Press Encounter at UNHQ following the vote in the Security Council on the non-extension of the mandate of the United Nations Mission In Bosnia and Herzegovina (Unofficial transcript)

Q: What do you expect? Is it roll-over in combination?

SG: Well, they are discussing the roll-over at the moment and I don't know what will happen. But I think what is important is that as I appealed to the Members that the discussions continue and the search for a solution continues, and a solution that will respect the Charter and the treaty obligations of Member States. And I don't think this should be beyond the creative minds of all these brilliant lawyers around the world to come up with a solution.

Q: What kind of effect could this have for peacekeeping operations and the UN in the future?

SG: I think it depends on what the Administration in Washington intends to do. As you heard this morning, they could have various possibilities. They could have said, "Well you can continue your peacekeeping operations but there will be no US citizens participating in peacekeeping", and that would have been one way to go. They've taken this route. Hopefully they will find a solution. If they do not find a solution, what happens to the other mandates that are coming up, including the one in the Middle East, UNIFIL? What will be their position? So I would hope that the search for a solution is fruitful, but without gutting the ICC, which is coming into force, and as you know I strongly support. And I have a statement coming out at midnight tonight and I hope you all look for it.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, is this whole thing troubling to you in terms of its symbolic implications for UN prestige and solidarity and the whole sort of future of UN peacekeeping?

SG: When I last spoke to the members of the press about the ICC, I indicated that the US has taken a sovereign decision not to participate in the court. But there are 73 other governments who have also taken a sovereign decision to participate in the ICC. And I think we should respect their decision as well. What I would hope is that the search that is now on will continue, and that we will find a solution. Because it would be unfortunate if the peacekeeping tool which has served the world so well, and we are going to need in the future, was to be hampered. And not only that, as far as the ICC is concerned, I strongly believe that it provides a missing link in international justice. And we have all talked about bringing people to justice who commit war crimes, who break international humanitarian law. And it is this same Council that set up the two tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia which are still in operation. It is the same Council which has asked us to set up a court in Sierra Leone to try people who have committed international humanitarian crimes. I think the Council's credibility and the Organization's is on the line, and not only that, how do we explain these contradictory attitudes?

Q: The positions are so far apart now, what will a technical roll-over of the Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina achieve? If they are so far apart now, what is three days, or 24 hours going to get?

SG: I've seen negotiations and discussions where people have been very far apart and it seems almost hopeless and impossible, and have been able to come together to make a difference, and I hope this is going to be one of those situations. Don't rule it out.

Q: Will UNMIBH be affected by this veto?

SG: If nothing changes, yes. We will have to begin dismantling the operation, but we will have to do it in a way that the activities in Bosnia, and the people in Bosnia do not suffer. They've suffered far too long to have to go through another one. Not only that, we had arranged to hand over the operations to the European Union at the end of the year, in December. We will have to be in negotiations with them to see if they can accelerate their preparedness to take over the operations sooner than anticipated and we do not know that. And in any event, to dismantle that whole operation is going to take us a couple of months.

Q: May I beg your pardon for one other question on another subject since your are leaving us soon here. You are going out to Vienna and then to Africa. With what sort of frame of mind do you go to Vienna for those talks in terms of your expectations and do you really anticipate you can come back from that trip with an agreement?

SG: I'm going with an open mind.*****