The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

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The Secretary-General arrived in Vienna this morning.  He has been holding talks with Austrian officials, including Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger. They discussed, among other topics, the Millennium Development Goals, disarmament, the Balkans and peacekeeping. 

The Secretary-General also addressed a conference on fighting corruption.  The event is part of the founding conference for the new International Anti-Corruption Academy, which will open soon.  The Secretary-General visited the academy premises, just outside Vienna.

He will spend Friday with the Austrian President before heading to the Austrian town of Alpbach to address a forum and a Security Council retreat and take part in an annual retreat with senior UN officials.

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The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, announced today that the report of the Mapping Exercise documenting the most serious human right violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1993 and 2003 will be made public on 1 October 2010.

She said, “Following requests, we have decided to give concerned States a further month to comment on the draft, and I have offered to publish any such comments alongside the report itself on 1 October, if they so wish.”

The report describes a total of more than 600 incidents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1993 and 2003 in which tens of thousands of people were killed.  Most of these attacks were directed against non-combatant civilian populations consisting primarily of women and children.  More than 1,280 witnesses were interviewed to corroborate or invalidate alleged violations, including previously undocumented incidents, and more than 1,500 documents were collected and analysed during the two years that it took to research and write the report.

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B. Lynn Pascoe, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, expressed his solidarity with the people of Somalia during a one-day visit to Mogadishu yesterday.  Pascoe, who was accompanied by the Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, met President Sheikh Sharif and Somali Cabinet Ministers.

He said after the trip, “It is crucial to show the long suffering people of Somalia that the Government can deliver basic services.”

Pascoe also praised the work of African Union forces deployed in Somalia since 2008 and commended the UN for providing them with logistic support.  At the same time, he called for more troops as well as financial and logistical support for the force.

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Our Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has opened the first of a number of county referendum bases it is building to support the planned South Sudan referendum.  This first base is located in the Western Equatoria State county of Mundri West.

About a dozen Mission staff, including police advisers, will be deployed at the Mundri West base.  The police advisors will help train South Sudan law enforcement personnel in ensuring public safety during elections.

There’s more on the Mission’s website.

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Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas, the Force Commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), chaired a tripartite meeting today with senior officials from the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israel Defence Forces.

UNIFIL’s investigation report on the exchange of fire on 3 August was a topic of discussion.  Both parties provided their comments and additional information of relevance for the investigation.  UNIFIL is to study the comments and information provided by the parties and will inform the UN headquarters about the respective positions of the parties.

Asarta Cuevas said after the meeting that the parties clearly put special importance on the Blue Line marking process as a way to avoid misunderstandings and prevent incidents.  He added:  “The discussions today reconfirmed that no party would like to see any escalation.”  We have a press release from UNIFIL with more details.

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In its first consultations for this month, the Security Council adopted its programme of work for September this morning.

Immediately after this briefing, at 12:30, Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan of Turkey, the Council President for this month, will brief you in this room on the programme of work.

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The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, says that lifesaving assistance has reached millions of people in need in flood-hit Pakistan — but major constraints hamper operations and make it impossible to deliver aid at the necessary speed.

The major obstacle is the staggering scale of the disaster itself, with 18 million people affected across an area larger than the surface area of England.  That poses enormous challenges for the procurement, handling, and delivery of relief supplies.

OCHA has established five main inter-agency coordination hubs, to ensure that assessments and response plans are devised as effectively as possible in every part of the country.

Efforts are under way to repair damaged infrastructure, and by the World Food Programme and other entities are bringing in more helicopters in the coming days.

In particular, OCHA and its partners are increasingly concerned about the humanitarian situation in Pakistan’s south-western province of Balochistan, and are working to step up their activities there.  We have more on this in press releases available from the Spokesperson’s Office.

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I was asked yesterday whether the High Commissioner for Sudan, Georg Charpentier, shared draft press statements with Sudanese Government officials.  I would like to confirm that the Humanitarian Coordinator works closely with Government officials as he does with opposition groups as well as the humanitarian country team and other partners.  He does consult with a wide range of interlocutors, but I can confirm that he does not submit any press statement to the Government for approval, with the exception of joint press releases on joint initiatives.

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Finally, I’d like to inform you that there will be no noon briefing tomorrow, Friday.  Instead, we will update our Highlights page on the Spokesperson’s web site, and put out the events throughout the UN system, as well as The Week Ahead, on that page.

And Monday is an official UN holiday, so Headquarters will be closed and there will be no briefing on that day, either.  The regular noon briefing will resume on Tuesday, 7 September.

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Tomorrow, at 1:00 p.m., the Permanent Mission of Pakistan will hold a press conference to update correspondents on the situation in Pakistan.

Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, will speak to correspondents and he will be accompanied by Professor Rajmohan Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.  That is at 1 p.m.

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Spokesperson:  Regarding the which day?

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Spokesperson:  I don’t anticipate any statement.  If there are statements that we need to put out to you we will release them as per normal.

