Question: We’ve still been receiving conflicting indications about weapons smuggling from Syria or from Lebanon to Syria or vice versa. Mr. Roed-Larsen in his last report talked about some sources in the Lebanese Government telling him that there is smuggling. Mr. Sinoria recently, in a press conference, publicly denied that totally. And Mr. Murr, his Deputy, also denied that totally. Did you get any messages saying otherwise or confirming what Mr. Roed-Larsen said?

Spokesperson: As you know, Mr. Roed-Larsen has recently helped contribute to the SG’s report on 1559, which we expect now shortly. So let’s wait until that report comes out.

Question: Have you gotten any response from the Lebanese Government saying that there is smuggling?

Spokesperson: I’ll have to look into that for you. I’m not aware, but I’ll look into that for you.

Question: Yesterday you read out something about this militia leader Peter Karim, demobilizing and turning in 500 soldiers. I’m wondering is there a process in place to figure out how many are child soldiers? He’s demobilized in sections, and once there were 170 of which 42 were children. What is the process to find out how many are child soldiers and what is the UN, if they’re counting them, going to do in terms of there not being impunity for their having recruited child soldiers?

Spokesperson: I don’t have an answer to that question. We’d have to ask MONUC and maybe the Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict to get an answer for you on that.

Question: Also, I asked you yesterday about this (inaudible), a UN employee, a person who is still employed and paid by the UN and you said yes. I think you emailed and said, yes he is. There’s a report that he’s functioning as the Minister of Information of the Government Agency of Albania. That’s sort of why I asked you whether somebody can at the same time work for the UN and work for a Government or have some other job.

Spokesperson: I have no information on this, so we’ll have to look into it definitely.

Question: But you checked into it, and he’s paid by and employed by the UN. Is that the case? (inaudible)

Spokesperson: You asked about a staff member, if he’s still employed, and the answer was yes.

**Climate Change

If there are no other questions, I’m going to switch over, but I did get the statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the third report on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. So let me read that to you.

The Secretary-General welcomes the report on the mitigation of climate change by the Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in Bangkok today. The report highlights response options to address the findings of the first two IPCC reports released earlier this year. The Secretary General notes with concern the third report’s findings that greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 70 per cent since 1970. Even with present mitigation and sustainable development initiatives, annual greenhouse gas emissions are expected to increase by 25 to 90 per cent in 2030 relative to the year 2000.

The continued growth of greenhouse gas emissions needs to be effectively stemmed. The IPCC report confirms that mitigation options, including changes in lifestyle and consumption, are available for all sectors, but enhanced action on the part of Governments and the private sector is urgently needed. Mitigating in a cost-effective manner can only be achieved through an enhanced international climate change regime. Large-scale development, deployment and commercialisation of existing and new clean technologies, as well as stringent end-use efficiency standards, are an essential part of a package that can lead to significant emission reductions.

A strong framework needs to be agreed by 2010 to ensure that there is no gap between the end of the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period in 2012 and the entry into force of a future regime. A comprehensive package on the way forward needs to be urgently launched at the UN climate change conference in Bali in December this year. The Secretary-General calls on all parties to the convention on climate change to work towards this aim with the political will to decisively abate climate change and its impacts on our planet and its peoples.

And that’s what I have for you today.

Question: Regarding the same subject here, why don’t we have anything talking about, we always talk about the civilian aspect of climate change. There is nothing about the war side or the war. In recent wars we have seen oil fields burned. We have seen total obliteration of forests, destruction of the cities, which have to be rebuilt and using energy. Why all the international studies never touch on the war aspect or on the military side?

Spokesperson: This, as you know, is a panel of scientists looking specifically into climate change and its effects. And this is a third in a series of reports. I don’t know what’s in the pipeline for the upcoming reports. So let’s ask them if that’s part of what they’re looking into.

So with that, I will turn it over to the General Assembly Spokesperson.

**Briefing by the Spokesperson for the General Assembly

Good afternoon.

**Security Council Reform

The Assembly President chaired yesterday afternoon an informal meeting of the General Assembly open-ended Working Group on Security Council Reform.

Member States welcomed the report of the five facilitators as an important contribution, and expressed the view that the momentum that has developed in the Council reform debate should be maintained. Speakers also agreed that the most important issue at hand is how to establish a result-oriented process of consultations and/or negotiations. There was general consensus as well on the need for the Assembly President to move the process forward to the next stage.

Discussions of the working group are continuing this morning. 33 Member States took the floor yesterday afternoon, and 30 are slated to speak today.

**Elections

The Assembly is scheduled to hold the following elections later this month:

-- 17 May – election of Human Rights Council members. Candidates, along with their pledges are listed on the GA website, http://www.un.org/ga/61/elect/hrc/;

-- 22 May – election of Peacebuilding Commission members;

-- 24 May – election of President of 62^nd session of Assembly, Vice Presidents and Chairs of main committees.

Any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question: The Human Rights’ Council expert on migrants’ rights, Jorge Bustaments, was going to visit US immigration facilities in Texas. Now, it is being said that he was not invited and is not going to visit. It seems like he is a GA/Human Rights Council expert. AP has reported that, although he had said he was starting Monday, that he has not been invited...

Spokesperson: Is he a rapporteur?

Question: He is an independent expert on migrants’ rights for the Human Rights Council, sent to look at border issues in the United...

Spokesperson: Who is sending him?

Question: The Human Rights Council.

Spokesperson: Okay, I’ll check on that and get back to you. I have no idea about...

Question: And if it is true that he requested, and was denied and so on... there is a story there...

Spokesperson: Let us find out what the story is. Thank you.

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