S/PV.3672 Security Council

As this is the first meeting of the Security Council for the month of June, I should like to take this opportunity to pay tribute, on behalf of the Council, to His Excellency Mr. Qin Huasun, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations, for his service as President of the Security Council for the month of May 1996. I am sure I speak for all members of the Security Council in expressing deep appreciation to Ambassador Qin Huasun for the great diplomatic skill with which he conducted the Council’s business last month. Adoption of the agenda

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on the agenda. The Security Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. Members of the Council have before them document S/1996/426, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. I should like to draw the attention of the members of the Council to the following revisions to be made in the text of the draft resolution contained in document S/1996/426 in its provisional form. In the fifth preambular paragraph, the following words should be inserted after the word “made”: “in the work of the Special Commission”. In the second line of the fifth preambular paragraph, a comma should be inserted after the word “problems”. The penultimate preambular paragraph should be deleted. It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it, as orally revised in its provisional form. Unless I hear any objection, I shall put the draft resolution to the vote. There being no objection, it is so decided.

Allow me at the outset, Sir, to express our satisfaction at your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of June, and to wish you and the entire delegation of Egypt success in your work. My delegation wishes also to convey its sincere gratitude to Ambassador Qin Huasun and to the entire delegation of China for their work in the presidency of the Security Council last month. In connection with the draft resolution before us, we wish like all other members of the Council to reaffirm our unfailing commitment to the complete implementation of the mandate that the Security Council has entrusted to the United Nations Special Commission. We support the Special Commission’s efforts in that direction. The progress made in its work has rightly been recognized in the draft resolution. Given that background, it is certainly regrettable that for the first time a Special Commission inspection team has been refused access to sites it wished to inspect, in violation of Security Council resolutions. Such an incident must not be repeated. The draft resolution sets out clear demands in that regard. At the same time, we are pleased to note that the members of the Security Council have been able to resist the temptation to use threatening language and an approach based on force, which could only have complicated the work of the Special Commission and in the final analysis made it more difficult to achieve the major goal set out in Security Council resolutions: a lasting post-crisis settlement in the Persian Gulf. In its present form, the draft resolution is clearly balanced in nature. The text incorporates important changes proposed by a number of delegations, including the delegation of the Russian Federation. The draft resolution urges Iraq further to cooperate with the United Nations; we consider that this will be advanced by the upcoming visit to Baghdad by the Chairman of the Special Commission, Ambassador Ekeus, which we hope will remove remaining problems, open the way to finalizing the disarmament file and bring closer the time when the Special Commission can report that it has fulfilled its mandate. This would be in the interest of the entire international community, in particular the countries of the Persian Gulf. It would also be in the interest of Iraq itself, in so far as the Special Commission’s In the light of what I have said, the Russian Federation has joined the consensus that has been achieved in the Security Council.

I thank the representative of the Russian Federation for the kind words he addressed to me.

I too wish to express our satisfaction, Sir, at seeing you as President of the Security Council for the month of June, and also to convey our gratitude and esteem to the representative of China, who served as President last month. I wish to express the strong concern of my delegation over the incidents and events that have taken place in Iraq over the past two days. The flat refusal by the Iraqi authorities to allow an inspection team of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) access to two sites designated for inspection constitutes a clear violation of the relevant resolutions. In the past there have been various cases in which the Iraqi authorities delayed UNSCOM’s access to inspection sites, but this is the first time that UNSCOM teams have been categorically denied access to designated inspection sites by the Iraqi authorities — and, as members know, twice in two days. Therefore, the Council must respond promptly to this behaviour by the Baghdad Government and affirm the unacceptability of any attempt by Iraq to deny access to any site that the Special Commission wishes to inspect. That is why Italy will vote in favour of this draft resolution. The draft resolution will send the strong message to Baghdad that it must cooperate fully with the Special Commission in accordance with all relevant resolutions. The language is balanced and reiterates the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Iraq. Finally, I wish to express Italy’s full support for the efforts of Ambassador Ekeus and the Special Commission in fulfilment of their mandate. I also stress our hope that the Iraqi Government will desist from relying on behaviour that is contrary to the resolutions of the Council and whose only effect is to delay the lifting of sanctions.

This being the first formal meeting of the Security Council in June, allow me, first of all, warmly to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your assumption of the important function of the presidency of the Council. I am confident that with your wisdom, experience and outstanding ability you will certainly guide the work of the Security Council this month to complete success. I would also like to thank you and the representatives of other delegations for the kind words addressed to Ambassador Qin Huasun and to the Chinese delegation. The Chinese Government has always supported the work of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and we are concerned over the incident in which Iraq denied access to the inspection team. We are of the view that Iraq must fully implement the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and must cooperate fully with UNSCOM. This is in the interest of the Gulf region and the international community, as well as in the interest of Iraq itself. We are also of the view that the reasonable and legitimate security concerns of Iraq as a sovereign State should be respected by all parties, that Security Council resolution 687 (1991) should be implemented comprehensively and that the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Iraq should be safeguarded. In view of the above, and given the fact that the amendments we proposed have already been accepted by the sponsors, the Chinese delegation will vote in favour of the draft resolution before the Council.

