Press encounter after meeting with Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, (unofficial transcript)

SG: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I've just had a very good discussion with the President and as you can imagine, we talked about the crisis in the Middle East, we talked about the situation in Iraq and the review of the UN sanctions and of course discussed issues of interest to the UN and the Government of Egypt. I will take your questions now.

Q: The recent international efforts now to try to resume the negotiation between the Palestinians and the Israelis but with international guarantees to force Israel to stop building new settlements and [unintelligible]

SG: I think the whole idea behind the international effort is to try to bring the violence to an end. Now that the cease-fire is being consolidated, and we all have followed the work of Mr. Tenet, and as I indicated yesterday, there should be an effort to move on to the diplomatic process in order to ensure that the cease-fire also holds for the longer term. The question of the settlements is also one of the issues being discussed.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, despite the intensive presence of all these international mediators in the region, the Palestinian people are still suffering under siege and aggression from settlers. What will you do to help those people and press Israel to stop its provocation towards the Palestinians?

SG: I think the purpose of the efforts we are making is in the end to ensure that the siege would also be lifted. The Palestinians will be able to go about their business. And when we talk of confidence building measures, as proposed in the Mitchell report, these are the issues that we are talking about. And I think as we make progress in the work that we are doing, I would hope to see a better situation for the Palestinian people. I know they are suffering, I know the pain, and I think this is why we are all here.

Q: Do you have any plans to discuss again international protection inside the Security Council?

SG: I don't think it is on the Council's agenda at the moment. The Council discussed it once, but it was not approved. It is not on the agenda now and I am not aware that the Council intends to take it up any time soon.

Q: [inaudible, on the subject of Iraq]

SG: I think the Security Council is reviewing the Iraqi sanctions programme and the idea that the Council is looking at is to ease up the economic sanctions and in fact have (a certain) controls of blockages on the economic items going in for the benefit of the people, but will be stricter on the weapons side. There are other aspects that the Council is discussing. I'm not at liberty to go into it, because I don't know what the final outcome will be. It's still under discussion. I think the outline will become much clearer at the end of the month.

Q: Do you think Iraq will accept it?

SG: Well, Iraq has indicated it's unhappy with the proposals, but I do not know what it will finally do.

Q: Even though a cease-fire has been agreed to, of course there are people on the ground who do not agree with this. Do you foresee having to fine tune the cease-fire when you meet with the two sides?

SG: I think cease-fires are not always easy to consolidate, but I think very serious attempts are being made to ensure that the cease-fire holds. And I think for the past six days or so, Mr. Tenet has been sitting with the Parties during long hours trying to consolidate the cease-fire. I think it is important that both Parties who have signed on to think agreement make sure that it works. The people are suffering and we have to put an end to this tragedy. And once the cease-fire has been accepted and consolidated, I think it is only normal that we move on with the implementation of the full Mitchell recommendations which the Parties have both accepted.

Q: Because you have a good role concerning many conflicts, many issues all over the world, but we still feel that the United Nations is still absent concerning the conflict in the Middle East. Can you comment?

SG: I'm here [laughter]. I know that there is a sense that the UN is absent. I think there is also a bit of misunderstanding of the UN role. Not only are we physically present, as I said yesterday, with troops in the region, in Lebanon and in Syria, but the resolutions that have been the basis for settlements in the region, the land for peace, 242, 338, are all UN resolutions which provide a framework for peace. These ideas are not without value. And I think when you talk to the protagonists they all refer to these resolutions as a framework for moving forward. But at the end of the day, the Parties have to come to an understanding, have to work out the peace settlement with the support of the international community, with the support of the UN, the US, the European Union. And I think this is exactly what we are trying to do. But the foundation, in terms of resolutions at the UN are going to be absolutely crucial and has been underpinning these negotiations.

Q: [inaudible, in French, on the subject of Western Sahara]

SG: Je crois que nous sommes en train de chercher une solution. Evidemment, il ya un plan qu'on a pa pu mettre en application depuis douze ans. Donc, nous sommes en train de chercher un moyen d'aller en avant. Monsieur Baker est toujours en discussion avec les deux Parties. J'espere qu'ils vont se retrouver prochGinment, soit a Houston ou bien ailleurs, pour continuer leurs discussions. Evidemment, Le Conseil de STcuritT aura l'occasion de discuter ce dossier avant la fin du mois. Mais je crois qu'on doit attendre la dTcision du Conseil. Les discussions continuent entre les deux Parties en ce qui concerne les propositions auxquelles vous venez de vous rTfTrez. Donc, je ne peux pas dire exactement comment la situation va Otre rTsolue mais on continue toujours les discussions. *****