YouSaid · the spoken record

Jeremy Greenstock

lines on the record: 1,478
first: 1998-07-30
most recent: 2003-07-25
sittings or episodes: 194
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“That incident in particular demonstrates that there is a long way to go with the challenge of normalizing the situation in Kosovo. All sides have to respect the law and exercise restraint in the run-up to the Serbian parliamentary elections on 23 December. The holding of those elections in Kosovo is without prejudice to the future status of Kosovo and must not be used as an excuse for agitation. The elections to Kosovo-wide provisional democratic self-governing institutions, as envisaged in resolution 1244 (1999), should be held when the right conditions are in place. The process of creating those conditions has to begin now, and we call on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to begin those preparations, including the registration of Serbs and other minorities.”
2000-12-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4249 (2000) · source
“Bernard Kouchner extremely warmly for the tremendous job that he has done as Special Representative. One or two additional points. The United Kingdom strongly condemns the attack on the joint United States/Russian Kosovo Force (KFOR) near the Kosovo-Serbian boundary a few days ago. KFOR will not be deterred from carrying out its mission by extremist attacks. Violence directed against representatives of the international community cannot be in the interests of the residents of the Presevo Valley region who want to live in peace. This violence must stop immediately. We also condemn the violence in Leposavic on 16 December, and we call on the Serb residents of Kosovo to avoid being manipulated by extremists who do not have the real interests of the Serb community at heart.”
2000-12-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4249 (2000) · source
“We are very grateful for the useful briefing which the Assistant Secretary-General has given us this morning, and I would like to warmly welcome the presence here today of His Excellency Goran Svilanovic, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. We have taken careful note of his remarks, and I agree that it is the task of all of us, in particular, to try to sustain a positive momentum in the implementation of resolution 1244 (1999). The substance of the United Kingdom position is well covered in the statement which Ambassador Levitte made in his capacity in the presidency of the European Union. I would like to echo the welcome expressed there and in earlier statements for the S/PVAZA') appointment of Mr. Haekkerup as Special Representative and join others in thanking Mr.”
2000-12-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4249 (2000) · source
“What is important now is to concentrate our efforts on supporting the direct dialogue which has resumed between the parties and which offers the best hope for a just and lasting peace in the region based on resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). The resumption of talks in Washington this week demonstrates the importance both sides place on finding a lasting solution, and we hope the parties will not allow the result this evening to detract from their ongoing efforts to find peace. The prospects for these remain our primary criterion and have guided our approach on the proposal which we have considered today.”
2000-12-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4248 (2000) · source
“We have worked with other delegations around this table and with the Secretary-General to try to reach agreement on the steps that would allow such a mission to be established, and we are glad to have worked particularly closely with the delegation of France. It is too early to give up on this aim. We firmly believe that trying to impose observers against the wishes of one party would in practice be fruitless. We therefore abstained on the draft resolution under consideration, because we believe that it cannot be implemented without further work to build confidence and because we feel that bringing it to a decision today makes the establishment of a mission less rather than more likely. We remain ready to engage on a proposal that can find consensus.”
2000-12-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4248 (2000) · source
“We are meeting on the most difficult issue at the most difficult time. And although there are distinct differences among members of the Council, I warmly appreciate the effort that all - particularly members of the Non-Aligned Movement caucus - have made to try to find a common way forward. The level of violence in the region is gravely disturbing, and the resulting number of civilian deaths and injuries, overwhelmingly in the Palestinian community, is unacceptable. The United Kingdom believes that an observer mission in the West Bank and Gaza could be of benefit to both parties. The presence of objective witnesses could serve to calm the violence and help both sides take the necessary steps back from confrontation.”
