Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19981217
Manoel Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by recalling for the record the Secretary- General's statement of yesterday evening when he had said, "it was a sad day for the United Nations and for the world". The Secretary-General had gone on to say, among other things, that "what had happened could not be reversed", nor could anyone foresee the future. All that could be known was that tomorrow, as yesterday, "there will still be an acute need in Iraq and in the wider region for humanitarian relief and healing diplomacy". In both those tasks, Mr. Almeida e Silva said, the Secretary-General had affirmed that the United Nations would be ready, as ever, to play its part.
Mr. Almeida e Silva then said information had come in with regard to colleagues in Baghdad. "As we speak, it is now about 8 p.m. in Baghdad", he began, stating that the 134 international United Nations staff in Baghdad had spent last night and today in the main United Nations office, a converted hotel in a Baghdad suburb. The Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, who was also the United Nations Security Coordinator, had been in contact with the Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Hans von Sponeck. When the bombing had started last night, United Nations staff had moved to a ground-floor corridor judged to be safest. During the first few hours, the explosions had occurred in other parts of town, but at about 3 a.m. three very loud explosions had occurred apparently near the United Nations building.
Following a cold and restless night, Mr. Almeida e Silva continued, international staff had woken this morning to find that their local colleagues, including those in charge of the building's cafeteria, had come to work despite their own problems. Relations continued to be warm between international and local staff, and Mr. von Sponeck had thanked both for their support and extraordinary resilience under the difficult circumstances.
On the oil-for-food programme, Mr. Almeida e Silva said "oil exports continue normally". A ship had berthed this morning at the Mina Al-Bakr platform in southern Iraq and was loading oil. Operations were continuing at Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The Saybolt Company's oil monitors remained in place. With the withdrawal of the Lloyds Register inspection agents it was likely humanitarian supplies into Iraq would be held up since those agents, charged with authenticating and certifying arrival of supplies, had left Umm Qasr port and the border crossings with Syria and Jordan. Seven agents remained on duty at Zakho, on Iraq's border with Turkey.
However, Mr. Almeida e Silva emphasized, there were stocks of food, medicine and other supplies within Iraq. In the 15 governorates of central and southern Iraq where supply distribution was carried out by the Iraqi Government while the United Nations carried out a detailed observation
process, the observations had been suspended. Mr. Sevan was keeping the Secretary-General informed of all developments and the situation was under continuous review.
Still on Iraq, Mr. Almeida e Silva said that at 3:30 p.m. today, the Security Council would hold informal consultations on the current situation there, being briefed by the Secretariat particularly on the consequences of the military action, the fate of humanitarian workers and the impact of the military action on the humanitarian situation in the country. Mr. Sevan, along with the Deputy Chef de Cabinet, Rolf Knutsson, was expected to brief the Council.
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"As we speak now, the Secretary-General should be unveiling a plaque donated by the Association of Former International Civil Servants bearing the human rights emblem", the Deputy Spokesman announced. In his address at that ceremony, the Secretary-General had said that "over the past 24 hours", his thoughts had been with the people of Iraq, with the United Nations humanitarian workers who remained in the country, and with all others whose lives were in danger. ............
A correspondent asked why the Secretary-General had not made the decision to withdraw the humanitarian workers from Iraq when he had done so during the last crisis, if even just for reasons of safety.
Mr. Almeida e Silva recalled that during yesterday's briefing, the Spokesman had explained that at the time withdrawal was being discussed it had been too late for the group to undertake a trip entailing night travel. Remaining in place at the hotel had been considered safer. "The situation is under constant review between the Humanitarian Coordinator, Benon Sevan, and the Secretary-General".
Did that mean there was not enough time, or no awareness of possible airstrikes, or even warnings of them, such as Ambassador Butler had been aware of? the correspondent asked. Mr. Almeida e Silva said there had been no
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 17 December 1998
advance warning that the strikes would take place. Asked by another correspondent whether it was fair to say that the Secretary-General had been surprised by yesterday's development of using force "all of a sudden", Mr. Almeida e Silva said anyone who had been following developments in Iraq could have anticipated the possibility.
A correspondent asked about the "new diplomacy" the Secretary-General had mentioned in his statement on Iraq. Was a new diplomacy being considered and was the Secretary-General ready to jump in as soon as the current action was over? Mr. Almeida e Silva answered that as yet the situation was unclear and it was too early to give any indication of what the "next steps" would be or should be. In response to another request for a definition of the "healing diplomacy" mentioned by the Secretary-General, the Deputy Spokesman said a clearer view of how events were evolving would be needed for the Secretary- General to determine what next steps would be necessary.
What had the Secretary-General been doing this morning? Had he been working the phones? With whom had he been in contact? a correspondent asked. The Deputy Spokesman recalled the Secretary-General's agenda as amended during the morning briefing, adding that the Secretary-General had held some phone contacts with some capitals. When asked which capitals, Mr. Almeida e Silva said that information was unavailable. Asked if the Secretary-General had been in contact with Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz or other Iraqi officials, Mr. Almeida e Silva replied, "Not to my knowledge".
A correspondent asked if there had been any political motive in leaving the humanitarian workers in Baghdad since many, including Ambassador Butler, were stating that the actions taken had been foreseeable. "The situation with regard to keeping the staff in the hotel yesterday had been that it was safer to keep them there than to have them moving during the night"," Mr. Almeida e Silva said.
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Asked if there was any move to bring the Iraqi question before the General Assembly, Ms. Mihalic said there was not.
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