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Spokesperson:  He discussed this with the Foreign Minister of Austria, that is part of our readout, the meeting with Michael Spindelegger.

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Spokesperson:  There is a joint press conference they did after their meeting.  And we will put out the transcript of that fairly shortly.  There are no further details about their discussion on the Balkans, but you can look at the full transcript and we will have that for you shortly.

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Spokesperson:  If you look at the press release it says this report is being finalized, but right now the parties also have their opportunity to make their own comments about what they have received.  But, the report’s being finalized.  At some point it will go also to the Security Council, but I would refer you to the press release that came out from UNIFIL today.

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Spokesperson:  Yes, what they said in the press release is that they are going to receive comments from both the parties and they’ll take that into consideration as they finalize that report.  I just refer you over to the full press release for further information.

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Question:  [inaudible] on the Congo, is there a date set for when the deputy head of peacekeeping is to (A) come back and report to the Security Council and (B), are there any updates on the numbers that have been found?  And on the Congo, the larger, long-term report — why a month?  I mean the countries have had it since June to comment on it. Spokesperson:  Well again, I just point out what Navi Pillay said.  And this is just taken from her press release.  Following requests, she said that they have decided to give concerned States one further month to comment on the draft and what she has offered to them, is that they would then publish any of their comments alongside the report itself on the 1 October if they so wish.  And so that is the purpose of the additional time.  As for your other questions, yes, we put out a press release yesterday afternoon from MONUSCO [United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo], copies of which we have available in French in the Spokesperson’s Office, which mention a number of other incidents.  So, we’re already at more than 240 victims of rapes from the amount of further information that we have been able to obtain from the various communities.  But that information continues to trickle in.  As for when Atul Khare will brief that Security Council, that is a matter for the Security Council to schedule, so I will leave that for the President of the Council who will be speaking right after me.

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Spokesperson:  I don’t have a precise idea of the number of children.  We are accumulating those figures and we are trying to provide them as they come in.

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Question:  On the Congo and the Sudan.  Back on this issue of the 30 July e-mail, [inaudible] and that you were somehow going to act on, I’ve seen it and it’s from an Augustine Rwanda Rugari and it was sent to a variety of people and it definitely says that there was, a rape had already occurred and the same Augustine Rwanda Rugari was informed on 6 August of 22 rapes by the IMC.  I’m just wondering, sort of, I understand that when Mr. Khare comes back, he’ll have some new information.  But just in terms of the UN sort of correcting what was said by Mr. Meece, of what was known when, I guess can you confirm these things that are now, you know, this is the guy and this is what was known when.  What’s your comment? Spokesperson:  As far that goes, we are aware of the existence of a number of e-mails and we are trying to trace how those e-mails were responded to.  Again, I would refer back to the work that Mr. Khare is doing and he will be looking into this matter, among the many other things he is looking into in terms of our response.  We certainly are aware that there were some e-mails, but the question is what kind of information, what kind of verified information, did MONUSCO have that would prompt them to act.

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Spokesperson:  Yes, we are aware there are some e-mails, some of that was based on anecdotal information.  What we have been telling you, and this holds true to this day, is that MONUSCO, when it did patrols in the earlier part of August, did question people about FDLR [Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda] presence and other topics, and at that point, as I believe Mr. Meece made clear last week, there was no confirmation that they were [inaudible] from the locals.  It’s quite possible that those people in those areas had been intimidated.

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Spokesperson:  Well, I believe what he is referring to wasn’t in the context of information that was verifiable, as opposed to information.  As you know, in a conflict zone, and this is an area that has been a conflict zone for more than a decade, that there’s often times information about rebel activity or about other types of killings or rapes, but the question is, what solid information do you have to go on.  Mr. Khare is going to look into that and we we’ll see what he has when he reports back.

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Spokesperson:  I believe that the peacekeepers, even in areas where they do not speak the local language, are accompanied by interpreters, or try to deal with officials who can then interpret for them.  Part of the larger problem, however, and this is part of the point you are raising, is in the area of Walikale we are talking about people who are dealing about 80, that is eight-zero peacekeepers who are conducting patrols in an area four times the size of Manhattan.  So then the question is how much territory could they cover and were they able to get to the areas where they needed to be, where the relevant information was.  This is something we’re looking into and we’ll see what kind of information we have on that.

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Question:  [inaudible] a MONUSCO statement which came out yesterday, it mentioned that helicopters were being dispatched over the area.  Do you have any more details about that — how many, where they’re going and what they’re looking for? Spokesperson:  Helicopters in which area?

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Question:  The MONUSCO statement said that, it was very unclear.  There were no further details.  It said there were helicopters, that they had sent out over the area.  I was wondering what they were looking for?  How many? Spokesperson:  If we are talking about the Walikale area, certainly they’ve been trying to expand their presence.  There were some further details in the press release that we put out yesterday.  If there’s anything more we will put that out when we get it.  Yes?

