Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19981103
...........
Late yesterday, Mr. Eckhard continued, the Executive Director of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, had sent a letter to the President of the Council, A. Peter Burleigh (United States), outlining the consequences that Iraq's decision to suspend cooperation would have on UNSCOM's ability to fulfil its functions. This morning, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had sent a similar letter to the Council.
................
Asked whether the Secretary-General planned to go to Baghdad, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General was looking at the Security Council now and waiting to see what it decided. "To my knowledge", he added, "the Council had no intention of asking him to go."
Had the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General in Baghdad carried out discussions with Iraqis on the subject? the correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said, "Yes. I can't tell you which Iraqi officials the Special Envoy has met with, but he has been having contacts with government officials regarding the situation -- which is a normal part of his job."
The same correspondent asked for a clarification of UNSCOM's position, as reports were conflicting. "Can UNSCOM do any part of its job or not? Is UNSCOM activity really on hold or is it able to do some work, with surveillance cameras, for example?" the correspondent asked.
Mr. Eckhard said he could not speak for UNSCOM, but based on a conversation with UNSCOM officials yesterday, prior to Saturday, investigations had been stopped, and as of Saturday evening, monitoring functions had been stopped. On Sunday, UNSCOM had asked Iraq to clarify what was meant by cessation of "monitoring". Could surveillance cameras and sensors be serviced and could film or batteries be changed, for example? The UNSCOM had been told it could go ahead with that maintenance, and on Sunday UNSCOM had replaced some film in some cameras.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 3 November 1998
"But as I explained yesterday", Mr. Eckhard added, "the monitoring function does not rely primarily on cameras and sensors, but rather on individuals, on inspectors visiting sites and talking to people." Therefore, even though the cameras were still rolling, the "monitoring function" was effectively blocked. "No investigations, no monitoring", he summed up.
During further exchange, Mr. Eckhard conceded that since United Nations inspectors had continued to remain in Baghdad, the film from the cameras could be picked up and analysed, "presumably".
Asked what level of importance the camera surveillance carried relative to the overall monitoring function -- whether it was 10 per cent or more, Mr. Eckhard said he could not give such a specific percentage of a breakdown. However, UNSCOM had said yesterday that the primary monitoring activity was carried out by individuals and not by cameras.
.................
* *** *
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
