PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SENIOR POLITICAL ADVISER
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SENIOR POLITICAL ADVISER
19960913
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Under-Secretary-General Chinmaya Gharekhan, Senior Political Adviser to the Secretary-General, told correspondents that the President of the Security Council called on the Secretary-General yesterday to convey the message that the Council had been discussing the implementation of its resolution 986 (1995) -- on the "oil-for-food" formula for several days and that all members wished to see its implementation as soon as the Secretary-General felt he was in a position to do so. The Secretary-General assured him, and through him, the Council, that he too was committed to the early implementation of the resolution.
A correspondent asked Mr. Gharekhan what was the status of preparations for the implementation of resolution 986.
Mr. Gharekhan said that there had been a misperception that the Secretary-General had suspended implementation of the resolution. That had never been the case nor had it been his intention. The Secretariat had been moving forward plans for implementation of resolution 986. Negotiations with the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) had been completed. Those talks had taken a little longer than anticipated; the agreement ran to several hundred pages, with annexes. It was now up to the bank to contact the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department of the United States regarding permission to operate the account. The legal requirement was that any bank wishing to operate any account relating to Iraq had to seek an exemption from the legal regime of the United States Government.
Towards that end, contracts had been signed for recruitment of different categories of inspectors, he said. Two or three weeks ago, three oil inspectors from the Saybold Corporation had gone to Iraq to inspect metering stations in the north and south and to ensure that pipelines were functional. The company later withdrew the inspectors on its own initiative, without any suggestion from the United Nations, due to safety concerns. The company was now prepared to return the team to Iraq and had asked the Iraqi Government for visas.
Approximately 12 goods inspectors would be placed at entry points to Iraq, he continued. Finally, some 150 to 160 observers would be stationed in the country "later down the road" to monitor the distribution of supplies, ensuring that they went to people who needed them.
Under the sanctions regime, he said, a pricing mechanism had to be worked out between the Committee established under Security Council resolution
661 (1990) -- which is monitoring the sanctions against Iraq -- and the Government of Iraq. Iraq had forwarded a pricing mechanism to the Committee at the beginning of this week. The Chairman of the Committee then circulated that pricing formula to Committee members. Under the "no objection" arrangement, if there were no objections expressed by Committee members in two days, the mechanism would stand accepted. That time period expired yesterday without the mechanism being formally accepted by the Committee. Adding that it was a highly technical matter, he said he did not anticipate any difficulty in the pricing mechanism's eventual approval.
Was there a time-frame in which implementation was planned? a correspondent asked. Mr. Gharekhan said that there was no time-frame as such; the plan was for implementation to proceed as soon as circumstances permitted. Whether or not Iraq would "go over the cliff", he did not know. Events on the ground there would certainly have some bearing on the activities of the Secretariat. One had to wait for the dust to settle in order that conditions be safe enough to permit implementation.
The Secretary-General was delaying the deployment of certain staff, he said, as the situation on the ground was still uncertain. Some nine persons belonging to various United Nations agencies including the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP), together with local staff, had been detained for several hours while travelling from Sulaimaniya to Penjwin, before being released. The situation on the ground in Iraq must allow the Secretariat to operate, he said, adding that the Secretary-General remained committed to moving forward as soon as possible.
What would be the impact of the implementation of resolution 986 on the expanded air exclusion zone? a correspondent asked. Mr. Gharekhan said that the exclusion zone had nothing to do with the implementation of resolution 986. But in practical terms, if fighting was going on, implementation would be affected because staff had to be deployed all over the country. Conflict would necessarily delay that process.
Why was the approval of the United States Treasury Department required for the bank in question to work with Iraq? a correspondent asked. Mr. Gharekhan responded that the bank must approach the United States Treasury Department because the account concerned was located in New York, where Iraq's escrow account was located.
Resolution 986 had been conceived at a time when Iraq's three northern governorates had been effectively separated from the rest of the country, a correspondent said. Would any change occur now that the Government in Baghdad seemed in control of the northern region? Mr. Gharekhan said that it was not yet clear what had changed in the north of Iraq. The United Nations was waiting for the situation to clarify itself. It would then determine whether things needed to be modified in any way.
Gharekhan Briefing - 3 - 13 September 1996
Would tension between the Governments of Iraq and the United States impede the work of the United Nations? a correspondent asked. He responded that as long as the situation on the ground did not stabilize, and as long as security conditions did not allow deployment on the ground, there may be delays.
To a question on whether or not the Security Council would take any new action regarding the situation on the ground in Iraq, Mr. Gharekhan suggested that the correspondent should address the question to the Council.
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