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Question:  You have 80 peacekeepers for 300 square kilometres and then you have the issue of Mr. Meece saying that the information the UN received on 12 August was the only verifiable information.  So the verifiable information, it seems, from the OCHA offices on 30 July, were not verifiable to Mr. Meece and his colleagues?  Are we working in two different organizations?  Are all these non-UN organizations? Spokesperson:  No, it’s all one organization.  The question is whether you have an e-mail that indicates that the town of Mpofi may have fallen under the control of the FDLR, is that something that can then be verified by people who are conducting patrols.  And what we’re trying to see, and Khare is there right now to see, is how was the response actually conducted, was it done properly or not.  

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Question:  [inaudible] in remarks to the International Anti-Corruption Academy in Vienna today, the Secretary-General said he looks forward to it becoming a fully fledged international organization.  What did he mean by that?  Since it’s already international. Spokesperson:  I believe he was talking about this academy.  It’s just in the process of being founded over these coming days.  So it’s going to become fully operational in the days ahead.

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Question:  Regarding the Congo report, I was wondering if you knew the initial date when this report was supposed to come out.  I was interested in knowing what role did the threats by the Rwandan government of pulling peacekeepers out of Darfur, what role did this play in having such a late date? Spokesperson:  I just refer you back to the comments that Ms. Pillay made where she pointed out that, further to the requests that they received, they thought it would be good to give more time for different parties to write their own responses, which can come out alongside our report.  As for a date, this was the first scheduled date, as you know; for days people have been saying there is no timeline by which we would expect the report to come out.  As of now, we actually do have a timeline, that it would be the 1 October.

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Question:  There is a report by the UN Secretary-General on the internally displaced persons, and refugees from Abkhazia Georgia, and the Tiskin Valley region, South Ossetia, Georgia, as well as a draft resolution that reaffirms the unacceptability of forced demographic changes resulting from the conflicts in Georgia.  Can you confirm there will be a meeting on 7 September to discuss the resolution, and can you tell me how concerned the Secretary-General is about the return of the internally displaced persons and refugees in Georgia. Spokesperson:  This is a resolution for which body?

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Spokesperson:  Then please talk it over with my colleague Jean-Victor Nkolo.

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Question:  I have a question about the role of the Secretariat with regards to managing the affairs of the Security Council, and it’s particularly about the [inaudible] list, for documents that are sent to the Security Council that come from private individuals or non-governmental agencies.  I’ve been trying to understand what happens with this and I’ve gotten no directions for quite a while. Spokesperson:  I think you’ve discussed this with me before, but certainly I will try to put you in touch with one of the people who acts as a liaison on this question.

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Question:  On Sudan and Pakistan.  On Sudan, I’ve still, thanks for the answer I guess on Mr. Charpentier, and we’ll see what comes of it.  On the things that I asked on Tuesday, the allegation by a senior official of the SPLM, that despite many calls to UNMIS (United Nations Mission in the Sudan), they did not come to see, to the morgue in one case.  The Gorifna people said they didn’t come and they were surrounded by the Sudanese security forces.  You sent me an answer saying UNMIS is fully committed to human rights, but no further comment at this time on this specific case.  Are you going to comment at all…? Spokesperson:  Certainly once we have further comment, we’ll provide it.  

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Question:  The situation in Pakistan, as far as the organization working over there still continue to say they’re short of supplies, equipment to deliver food and medicine, and organizations are saying children, women are suffering the most.  Has there been anything to re-assess by the United Nations organization that certain imperative needs are addressed, especially children’s and women’s needs? Spokesperson:  Certainly we’re trying to push for more funding, and for more efforts to help people.  If you look at our press releases in recent days, despite the tremendous challenges posed by the situation on the ground itself, we’ve been providing food, water, tents and medicines for millions of people and we are continuing to try and step up those efforts.  And we’ll see if there are going to be any further meetings in the coming weeks to try to boost the amount of funding which as you know has started to slow down again.

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Spokesperson:  There is no statement on that.  But as you know, our condolences and thoughts go with the families of the victims.

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Spokesperson:  Yes, we do have a response for you.  You and Khaled had both asked, and what we wanted to make clear was that Christopher Ross is in fact working with the parties, and continues to work with parties regarding the Western Sahara issue; he is aware of the challenges but is going to persist in dealing with the parties on this issue.  He also believes that the leak of that particular document was certainly unhelpful.

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Spokesperson:  I don’t have any specific meetings to announce at this stage.

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Spokesperson:  He’ll be back next week, I believe he should be back by next Tuesday, but right now over the coming days, as I mentioned at the start of this briefing, he will be in Alpbach, Austria, where he will go to a retreat with the Security Council and then later to a retreat with senior UN officials.  After that, he’ll come back.

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Question:  On Western Sahara and Pakistan.  On Western Sahara, the expulsion of these, it’s reported that Spanish activists, from Western Sahara by Morocco; but there’s a Mexican national, Antonio Vasquez Diaz, has said that he has written to the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, I don’t know if you’ll acknowledge a letter from an individual.  But all these people say that when they raised the issue of expulsion to MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara), it was not within MINURSO’s mandate to deal with this type of thing.  So I wanted to know, what is MINURSO’s mandate in terms of sort of summary expulsion from the Western Sahara territory. Spokesperson:  I’d simply refer you back to the relevant Security Council resolutions that have set the mandate for MINURSO, which as you know is the UN mission dealing with the question of a referendum for Western Sahara.