I thank the representative of China for his kind words addressed to me. Sir John Weston (United Kingdom): I add my words to those of others in congratulating you, Mr. President, on your assumption of office and in expressing full confidence in your chairmanship this month. I would like to thank Ambassador Qin Huasun and his delegation for having conducted our business so well last month. “there are still significant deficiencies and gaps in Iraq’s disclosures” (S/1996/258, para. 118) over its programmes of weapons of mass destruction, that “The Commission has noted recent acquisitions of prohibited items by Iraq”, (ibid.) and that “a full accounting and disposal of Iraq’s holdings of prohibited items has not been made.” (ibid.) It is against this background that, once again, the Security Council now has to adopt a draft resolution — in this case, co-sponsored by the United Kingdom — in response to Iraqi defiance of the will of the international community as expressed in the Council’s earlier resolutions regarding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programmes. My delegation takes no pleasure in this. But it is right that the Council has reacted quickly and robustly in the wake of Iraq’s obstruction yesterday and today of an inspection team of the Special Commission. It is clearly unacceptable for Iraq to declare that any facilities or sites are off limits. Ensuring security in the Gulf requires that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction be eliminated. This can only be assured if Iraq is completely open with the Special Commission. The Special Commission has made it clear to Iraq that it is still not satisfied that the information it has obtained and the explanations it has been given provide a complete picture of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programmes. It is also apparent that Iraq continues to withhold information. The Special Commission therefore has no alternative but to continue with intrusive, no-notice inspections, which are fully within its mandate. Inspections are not designed to persecute Iraq or to infringe its sovereignty. It is in Iraq’s own interest to cooperate, as only by that means can progress be made towards fulfilling the overall requirements of Security Council resolution 687 (1991). I would finally like to say a word of thanks to Ambassador Ekeus and the Special Commission for the efforts they have undertaken to fulfil the Council’s mandates in extremely difficult circumstances. The British Government attaches great importance to the Commission’s

I thank the representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for his kind words addressed to me.

Allow me, too, to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your assumption of your high office. The German delegation trusts that you will lead the Council successfully through this month and pledges its support. Allow me, at the same time, to express my delegation’s thanks to Ambassador Qin Huasun and his collaborators for the excellent work done in chairing the Council last month. Once again, the Security Council is confronted with a situation in which Iraq is preventing a team of inspectors of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) from carrying out an inspection. While there have been several such cases in the past, the incidents of yesterday and today are particularly grave: first, because the Iraqi leadership is trying to define a category of sites to be excluded from any inspections and, secondly, because this incident comes at a time in which Iraq has repeatedly underlined its commitment to cooperate fully with UNSCOM. Iraq’s claims that its sovereignty and independence are infringed upon by UNSCOM inspections are obviously not valid. Iraq has accepted Security Council resolution 687 (1991), including the role UNSCOM is given by that resolution. UNSCOM can only fulfil its task if its inspection rights are fully respected by Iraq and if it is allowed to work without obstruction. In that respect, we would like once again to express our full confidence in Ambassador Ekeus and his staff. The current events are yet another example of the difficulties and even risks UNSCOM members are facing in carrying out the duties placed upon them by this Council. The Security Council owes them its fullest support. The draft resolution we are to adopt today is the appropriate answer to the unacceptable actions taken by the Iraqi Government to prevent UNSCOM from carrying out no-notice inspections. It sends a clear signal that the Security Council will not tolerate attempts to undermine UNSCOM’s inspection rights. My Government hopes that the Iraqi Government will take this draft resolution very seriously and draw the right conclusions from it. We hope that Iraq will It is in this hope that Germany will vote in favour of the draft resolution.

I thank the representative of Germany for his kind words addressed to me.

