Secretary-General's press encounter upon arrival at UNHQ

As you know, I have just come back from Asia and the Indian Ocean, visiting some of the hardest hit countries by the tsunami. It was shocking and moving to see the devastation and the destruction of livelihoods. But I was also encouraged by the community spirit of governments, NGOs, international workers, private sector, all coming together to build and pick up the pieces. I was pleased with the work the UN staff are doing in the field, leading and helping coordinate international relief. Of course we are now at the relief stage, the emergency stage, but we are moving very quickly to recovery and reconstruction. You may also know that the Summit in Jakarta asked me to appoint a special envoy to help coordinate and encourage reconstruction, and I will be doing that very shortly, hopefully in the course of this week.

But while there, of course, I also kept an eye on what was going on here. I saw Mr. Volcker's comments on the audit reports which indicate that we have work to do in the management area and we need clearer transparency which I intend to work on. I will be making some proposals and taking some action very shortly. I have made some changes and more are on the way, and I will inform you in due course.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, following up on that, could you give us some more of your thinking on how extensive those management changes are going to be? There are reports that Sir Kieran Prendergast is going to be leaving, also that Anne Veneman, the U.S. agriculture secretary, is a leading candidate for the head of UNICEF. You need to appoint a new Mideast envoy. Could you elaborate a little?

SG: It is correct that Ms. Anne Veneman is my candidate for the UNICEF position. I will be submitting a recommendation to the Board very shortly. Yes, Mr. [Terje Roed-] Larsen has left and is now head of the International Peace Academy, and I will have to name a replacement which I intend to do very quickly. Mr. Peter Hansen, who heads UNRWA, would also be leaving and I will have to replace him, and there will be other changes here at Headquarters. Some people are retiring and it will offer us an opportunity to make some changes.

Q: Is this part of a concerted overhaul in your last two years, or do people just happen to be leaving?

SG: I think it is a combination of both. Some people were leaving and it offered an opportunity to rethink the team, and remake the team. So, I don't think one should associate any departure with a management shakeup. Several people were going to leave anyway and that opportunity was offered and so I decided to take a look at the whole team.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, on India. The Indian Government up to now has resisted any foreign aid. But on Friday the Indian Foreign Minister said that they are willing to accept money for reconstruction. How would you respond to that?

SG: I haven't seen the statement, but it is up to a government to decide what kind of assistance it needs, and what to accept, and what not to accept.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, the Danish Foreign Ministry has received information that a terror attack is being planned against foreign workers in Banda Aceh. The UN security officials have declared a state of heightened awareness. Can you comment on that?

SG: First of all, you must understand that, until the crisis, foreigners and aid workers were not really operating in Banda Aceh. After the crisis the Government opened up and we are operating there, in addition to the foreign troops that came in with the heavy logistical assets that were needed. I must say that the core group which the U.S. put together, made up of the U.S., Australia, India, Japan, Canada and Singapore, had made a real difference. Without their heavy lifting and clearing up for us to move in, it would have been a logistical nightmare. The roads were destroyed, airports were not easily usable, but they have been extremely helpful in doing that, and making sure with helicopters we could reach those who were difficult to reach. So the Government had allowed us to go in. And I spoke to the President myself a few days ago, who indicated that there is no deadline as such. The deadline they set was for themselves a target date for them to plan to assume responsibility and they welcomed assistance. Obviously, given the fact that there had been conflict in the region, the staff who are there have to be careful, they have to watch what they do. So far so good, we haven't had any major problems with the GAM [Free Aceh Movement] or any other group. And so we are operating, but of course we need to be careful.

Q: With just two weeks to go until the Iraqi elections and the fact that the violence and intimidation is continuing, do you really think they are going to be fair, and how representative can they be?

SG: I think, on the Iraqi elections, let me say that as far as we are concerned, all the technical preparations are ready. We have done everything that we need to do to help the elections go forward. Obviously the situation is far from ideal. I had the opportunity of speaking to Prime Minister [Ayad] Allawi yesterday, who indicated that he is trying to reach out as we had suggested - one should reach out and bring in as many people outside the process as possible. He and his team are doing that. And in fact he indicated that there is going to be a meeting on the 20th. Even at this late stage I would urge them to try and bring in as many people as possible and understand that measures are being taken to assure security for the elections. Obviously this is not going to be 100 per cent proof, but we will see what these efforts will bring in the next week to ten days. We, on our side, as I have said, have done all that needs to be done, and I think my team on the ground, together with the other international electoral assistance from DFID, from IFES and the European Union have done a really heroic job.

Q: Given the reality that it seems that despite these efforts there is going to be a substantial number of people who don't vote in this election, how much is the UN now working hard to prepare for the immediate post-election period to actually establish some way for these people to be represented even though they haven't voted?

SG: First of all, let us see what happens. We would take it up at the end of the elections. It is an issue for the new government to determine. The new government will have to determine if it has to take any special measures to ensure that the voice of every Iraqi is taken into consideration as they move ahead to prepare the constitution and move to the next phase. We have always maintained that the process has to be as inclusive as possible if the results are going to be accepted by all, and it is not going to be contested. So I think the efforts that the government is making to bring everybody in is a good one. We at the UN will offer any advice, or help, the government wants from us, at the end of the process, and of course, after the process, if the circumstances permit, we will be prepared to expand our activities to other areas beyond the political transition.

Q: There are unconfirmed reports that the insurgency in Iraq declared and abided by a unilateral truce on Christmas Day, for Christmas Day, vis-à-vis the Americans, as part of a message they are trying to convey to Washington, and that you were actually involved in conveying that message. Can you confirm or deny that?

SG: That is not correct. I did not convey any message to Washington, and I was not aware that they offered a truce in December, on Christmas Day, for me to pass it on. I read the reports in the papers saying “a senior UN official” played a role, but I did not. I don't know who that “senior UN official” is, and if indeed that was correct.

Q: On Sudan, how confident are you now, how close do you think we are to an agreement on Darfur after the agreement between the North and the South?

SG: That is a difficult question to answer. We have always argued that an agreement between the North and the South could facilitate the Darfur agreement since the issues of governance, revenue sharing, had been dealt with in the North-South agreement and there were lessons or models that could be used for Darfur, and the government had indicated that they were prepared to put those issues on the table, but I cannot say now how quickly we could move. We are in touch with the Sudanese authorities and I will perhaps have a better sense in about two weeks from now.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, on the Middle East, I know you have been very concerned because of the break off in contacts, are you yourself doing anything to try and help get the peace process back on track or is there anything you think should be done?

SG: I think all the members of the Quartet are worried about this latest development. We were all hopeful that there was a new opening, a new opportunity that should be exploited to reenergize the process, and we are all going to do whatever we can with both sides to get the process back on track, and to give the new Palestinian authority as much help as we can with its own reform process, and particularly the restructuring of the security forces.

Thank you very much.