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Spokesperson:  I’m not aware of that letter, no.

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Question:  Yesterday the Secretary-General issued a very strong statement where something happened, four people were killed in the West Bank, suddenly there were 35 or 40 killed in Pakistan.  Because it’s a normal thing happening in Pakistan, it’s not worth a comment? Spokesperson:  We don’t try to compare numbers across different things.  What happened is that the relevant departments in the United Nations looks at and considers each and every situation.  If and when a statement is believed to be appropriate, certainly a statement is issued, but as you know, we do condemn all terrorist attacks and we do so in this case.

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Spokesperson:  I’m not going to engage in that.

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Spokesperson:  I’ll check if we have anything to say.  I don’t have anything for you on that right now.

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Question:  There are two things.  One is that are a lot of reports, the aid is being delivered in food form, but actually people need cash, so some are selling the rations, not out of corruption but just out of a need for cash.  I wonder if OCHA or whatever, or whether there is going to be any recalibration of how the aid is going to be delivered.  And also Permanent Representative Haroon has said on BBC that he acknowledges their allegations of a Pakistani elite taking down the levies on other sides of the river to flood poor people’s land and there should be some investigation of that.  Given the UN’s role in raising money for this, I wonder does the UN support that call for an investigation? Spokesperson:  Well, in terms of Ambassador Haroon, you can hear from him directly.  He’ll be talking to the press in this room at 1 p.m. tomorrow.  I don’t have anything further on humanitarian efforts in Pakistan beyond the rather substantial information we provided yesterday and today, and I’ll refer you to those press releases on that.

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Spokesperson:  Wherever we deliver aid we try to deliver it in the form that is determined by our humanitarian people to be the most helpful form, and we are aware that there are quite a lot of things where food or water or tents or medical supplies are needed.  And we try and provide whatever is needed in those areas.  This is why we have different clusters to deal with what is believed to be the specific needs in specific areas.

With that, have a good weekend everyone.  The President of the Council is coming right now.

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and the Spokesperson for the General Assembly President  

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, 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, everyone.  Let’s get started. 

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I have the following statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General concerning the killing of four Israeli citizens in the West Bank.

“The Secretary-General condemns the killing of four Israeli citizens in the West Bank on 31 August.  He extends his condolences to the families of the victims and calls for the perpetrators of this crime to be promptly brought to justice.

This attack must be recognized for what it is:  a cynical and blatant attempt to undermine the direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations starting tomorrow.

Negotiations are the only way for the parties to resolve all final status issues.  The Secretary-General calls upon both sides to show leadership, courage, and responsibility to realize the aspirations of both peoples.”  

We have that statement available in our office.  Also, there was a statement yesterday from Robert Serry, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, also condemning these killings.

* Liechtenstein

The Secretary-General is in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, where he has congratulated the people of Liechtenstein for 20 years of membership in the United Nations — an anniversary that the country will mark in less than three weeks.

He just delivered a speech on global governance and told the officials there, “Yours may be one of the world’s smaller countries, but its role is large.  If all nations were as committed to the United Nations and its noble causes, the world would be a far, far better place.”  We have that speech in our office.

He also held talks with Government ministers.  The Secretary-General is also to meet with Prince Hans-Adam II this evening.

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Just an update on Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Atul Khare, who, as you know, was dispatched by the Secretary-General to the Democratic Republic of the Congo last week.

Khare left Kinshasa yesterday to go to Goma, Kirumba, Kibua, Bukavu and Uvira, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He spent his first days in the country in the capital, where he met with various officials, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Vice Prime-Minister and the President’s Security Advisor.  He also met with representatives of civil society and non governmental organizations.

Earlier this week, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the country, Roger Meece, called for the Congolese authorities, the UN Mission and the  international community to work together to put an end to the crimes committed by illegal armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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Turkey has assumed the Security Council’s rotating Presidency for the month of September, replacing Russia.  Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan, the new Council President, will brief you in this room tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. on the programme of work for the coming month.

Yesterday afternoon, the members of the Security Council issued a press statement in which they condemned in the strongest terms the attack on the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu, Somalia, on 30 August, which resulted in the death of four peacekeepers from the African Union Mission, AMISOM.  The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the recent increased fighting in Somalia and reiterated their full support for the Transitional Federal Government and for the work of AMISOM.

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I have an appointment to announce.  The Secretary-General has appointed D. Stephen Mathias of the United States of America as Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs.  He succeeds Peter Taksøe-Jensen of Denmark.  The Secretary-General is grateful to Mr. Taksøe-Jensen for his dedication and commitment to the Organization while serving in this position.  Mr. Mathias will be, inter alia, the head of the Office of Legal Counsel and will assist in the overall supervision of each of the units of the Office.  We have more information on Mr. Mathias in our office.

