17 December 1999
Text: Burleigh Explains U.S. Position on Omnibus Iraq Resolution
("Great importance" attached to new weapons inspection commission)
(3290)
Amb. A. Peter Burleigh, U.S. deputy permanent representative to the
United Nations explained the U.S. position on the December 17 U.N.
Security Council"s Omnibus Resolution on Iraq.
The resolution creates a new weapons inspection and monitoring unit,
UNMOVIC (the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission)
and allows for Iraqi pilgrims to travel by air to Mecca for the Haj.
Eleven of the 15 Security Council members voted in favor of the
resolution, including the United States. Four nations abstained -
France, Russia, China and Malaysia.
"The United States attaches great importance to the provisions in this
resolution calling for establishment of a reinforced monitoring and
inspection effort in Iraq," Burleigh said of the weapons inspection
commission.
UNMOVIC will "implement an existing mandate which remains robust and
fully consonant with the line established by the Council in
resolutions 687,707,715 and others," Burleigh stated. "We call on Iraq
to cooperate fully with early resumption of the complete range of
mandated disarmament and monitoring activities which have been in
abeyance due to Iraqi non-cooperation and non-compliance."
"We look forward to the Secretary General's appointment of a suitably
qualified candidate, with Council support, to become the executive
chairman of UNMOVIC," he continued. "We expect UNMOVIC to employ
objective and fully qualified experts in relevant fields, without
undue reference to nationality or past organizational affiliation. As
in the past we expect UNMOVIC to act on the Council's behalf in
providing a strong and independent voice requiring punctilious
cooperation and compliance from Iraq."
Following is text of Burleigh's explanation of vote:
(begin text)
December 17, 1999
Explanation of Vote by Ambassador A. Peter Burleigh, United States
Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, On Iraq Omnibus
Resolution, Security Council, December 17, 1999
An enormous amount of patience and hard work went into shaping this
resolution over the past year, and its adoption today marks a
profoundly important moment for the Security Council.
Every member of the Council made important contributions to this
resolution, including those who did not vote in favor. The resolution
was adopted with a large majority of Council members voting in favor,
and it has the full authority of the Security Council behind it. It
was adopted under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, and Iraq is obliged
to comply with its provisions. The United States looks to Iraq to act
without delay to facilitate implementation of this resolution. What is
required of Iraq could not be more clear:
-- Cooperate fully with the oil-for-food program, in order to maximize
and optimize its benefit for all the people of Iraq;
-- Cooperate fully in meeting the humanitarian obligation to account
for missing persons and return stolen Kuwaiti property; and
-- In the disarmament area: allow weapons inspectors to return,
re-establish OMV and fulfill key remaining disarmament tasks.
These derive from the unmet requirements set by the Security Council
in resolution 687 nearly nine years ago. In fact, this resolution
represents nothing less than a reaffirmation by the Council, after a
period of assessment and review, of its fundamental consensus on Iraq.
The vote today was not unanimous; but no member asserts that Iraq has
met its obligations under the Council's resolutions. No Council member
argues that Iraq has disarmed as required. No Council member would say
that Iraq has met its obligations to Kuwait or to the families of the
missing. We expect all members of the Council, regardless of their
vote on this resolution, to join in pressing Iraq for full and
immediate implementation.
The United States supports this resolution because it provides a
serious response on a serious issue. It is consistent with past
resolutions. It is clear. It is reasonable. It can be implemented. As
in the past, the United States will closely monitor Baghdad's response
to this new resolution. Compliance or non-compliance with this
resolution will be simple for the Council to measure.
Before commenting on a few key provisions of the resolution, I would
like to acknowledge, on behalf of the United States, several
individuals whose extraordinary contributions helped make this
resolution possible.
First, we commend the leadership of Brazil's former Permanent
Representative, Ambassador Celso Amorim, whose able management of the
assessment panels provided the Council with, not a blueprint, but a
valuable point of reference. Many of the provisions of this resolution
are drawn directly from the recommendations of those panels.
Ambassador Peter van Walsum of the Netherlands earns our admiration
every day for his expert management of the Iraq sanctions committee.
As one of the two initial co-sponsors of the Dutch-UK draft, he played
a crucial role in sustaining the resolution as it evolved toward
today's vote.
