PRESS BRIEFING BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Ismael Abraão Gaspar Martins, permanent representative of Angola, briefed correspondents this morning on the work programme of the Security Council during Angola’s presidency during the month of November.

He called the schedule relatively rich in African topics, but one that would not take away attention from other urgent situations such as Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.  He hoped progress could be made in all those areas during the month. 

Proceeding through the calendar, he noted that consultations had already taken place, yesterday, on Somalia, where the peace process was under way, including a conference supported by Kenya.  The Council was preparing a mission to Somalia in the near future, to talk to interested parties in the region.  On 6 November, consultations were planned on Liberia, which he called a focus for all problems in the West African region.  The country was not yet completely stable but there were measurably fewer scenes of horror.

Reviews of the Council mission to Afghanistan would include consultations on the tenth and an open briefing the next day, he said.  Also on the eleventh, consultations were planned on Côte d’Ivoire, where the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) forces, together with the French, had been able to stabilize a situation he called very disturbing.  He hoped that the United Nations presence in Côte d’Ivoire could be reinforced.

Of particular importance to his country, Mr. Martins said, was the open briefing on the importance of mine action for peacekeeping operations, which would take place on 13 November.  The Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) would brief the Council, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other organizations would also be participating.  On another peacekeeping topic, the Council would discuss implementation of resolution 1308 (2000) on the seventeenth, which concerns measures to combat HIV in peacekeeping operations for the protection of both peacekeepers and the local population.

He referred to Guinea-Bissau, which would be considered on the eighteenth in both public and private meetings, a test case, along with Burundi, of the effectiveness of working groups from the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and their peace-consolidation efforts.  On that same day, the Council would be addressed by the President of Italy on what that country was prepared to do to assist post-conflict countries in Africa.

There would be a briefing by the secretariat on the Middle East on the nineteenth, he said, along with a final review of the phasing out of the “oil-for-food” programme and its impact on the Iraqi people, based on a report expected from the Office of the Iraq Programme.  That would be followed on the twenty-first, the final day of the oil-for-food programme, by an open briefing by the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq.

The month will close with a focus on regional efforts in Africa.  On the twentieth, he said, the Council would discuss the Great Lakes conference that was being readied to find regional solutions to conflicts in the area and to discuss the conditions that should be created to prevent conflicts from recurring.  On the final day of work for the month, the twenty-fourth, the Council would take up cooperation between the United Nations system and regional organizations in the maintenance of peace and security in the Central African region, on the basis of a report to be prepared by the Secretariat.

In reply to correspondents’ questions, he said resolutions on the Middle East and weapons of mass destruction were awaiting texts and consensus before any Council action could be taken.  The draft on weapons of mass destruction would probably be an initiative of the United States and the Russian Federation.  The Russian Federation’s text on the Middle East Roadmap was still an internal document. The text would make that plan the designated route forward in the Middle East. 

To a question on the increasing tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, he replied that the peace was holding after an exchange of fire yesterday and the Boundary Commission was looking at the situation.  The Council was awaiting the Special Representative’s response.

On the wrap up of the panel on the illegal exploitation of resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he said that the Council was working on a presidential statement.  During Consultations, the Council had looked at the recommendations of the panel and agreement had been reached that illegally exploited resources must, first of all, not be used to finance war, and that a method for monitoring must be developed.  Consultations at the expert level were still proceeding.  The question of how the Council should deal with national governments regarding listed individuals and companies was a difficult one.

In response to other questions, he said the report of the expert panel on the Somalia arms embargo would not be discussed until December.  In addition, he knew of no further Council action to keep Charles Taylor from influencing developments in Liberia.  However, he said Mr. Talyor was being watched in Nigeria.  Liberia was left susceptible to such influence and the International Court of Justice had not abandoned the idea of taking up his case.

Finally, in response to questions about the Great Lakes conference, he said it would open in the United Republic of Tanzania on 21 June.  The Secretariat was working with countries of the region to make sure they felt ownership.  The primary objective was to establish good neighbourly relations among the region’s governments and people, in the interest of peace, development, and the proper exploitation of resources.  Participants would range from the ministerial to non-governmental -– but they would primarily be people who had to live as neighbours in the region.  “We want them to cross borders in order to work together”, he said, “not to wage war.”

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