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And last, the Secretary-General today thanked a group of 26 Goodwill Ambassadors and Messengers of Peace for agreeing to focus their efforts on championing the Millennium Development Goals.

Antonio Banderas, Mia Farrow, Angelique Kidjo, Annie Lennox, Carl Lewis, Ricky Martin, Ronaldo and Maria Sharapova are among the celebrities who already have a track record in speaking out about one or more of the Goals.  They will use every opportunity to raise awareness for the Goals and the September MDG Summit.

“As household names, they can bring the message of global justice and solidarity to homes and communities around the world,” the Secretary-General said.  And the full list is available on the Millennium Development Goals web site. 

After I’m done, we have available Jean Victor Nkolo, the Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, who will be here shortly.

Any questions for me?

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Question:  Considering the opening of the peace talks in Washington today, doesn’t Mr. Ban Ki-moon, or the Deputy Secretary-General, believe that the UN and other Quartet members should have been invited to the opening of the talks today?   Deputy Spokesperson:  At this stage, Tony Blair is there as the representative, as the envoy of the Quartet.  The Secretary-General and the other Quartet members are available as needed, but as you know the Secretary-General is travelling today.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  As you know, the Quartet has already issued a statement encouraging the start of these direct talks and the Secretary-General fully concurs with the sentiments of the Quartet.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  One point I’d like to mention.  I would like to read again part of the statement that we just issued concerning the killing, that that attack was recognized “as a cynical and blatant attempt to undermine the direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that are starting tomorrow”, and indeed with any attempts to undermine these negotiations, our response is that “negotiations are the only way for the parties to resolve all final party status issues”.  And that’s what I would say.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  Our comment, as [Chief Spokesperson] Martin Nesirky also made clear yesterday, whenever it comes to things that could potentially undermine the start of direct talks, our focus is, like I said before, to emphasize the idea that negotiations are the only way for the parties to resolve final status issues, and we are encouraging that.

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Question:  I heard your statement about the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mr. Meece.  There’s a story — it came out in yesterday’s New York Times — with much more specifics about what the UN knew and when, saying that on 30 July in that e-mail it mentioned a rape in the village of Mpofi, and also a 10 August e‑mail mentioning already 25 rapes.  These dates are inconsistent, to put it mildly, with what Mr. Meece said to us from the video screen.  What are the ramifications?  Does the UN deny this New York Times report or are we missing something in terms of the inaccuracies?  Deputy Spokesperson:  As far as that goes, as you’re aware, when the Secretary-General learned of these mass rapes, what he did from our side was to immediately dispatch Atul Khare, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  He is there right now.  We just mentioned what his travels in the area are.  He, among other things, was sent there specifically to look into the mass rapes that occurred in the Walikale area.  He’ll also look at our response and how we responded to it.  He’s there now collecting information and we will see what his evaluation is of that situation when he returns.  We expect him back next week and we expect him to report back to the Secretary-General, and also, by the way, to the Security Council, although, of course, their schedule for the month is still being determined.  

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Question:  But I remember Martin saying from this podium that here at the Secretariat in New York your office was looking into this 30 July e-mail to find what it was and what it said.  Now, the New York Times says a rape occurred.  I’m just wondering, has your office found that e-mail?  And totally outside of Mr. Khare’s time schedule, what does it mean it mean about what Mr. Meece told us?  Deputy Spokesperson:  Yes, we have been looking into that.  At this stage, what I would wait for is to see what information Mr. Khare, as the person who is there on the ground, because he is there, he is accumulating data and he will report back.  I think we’ll leave it until then.  But, yes, we’ve been looking into this and certainly we’re trying to find what the providence of this particular e-mail is. 

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Question: Just one more on this.  The International Medical Corps now says that the number of women treated in this mass rape incident, they’ve raised their number from 192 to 242.  I’m just wondering if the UN, which initially had this 154 number, do you dispute those numbers?  Or is the UN just shutting down its communications until 7 September? Deputy Spokesperson:  I don’t have for you at this stage any higher number beyond what we’ve given.  However, as our presence in that area grows and as there’s been more of a restoration of peace to various areas, freeing up people to feel like they can speak, we’re trying to get more information about what’s going on.  So we may find out more information about other attacks.  So we would update the numbers accordingly once we get that.  But right now at this stage what we’re doing is we’re spreading out into various communities.  We’re looking into different reports and we’ll try and see what further information we have.

[The Spokesperson added later that the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has put the number of rape victims at higher than 240, with more cases being reported.]

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Question:  I have a question on the Rwanda report.  I understand the Secretary-General’s been consulting with some senior diplomats in New York on it.  I wondered really if there was just a sense of how much trouble the leak has caused, and also, whether there was a sense of when a decision might be made on when it will be publicized and when it will be made public. Deputy Spokesperson:  As far as that goes, we made it clear that we expect the report to be published and we expect that to happen fairly soon.  We don’t have a timeline for when that’s going to come out.  But, clearly when it is published, you can look at the final text and compare it to the early draft that had been leaked.  