We also wish to recognize the early contribution of Ambassador Danilo
Turk of Slovenia, whose intellectual creativity provided some of the
key concepts embodied in this resolution.
The United States also acknowledges the strong, positive role played
by the five elected members who will depart the Council at year's end:
Bahrain, Brazil, Gabon, Gambia and Slovenia. By becoming early
co-sponsors of this measure they exercised leadership on a challenging
issue of overriding international concern. It is fitting that the
Council was able to bring this complex resolution to fruition during
the present Council term.
Similarly, we note the role of the other co-sponsors -- Argentina,
Canada and Namibia -- who were profoundly important in establishing
and supporting the overall structure and approach of this new
resolution.
Finally, we commend the extraordinary contribution of Ambassador
Jeremy Greenstock or the United Kingdom, who steered this resolution
through months of complex debate and negotiation to a successful
outcome today. Many observers thought it couldn't be done. Without his
professionalism and fair-minded leadership, it would not have been.
I would now like to turn to some of the key provisions of this
resolution and briefly relate why the United States supports them:
Overall, we support this resolution because it will advance central
objectives -- objectives of the Council which the United States fully
shares -- in three main areas:
-- Arms control;
-- Humanitarian assistance; and
-- Issues relating to Kuwait
Let me start with Kuwait, the victim of Iraqi aggression and
destruction an a staggering scale. This resolution will initiate a
redoubled UN effort to achieve satisfaction and closure on missing
persons and stolen property. We look forward to cooperating in every
possible way to support the efforts of the special envoy whom the
Secretary General will appoint to address these issues.
On humanitarian issues, the United States has demonstrated a sincere
and enduring interest in the welfare of Iraqi citizens living under
the tyranny and misrule of Saddam Hussein. We took a leading role in
formulating the oil-for-food program from its original conception
shortly after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. We take satisfaction
in the success of this important humanitarian effort, which has
brought about a significant improvement in living conditions for the
civilian population in Iraq. We recognize and appreciate the UN
Secretariat's management of the oil-for-food program, the largest
humanitarian assistance effort in UN history. In particular, Mr. Benon
Sevan and his colleagues in the Office of the Iraq program deserve our
gratitude for their accomplishments in a very demanding situation. We
fully support the Council's continuing effort to make the program more
efficient and more effective, and it is for that reason that we
support the humanitarian measures included in this resolution.
The oil-for-food program is based on a simple principle: Iraq is
authorized to export oil in order to generate UN-controlled revenue
used primarily to benefit the Iraqi people. The measures in this
resolution retain, at every step in the Council's consideration of
this issue, that fundamental linkage between Iraqi oil exports and
humanitarian benefit to Iraqi civilians.
Similarly, measures intended to improve Iraq's ability to produce and
export oil remain linked to the documented need for assistance to the
Iraqi people. Bearing in mind the need to be vigilant regarding
dual-use items, the United States is prepared to accept such measures,
particularly in the areas of safety and environmental impact, on the
basis of that humanitarian standard.
The Council has never put any prohibition on the religious practices
of the Iraqi people, and we fully support the provisions in this
resolution to exempt from sanctions air travel by Hajj pilgrims. No
measure in this resolution should be seen as a step toward any broader
relaxation of the air embargo imposed under resolutions 661 and 670,
however. The United States continues to oppose easing the structures
on air travel, as this would greatly complicate the task of sanctions
enforcement.
The area of arms control is central to this resolution, just as it is
central to the entire Iraq issue. That is because the fundamental
problem remains: Iraq has not complied with the disarmament
requirements of the post-Gulf war resolutions. The unimpeded operation
of United Nations arms inspection teams on the ground in Iraq is
essential. Accordingly, the United States attaches great importance to
the provisions in this resolution calling for establishment of a
reinforced monitoring and inspection effort in Iraq. The resolution
creates UNMOVIC (the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission) to implement an existing mandate which remains robust and
fully consonant with the line established by the Council in
resolutions 687, 707, 715 and others. We call upon Iraq to cooperate,
fully with early resumption of the complete range of mandated
disarmament and monitoring activities which have been in abeyance due
to Iraqi non-cooperation and non-compliance.
We look forward to the Secretary General's appointment of a suitably
qualified candidate with Council support, to become the Executive
Chairman of UNMOVIC. He, or she, will have big shoes to fill.
