SECRETARY-GENERAL TO GO TO BAGHDAD ONCE SERIES OF CONSULTATIONS WITH PERMANENT MEMBERS OF SECURITY COUNCIL IS OVER
Press Release
SG/SM/6468
IK/242
SECRETARY-GENERAL TO GO TO BAGHDAD ONCE SERIES OF CONSULTATIONS WITH PERMANENT MEMBERS OF SECURITY COUNCIL IS OVER
19980217 Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement to correspondents and his response to their questions after his meeting yesterday with the Permanent Representatives of the permanent members of the Security Council concerning inspections in Iraq:The SECRETARY-GENERAL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am sorry we had to bring you all out on a holiday, on a long weekend that we had to interrupt.
Let me say that, as I told you on Friday, I met again with the Permanent Representatives of the permanent members of the Security Council to resume the discussions we began last Wednesday on ways of resolving the current crisis relating to United Nations inspections in Iraq. We had very constructive discussions for about an hour, but the permanent five are engaged in intensive consultations and have told me that they need a little more time to arrive at a conclusion. I have therefore agreed to meet them again tomorrow afternoon, and then brief the Council on Wednesday.
Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Are you planning to go to Baghdad?
The SECRETARY-GENERAL: I have made it clear that I would go to Baghdad once this series of consultations with the permanent five is concluded.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General, we understand that the British delegation has been trying to arrive at a formula to bridge the gap between the different positions. Now, you must be familiar with that formula, or with the different principles of it. Do you feel there is any room for a face- saving formula in the principles stated as the "red lines", if you will, by Brits, or do you feel that the position of the United Kingdom and the United States -- to say, "You do not go to negotiate" -- is the one that is going to stop you from going to Baghdad? I would ask you to be as precise as possible.
The SECRETARY-GENERAL: Do you really expect me to enter into those details? No, I don't intend to, because, first of all, let me say that we are having very serious and confidential discussions, and I have always made it clear that the kind of work I do, when it comes to these delicate negotiations, is best done discreetly and away from cameras. If I come to discuss these sort of details, I will not be doing my work.
But you raise the question, would I go to Baghdad, and I think I answered that earlier.
QUESTION: May I follow up, Sir?
The SECRETARY-GENERAL: Please.
QUESTION: Will you go to Baghdad to deliver an ultimatum, or will you go to Baghdad to find a solution? Will you not go to Baghdad unless you have a solution, and will you go to Baghdad to deliver an ultimatum?
The SECRETARY-GENERAL: Let me say that I have made it, I think, clear right from the beginning that I will be prepared to intervene. And if I am going to intervene I am doing it to make a difference. I have also made it clear that for the trip to be successful it has to be carefully prepared, both here and in Baghdad. And this is why I have been engaged in these discussions with the permanent five. And as you know, I have also been in touch -- I am in touch -- with the Iraqi side. And that doesn't smell like an ultimatum.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General, I think you just said that you have made it clear from the beginning that you will go to Baghdad once this series of consultations is concluded. Does that mean you will go even if there is not an agreement within the permanent five about just what they think the parameters of your mission should be?
The SECRETARY-GENERAL: I don't think any of us involved in this exercise is prepared to contemplate the scenario you have indicated.
QUESTION: But it hasn't happened yet; it could still not have happened by Wednesday.
The SECRETARY-GENERAL: There's always a tomorrow, my dear man.
QUESTION: I had the same question.
The SECRETARY-GENERAL: Then you've got your answer, thank you very much.
- 3 - Press Release SG/SM/6468 IK/242 17 February 1998
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General, do you believe that the use of military force can achieve something in Iraq that diplomacy cannot?
The SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think everyone concerned is after the same thing -- full compliance with Council resolutions; full access for the inspectors -- and everybody agrees that we would prefer to do it through diplomatic means. And this is why we are all so engaged, and we are all very busy.
QUESTION: Would you be prepared to go if you had a majority -- say four out of five -- of the permanent five?
The SECRETARY-GENERAL: We are not operating on majorities; we are operating on the basis of unanimity, and I think we are getting there.
Thank you.
* * *