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Deputy Spokesperson:  We’ve mentioned that leaks are regrettable and we always regret leaks.  At the same time, as you know, we’re rather used to them.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  I wouldn’t put it on a scale.

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Question:  As Matthew was saying, when this will be made public, the report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, you keep saying, we will find out.  Are we included in “we” or are you talking about “we” meaning the UN?  Deputy Spokesperson:  [From] Mr. Khare, as well as Margot Wallström, the expectation is, although I can’t confirm this because the Security Council has to adopt its programme of work, but we believe that they would brief the Security Council possibly next week and we expect that could even be an open briefing, in which case, of course, it would be public knowledge.   

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Deputy Spokesperson:  I can’t predict what’s going to happen beforehand, but certainly if it’s an open meeting of the Council you would be privy to it at that time.

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Question:  Is the Secretary-General doing anything or is he spending any effort to bring Hamas openly at least into these direct negotiations?  How does he feel about leaving the Gaza administration out of these direct negotiations? Deputy Spokesperson:  I don’t have anything beyond what we have actually said.  As you know, the Secretary-General issued a statement upon the acceptance by the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the offer of direct negotiations.  And I would just refer back to that statement.

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Question:  We haven’t heard much recently about an old conflict, namely Western Sahara.  There are indications that the personal envoy, Mr. Ross, would soon be meeting in an informal session with the parties.  Can you confirm that? Deputy Spokesperson:  No, I cannot.  But we’ll check with Mr. Ross whether there’s anything we can say about his activities. 

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Question:  There was a report recently in the Spanish press about a leaked memo written by Mr. Christopher Ross indicating that he’s basically frustrated with the outcome of all the previous sessions, and he wants the Security Council to interfere in order to bring the two parties to oversee more compromises to allow the talks.  Can you confirm this memo? Deputy Spokesperson:  I wonder what Joe would place that on the scale of leaks?  But this, of course, proves my point that just about every document leaks.  But, I would not comment on the leaked memo.  No. 

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Deputy Spokesperson:  Mr. Ross is continuing with his efforts.  Obviously, he is aware of the difficulties, as indeed his predecessors have been, during this very lengthy process of negotiations.  But he’s continuing with his efforts and    certainly at the time that memo had been purportedly written, he was already engaged in talks with various concerned parties, and he will continue to pursue those and to see how we can move forward.

[The Spokesperson later added that the Personal Envoy of the Secretary General for Western Sahara continues to work with the parties and the neighbouring States with the objective of entering into substantive negotiations to find a mutually agreed political solution for the conflict of Western Sahara.  Mr. Ross has stated on many occasions that the positions are still far apart and he has asked the parties to show more flexibility so that progress can be made.]

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Deputy Spokesperson:  Like I said, I’ll check with Mr. Ross and with our office on this to see if we have anything to say.  But I don’t have anything to announce just yet.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  No, I do not.  There’s no appointment to announce just yet.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  I don’t.  Hopefully it will be fairly soon, but I don’t have any specific date on which we expect to make the announcement.

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Question:  In the last two days, once again, World Food Programme (WFP) officials and UN officials have been again asking the international community for more helicopters for help in Pakistan for the flood victims.  Has anybody responded?  Has any Member State responded with anything positive or is it just an ongoing thing?  Americans come and bring it, or…? Deputy Spokesperson:  We’ve had some responses.  Obviously, we need the long-term supply of about 40 helicopters, is what the World Food Programme is indicating.  I’d refer you over to our colleagues in the WFP.  They’ve been trying to accept whatever assistance they can on a case-by-case basis.  As you know, other offices, including the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), have also temporarily provided supplies.  But what they’re looking for is about 40 helicopters.   

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Question:  But every time something happens they’ve been e-mailing me on the helicopter situation every now and then, but it seems that there is no movement on the part of any Member States, except for the United States. Deputy Spokesperson:  The United States, the Government of Pakistan and others have tried to help as much as they can with their air assets.  But we certainly do need more.

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Question:  On Sudan and also whistleblowers.  On Sudan, I wanted to know if you can confirm that the resident and humanitarian coordinator, George Charpentier, provides advanced copies of his press releases that he puts out to the Government, to the Humanitarian Affairs Minister of Sudan.  I want you to find out if that’s true.  If it is true, can you say if it’s appropriate for a UN humanitarian coordinator to only issue statements that are approved by the Government where he’s located? Deputy Spokesperson:  Well, I don’t have confirmation on that.  We’ll certainly check into that.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  Actually, our colleagues in the peacekeeping department are in fact following up.  They do have some information which we’ll provide, hopefully fairly shortly.  