-- Amb. Rolf Ekeus built UNSCOM from the ground up, harnessing the
highest level of technical proficiency in service of the Council's
mandate. During his tenure, Iraq's concealed biological weapons
program was brought to light.
-- Amb. Richard Butler sustained the operation and logged enormous
successes -- including documentation of Iraq's previously undisclosed
program to weaponize VX nerve agent -- despite growing Iraqi
interference and disruption.
-- At this juncture let us express appreciation to the entire UNSCOM
Staff, who have rendered an invaluable service to the international
community over the last eight years. They have remained hard at work
over the past year despite Iraq's refusal to permit in-country
inspections and monitoring. The next Executive Chairman will be
fortunate to inherit a sound and seasoned organization, with all
irreplaceable database and an expert staff who are ready to return to
work and complete their mandate. We also thank Charles Duelfer for his
years of commitment to UNSCOM's important achievements,
Under this new resolution, the Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC will
remain the fully responsible and independent head of an organization
which is a subsidiary organ of the Security Council. As with Ekeus and
Butler, the Council has afforded the new Executive Chairman
flexibility to seek expertise and advice from many sources; but he, or
she, also like those two predecessors, will exercise full authority
over the composition, structure, operation and critical judgments of
UNMOVIC, subject to policy direction which this Council may decide to
give.
As in the past, we expect UNMOVIC to employ objective and fully
qualified experts in relevant fields, without undue reference to
nationality or past organizational affiliation. As in the past, we
expect UNMOVIC to act oil the Council's behalf in providing a strong
and independent voice requiring punctilious cooperation and compliance
from Iraq.
The United States will provide full support to the new Executive
Chairman, whose role as the head of all independent and professional
UNMOVIC will be central to the future of Council-mandated disarmament
activities in Iraq.
Similarly, we will offer our full cooperation and support to the
International Atomic Energy Agency as it resumes its Council-mandated
activities in Iraq in tandem with UNMOVIC.
Today's resolution does not raise the bar on what is required of Iraq
in the area of disarmament; but it also does not lower it. The Council
set an exacting, but reasonable and realistic, standard ill UNSCR 687;
and Iraq must meet that standard. The United States will support no
resolution which alters that fundamental principle,
This omnibus resolution commits the Security Council to take certain
steps if there is compliance from Iraq; and, again, there is no lack
of clarity in this resolution about the sequence of events. Iraqi
compliance must precede all else, as the Security Council has stated
in the many resolutions on arms control and disarmament in Iraq which
it has adopted since Iraq's brutal occupation of Kuwait in August
1990. That is the standard which we will look to the new Executive
Chairman of UNMOVIC to uphold.
Among the important responsibilities which the Executive Chairman will
need to address early on is articulation of the "key remaining
disarmament tasks" which Iraq must complete. Obviously delineation of
the tasks will draw heavily on the previous work of UNSCOM, the most
comprehensive and authoritative work to date on the status of Iraq's
compliance with its arms control obligations. Equally obvious is the
fact that these "key" tasks comprise a subset of the full range of
disarmament obligations which Iraq would have to fulfill in order for
the Council to consider permanent lifting of sanctions.
Let me state, as clearly and simply as I can, the basic U.S. position:
-- If Iraq fulfills key remaining tasks and meets the requirements set
forth in this resolution, then the Council, including the United
States, can decide whether to recognize that cooperation compliance by
suspending sanctions.
-- Similarly, If Iraq meets the full range of obligations mandated in
the Council's resolutions, the Council can make a decision regarding
the lifting of sanctions.
-- We are not seeking an excuse to use force. We would welcome a
favorable Iraqi response to this resolution.
It should be clear to all that Iraq holds the key to its own re-entry
to the community of nations. Iraqi compliance with the Security
Council's resolutions, at any time between the liberation of Kuwait
and today would have prompted the Council to reconsider sanctions.
Instead, Iraq has hewn to the path of concealment and prevarication
and non-compliance.
At the same time, we have no illusion that the Iraqi regime is likely
to change its spots in order to reap the proffered benefits of
cooperation and compliance. In fact, the United States has, on many
occasions, expressed its considered view that compliance is highly
unlikely as long as Saddam Hussein remains in power in Baghdad.
