"Security Council Will Have A Role To Play In Iraq
Highlights from Today’s UN Press Briefing
· Secretary-General Kofi Annan
spoke to reporters upon entering the building today, and was
asked about the problems in the dialogue between the French
and the Americans on Iraq, to which he responded, “The
governments have to find a way of working together.”
· Regardless of how this crisis is resolved, he went on,
the Security Council and the Member States will have to work
together to deal with Iraq, the Middle East and many other
issues. The divisions that have surfaced, he said, should
not be long ones that will prevent the Council from tackling
the major issues ahead.
· He added, “Regardless of how
this issue is resolved, the Council will have a role and the
UN will have a role to play in Iraq and beyond.”
ANNAN HOLDS INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS WITH ALL SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
· The Secretary-General continued meeting with
members of the Security Council today. He saw the permanent
representatives of Russia and the United Kingdom yesterday,
and by the end of today he should have met with all 15.
· He will be urging them to continue their strenuous
efforts to find compromise and exploring with them what
might be done to further their objective to define a united
position.
· As always, he feels they are most effective
when they work together. These meetings are all one-on-one
and there will be no readouts.
· Asked why the
Secretary-General was not going to Baghdad to talk directly
with the Iraqi leadership, the Spokesman said that the
Secretary-General is talking to members of the Council and
what he sees at stake is the UN Charter provision for united
action. As a defender of the Charter, the Secretary-General
feels that if the Council can remain united it is in the
best interest of the United Nations and the rule of law, the
Spokesman said.
· Asked why the Secretary-General
refuses to go to Baghdad to defuse the situation as he did
in 1998, the Spokesman said that when the Secretary-General
went in 1998 the weapons inspectors had been blocked and
they had not been permitted access to Presidential sites.
Today, the Spokesman went on to say, the inspection process
is going full blast, so he does not feel there is the same
need for personal diplomacy in Baghdad.
SECURITY COUNCIL CONSULTATIONS ON IRAQ TO RESUME THIS AFTERNOON
· The
Security Council held consultations yesterday evening on
Iraq during which the United Kingdom circulated a non-paper.
· Consultations are scheduled to resume this afternoon
at 4:30 p.m.
· A two-day Security Council open debate on
Iraq to hear the views of non-members concluded yesterday
during which 53 member states spoke.
UN COMMISSION FOR IRAQ APPROVES $223 MILLION IN CLAIMS FOR KUWAIT
· Earlier
today in Geneva, the UN Compensation Commission for Iraq
approved awards totaling more than $223.2 million. Of this
total, $192 million was awarded to Kuwait for individual
business and private sector corporation losses.
· The
governing council also elected the Permanent Representative
of Germany to the UN Headquarters in Geneva, Ambassador
Walter Lewalter, to a two-year term as President.
· As
you know, the compensation commission is a subsidiary body
of the Security Council established by the Council in 1991
to process claims and pay compensation for losses resulting
from Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait.
UN LEGAL TEAM STARTS TALKS IN PHNOM PENH ON KHMER ROUGE COURTS
· In
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, today, UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell
met with Senior Minister Sok An to discuss the program of
work their delegations will deal with as they negotiate on
the remaining parts of a draft agreement concerning the
trial of Khmer Rouge leaders.
· Corell also met for more
than an hour with King Norodom Sihanouk. In the afternoon,
Sok An will meet with the full UN delegation.
· Friday,
Corell will meet with representatives from non-governmental
organizations and then with Cambodia’s Supreme Council. In
the afternoon, Sok An will meet with the full UN delegation.
· The UN delegation’s trip to Cambodia is expected to
wrap up on March 17, one day before the Secretary-General is
due to report back to the General Assembly on progress
regarding the trials.
UN TRIBUNAL: DJINDJIC DEATH IS “HEAVY BLOW” TO THE RULE OF LAW
· The International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia today issued a
statement in which its President, Judge Theodor Meron,
expressed his shock and horror at the assassination of
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, whose cooperation
with the Tribunal had brought international justice closer
to a region that had seen terrible atrocities.
· His
death, the Tribunal said, is a heavy blow to individual
accountability for violations of international humanitarian
law, and to the rule of law.
ANNAN, TOP U.S. HEALTH OFFICIAL TO DISCUSS U.S. PLEDGE TO GLOBAL AIDS FUND
· The
Secretary-General has invited U.S. Secretary for Health and
Human Services, Tommy Thompson, for lunch today, to discuss
the Global Fund Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
· U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John
Negroponte, and UN officials will also attend the lunch, at
which the Secretary-General is also expected to discuss the
$15 billion pledge for AIDS announced by the President Bush,
the food crisis in Africa and its relation to AIDS and the
follow-up to the G-8 meeting on food security in Africa.
· Thompson was elected Chairman of the Fund in January
and the Secretary-General is patron on the Fund.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
FOOD AID SOUGHT FOR ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA:
The World Food Programme today warns that more food aid
was urgently needed to avert severe human suffering in
drought-affected Ethiopia and Eritrea, where relief stocks
will run out in the approaching months.
UNESCO TO HELP
RESTORE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN CHECHNYA:
United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
announced that an Aide-Memoire will be signed Friday with
the Russian Federation on restoring the education system in
Chechnya. It says cooperation will be based on a recent
assessment of education in Chechnya conducted by Russian and
Chechen education officials with technical support to be
provided by UNESCO.
GLOBALIZATION TO BE DISCUSSED AT
SECRETARY-GENERAL'S LECTURE SERIES:
The fourth lecture
in the Secretary-General’s Lecture Series takes place
Friday. Jeffrey Sachs, Secretary-General’s Special Advisor
on the Millennium Development Goals, Jagdish Bhagwati,
Professor in Economics at Columbia University, and Joseph
Stiglitz, Professor in Economics and Finance at Columbia
University, will discuss “Globalization: Winners and Losers"
at UN headquarters starting 1:30 p.m.
UNMOVIC TRAFFIC
ACCIDENT:
A vehicle of the UN Monitoring, Verification
and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) was involved in a
traffic accident today. Despite immediate medical
assistance, including prompt help from the Iraqi side, one
UNMOVIC inspector died as a result of his injuries and
another was injured. An inquiry is being conducted into how
the accident occurred.