Secretary-General's press encounter upon arrival at UNHQ (unofficial transcript)

Q: Mr. Secretary, Sudan. You may have commented on this, I know, in several venues, but is this genocide, and is the international community incredibly slow and not living up to their obligations in helping the people there?

SG We have a very difficult situation in Sudan in the Darfur region. It is a tragic humanitarian situation. As you have heard the figures, about one million people displaced, and over 100,000 refugees in Chad. We are rushing to get as much supplies on the ground before the rains come. We have also been putting pressure on the Sudanese government to allow humanitarian workers, UN and NGO humanitarian workers to be given free access to Darfur and allow supplies and equipment to come in. Things have improved, but much more needs to be done. We have also asked the Sudanese government to take steps to contain the Janjaweed militia who are doing quite a lot of the killing and disruption of the lives of the people in the region.

I, myself, expect to visit the Sudan sometime soon, and Carol Bellamy was there last week. I think it is the responsibility of the Government to protect the population, and we need to encourage it, and must insist it does it, and of course if it is not able to protect them the international community may have to assist the Sudanese government to do that. And the Sudanese government should be willing to accept that assistance.

Q: Was it ethnic cleansing? Was it genocide? Based on the reports you have received.

SG: Based on reports that I have received, I can't at this stage call it genocide. There are massive violations of international humanitarian law, but I am not ready to describe it as genocide or ethnic cleansing yet.

Q: Do you think there is any complicity from the Sudanese government in the crimes committed there?

SG: We have raised it with the Sudanese government. They deny it. In fact, just two days ago I saw the Sudanese delegation in Sao Paulo in Brazil where I sat with them to discuss this issue. The delegation was headed by the Minister of Finance. And of course, they deny any complicity, and indicated that they are going to do the best they can to bring the situation under control.

Q: Do you believe them?

SG: I think my comments this morning are quite clear. I don't have specific evidence, but from all accounts they can do something about the Janjaweed.

Q: Sir, I have an in-house question about Dileep Nair. I don't know whether you are aware, but several months ago, an anonymous memorandum went around the building that made some specific allegations against Mr. Nair, and it seems to have been followed up by action in the Staff Council, and by you. I wanted to ask whether you are aware of the specific allegations against Mr. Nair, and whether you have received any explanation yet from him about their truth or otherwise.

SG: I saw the letter you are referring to. I think it was distributed quite widely. Mr. Nair did produce a memo indicating that there was not much truth in what was contained in that document. I have been away for a couple of days. I have to see where we are. I haven't followed it whilst I have been on the road.

Q: Doesn't it beg the question of “who watches the watchdog?” So, who does watch the watchdog? If Mr. Nair says, “no, I'm not guilty of these allegations”, is that enough?

SG: If there were to be basis for action, we would definitely have to find ways of looking into it. In effect what you are asking is 'who inspects the inspector?'. This is a hurdle we will have to jump if we get to that. But I don't think that in itself should prevent one from taking action if there were to be a basis for such an action.

Q; If I remember, in that note, there were several women named in that note. Have you spoken, or anybody in management spoken to those women to ask them what their view of the allegations is?

SG: The memo I saw had no names. If you had one with names I would have to look. The one I saw was completely anonymous, there were no names.

Q: Sir, the violence overnight in Iraq - the UN is closer, I think, at least on paper , to getting back into Iraq. How concerned are you still over the security situation, as you get closer to the handover date? And if I could, to a neighbouring country - how concerned are you on the situation with Iran, and its perceived nuclear aspirations and the work that is being done in the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and the threat today I think to restart its uranium enrichment programme?

SG: On the security situation on the ground in Iraq, obviously I am extremely worried, and I am grateful to the Security Council that they inserted the phrase that we could go in “as circumstances permit”. As of today circumstances do not permit and we are monitoring the situation extremely carefully. But I would want to urge that everything be done to secure the environment, not just for the UN to return, but for the ordinary Iraqi for reconstruction and for the stability of Iraq. And so all efforts must be made to secure the environment.

On your second question, I know that there have been lots of discussions going on between the Atomic Agency and Iran, between the Europeans and Iran, and the US. I noticed in the papers today there seems to be some indication that the Atomic Agency's statement that Iran has not cooperated fully was overstated, and I need to get into the facts. I would urge Iran to work with the Atomic Agency and honour its commitments to the Agency so that we do not have any further confrontation in that region.

Q: Sir, on Saddam Hussein, do you think, Sir, that the time is right for the Americans to hand him over to the Iraqis. Do you think that the Iraqis have the capabilities to deal with having custody of him? And on the issue of Iran, how do you rate the chances of the issue of Iran coming to the Security Council.? Would you like to see it come to the Security Council? And a final one, Sir, on [US Ambassador John] Negroponte, since he is about to start his appointment, can you just give us a quick a quick assessment of what it's been like to actually work with him as the US Ambassador?