My delegation would like to begin by paying a tribute to Ambassador Qin Huasun of China and his delegation, who steered the Council so skilfully and smoothly in the presidency during the month of April. My delegation also takes this opportunity to assure Ambassador Elaraby of Egypt, whose eminent leadership and expertise in international affairs are highly admired, of our readiness fully to cooperate with him so that the Council can discharge its challenging tasks in the most efficient manner possible. Like many other members of the Council, my delegation has held a deep interest in and concern over the sanctions on Iraq, especially since they bear serious humanitarian consequences. For this reason, we welcomed the recent conclusion of the memorandum of understanding on the implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995). Supporting the view of the Secretary-General in his introduction to the Blue Book on the Iraq-Kuwait conflict, we had also hoped that a positive outcome would emanate from the talks on resolution 986 (1995), thus opening a new and promising chapter in the relations between the international community and Iraq. Given our optimistic expectations, the incidents of 11 and 12 June near Baghdad, which prompted the Council to act through the draft resolution before us, have been a source of great disappointment and alarm. It was our strong hope that the pragmatism and realism that had prevailed throughout the talks on resolution 986 (1995) would be reflected in all aspects of Iraq’s external relations, including its interactions with the Special Commission. We are confident that Iraq’s full cooperation with the Special Commission, in accordance with the relevant resolutions, including resolutions 687 (1991) and 707 (1991), will point the relationship between Iraq and the community of nations in a more desirable and mutually beneficial direction by In the circumstances, my delegation finds it necessary to vote in favour of the draft resolution. Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our support for the Special Commission and to commend Ambassador Ekeus for his discretion and patience, which have been indispensable in carrying out the mandates entrusted to it by the Council.

I thank the representative of the Republic of Korea for his kind words addressed to me.

My delegation offers you, Sir, its warmest congratulations on seeing you preside over the Council’s work. While wishing you great success in these responsibilities, we reiterate our offer of fullest cooperation. I also wish to convey our gratitude to Ambassador Qin Huasun and his delegation for their excellent work in May. My delegation wishes to express its uneasiness and concern over the incidents of 11 and 12 June, reported by the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission, a Special Commission inspection team was denied access to sites the Commission had designated. Such behaviour constitutes an undeniable violation of the spirit of Security Council resolutions. We therefore fully support the draft resolution on this question, since we consider that there is no justification for the attitude shown by Iraq in refusing to allow recent inspections by the Special Commission. We call on the Government of Iraq not to stray from the path of full cooperation agreed upon with regard to the Special Commission. Lastly, my delegation wishes to reaffirm its full support for the Commission and its Chairman, Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, for the efforts they have made to implement the mandate of the resolutions of this Council.

I thank the representative of Chile for his kind words addressed to me. I now put to the vote the draft resolution contained in document S/1996/426, as orally revised in its provisional form. Botswana, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Indonesia, Italy, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America

There were 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution, as orally revised in its provisional form, has been adopted unanimously as resolution 1060 (1996). I shall now call on those members of the Council who wish to make statements following the voting.

Let me begin by congratulating you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency for this month. We look forward to working with you. Let me also extend my delegation’s appreciation to Ambassador Qin Huasun and the Chinese delegation for all their fine work last month. In March, when Iraq last blocked access to inspectors of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), the Council was forced to act to remind Baghdad of its obligations. My Government hoped that the message we sent registered. At that time, we explained that Iraq would respond only if the Council acted quickly and forcefully. Since it failed to respond adequately then, here we go again. Let me be clear: this Council must not tolerate challenges to its authority. The Iraqi regime must not be allowed to interfere with the work of the United Nations Special Commission. That is why it is so important that our message be swift and strong. This resolution meets those tests. UNSCOM has been empowered by this Council to ensure the end of the Iraqi weapons-of-mass-destruction programme and to act within that mandate to see that Iraq never again threatens the international community. It should be clear to all that the progress that has occurred in dismantling Iraq’s weapons-of-mass-destruction capability is the result of UNSCOM’s determination to follow the evidence wherever it might lead and whether the Iraqi regime likes it or not. My Government is most appreciative Special Commissioner Ambassador Ekeus has described to the Council the care UNSCOM takes to ensure that in carrying out its mandate, it has respected Iraq’s sovereignty and made sure that Iraq’s security has not been threatened. We can only wish that Iraq were as diligent in meeting its commitments. Iraq’s assertion that its security is threatened by unarmed inspections is laughable. It is not the inspectors who threaten Iraq, but Iraq which threatens the region. The invasion and occupation of Kuwait, the campaign against the Kurds and Shiah and the use of terrorism by Iraq are ample and incontrovertible proof that this regime still poses a serious threat to the security of the region. Blocking UNSCOM’s inspectors from an entire category of suspect sites is a new situation and a matter of grave concern to the United States Government. If the situation persists, as it has on occasions in the past, the Council will have no choice but to conclude that Iraq is in material breach of its obligations under Security Council resolutions 687 (1991), 707 (1991) and 715 (1991).

I thank the representative of the United States for her kind words addressed to me.

