03 October 2003
Negroponte Says Iraqi Sovereignty Resides With the State of Iraq
U.S. delivers revised Iraq resolution to U.N. Security Council
United Nations -- The United States has given the U.N. Security Council a revised resolution on Iraq that offers clarification on the issue of Iraqi sovereignty, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said October 2.
"Our text seeks to clarify that Iraqi sovereignty resides with the state of Iraq and that the issue at hand is the pace of Iraqi assumption of authority and responsibility for their own affairs," Negroponte told journalists after a closed Security Council meeting during which he presented the new draft.
"We think it deserves strong support," the ambassador said. "A couple of delegations have already offered to co-sponsor it at this stage."
"We're encouraged by what we see to be an emerging convergence among the 15 members of the Security Council," said Negroponte, who is the chief U.S. representative to the U.N.
"We all recognize the importance of restoring security and fostering a successful economic recovery for Iraq. We all agree that Iraqis must move quickly and in an orderly fashion towards full assumption of authority and responsibility and that the international community must do everything possible to support this crucial process. The success of the Iraqi people in building a prosperous, stable, and representative Iraq is in everybody's interest," he said.
The United States initially circulated a draft resolution that included, among other things, an expanded role for the United Nations and a start of the process toward Iraqi self government in August. The draft has been the subject of intense negotiations during the opening of the General Assembly in September when President Bush, other heads of state and foreign ministers were in New York for the session. The new draft is a result of those talks.
Negroponte said that in the new version the United States clarifies the sovereignty issue and "reinforces the goal that all of us share: that the day when Iraqis govern themselves must come quickly."
Following is the transcript of Negroponte's remarks:
(begin transcript)
Remarks by Ambassador John D. Negroponte
United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations
on the Draft Resolution on Iraq
at the Security Council Stakeout
October 2, 2003
Ambassador Negroponte: Good afternoon. I -- after discussing the Program of Work for this month in Council today, in our Consultations, I circulated a revised United States draft resolution on Iraq. The Council had a preliminary exchange of ideas and questions. And I expect that most Council members will be soliciting reactions from their capitals. We will continue to discuss the draft in the coming days, and we have scheduled further Consultations for 3:30 on Monday -- next Monday afternoon.
I would like to make just a few comments on our draft -- revised draft resolution in my national capacity.
Our text seeks to clarify that Iraqi sovereignty resides with the state of Iraq, and that the issue at hand is the pace of Iraqi assumption of authority and responsibility for their own affairs. We clarify this in the draft and reinforce the goal that all of us share: that the day when Iraqis govern themselves must come quickly. The text also urges the Iraqis to complete their political transition process expeditiously. And I think you'll note that in a number of different parts of the resolution there's a reference to the desirability of achieving this goal of political transition as quickly as possible.
We underscore the fact that the Coalition Provisional Authority is temporary, and confirm that the coalition remains engaged in the ongoing process of transferring responsibility to the Iraqis as quickly as practicable.
We have incorporated into the revised text language that details an expanded and explicit role for the United Nations, especially in the political transition process. And we encourage the Secretary-General to pursue the specific course of action he proposed in his July 17 report (S/2003/715), notably the various tasks enumerated therein, drawing on UN expertise in the political, economic, and humanitarian areas.
We explicitly define the multinational -- the mission of the multinational force to include the maintenance of security conditions necessary to carry out the political transition process. And we also make clear that the Security Council will review the multinational mission -- the multinational force's mission once an internationally recognized, representative Iraqi government is in place.
We are encouraged by what we see to be an emerging convergence among the 15 members of the Security Council. We all recognize the importance of restoring security and fostering a successful economic recovery for Iraq. We all agree that Iraqis must move quickly and in an orderly fashion toward full assumption of authority and responsibility, and that the international community must do everything possible to support this crucial process. The success of the Iraqi people in building a prosperous, stable and representative Iraq is in everybody's interest.
With that I'll take a few of your questions.
Question: This morning the UN Secretary-General said that on a first reading of this draft resolution it did not appear to be going in the direction that he recommended. Giving that you are emphasizing a strengthened vital role for the United Nations, what is your reaction?
