MICHELE MONTAS is the Spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General and the Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

TV: UN WEBCAST TV VIDEO- 46 minutes

UN: UNITED NATIONS BRIEFING AND TV - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: FRIDAY, 25/04/2008 (MaximsNews Network)

UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / - 25 April 2008 -- Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General and UN Webcast TV Video.

**Questions and Answers

Question: Did the United States Government share the information it had about the Syrian nuclear plant that Israel destroyed? Did the United States share this information with the United Nations or Secretary-General?

Deputy Spokesperson: I just read out an item on that. IAEA has a press release out on that today.

Question: What I’m asking is, if such information is available to a Member State, is it supposed to inform the Secretary-General also?

Deputy Spokesperson: The United States has informed IAEA and there is a press release on that upstairs.

Question: Yes, about that Syrian facility that Israel bombed last fall. I had spoken to oil executives because it’s an oil town and they had told me that, if there were any kind of nuclear building going on at the site there, radiation monitors would have picked up any kind of debris with field instruments and they’ve picked up nothing. I’m just wondering, this being the case, has anyone gone to Syria to check for nuclear debris?

Deputy Spokesperson: I think that question about Syria today should be addressed to IAEA, which is the agency that is directly dealing with this issue.

Question: Do they have any plans to go there?

Deputy Spokesperson: I think you should follow up with them. There’s a press release.

Question: I did, and they said to come and ask at the United Nations. I called Switzerland.

Deputy Spokesperson: IAEA is based in Vienna, their headquarters.

Question: I called there too.

Deputy Spokesperson: But IAEA would know whether they were planning a mission or not. I think our guests are here. Okay, one question.

Question: You may have read out something about the fighting in eastern Congo.

Deputy Spokesperson: Yes I did.

Question: Is there any indication whether General Nkunda’s forces are involved? Who are the forces that are fighting?

Deputy Spokesperson: Today I would like to refer you to the UNHCR briefing note. It has quite a lot of detail on the fighting there. Beyond that, I don’t have anything else.

As I warned you in the beginning, our guests are here. Today is World Malaria Day. We have the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Malaria and Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, and I’m going to immediately turn the floor over to them because they have to leave at 12:40, I am told, to launch the Secretary-General’s initiative.

Labels: United Nations,  U.N., Secretary-General

 

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