SG: On you first question, I am really in a difficult situation to answer that question. It depends on circumstances on the ground, the arrangements that have been made. He is a war prisoner, and the Geneva Conventions apply to him, whether he is handed over to the Iraqi authorities, or held by the US. The US have indicated that they will only hand him over if they are sure that the Iraqis have the means of looking after him, and protecting him. And I am in no way to judge that, and so I wouldn't want to comment on that.

On the Iranian issue, there has been talk for quite a while that the issue may be brought to the Security Council. It hasn't been, and I am not expecting it to come to the Security Council in the foreseeable future. I have also encouraged those who would want to bring it to the Security Council to do as much as they can to resolve it, or if they are going to bring it to the Security Council they must have very clear ideas on what action they expect the Council to take, because it would be easy to dump it on the Council without any real expectation as to how the Council will handle that.

As far as Negroponte is concerned, let me say that it's been a pleasure working with him. He is a real professional. He listens. He is a diplomat's diplomat, and I think he has managed to work with the Council members in a very difficult situation, and I think it is also a bit of a tribute to him that one of the last resolutions he dealt with was voted on unanimously by the Council. We look forward to continuing our cooperation with him from the other side.

Q: On Bill Safire's article, you spoke to Bill Safire of the New York Times, and you appeared to say in there that there had been a complaint about the award to Cotecna of the Iraqi oil for food contract. Can you elaborate a little bit? As you know we don't get any of the documents ourselves. What was that complaint, and did it involve the fact that your son worked for Cotecna?

SG: Let me say that I was quite surprised by that article. It was a private conversation, both with me and with Mr. [Paul] Volcker. And in fact I was referring to something that you know about. I referred to the ྞ article in the Sunday Telegraph –I said that's how the whole thing started. So I am afraid that conversation has been quoted selectively, and I don't think it is fair.

Q: So the complaint wasn't from a competitor?

SG: No, it was from the article in the Daily Telegraph. There has not been any direct complaint to us. The Telegraph article indicated that a complainant had been to see them and raised the issue, but it wasn't to us, it was a newspaper article. I must say, let me put it this way, that there are allegations which are being looked into by the Volcker commission, and they will do a thorough job, and when I say thorough, I mean thorough. They will cover Cotecna. They will cover the oil allegations against UN staff members. They will cover the whole gamut. And so I do not know the basis of that article you refer to. What I would also want to say is that, when there are allegations, we need to be patient and allow the investigation to go forward. And I think some are being very impatient and jumping to conclusions without facts, without evidence, and seem to know the truth and want to go ahead. It is bit like lynching actually.

Q: In light of the prisoner abuses in Iraq, should the US get another exemption on ICC [International Criminal Court] at the Council, for peacekeepers?

SG: As you know, for the past two years, I have spoken quite strongly against the exemption, and I think it would be unfortunate for one to press for such an exemption, given the prisoner abuse in Iraq. I think in this circumstance it would be unwise to press for an exemption, and it would be even more unwise on the part of the Security Council to grant it. It would discredit the Council and the United Nations that stands for rule of law and the primacy of rule of law.

Q: Are you saying that if Iraq had been a signatory, those prisoner abuses would have fallen within the ambit of the Criminal Court?

SG: I am not saying that. What I am saying is that blanket exemption is wrong. It is of dubious judicial value, and I don't think it should be encouraged by the Council.

Q: Sir, on Gaza, the Egyptians have expressed a willingness to take part in security arrangements, not just in Gaza, but also in the West Bank. Have there been any contacts between you and the Egyptians about either Gaza or the West Bank recently?

SG: Yes, I have spoken to President [Hosni] Mubarak about that, and I know that my Envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, has also been in touch with Mr. [Omar] Suleiman, the head of the Egyptian Security and Intelligence. There are discussions whereby Egypt would assist the Palestinians in strengthening and restructuring their security arrangements. I think that this is help that is sorely needed.

Q: The UN Integrity Survey. What do you think of the accusations that it is an old boys network? You were in the Organization for forty years.

SG: I think it is something that we asked for. And I think we have also been forthright in publishing it. What is interesting is that the staff, by and large, indicate that they enjoy what they are doing, they like their work. There are weaknesses, indicating that they think whistleblowers may get into trouble, and that their complaints are not taken seriously, and these are issues we are going to deal with very, very actively. And each department head will be meeting their staff to discuss these issues and see how we can improve it. There are weaknesses and we are going to work on them.

Q: Who's going to be the Iraq representative?

SG: I haven't quite decided. I have a list which I am looking at. I would hope to be able to designate someone within the next week or so. It's a tough choice.

Q: Are people scared to come forward?

SG: Well, we have had some shortages, not just in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan. In some situations, the candidates have been willing, excited when we have described the assignment to them, but a week or two later they come and tell you, “We would love to do it but our wives and families don't want us to do it.”

Thank you.