PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Briefing correspondents on the Security Council’s work programme for June, Council President Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation announced some additions to the schedule.  There would be a briefing on Wednesday on sanctions in Sierra Leone, as the diamond ban there was due to expire, as well as an open briefing on 5 June by Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), Hans Blix, who would present his thirteenth quarterly report.

Turning to a question about Afghanistan, Mr. Lavrov, speaking in his national capacity, said he was concerned about drug trafficking from Afghanistan, as his country was becoming a country of consumption more than a country of transit.  Most narcotic drugs from Afghanistan went to western and eastern Europe.  A few days ago, in Paris, there was a conference about cutting off the routes of the illegal drug trafficking from Afghanistan.  That was a very specific, high-level effort to develop measures to curb that illegal traffic. 

The Security Council had repeatedly mentioned narcotic drugs as one of the problems in Afghanistan, which must be handled in the context of the current operation there.  The United Kingdom had taken the lead in that area of international cooperation in Afghanistan, he added.  Given the fact of the Paris meeting and the growing concern among neighbouring and European States that drug production was increasing in Afghanistan, it had been agreed that narcotic drugs would be a focus of the monthly discussion on Afghanistan.

Referring to consultations on the “oil-for-food” programme in Iraq scheduled for 24 June, another correspondent asked if the discussion would include the ways in which that programme was going to be wrapped up in the coming months.

Mr. Lavrov said that resolution 1483 (2003) had clearly indicated that that programme should continue for six more months, so the meeting in June would be a regular monthly briefing on the programme in its current final six-month phase.

Responding to further questions about Iraq, he said that if there were weapons of mass destruction programmes in that country, then the situation was not safe.  He had not wanted the current security problems and political wrangling inside Iraq to result in remnants of weapons of mass destruction programmes getting into the wrong hands.  The question was not whether the United Nations weapons inspectors returned to Iraq or not; it was about substance, about whether there were still some remnants of weapons of mass destruction programmes in Iraq.

On Thursday, he expected to hear a professional analysis by Dr. Blix on what he and his team thought about the current situation concerning Iraq’s disarmament.  Resolution 1483 (2003) had committed the United States and the United Kingdom to brief the Council on their own efforts to search for weapons of mass destruction, and both delegations had confirmed that that would be done. 

He said that that would not necessarily take place on Thursday, but it would certainly be useful for his delegation and others to have some official presentations on the current status of Iraq’s disarmament.  Absent that, members could rely only on what they heard from Dr. Blix and the American media.  That latter was not something on which the Council could make a judgment.

Operative paragraph 16 c of resolution 1483 (2003), which required that the Council be provided with an estimated operating budget of the United Nations involvement in Iraq within 21 days of the adoption of the text, would be the subject of Thursday’s discussion, he said.  Other issues, including security arrangements in Iraq, might come up later in June if Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative for Iraq, returned to Headquarters.  

In response to another question, he said he did not know whether the divisions in the Council over the situation in Iraq would be revived at the meeting on 5 June.  Most members wanted to implement the Council’s resolutions and to ensure that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  Whether that was accomplished through United Nations inspectors or those on the ground, the absence of weapons of mass destruction must be verified, in accordance with the disarmament resolutions.

Replying to several questions about reforming the Council and expanding its membership, he confirmed what a correspondent had read about Germany, Japan, India and Brazil being mentioned as likely candidates if there was a decision to expand that body.  Many Member States, including his own, had repeatedly mentioned those names.

Speaking on behalf of his country again, he said he was flexible on expanding the Council in both categories, permanent and non-permanent members, on the understanding that all newcomers should be treated equally and that the expansion be balanced in terms of representation from developing and developed country representation.

Regarding the meeting tomorrow on Sierra Leone, he said the question was not whether the sanctions had been in place long enough, but whether those were working or not.  Experts on the ground, hired by the United Nations, had reported positively that the sanctions had worked.  Tomorrow, they would have to persuade the Ambassadors, and if that was the case, then the ban would not be extended. 

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