2000-12-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4248 (2000) · source
“The ongoing challenge for Bosnia and Herzegovina is to build credible State-level institutions in order to combat the problems successfully. An effective State Border Service is a key part ofthe solution, and should remain a priority. The rise of nationalist parties in the elections shows that there is no ground for complacency, as does the statistic that 62 per cent of Bosnia's youth wish to leave the country. The incoming authorities at entity and State level have a very serious challenge to meet in proving to the young people of Bosnia and Herzegovina that they do indeed have a future in the country of their birth. S/PVAZAS”
2000-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4245 (2000) · source
“We welcome the contribution that UNMIBH has made so far in reforming the police system, to which the Special Representative has rightly devoted a great deal of attention, but we share the Secretary-General's concern about the slow pace of police reform in areas of the eastern Republika Srpska and in canton 10. We welcome the High Representative's recent decision to dismiss the canton 10 Minister of the Interior for repeated obstruction of reform. We also applaud UNMIBH's efforts to highlight the scale of illegal immigration, but the results are still very disturbing. Illegal immigration and the associated corruption and organized crime have ramifications for all of Bosnia's European neighbours, including the United Kingdom.”
2000-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4245 (2000) · source
“The United Kingdom welcomes very much the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) and the Special Representative's briefing this morning. I pay a particular tribute to Mr. Klein and his team for what they are continuing to achieve in Bosnia. His leadership is extremely important to the objectives of the United Nations there. I support and endorse the European Union statement just made by the French presidency, but I would like to make a couple of points in addition to reflect what I think, as Mr. Klein has said, is relative progress, but still progress that has flaws on the ground that have to be addressed. My first point concerns the local police system.”
2000-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4245 (2000) · source
“And I believe that if the result of our negotiations on the scale revisions can encapsulate the fundamental intentions of the United States Congress and the fundamental intentions of the rest of the United Nations membership - and I believe they can - then we shall have achieved a remarkable step forward both for the United Nations and for the United States. Since the Senator is here, I also want to pay tribute to the United States role on Bosnia over the past decade and his personal role in that. This subject, above all, has illustrated how much can go wrong when the United States is playing separately from the international community and how much can go right when we are all playing together.”
2000-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4245 (2000) · source
“I, too, warmly welcome the presence at this table of Senator Biden as the United States representative. It is extremely important for the Security Council and for the United Nations that he is here and that he has used the occasion to address us not just on the subject on the agenda, but also on the subject that will be uppermost in our minds between now and 22 December. I very much appreciate his approach to those particular difficulties. I share in their entirety the remarks of my French partner on the subject.”
2000-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4245 (2000) · source
“Perhaps the most important measure we are enacting is to use the money made available from our decision to reduce the funds for compensation to address directly the needs of the vulnerable groups in Iraq. As the Secretary-General has often reported, the needs of those groups - the poorest, the displaced children and the elderly - are often neglected. We look forward to hearing in the next l80-day report how the first tranche of money has been used to meet their needs.”
2000-12-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4241 (2000) · source
“There were measures we would have preferred to see included; no doubt there were other measures that others would have preferred to see included. But the draft resolution represents a reasonable balance of our collective interests and an important contribution to the work of the programme. There are a number of technical measures contained in the draft resolution, such as the extension of the so-called green, or pre-approved, lists that will ease and improve the implementation of the programme. Again, we ask for the implementation of the so-called cash component across all sectors in Iraq, a measure which, if Iraq allowed it to be implemented, has the potential to make a significant difference to the humanitarian situation by allowing the local economy to be revived.”
2000-12-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4241 (2000) · source
“It is a great pleasure, Mr. President, to see you in the Chair. In keeping with your style, please accept my abbreviated compliments. Likewise your predecessor, who did excellent work in November. The United Kingdom is very pleased to see what we expect will be the unanimous adoption of draft resolution S/2000/1149. It is right for the Council to unite behind this programme, which is important and necessary for the welfare of the Iraqi people. It is also right at this juncture for us to pay tribute to the staff of the United Nations who work so hard to implement the programme in sometimes difficult conditions. The United Kingdom played a central role in the preparation of this draft resolution, and we are therefore well placed to realize the compromises that were made to allow it to be adopted.”
2000-12-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4241 (2000) · source
“I think part of the reason may be the sense of helplessness over the Congo, that one does not invest one's aid into those things that need programmes extending over time, whereas one does invest in food, because food is a daily need that has to be delivered into mouths day by day, and it can go on as best as one can handle it. But disease, transport and other aspects that the Coordinator ad interim has mentioned are programmes for which confidence, stability and continuity are required, and that may be part of the problem. But we have taken note of where the deficiencies are. With those points and questions and in more detail, I am looking forward to some further remarks from the Coordinator ad interim later. I think I will stop there.”
