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UN to send a team back to Iraq, March 19

New York, 19 March 2004 - Secretary-General and Lakhdar Brahimi at a press encounter upon arrival at UNHQ (unofficial transcript)

UN Secretary-General (SG) Kofi Annan: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I understand you have questions. I suspect you are all wondering how I have responded to the letter from the Iraqi Governing Council and the CPA. I have written to the Security Council and to the Iraqi Governing Council and the CPA advising them that I do intend to send a team back to Baghdad, led by Mr. Brahimi, to work with the Iraqis on the political transitional arrangements leading to the formation of a government on June 30th. And of course, as they have also requested, we will help them with the establishment of a legal framework and, eventually, preparation for the elections next year or soon thereafter.

Q: Sir, a question to both of you if I could. Now that you' going back, Sir, and that you' thought about this, how do you handicap it? What do you see is the best route towards the transition of sovereignty in Iraq?

SG: I think this is something that when the team is on the ground they will discuss with the CPA and the Iraqis, the Iraqi Governing Council and the Iraqis. In the report that we gave to them, there were quite a few options indicated and there may have been options that were not mentioned. They' had time to digest that report, to talk amongst themselves. And I think the first thing Mr. Brahimi will do when he gets there is to talk to them, to listen and to see how we can help them come to a consensus and a viable option.

Q: Is there a front runner, Mr. Brahimi?

Brahimi: No, I don' think so. All options are out there, and we will discuss with the parties and see what is the best option available.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, what' your view of the security situation, and how that' going to impact on how many people go, where they go? Could you sort of fill us in on what your ideas on how broad, what cities might be involved, how many people would be going to different parts of the country, etc?

SG: Obviously, security is still a constraint, but the team that is going in will be working with the Iraqi Governing Council and the Iraqis and the government, and the CPA, perhaps very much along the lines that it did previously. But I will have Mr. Brahimi say something about that. And of course we are relying on the CPA and the Governing Council to assure the security of the team that goes in. We are all conscious of the security conditions and would be very careful.

Q: Did you want to say something on that?

Brahimi: No, I think this is it.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, just a follow-up to that. [United States] Secretary of State Colin Powell has been saying that now, more and more responsibilities will be transferred to the Iraqi forces. Now, how do you feel about that now that you' made your decision to go back to Iraq? And also, a question for Mr. Brahimi. Mr. Brahimi, the pressure applied by Paul Bremer on the Iraqi Governing Council to actually send the letter inviting the UN back in, does that dampen, in any way, your enthusiasm?

SG: I think, on your first question, we will be interested in effective security forces that are able to protect our people. And of course, lots of changes and organizations are going on on the ground. And I think both the CPA and the Governing Council are very conscious of their obligations as we are of ours. And I hope they will do their best to put the best available security team to protect the men and women that I' sending in there to assist.

Brahimi: I think that it is a fact that the Secretary-General has always said that we are not looking for a job and we are not dying to go to Iraq. And that if the United Nations is not needed, I think that is perfect from our point of view. But I think the Iraqis in the Governing Council and out of the Governing Council are overwhelmingly demanding that the UN plays a role. If there are a few individuals, I think that that is quite normal. I' sure there definitely are two or three people in the Governing Council who had doubts about how useful the role of the UN might be, and there are people outside of the Governing Council who probably hold that view. But from everything we know, the overwhelming majority of the people of Iraq, within and outside of the Governing Council are really demanding and pressing the United Nations to come back to play a role.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, with regards to the recent GAO report that puts the level of corruption in the oil-for-food programme at $10 billion, could you update us as to the scope and the findings of the OIOS investigation?

SG: We are investigating, we are going to investigate. As you' gathered, I' been in discussions with Council members for some time now to discuss the scope and the extent of the investigation. I think we will need to have an independent investigation, an investigation that can be as broad as possible to look into all these allegations which are being made and get to the bottom of this. Because I don' think we need to have our reputation impuned. It is highly possible that there' been quite a lot of wrong-doing, but we need to investigate and get to see who was responsible. And given the nature of the operation which involves so many companies, so many countries, we will need quite a lot. Whoever undertakes the investigation would need quite a bit of cooperation from others. But at least, we will go ahead full-speed on our own staff, and hopefully, it can be expanded to other areas.

Q: If the allegations as to the level of UN personnel involvement in the corruption turned out to be true, how could the Iraqi people count on the UN in the future to be looking after their best interest?

SG: I don' want to jump the gun when we get there. I think we need to look into the investigation and see what comes out of it. And the Iraqis themselves say they are organizing an investigation and have documents which they say they have found, which we are trying to get copies of. So it' something that we' deal with when we get there.

Q: Do you think you need a Security Council mandate, like a resolution, to authorize such a thing?

SG: Well, if not necessarily a resolution, an agreement, an understanding that they will cooperate and get others to cooperate to make the report. Don' forget that the 661 Committee also oversaw the Oil-for-Food. So their cooperation is going to be essential.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, a year ago, some US officials said that if the Council did not vote to support war, it would be irrelevant. How do those comments look a year later and what do you think the most important lessons are about UN involvement in this crisis a year after the war started?

SG: Let me say that I did not accept the idea that because the Council did not vote for the war, the UN was going to be irrelevant. And I think the events since then have indicated that the UN does have a role to play. The UN has a unique legitimacy no other organization has. The UN has a capacity of bringing countries from around the world to work together and, in fact, most governments have indicated, as much as they are interested in helping see peace and stability in Iraq, would want to do it through the UN, working with the UN and working together through the UN. And I think that' an affirmation of their trust and belief in the Organization.

Q: You have been experiencing very severe, various struggles for rebuilding Iraq, but if the United Nations can succeed in rebuilding Iraq this time, what kind of potential do you think that the United Nations can explore for solving the various conflicts in the 21st century?

SG: We are dealing with a very difficult and a complex situation in Iraq. It' not a situation that the UN, as an organization, can go in and solve. First of all, the Iraqi people have a lot to do themselves. They are very talented people. They have some very capable people. And given a fair chance and a secure environment, there' a lot that they can do for themselves. So when we talk of the UN, we' talking of the international community, donor community, the neighbours of Iraq, all of us coming together and working with the Iraqi people to make Iraq a peaceful, stable and democratic country.

Q: Sir, a question on UN reform, if you don' mind. Joschka Fischer yesterday called for Germany to be given a permanent seat on the Security Council. Do you think that permanent representation in the Security Council ought to be continent-based or region-based? In other words, do you think the Middle East, as a region, ought to have a seat in the Security Council?

SG: As you know, that is one of the issues that I expect the wise men and women I' put together on methods and steps we should take to strengthen the UN, will advise us on. But in the past, let me say that the question of representation in the Council, particularly on the permanent [level], the discussions have been that there should be wider, regional representation. In all the past debates, there had been suggestions that there should be an extra seat for Latin America, for Asia, for Africa, and other regions. And I think this is something that the Member States would have to discuss. And I' hoping that the Panel would also give us a solid basis that will help General Assembly deliberations. It' an issue for the General Assembly.

Thank you.

Source: United Nations, http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=563.

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