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Question:  And also on whistleblowers.  I want to know if you have a comment on this.  There was a decision yesterday by the UN’s dispute tribunal in the case of Tony Shkurtaj against the UN.  He was the whistleblower of UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) that provided information about the UN in North Korea.  He was fired.  He was barred from the premises.  He’s now been awarded $166,000 for back pay and also kind of punitive damages for violating his due process rights.  I’m wondering since the Secretary-General himself had played some role in calling for the investigation, what does he say now about the outcome of this whistleblower of being essentially vindicated, and will in fact the whistleblower be paid the damages awarded to him? Deputy Spokesperson:  First of all, it was a complex decision.  There are many aspects to that decision.  What I can tell you about the decision is that it’s being studied at this time.  Beyond that I don’t have anything further to say.

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Question:  The outgoing administrative advisor, UN advisor of UN peacekeeping operations should be winding up by the middle of the month.  But I have it on good authority that he’s being engaged for the next six months at the UN for a specific purpose.  I want to get more information on that. Deputy Spokesperson:  I have a little bit more information in my office.  I think I can help you with that after.

[The Spokesperson added that DPKO is planning to retain the services of Lt. Gen. Obiakor for a few months in order to leverage his extensive knowledge of UN peacekeeping operations, gained at both headquarters and in the field, to conduct a scheduled review of the command and control policy on the basis of the experience gained in the restructuring of DPKO and establishment of The Department of Field Support (DFS). This review also responds to observations offered by member states and the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).  He will also continue to contribute to the Departments' work on a robust approach to peacekeeping.]

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Question: On Cyprus, last night the donor and Greek and Turkish leaders had dinner.  And there’s some talk about the Secretary-General actually meeting both the leaders here in New York this month.  Is there any confirmation? Deputy Spokesperson:  I don’t have a confirmation for that just yet.  We’ll provide you with a schedule of the Secretary-General’s meetings closer to the actual time of the plenary.

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Question:  There is a report that the Rwanda report was completed a year ago and that it’s been hanging around all this time.  Only now it’s getting the attention that it deserves and it’s going to be published.  Is that true? Deputy Spokesperson:  Not for years.  Certainly the draft of it had been prepared months ago.  It’s not unusual for drafts to be looked at, including by our legal experts and others over the course of a period of months.  And certainly that’s happened.  I do know that my colleague in the human right office, Rupert Colville, confirmed now that the report is complete.  At this stage, what we’re waiting for is when it will be published. 

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Deputy Spokesperson:  He said that the report is complete.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  I wouldn’t have a precise date.  But in an editorial process, a document can move back and force.  There’s nothing unusual about that.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  No.  As with other reports that have a degree of sensitivity, he does talk with different officials.  It’s quite possible that many of them will have their own responses and their own replies.  In any case, he has talked with a number of officials.  I wouldn’t characterize what the number is.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  Could you speak up a bit?

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Question:  Yesterday a programme was launched by the Sudanese Government to end the use of child soldiers by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, which was held by UNICEF.  I was wondering if you have any insight into the amount of child soldiers used by this liberation army.   Deputy Spokesperson:  No.  I don’t have any particular information on this.  I’d refer you to my colleagues in UNICEF who I believe have been reacting to this development. 

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Question:  On the Rwanda report, usually for these kinds of things, there’s like an opening or a letter by Secretary-General.  Is he going to be writing one for the Rwanda report?  Has he already drafted one?  You said it was complete?  Deputy Spokesperson:  I don’t want to try to predict how it will come out.  Certainly, the report will come out and then you can see for yourself what format all of those responses are in.  

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Question:  On the situation of Sudan, the Prime Minister this morning said that it will take as much as $43 billion to help the country recover and reconstruct.  How is the international community going to be able to face this challenge?  And, also, I had asked before about this issue.  There is some indication that another summit will take place on Pakistan.  And the date of 19 September has been advanced.  Can you confirm now that meeting?  Is it going to take place? Deputy Spokesperson:  I cannot confirm that just yet.  There is the intention to hold another senior-level meeting on Pakistan and what the needs are there.  The Secretary-General has encouraged that effort as has his envoy, Mr. Ripert.  In terms of a concrete date, nothing further to say just yet.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  We don’t do that.  I don’t know what form the presentation will take at this stage.  That remains to be worked out. 

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Question: On Myanmar and then also host country issues.  On Myanmar, two things.  Noleen Heyzer of ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) had made a statement at a recent conference in Bangkok saying the Myanmar Government displayed a readiness to set aside other issues, focusing instead on what mattered most, human lives, referring to the Nargis response.  I’m wondering if the Secretary-General shares that view.  Also there’s been a call by a number of Governments — the United Kingdom, Australia, Czech Republic, Slovenia and now the United States — for a commission of inquiry into possible war crimes in Myanmar.  And there’s a discussion that it should be done through the UN.  Is the Secretary-General aware of that call and what does he think of it? Deputy Spokesperson:  First of all, we don’t have any comment on what Noleen Heyzer says, which speaks for itself.  Beyond that, on the issue of war crimes, this was a recommendation that was made by the Rapporteur dealing with this issue, Tomás Ojea Quintana.  I’m not aware of any of the bodies of the Members States of the United Nations, for example, taking up this particular issue.

