The hour is late. We will be brief. On the Middle East issue, it is clearly very difficult to get consensus or unanimity within the Security Council. But we believe that there is total consensus today on one point: the situation in the Middle East is dangerous and getting more dangerous. No one can …
Please allow me to begin by commending you, Madam, for organizing this wrap-up meeting.
Actually, I would like to begin with a plea to my colleagues to try as much as possible to institutionalize these wrap-up meetings, because they can be useful on many counts. First, of course, we can review what…
I did not intend to be the first speaker, but I find that unless one raises one’s hand very quickly one may end up being the last speaker. Madam President, I would like to join you in thanking Judge Jorda, Judge Pillay and Ms. Del Ponte for the briefings they gave us. The work being done by them is …
We, too, would like to thank Mr. Hédi Annabi for his comprehensive briefing. We also want to join our colleagues in
congratulating the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Haekkerup, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the Organization for Securit…
I join Ambassador Kuchinsky in thanking Mr. Oshima for his briefing. Madam President, you have told us that in this meeting we will not make any statements but have a question- and-answer session. In that spirit, I would like to make three points — my questions will be rolled into three points.
The…
The history of the United Nations is replete with summits and declarations. They come, and they go. Nothing much changes. It is therefore easy to become cynical both about summits and their results. If we do not want the Millennium Summit and its results to be tarnished with such cynicism, we have t…
It does seem strange to congratulate Minister Han Seung-soo on his appointment as President of the General Assembly so late in this session. But we live in unusual times. The United Nations needs clear leadership. With his distinguished track record in public service in the Republic of Korea, we are…
In view of the fact that Ambassador Jean-David Levitte referred to some of my points, I just wanted to clarify the situation for the record.
First, Ambassador Levitte said that we liked to debate for the sake of debate. On this issue, we were not really trying to debate, but we were very puzzled by…
First of all, I would like to welcome you, Minister Cowen, to New York. Since this is the last day of the Irish presidency, we would like to congratulate you and your team. It has been a difficult month, and your team has done a sterling job.
We would also like to welcome our friends, Mr. Sergio Vi…
Please allow me to begin by both thanking and congratulating former General Assembly President Harri Holkeri of Finland and Ambassadors John de Saram of Sri Lanka and Thorsteinn Ingólfsson of Iceland for the good work they have done. Under difficult circumstances, they have done a sterling job. In p…
I join our colleagues and you, Mr. President, in welcoming Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galaydh to the Chamber. We find his presence here very reassuring. It is a sign that things are on track. We also thank Mr. Stephen for his briefing.
I have a text, Mr. President, but I hope you will allow me to di…
The debate we had two weeks ago on the terrorism issue was clearly the single most important debate of this year’s session of the General Assembly. One hundred sixty-seven countries participated. Today’s debate on the report of the Security Council to the General Assembly should be the second most i…
We speak today with heavy hearts. On 11 September 2001, the General Assembly was scheduled to have its regular opening of the fifty-sixth session. The date 11 September also marked the twentieth United Nations International Day of Peace. But instead of celebrating peace, we witnessed the horrific ev…
The report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization is dated 6 September 2001, five days before the fateful events of 11 September 2001, which will significantly change the course of world history and, consequently, that of the United Nations as well. Yesterday morning, when he intro…
We have decided today to go along with the adoption of this draft report, but we would like to place on record that we are doing so with reluctance and reservations. We feel obliged to place this on record because, when this draft report is discussed in the General Assembly, we will probably be very…
You have asked us to be brief, Mr. President. We will be brief, but we hope that the brevity of our statement is not in any way taken as an indication of the depth of the shock, horror and outrage that we feel about yesterday’s developments.
By any standards, what happened yesterday was a great tra…
Please allow me to begin by expressing our personal delight at seeing you back in the Chair, Mr. Minister. We know that you have a busy schedule, and we are very glad that you have taken time from it to be here with us. We are also very pleased that you have organized this wrap-up meeting, because w…
I too would like to join my colleagues in thanking the Under-Secretary- General for Peacekeeping Operations, Mr. Jean-Marie Guéhenno, for his comprehensive briefing.
We want to begin with a confession. I think that this is the eighth time we have discussed the situation in Kosovo since Singapore jo…
We are pleased to welcome once again Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello and Mr. José Ramos-Horta to the Security Council, especially at this critical juncture in East Timor’s political transition. We also endorse the wise words of advice they have both given to members of the Council.
Why are we at a criti…
It is no secret that the file on the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the more difficult files the Security Council has to deal with. Indeed, if we had received more bad news than good news today, we would not have been surprised. However, as Ambassador Morjane said earlier this morning, t…
