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

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, there's an Iraqi delegation that's going to be coming to the Security Council we understand on July 22nd. Do you see any problems in their being able to speak in the [Security] Council? What do you expect to come up about that? And there's and another Iraq-related question - both India and France have said that they would not participate in any peacekeeping force in Iraq unless it was under a UN flag. Do you see this as any sort of a possibility? Are there discussions going on?

SG: On your first question, indeed, Sergio [Vieira] de Mello has advised me that a delegation of three will be coming from Iraq to participate in the Council's session on the 22nd. On that day Sergio [Vieira] de Mello will himself be briefing the Council and I will be submitting a report to the Council on UN activities and developments in Iraq since the resolution was passed. The three-man Iraqi delegation –of course there's a woman - the two men and one woman - I suspect will be able to speak to the Council under Article [39] of its own rules so I do not anticipate any difficulties of the Council allowing the delegation to speak. I will be receiving them myself.

On your second question, indeed it is an issue that is under discussion. This is not an issue just for France and India. Other governments are grappling with the same issue and the question has been posed as to whether or not Security Council action may not help improve the situation. A Security Council action that expands UN activities and perhaps appeals to the Member States to make troops, policemen and other resources available for the stabilization of Iraq. When and if that action would be taken by the Council I do not know, but discussions are going on.

Q: The North Korean Ambassador told the Security Council President that the situation in the Korean Peninsula is deteriorating. How concerned are you with the situation in North Korea and the Korean Peninsula as a whole?

SG: I have been concerned about the North Korean situation for quite some time. As you know I have an Envoy, Maurice Strong, who has been going in and out, focussing immediately on the humanitarian situation. But we have also kept an eye on the nuclear issue, as well as long-term economic development. I know that governments in the region, including China in particular, are trying to make efforts to work with the parties to find a peaceful way out. I would urge the parties to really engage and find a peaceful way out of this conflict.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, do you have a prescription, a recipe as to how these parties can find a way out?

SG: Well, I have some ideas, but the parties would want to do it themselves. In fact I have been in touch with both parties, and the U.S. has made it clear that they would want to discuss this in a certain forum and the North Koreans have their ideas, and here the Chinese government and others are trying to help to find a way that would be acceptable to both, and to allow us to move forward on this issue.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, has there been any advance in Liberia [inaudible]?

SG: We have made some progress, progress in the sense that all the parties involved, and the parties that would want to help, know what is required. By parties I mean the United States, ECOWAS and the United Nations. And I think the understanding that has emerged is that ECOWAS, the U.S. and the UN will play a role in Liberia. The current plan is that the ECOWAS will send in a vanguard force of 1,000 to [*5,000] troops. Once they have arrived, President Taylor would leave and the U.S. and other reinforcements would move into Liberia to join the vanguard force of ECOWAS. Then, for the longer term a UN peacekeeping force would be established to take over the operations, along the lines of what we are doing in Sierra Leone.

On the political side there are talks going on in Accra where all the Liberian parties are participating under the leadership of former President [Abdelsalami] Abubakar of Nigeria. The idea here is that they would also work on a transitional government, a transitional government that would be in office for two years and help stabilize the situation, would begin to work on disarmament and prepare elections over the next two years.

Q: Sir, the wild card in Liberia seems to obviously be Charles Taylor. Yesterday according to his spokesman, there was talk of him stepping down but not leaving the country. What effect do you think that would have if he were not to leave the country? Have you spoken recently to Charles Taylor? What is your impression of what he will do?

SG: I have not spoken to him recently. By recently I mean the last ten days or so. But the understanding he has with President [Olusegun] Obasanjo is that he will be going to Nigeria. I think all the leaders in West Africa have been briefed on this, and they accept that position, and I myself have been briefed, and when I last spoke to President Taylor I had a sense that he will accept Nigeria's invitation and step down.

Q: What will it do if he does not leave though?

SG: Well, I am not sure that that is an option that is still on the table, given the fact that he has made that commitment, and he has made the commitment not only to his African peers, but to the whole world, and one is expecting him to honour that commitment. So at this stage we are acting on the assumption and the expectation that he will step down and leave office.

Q: Sir, your Special Envoy for Myanmar is here in town today, and also a representative of the government of Myanmar. I am wondering what you might be telling the representative of the government of Myanmar what the UN can do to help get Aung San Suu Kyi freed?

SG: My Special Envoy will be briefing me on where we are. As you know, he is the only person to have seen Aung San Suu Kyi since she was arrested, and he has been consulting with leaders in the region, and he will be here to brief me on where we stand and for us to explore what the next steps should be and what future action we should take.

The Myanmar Representative apparently also has a message from his government for me, and I will have to wait to see that message before I can react.

Q: Are sanctions a possibility?

SG: Well, I am not sure the [Security] Council is seized of that yet, so it is a bit premature for me to say that it is a possibility. I know some governments are becoming quite exercised by developments in Myanmar.

Q: [inaudible] on President Taylor and the indictment against him.

SG: I think the Sierra Leonean Court has issued an indictment, and the law must follow its course.

Q: Is there a timetable for the deployment of this vanguard force to Liberia?

SG: Well, I had hoped that they would do it at the latest by the end of this month, but the latest calendar I saw seems to indicate it might be later than that, and that is very worrying, because the longer we delay the deployment the more dangerous the situation gets. So I have asked my military advisers and other officers to be in touch with the ECOWAS forces, with the U.S., to see what can be done to accelerate their deployment.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, could I clarify one point. When you were talking about vanguard force, you said “1,000 to 5,000”?

SG: No, 1,000 to *1,500 –that is correct. I think the entire force that ECOWAS foresees would be about 5,000. Of course the UN force that will eventually take over, the size will depend on the mandate the Council gives us. So I am not able to give you any indication as to the size of the UN force.

Thank you very much.

* See correction in Secretary-General's last answer.