Nevertheless, we join our fellow Council members in introducing the
principle of sanctions suspension based oil the requirements set forth
in this resolution, The Council has acted in good faith. Let us see
whether Iraq can respond in kind.
What would it mean to "suspend" sanctions against Iraq? First of all,
let me recall what it would not mean:
It would not alter the import of food and medicines to Iraq, since the
flow of such items has never been restricted by UN sanctions;
-- It would not mean the end of inspection and monitoring activities
in Iraq by UNMOVIC and the IAEA; and
-- It emphatically would not mean the Council would turn Iraq's purse
strings over to Saddam Hussein and walk away.
Under a suspension scenario, the Council would decide exact terms for
lifting prohibitions oil exports from Iraq and civilian imports to
Iraq. UN oversight of such transactions would continue, however.
Indeed, before voting to suspend sanctions, the Council is required
under this resolution to decide on effective financial and other
operational measures, which would remain In effect during suspension
and prevent any revenues from being diverted for prohibited purposes.
Before considering suspension, the Council would also need to set
guidelines on the means of delivering civilian imports during
suspension. The present resolution does not define the details of
those measures or stipulate what means of delivery will or will not be
authorized. I would stress, however, that the United States attaches
the utmost importance to this requirement for effective control
measures, and will work to ensure that those eventually adopted by the
Council are rigorous, thorough and effective -- as this resolution
requires.
It is also important, in our view, that the Council has decided
suspension would be temporary, and would require an affirmative
Council decision for renewal. Renewal would not be automatic.
Furthermore, if Iraqi cooperation with UNMOVIC or the IAEA ceased
during suspension, then suspension would automatically end. For that
reason the regulatory measures referred to above must be reversible,
in order to facilitate reversion to the status quo ante should Iraqi
non-cooperation trigger the termination of suspension.
The Council has placed the onus squarely on Iraq to demonstrate that
it is continuing to satisfy the requirements set by the Council in
this resolution and its predecessors. That is as it should be. Iraq's
history of "cheat-and-retreat" with weapons inspectors means there
call be no benefit of the doubt for Iraq.
Former American Permanent Representative Adlai Stevenson once said,
"You will find that the truth is often unpopular and the contest
between agreeable fancy and disagreeable fact is unequal." In
addressing the Iraq situation, the Security Council must continue to
be guided by the facts - however unpopular they might be with some.
For example:
-- The fact that the Security Council set a reasonable standard for
the lifting of sanctions on Iraq in resolution 687, and the fact that
Iraq has manifestly failed to meet that standard.
-- The fact that both the IAEA and the Special Commission reported to
this Council one year ago that Iraq had not fulfilled its obligations
with respect to weapons of mass destruction, and the fact that, since
then, Iraq has taken no action to fulfill those obligations in the
intervening 12 months.
-- The fact that Iraq has failed to meet its obligation to account for
more than 600 persons -- imprisoned or murdered at Iraqi hands -- who
have been missing since the invasion or Kuwait, and the fact that Iraq
last year severed its cooperation with the Red Cross and the
Tripartite Committee established to resolve this most elemental of
humanitarian issues.
-- The fact that massive and systematic abuse of human rights remains
a pervasive fact of daily life for the civilian population of Iraq,
including children -- as Max van der Stoel, the Special Rapporteur for
human rights in Iraq, documented in his deeply disturbing September
report; and the fact that the government of Iraq has demonstrated that
it would rather manipulate the suffering of innocent civilians for
propaganda effect rather than take full advantage of available
assistance under the oil-for-food program.
These are the facts that must inform the Council's judgment as it
faces the follow-on decisions which implementation of this resolution
will require over the coming weeks and months.
In adopting this resolution today, the Council's forty-ninth
resolution on the Iraq issue since the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait,
the Security Council has sent a clear message to Baghdad.
This resolution reflects the critical judgment of the Security
Council, acting on behalf of the international community, that Iraq
has not fulfilled its obligations under the previous resolutions; that
sanctions must and will remain unchanged until Iraq does so; and that
the Council, acting to uphold peace and security in accordance with
the UN Charter, will accept no other outcome.
In adopting this resolution today, the Security Council has
demonstrated that it has the patience, and the resolve, to uphold the
requirements it set in resolution 687. Now we await the response from
Baghdad.
(end text)
(Distributed by Office of International Information Programs, US
Department of State)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
