ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN IRAN, QATAR, 25-27 JANUARY 2002
The Secretary-General arrived in Tehran from Afghanistan in the evening of Friday, 25 January 2002. He began his visit in Iran on Saturday, with a meeting with Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, primarily for a review of the situation in Afghanistan.
The Foreign Minister praised the work of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, in negotiating the Bonn agreement on Afghanistan as “a magnificent achievement”. Mr. Brahimi accompanied the Secretary-General to the meeting.
The discussions ranged from the security situation in Afghanistan and the resettlement of refugees to the reconstruction of the country.
The Foreign Minister asked about the 21-member Commission for the Convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga, whose composition had been announced in Kabul the previous day. The Secretary-General explained that at Bonn it was agreed that the United Nations would select the panel members, who would convene within six months a meeting of all of Afghanistan’s traditional leaders to form a government.
Mr. Brahimi added that he had consulted widely, gathered 300-400 names and then selected 21 who could best represent the interests of the country as a whole, as opposed to individuals or groups.
The Foreign Minister said that Iran was committed to working towards strengthening the Afghan Interim Administration and would coordinate its aid efforts to the country through that Administration.
On refugees, the Secretary-General thanked the Foreign Minister for Iran’s generosity in playing host to more than 2 million Afghan refugees, and said that it was currently estimated that they could be repatriated in two-and-a-half to three years.
Their talks concluded with an exchange on the Middle East, during which the Secretary-General said that the situation was “extremely dangerous” and that fresh approaches to a solution were needed.
The Secretary-General then went to the Presidential Palace where he met with Iran’s President, Sayed Mohammad Khatami. The President welcomed the Secretary-General, and thanked Mr. Brahimi for his work on Afghanistan. A stable Afghanistan was important for Iran, he said. It was essential to get narcotics trafficking under control, as drugs were a global scourge. He pledged that Iran would work for a democratic Afghanistan.
They discussed the Afghan security situation. The President categorically denied allegations that Iran was meddling in Afghan politics, saying that it was in Iran’s direct interest to support the Afghan Interim Administration. The Secretary-General described the degree of destruction in west Kabul that he had witnessed yesterday. The President said that Iran would be a reliable partner in helping rebuild the country.
They also touched on the deteriorating situation in the Middle East. The President commented on the irony that last year, the year of Dialogue among Civilizations, was one of the most brutal.
The Secretary-General was then rejoined by the Foreign Minister for a joint press conference. In response to a question, he said that the situation in the Middle East “is rather tragic and very, very serious”. He called for “collective international action” to try and bring the Palestinians and the Israelis back to the negotiating table.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General met with the Speaker of the Parliament, Hojatoleslam Val-Moslemin Mahdi Karoubi, and other parliamentarians. Their discussions focused primarily on Afghanistan.
The Secretary-General’s last appointment of the day was with the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei. The Supreme Leader underlined the importance to Iran of stability in Afghanistan. He and the Secretary-General discussed reconstruction of the country, including the need for alternative crops to the opium poppy. They also touched on the return of refugees and the role of international troops in the security equation.
The Middle East was also a focus of their talks, as well as the fight against international terrorism.
Before leaving Tehran on Sunday, 27 January, the Secretary-General spoke to three young women from Iran’s Young Journalists Club. They asked him his views on human rights in Iran. He said he had been following the situation closely and that he was “quite impressed” with Iran’s recent elections, particularly the participation by young people and women.
The Secretary-General briefly visited Qatar before flying to Vienna for an official visit to Austria.
He stopped at Doha for a meeting with His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar. They discussed the situation in Afghanistan, and the Emir said that Qatar would do all it could to support the Afghan Interim Administration. Mr. Brahimi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, who was also in the meeting, appealed to the Emir for immediate financial assistance to the Interim Administration.
They also exchanged views on the escalating violence in the Middle East, as well as efforts to get Iraq to once again allow United Nations weapons inspectors into the country.
When he arrived at Qatar airport, the Secretary-General had a brief press encounter. On his return to the airport, the Secretary-General gave a nine-minute interview to Al-Jazeera Television. On the plane to Vienna, he gave an interview to CNN.