PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Ambassador John Negroponte of the United States, President of the Security Council for the month of October, briefed correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing today on the Council’s preliminary calendar for the month.

He highlighted a projected meeting on 29 October to mark the third anniversary of the Council’s adoption of a resolution on “Women, Peace and Security”.

As representative of the United States, he told a correspondent that his country intended to push ahead with a new resolution on Iraq.

Chronologically detailing other issues slated to come before the Council, Ambassador Negroponte said they included public meetings on developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the annual reports of the international tribunals in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the turnover to a United Nations Mission in Liberia, a report on Timor-Leste, the periodic update on the work of the Counter-Terrorism Committee and a briefing on the Middle East by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast.  There would also be a Secretariat briefing on Afghanistan and the final report of the panel on the illicit exploitation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

He said the mandate for the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was the only mission mandate due to expire during the month; a report on the situation in Western Sahara would therefore be taken up in consultations.  There would also be a briefing by Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, prior to the 21 November expiration of the “oil-for-food” programme, and an open debate on the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) would provide an opportunity for the new Special Representative there, Harry Holkeri, to brief the Council.

Regarding the open meeting on Women, Peace and Security, he said that Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, would brief the Council on implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) on the topic.  It was also hoped that a perspective on the issue of women in conflict zones would be gained through presentations of United Nations employees who have been in the field, whose names would be confirmed later in the month.

In addition to the new resolution on Iraq, he said the United States also hoped to put a text on non-proliferation before the Council as soon as possible.  Answering questions in his national capacity, he said he hoped that Council action on the expansion of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Afghanistan would take place before the end of the month.

He said no major changes in the Iraq draft should be expected in comparison to the most recent text that had been circulated.  Asked whether the United States intended to “push the United Nations into a political support role in Iraq that it did not want”, Mr. Negroponte said that the Secretary-General’s statements on that role would certainly be taken into account, but that did not rule out the Organization taking a vital part in the country as conditions permitted.  “In view of security problems, the ability of the United Nations to contribute is definitely restricted”, he said.

He said he also realized that a new resolution would not automatically mean troop contributions from other countries.  It might be, though, “a necessary but not sufficient condition” for many.  That text had already included a clear distinction between countries that bore responsibilities under the Geneva Convention and those that were supporting them.  He refused to speculate on the outcome of the vote on a new draft, or the effect on the Council “dynamic” of Turkey’s decision to contribute troops, which he welcomed. 

It was also, he said, not for him to judge whether the United States position on the Syrian text regarding the Israeli attack on its territory would undercut passage of the Iraqi resolution.  The United States had consistently required that any such resolution include a robust condemnation of terrorism, which would have been entirely appropriate given the Haifa bombing.

In other areas, he said that recent massacres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo did not necessarily mean that a more substantial peacekeeping force was needed.  He called the current peacekeeping operation “already substantial”, and said it had done a good job in monitoring the ceasefire and stabilizing the Ituri region, although there was still much to be done.  There were limits to what a peacekeeping operation could accomplish, however, and it was clear that it could not substitute for the cooperation of all parties.

Finally, he affirmed that the vital interests of Japan must be taken into account within any solution of the tensions over the nuclear programmes of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

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