01 February 1999
TEXT: UN SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT'S NOTE ON IRAQ JANUARY 30
(UNSC sets up three panels to analyze Iraq's status) (780) United Nations -- The UN Security Council January 30 set up three panels to review Iraq's compliance with the Gulf War cease-fire demands and make recommendations to the Council on how to proceed. The Council adopted a proposal first made by Canada -- one of 10 nonpermanent members of the 15-member Council -- during a closed door session. The plan calls for panels on disarmament; humanitarian issues; and POWs and missing Kuwaiti property and archives, each under the chairmanship of the Council president for January, Ambassador Celso Amorim of Brazil. Those three panels are to provide an expert assessment of the current situation in Iraq which Council members would then use in deciding how to move ahead. The Council has been unable to proceed with disarming Iraq since Baghdad suspended cooperation with the UN Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (UNSCOM) in late 1998, bringing on air strikes by the US and Britain. After the Council issued it's decision, US Ambassador Nancy Soderberg said that the Council members took "an important first step on the key issues of Iraq: disarmament, humanitarian issues, and Kuwaiti related issues." "The note that we've just issued fully supports the participation of UNSCOM, the IAEA, and in this process calls on Iraq to fully live up to the Security Council resolutions," Soderberg said. "While this is an important first step, at the end of the day the question still remains on Iraq to fully comply with all relevant Security Council resolutions." The ambassador said that the United States is looking forward to working with Ambassador Amorim and the panels. Following is the text of the UNSC President's note: (begin text) NOTE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL 1. In accordance with the Security Council's primary responsibility, under the United Nations Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security, and emphasizing the importance of comprehensive compliance with all relevant resolutions, the Security Council continues to discuss options which would lead to the full implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq. While pursuing these discussions, the Security Council has decided that it would be useful to establish three separate panels and to receive recommendations from them no later than 15 April 1999. 2. The Security Council invites the current President of the Council, Ambassador Celso Amorim of Brazil, to chair each of the panels. In an effort to maintain continuity, his chairmanship would run beyond his current tenure as President of the Security Council in order to complete this work. 3. The chairman would maintain close liaison with the Secretary-General and the Security Council President on the composition and work of the panels. The chairman, in consultation with panel participants and members of the Security Council, would adopt appropriate working methods and plans of work. The chairman could invite a variety of experts and views, including those from United Nations agencies in the field, to participate in the work of the panels and could authorize such travel, to obtain information concerning the situation on the ground in Iraq, as he deems appropriate in order to provide the Council with the best possible advice. 4. The first panel, on disarmament and current and future ongoing monitoring and verification issues, would involve the participation and expertise from the United Nations Special Commission, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations Secretariat, and any other relevant expertise. The panel would assess all the existing and relevant information available, including data from ongoing monitoring and verification, relating to the state of disarmament in Iraq. The panel would make recommendations to the Security Council on how, taking into account relevant Security Council resolutions, to reestablish an effective disarmament/ongoing monitoring and verification regime in Iraq. 5. The second panel, on humanitarian issues, would involve the participation and expertise from the office of the Iraq Programme, the Secretariat of the Committee established by Security Council resolution 661 (1990), and the United Nations Secretariat. This panel would assess the current humanitarian situation in Iraq and make recommendations to the Security Council regarding measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Iraq. 6. The third panel, on prisoners of war and Kuwaiti property, including archives, would involve the participation and expertise from the United Nations Secretariat and any other relevant expertise. The panel would make an assessment, in consultation with relevant experts, of Iraqi compliance relating to prisoners of war, Kuwaiti property, including archives, as stipulated by Security Council resolutions. The panel would make recommendations to the Security Council with regard to these matters. (end text)
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