Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General and the Spokesperson for the General Assembly President
Department of Public Information . News and Media Division . New York
4 June 2010
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and Jean Victor Nkolo, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.
Briefing by the Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
Good afternoon.
**Noon Briefing Guest
John Holmes, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, will be our guest today. He is supposed to arrive in a few short minutes and he is here to brief you on his recent mission to Chad and Sudan, and to take your questions on humanitarian issues.
I’m also told that Jean-Victor Nkolo, the Spokesperson for the General Assembly, will be here to brief you, but he has to get here quickly, because John Holmes is going to be here at 12:15 p.m.
**Secretary-General on Women Police
The Secretary-General, here at UN Headquarters, this morning addressed a meeting on increasing the participation of women in UN police operations. And copies of those remarks are available in the Spokesperson’s Office.
**Secretary-General’s Statement on Afghanistan
We also are expecting a statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the Consultative Peace Jirga in Afghanistan. And we should have that shortly.
**Secretary-General’s Travels
And I have one more announcement on the Secretary-General, which is about his travels. On Monday, the Secretary-General is scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., where he will open the Women Deliver 2010 Conference, which brings together some 3,500 participants from 140 countries and is the largest ever conference on maternal health, according to the organizers.
There is a press release with more information on this event and we’ll have embargoed copies of the Secretary-General’s opening remarks for you later today or over the weekend. And we will get them out to you in advance of the delivery.
While in Washington, D.C., the Secretary-General plans to address the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria and meet with the National Association for Evangelicals. He is also scheduled to meet with United States Senator John Kerry.
Later on Monday, he returns to Africa. This time, the Secretary-General goes to South Africa, where he will discuss the Millennium Development Goals and attend the opening of the [2010 FIFA] World Cup, as he told you. From there, he travels to West Africa. And the countries he will visit are Burundi, Cameroon, Benin and Sierra Leone.
The Secretary-General plans to be back in New York on 16 June.
**Secretary-General’s Statement on Afghanistan
And I now have that statement on Afghanistan, which I will read.
The Secretary-General congratulates the Government of Afghanistan and the participants of the Consultative Peace Jirga on the process and outcomes of this important three-day dialogue.
This is a significant step towards reaching out to all Afghan people to promote an inclusive dialogue aimed at achieving stability and peace in Afghanistan.
The United Nations supports these national efforts to end conflict in Afghanistan, and remains fully committed to working with the Afghan authorities and people as they strive for a peaceful life. Copies of this are available upstairs.
**Security Council
And as you know, earlier today, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing the deployment of additional police to the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The Mission will now have 680 more police officers added as a temporary surge capacity with clearly defined objectives, focusing in particular on building the capacity of the Haitian National Police.
** Cyprus
And on Cyprus, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser there, Alexander Downer, spoke with the press at Larnaca Airport earlier today. And he had been asked to read a statement by the Greek and Turkish Cypriots which said:
“The talks are continuing on the agreed United Nations basis. All chapters are being negotiated with the aim of increasing the points of convergence on the understanding that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”
Also, Mr. Downer is expected to be in New York next week to brief the Security Council, supplementing the Secretary-General’s recent report on the good offices mission in Cyprus. I believe that is next Thursday.
** Somalia
And a couple of items from Geneva which I would like to draw your attention to. One is from the World Health Organization (WHO) that says that, between 20 March and 24 May, at least 1,400 casualties had been reported from three of Mogadishu’s hospitals in Somalia. Roughly one quarter of these persons had been children. And in at least one hospital, one third of the victims had been women. And you can read more about that from the WHO briefing in Geneva.
**Democratic Republic of Congo
And meanwhile, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the appeal for the Democratic Republic of the Congo is currently 30 per cent funded. And you can read more about that as well.
**World Environment Day
And tomorrow is World Environment Day. The theme this year is “Many Species. One Planet. One Future.” And in a message, the Secretary-General says that biodiversity is in peril as species are becoming extinct at the fastest rate ever recorded. He appeals to all to help sound the alarm, get involved and speak out, and to develop a new vision for biodiversity. His message is available in the Spokesperson’s office.
Greening the Blue
And today, on the eve of World Environment Day 2010, the UN is launching a new website called Greening the Blue. It is designed to improve the UN’s communications on its internal sustainability performance. You can find out more information by going to that site.
**The Week Ahead at the United Nations
And we have “The Week Ahead” for you for your planning purposes.
And I mentioned at the beginning that the Secretary-General will begin his travels again on Monday.
So that’s what I have for you. We’ll have Jean Victor before we have John Holmes.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Two questions, one is Myanmar and the other one is Somalia. On Myanmar, there are these various reports, including from a defector from that country, Sai Thein Win, that Myanmar is seeking to develop nuclear weapons with technology received from North Korea. I’m wondering whether the Secretary-General or particularly his good offices, or Vijay Nambiar, are aware of that report and what they think of it?
Deputy Spokesperson: I have only seen the press reports. I am sure that they have seen press reports. As for a follow-up on that, we have a query in to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], and I think that is where our first port of call should go — probably to the IAEA on that.
Question: Is that because the good offices doesn’t work on this issue?
Deputy Spokesperson: This is just a press report that you’ve just mentioned. We’ve seen the press report and our first enquiry has been to the IAEA.
[The Deputy Spokesperson later added that IAEA said: “IAEA has seen the media reports and continues its analysis of information on Myanmar, as it does with information on other countries.”]
Question: Can I ask about Somalia? [Ahmedou] Ould-Abdallah has been quoted that he is leaving in July and seeks to remain as an adviser to the Secretary-General. I just want you to confirm that he is leaving, and to confirm or deny that Augustine Mahiga, the Tanzanian ambassador, is going to be named the SRSG [Secretary-General’s Special Representative].
Deputy Spokesperson: I have nothing on any appointments.
Question: But Ould-Abdallah has said publicly that he is leaving in July. Is that the case?
Deputy Spokesperson: I have nothing on that.
Correspondent: He said it.
Deputy Spokesperson: I have nothing on appointments for Somalia today.
Question: I now have read the Secretary-General’s statement again and again. As you know, Marie, there is another ship headed towards Gaza and Israeli authorities are again threatening to use the same amount of force that they did in the case of the first one. Has the Secretary-General or anybody else in the United Nations had any conversations with the Israeli authorities in order to somehow figure out a way out of another crisis that is brewing?
Deputy Spokesperson: The Secretary-General, as he has told you, and as I have told you yesterday, has been in very close consultations with all the parties since he spoke to you. And on the matter of the reports that you are reading, he has again and again appealed that everything should be done to prevent another incident of the kind.
Question: Has he spoken with the Israeli authorities recently?
Deputy Spokesperson: He is in touch with all parties on various levels throughout this time.
Question: And he has not received any assurances or anything of that…?
Deputy Spokesperson: I have nothing further than that he has been in consultations. And from his side, you heard that his call has been for everybody to act with a sense of care and responsibility, and in accordance with international law.
So, we’ll turn over to Jean Victor before we welcome John Holmes.
* *** *
For information media • not an official record
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