Ambassador Negroponte: Well, as I mentioned earlier, we advocate a strengthened role for the UN. There's a reference in one of the operative paragraphs to the Secretary-General's own report and recommendations of July 15. And we encourage him to pursue those recommendations in the draft resolution. So I think we're very mindful of the vital importance and vital role that the United Nations can play in Iraq and our draft reflects that awareness. We now are going to have a luncheon with the Secretary-General this afternoon, the Council as a whole, and I'm sure we'll have an opportunity to discuss this among other issues further.
Question: Many powers wanted to transfer power from the coalition authority to the Iraqis or to the UN very quickly, there seems to be nothing in this draft that addresses that demand.
Ambassador Negroponte: Well, I -- again I would stress that we talk about the importance of transferring authority to the Iraqis as quickly as possible. And we talk about the evolving structures of the Iraqi government and the importance of transferring tasks and responsibilities that have been carried out or are being carried out by the coalition to those various Iraqi ministries and entities as quickly as is practicable. So I think as far as the governmental functions are concerned, we're very much in favor of transferring them as rapidly as we possibly can. I think where we have a difference of perspective with some is the issue of establishing an interim government prior to electoral -- prior to the drafting of a constitution or the conduct of elections. Our approach as enumerated and elaborated by Ambassador Bremer and also reflected in this draft resolution would be that a constitution would be drafted first, then elections would take place and after that, and only after that, would full governmental functions be handed over to the Iraqis.
Question: Mr. Ambassador, how do you plan to increase the role of the United Nations in Iraq, when the United Nations is reducing presence day by day because of the security situation that is deteriorating?
Ambassador Negroponte: Well we are mindful of the very difficult security situation and one of the purposes stated in this resolution, one of the objectives is to encourage the restoration of stability and security in Iraq as quickly as possible, both through the actions of the coalition, through the actions of other countries that are now or in the future willing to contribute forces to Iraq, and through the training of their security forces, so that's one point with respect to security. As far as the UN role is concerned, clearly the security conditions have to be sufficient for them to be able to operate there, everybody is working very hard on that. And you'll note that the language in our draft resolution talks about encouraging the Secretary-General to undertake these tasks, obviously as security conditions permit, but we would hope that those conditions will exist in the very near future.
Reporter: Is there unanimous support on the resolution or how close are you to achieving the support?
Ambassador Negroponte: We've just put down this morning this revised draft. We think it deserves strong support. A couple of the other delegations have already offered to co-sponsor it. But I'm not, at this stage, going to try to predict what kind of support it might ultimately receive. We've got to study the questions and the comments that the delegations have made, take them into further consideration and then carry the discussion and negotiating process forward first thing next week.
Reporter: You seem to be delivering a fait accompli on the nature of the process, by saying that there must be a constitutional body before there's a constitutional election. There are some people in Iraq who want the delegates to a constitutional body to be elected. Shouldn't that be left to the Iraqis themselves?
Ambassador Negroponte: Well, the resolution invites the Governing Council to propose a timetable, as we lay out in the resolution. It talks about a timetable for the drafting of a constitution and the subsequent conduct of elections, and we believe that is a sound and systematic way forward with respect to the political process. But, as far as the details of the implementation of that framework, if you will, that is something that is going to have to be thrashed out in Baghdad by the Governing Council.
Reporter: (inaudible) the body itself should be elected?
Ambassador Negroponte: Sir I think I'll stand on what I just said.
Reporter: You spoke of authorization by the UN of a multinational force under unified command, and I am wondering would kind of unified command who would be in charge of that would it be UN?
Ambassador Negroponte: Well, it would be the United States; it would be the United States. And the resolution also provides for our reporting to the Security Council periodically on the exercise and the duties of that force, and I might mention that the reporting requirements are important both with respect to the multinational force because that means there will be a link, if you will, with the Security Council, where we'd be providing updates on what is happening in the military sphere. And, it also calls for the Secretary-General to report on his role and the role of his representative in helping both formulate and implement the -- facilitate and implement the political -- the ongoing political process.
Reporter: Do you think it will be enough for other countries to want to contribute troops, if it's not under UN command?
Ambassador Negroponte: Well, I don't think anybody has -- certainly not the Secretary-General -- I don't think that anybody has suggested that this be a blue-helmeted or a UN operation. The concept from the outset has always been that it would be a United Nations authorized force as opposed to a United Nations directed force.
Reporter: (in Spanish)
Ambassador Negroponte: (in Spanish) Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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