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Question:  I had asked I think almost two weeks ago about this issue of UN staff members from countries that are on United States sanctions’ list being told by the United States Government that despite being UN staff members with G4 visas, that they can’t travel beyond 25 miles from New York without getting approval or pre-approval from the State Department.  I’m just wondering if there’s any… Deputy Spokesperson:  I believe we e-mailed you whatever the response to that was.  I think we did that a week or so ago.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  I don’t have the precise wording, which is actually quite precise.  But we’ve taken up our concerns with the host Government on this issue, is the short response.  But check your e-mail.

[The Spokesperson later said that the United Nations Secretariat has indicated to the United States Government its position of principle concerning the treatment of its staff solely on the basis of their nationality and has requested that all travel restrictions be removed by the host country as soon as possible.]

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Question:  Do we expect an announcement by Mr. Ban Ki-moon during this General Assembly whether he’s running for a second term or not?  When is the deadline for that?  I mean shouldn’t we know a year beforehand?  When is he going to announce whether he’s going to run for a second term or not? Deputy Spokesperson:  A decision about a second term for this Secretary-General or who would be the next Secretary-General is as always in the hands of the Member States.  It’s up to them to decide on whether or not to do that or consider someone else.  For Ban Ki-moon’s part, he is serving out his current term and he’s trying to do the best job he can during this particular term, which is a term that lasts through the end of next year, which is to say through the end of 2011.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  The timing of these decisions varies from each time, if you followed the past ones.  It’s in the hands of the Member States. 

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Deputy Spokesperson:  I think that at this stage there’s no need for him to pronounce himself on this question right now.  Of course, if he feels there is a need for him to pronounce his own views on this, he will certainly do so.

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Deputy Spokesperson:  I think the Secretary-General did just about two weeks ago send a message following the agreement by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to enter direct negotiations, and I would refer you back to the statement he issued at that time.  Whether we feel the need to issue any further statements, of course, we’ll issue those in due course if and when they’re needed.

Thank you.

Briefing by the Spokesperson for the General Assembly President

Good afternoon.  In order to respond to recent queries from correspondents regarding upcoming proceedings, kindly note the following.  There is no change in the case of Kosovo as far as we know at this stage.  The draft resolution is still tentatively scheduled for 9 September.

Other draft resolutions that are pending and that are not linked to Kosovo:  L.55/Rev.1, that’s the draft on the extension of the transition period preceding the graduation of Samoa from least developed country status; L.57/L.62, that’s the observance of international humanitarian law and international humanitarian rights law in the occupied territories in Azerbaijan, as well as the status of internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia and the [inaudible] Valley region in South Ossetia Georgia.  Also pending is L.67, as well as the International Court of Justice election on 9 September as per resolution 1926. 

For the arrangements for the high-level meetings in the General Assembly debate of the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly, I’d like to refer you to A/65.  If any of you have difficulties retrieving these documents, just send me an email at nkolo@un.org and we will facilitate that.  For the time being, there is no updated list of speakers, as yet, that has been made public for the General Debate.

Regarding the reform of the Security Council, it will be difficult in light of the limited time remaining to have Ambassador Zahir Tanin, the Chair of the intergovernmental negotiations, to brief you.  However, this is a work in progress and something we’ll have to come back to in due course.  So, we’ll be talking to Ambassador Tanin to see when he can brief you.  But as you know, we only have a few days remaining before the end of the sixty-forth session.

Further questions?

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Spokesperson:  There is no message as such, as we speak.  But I will certainly go back to him and ask if such as message is in the works and we will let you know.

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Spokesperson:  Well, this is a normal process in the General Assembly.  If a Member State or regional group has something to submit, there are specific procedures for that.  Member States can decide to submit a draft resolution or to contact the President for any subject matter.  For the time being, if you refer to the 9 September draft resolution on Kosovo, what we have said is on the table for the time being hasn’t changed. 

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Spokesperson:  There is no due date. 

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Spokesperson:  Absolutely.  But the time remaining to is getting very short. 

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Question:  About the MDGs, the negotiations that have been going on this week.  Does the President think that these will come to a final text, will sort of be agreed on by Friday?  There seems to be some rumblings among some of the G77 members that the co-facilitators shouldn’t be offering their own drafting, that everything should be out in the open.  What’s the President of the General Assembly’s involvement been in trying to bring these negotiations to a close? Spokesperson:  Thank you for that question, Matthew.  As we have been reporting from this podium, the President has been very much engaged in the process to ensure that the high-level summit is a success.  And he has been talking to all leaders and he has been visiting various countries and pressing leaders to attend at the highest possible level.  So the President, as a facilitator, is very much interested in making sure that this process is through and that this meeting is a success.  The rumblings that you are referring to, we haven’t actually heard them, but it is true that this is a work in progress and that much more needs to be done.  But the President remains fully engaged and he is consulting with all stakeholders and I think this meeting will be a success.

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