Allow us first of all to express our satisfaction at seeing you, Mr. President, guiding our work and for the opportunity to congratulate the Ambassador of China for his outstanding guidance of the Council last month. The French delegation supported the resolution that has just been adopted, as it believes that the attitude of the Iraqi authorities justified the Security Council’s reaction and its reaffirmation of the rights and obligations of all. We would have preferred — as we said yesterday and reiterate today — an immediate reaction from our Council through a presidential statement. We regret that this path could not be followed right away, for it was justified by events. The text that has just been adopted is consonant with the demands of the situation and is in keeping with the provisions already agreed upon and dictated by the Security Council. Our hope today is that the Chairman of A few weeks ago, the Council was gratified by the signing of the memorandum of application of resolution 986 (1995). Beyond the possibilities that opened up for the alleviation of the difficulties afflicting the Iraqi population, we were all also pleased that the signing of the memorandum was an indication of progress on the part of Iraq and of the country’s positive attitude in concluding those negotiations. We believe that this element deserves consideration by all, including by the Security Council and therefore by the Special Commission. It is in Iraq’s interest, as we have often recalled, to allow the Special Commission to complete its task as quickly as possible in order that the Security Council, in its turn, can be in a position to implement resolution 687 (1991) in its entirety, and in particular operative paragraph 22. Any delay caused to the Commission’s action will be felt first and foremost by Iraq.

I thank the representative of France for his kind words addressed to me.

Let me first of all convey to you, Sir, the congratulations of my delegation on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council this month. I wish you every success in your work. I also wish to thank Ambassador Qin Huasun of China for the excellent manner in which he guided the work of the Council last month. My delegation regrets the decision of the Government of Iraq to deny United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) inspection teams access to two Republican Guard facilities in Baghdad that UNSCOM had designated for inspection. This is not completely new. Iraq has in the past denied UNSCOM inspection teams access to certain sites and facilities on the grounds of their sensitivity in terms of the national security, sovereignty and pride of Iraq. While on previous occasions the teams were ultimately allowed access to those sites, the difference is that for the My delegation fully appreciates the sovereign and national security concerns of the Government of Iraq, but it is equally important that Iraq should comply with the resolutions of the Security Council. My delegation would therefore like to appeal to the Government of Iraq to cooperate with UNSCOM and to allow the inspection teams immediate and unrestricted access to all sites designated for inspection. We do not believe compliance with Security Council resolutions necessarily violates the sovereign rights and national security interests of Iraq. To the contrary, there is merit in Iraq’s cooperating with UNSCOM and, by so doing, complying with Security Council resolutions, in that UNSCOM would speedily complete its work and thus pave the way for the modification and ultimate lifting of the sanctions regime. An overly sensitive position on sovereignty and national security is not in the long-term interests of Iraq, according to this reasoning. Iraq has in the recent past declared its readiness to work and cooperate fully with the Special Commission in addressing outstanding issues on biological, chemical and missile weapons programmes without let or hindrance. We welcomed this Iraqi decision and foresight. The present Iraqi actions, however, create a deficit between Iraq’s declared intentions and the translation of those intentions into concrete action on the ground. It is the wish and hope of my delegation that Iraq can cooperate with UNSCOM, so that the relevant resolutions of the Security Council can be speedily implemented, thus making it possible for the Security Council to assume its responsibilities under their appropriate provisions. It is for all these reasons that my delegation voted in favour of the resolution we have just adopted.

I thank the representative of Botswana for his kind words addressed to me. I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of Egypt. Egypt affirms the need to implement all the provisions of those resolutions with regard to the Commission’s right to inspect the sites it deems necessary, and its access to those sites, so that it can complete its tasks and fulfil its responsibilities — particularly the provisions of Security Council resolutions 687 (1991), 707 (1991) and 715 (1991). In this context my delegation reaffirms its appreciation for the efforts of the Special Commission and those its Chairman, Mr. Rolf Ekeus. The most recent report of the Special Commission states that Iraq has made progress towards implementing the resolutions pertaining to the elimination, destruction and monitoring of weapons of mass destruction; this is referred to in the fifth preambular paragraph of the resolution adopted today. There is no doubt that Iraq’s complete cooperation with the Commission is the only means of guaranteeing the Commission’s completion of its task. It is one of the requirements for lifting the sanctions While Egypt welcomes the agreement between Iraq and the United Nations Secretariat on the implementation of resolution 986 (1995), which allows for the sale of Iraqi oil in order to provide funds for some of the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people, it believes that further progress must be made towards the implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions, thereby opening the way to lifting all the sanctions imposed upon Iraq. Finally, my delegation affirms that the aim of calling on Iraq to respect all Security Council resolutions is not to undermine Iraqi sovereignty or to jeopardize Iraqi national security. I now resume my function as President of the Security Council. There are no further speakers. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council will remain seized of the matter.