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

SG: He should and will be available for the investigation, and we are discussing how to make sure that he will be available.

Q: I understand you met with Mr. Sevan yesterday. What is the purpose of that conversation?

SG: He had been away for a while and a lot has been going on and so I called him in to catch up, to discuss with him what has happened, and the Volcker investigation, and the need for everybody to cooperate.

Q: Did he express to you that he will cooperate fully with the Volcker panel?

SG: Yes, he did.

Q: The entire Oil-for-Food issue. Do you feel you should be more pro-active in the public arena, toward getting out in front of the story? Boutros Boutros-Ghali, your predecessor, seemed to be defined by others on Bosnia and other issues, and here, rightly or wrongly, the UN is just being pilloried everyday, just at a time when the UN may need to go into Iraq.

SG: I think it is unfortunate that there have been so many allegations, and some of it is being handled as if they were facts, and this is why we need to have this investigation done. And in all this what has been lost is the fact that the Oil-for-Food Programme did provide relief to the Iraqi population; every household was touched. With the government, we set up one of the best distribution systems, to such an extent that even some suggested we should use the distribution cards for elections, to show you how pervasive [it was]. So that should not be overlooked. The fact that there may have been wrongdoing by a few, should not destroy the work that many hard working UN staff did.

And secondly, if the Iraqi government has smuggled oil and done all sorts of things, I don't think it is fair to lump it all together and blame the UN and the Secretariat. Because there are things that were definitely beyond our control, not only the Secretariat, but even the Member States. And so, once the issues have been looked at and separated, I hope people will put things in perspective and will be able to get the facts out. And I'm very keen on Mr. [Paul] Volcker, Judge [Richard] Goldstone and Mr. [Mark] Pieth to really get to work and give us a report as soon as possible.

Q: On a very different subject: Lakhdar Brahimi. Obviously, a lot of pressure being put on him. What are the qualities about Lakhdar Brahimi, what is it about him that you think really makes him the right guy for the task, the one that will be able, for the most part, to pull things together for the US as well as for the UN?

SG: He's a very experienced diplomat, and he's also done lots of work in crisis areas. In the case of Iraq, he knows the region, he understands the culture, he has the language, in addition to all the political and diplomatic skills he comes with. I think he has already demonstrated that he can help, that he can make a difference, and I'm hopeful that the Iraqi people and their political constituencies will all work with him very effectively for us to be able to move to the next phase of forming a caretaker government.

Q: Are you fearful though that Oil-for-Food will have a spillover effect here? There are those certainly in the Chalabi camp who are saying the UN is not prepared, is not the one, is not qualified, is corrupt. Obviously, all these allegations flowing out of Oil-for-Food, coloring what Brahimi is trying to do.

SG: I think we need to separate the issues. And as I said, the Oil-for-Food was a rather complex programme that we all had to deal with, and I think when the report is out things will become quite clear as to how the programme was managed, who was responsible for what, and what happened. And as I said, if UN staff are found to be guilty, we will deal with them very severely. But here we're dealing with the future of a nation, and asking what assistance can the UN bring to bear in the political theme and we've experience in that area, and I think we should focus on that, and let's let the investigators do their work on the Oil-for-Food.

Q: Sir, I understand you're trying to move the debate. I'm only asking you again because we did speak to Mr. Sevan yesterday. Did he insist yesterday as he did in his previous statement that he was innocent, that he was not guilty of what's being alleged, and beyond that, if I could, the Americans (back to Iraq), are talking about perhaps a limited strike, talking about going back into Fallujah. I wonder what kind of restraint you might call for in that situation?

SG: Benon has stated quite clearly that he is innocent, but that doesn't mean he will not cooperate with the investigation and he has indicated he will cooperate as I expect all other staff members to cooperate.

On the question of Fallujah, I had hoped that the ceasefire and the discussions that are going on would lead to a peaceful settlement of the crisis and I hope it is still possible. It has dragged on a bit but I hope that efforts will continue because fighting in built-up areas often places civilians in harm's way and we need to do whatever we can to ensure that innocent civilians do not get hurt, and avoid using heavy weaponry in built-up areas.

Q: The Russian veto on Cyprus?

SG: I think on the Council action yesterday, I was gratified that 14 members of the Council voted to reassure the Greek Cypriots and the Greek and Turkish citizens that they do believe in the effort to reunite the country, and that the Council and the UN will be there to support them where we will be there to put an arms embargo, we'll be there to strengthen our peacekeeping operation on the ground. Even though Russia could not join the consensus, it indicated that the reason was technical, and not substantive. And so I think that the message that should go out to the people is that the international community, through the Security Council, stands by them and will support the effort.

Q: What did you tell Ambassador [Sergey] Lavrov, now Foreign Minister, to convince him to back the resolution on the Oil-for-Food? Did you bring up any skeletons in the closet?

SG: No, we had a very frank discussion. Thanks.