2000-11-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4237 (2000) · source
“Generally, we would like also to know what the current obstacles are to humanitarian access, which we ought to be addressing at the same time as we look at MONUC rollover. I think that it is quite important to use this briefing to try to specify the actual points which may be remediable with a huge amount of effort and a bit of goodwill, to be differentiated from those where it is fairly hopeless to expect any real improvement in the near future. My delegation takes note of what the Coordinator ad interim said about funding, in particular the regrettable focus only on food as opposed to non-food aid.”
2000-11-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4237 (2000) · source
“The Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML) is in Kisangani and Goma, and the Mouvement de liberation (MLC) is in Equateur province. I would just like a bit more detail on the actual state of relations now- what kind of help is being provided, what kind of obstructions are there, where the Coordinator ad interim feels the greatest insecurities are, and what we are going to need to talk about when we look at the primary tasks for the deployment of MONUC, if and when we come to that. We would also be interested to know whether the agencies are developing with the NGOs a coordinated aid strategy that responds to the humanitarian situation and where the lacunae are in that particular process, if any, or whether that coordination picture is also quite good.”
2000-11-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4237 (2000) · source
“I pay particular tribute to the work of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and to that of the agencies and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the ground. I think that they are facing the most awful conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Not only is there sometimes almost complete insecurity for them as operators, but there is also a dire lack of proper infrastructure and proper support. It is vital for their security and for their ability to do their job that they get help on the ground from everybody concerned. I am therefore quite interested to hear more details from the Coordinator ad interim on the present state of the relationship of the agencies with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and with the factions that operate in the areas where they find themselves.”
2000-11-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4237 (2000) · source
“The first indications of the second Maputo meeting are that there is increasing weariness with continuing the conflict, increasing impatience from the parties within the region - those that are not contributing to the early implementation of Lusaka, or whatever they can agree between them to substantiate Lusaka - and there is, I think, an interesting indication from Kinshasa that the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is willing to work with MONUC and with the international agencies to try to make things operate better on the ground. In meeting the objectives that we have set ourselves, that would all be good news if it were confirmed, but there is an enormous amount to do.”
2000-11-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4237 (2000) · source
“I hope that somewhere we will find some leadership for addressing the problems of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, both from within the region and from outside. But we will come to the details of that in due course when we address the rollovers and when we have an account of the meetings that have taken place in Maputo and that are to take place later in Lusaka.”
2000-11-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4237 (2000) · source
“We shall discuss that on later occasions - with the troop contributors this week and when we consider the roll-over of the mandate of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). In addition to the humanitarian situation, the general situation is depressing, because Lusaka is not being implemented as it should have been implemented by the parties. They virtually all bear some responsibility for that in their several ways. We in the Council all know that the Congo is perhaps the greatest challenge we have to face with respect to Africa in the Security Council, and we have got to get it right. It is a more serious and complex situation even than Sierra Leone, and we must give it the same effort and the same intensity.”
2000-11-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4237 (2000) · source
“We warmly welcome the briefing from the acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, which was a very good, very clear and, in some of its aspects, quite depressing briefing. I want to go back to one or two points of detail. It is very good to hear that there is excellent coordination with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and his team, which is the kind of coordination that we need to see in the most difficult and complex situations - particularly in Africa, as we pointed out in the report of our mission to Sierra Leone. That is good news. I do not want to get into the detail of the politics of what we face in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
2000-11-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4237 (2000) · source
“There was nothing in the statements we heard from Palestine and Israel this afternoon to indicate that the parties themselves will be able to bring violence to an end without outside help. The Security Council has an essential role to play and should continue to keep the situation under close observation.”
2000-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4231 (2000) · source
“Violence followed by retaliation followed by more violence, as we have seen in today's shameful bomb, is a dead end. It leads nowhere. We need to see an early return to diplomacy, and we therefore welcome the first meeting of the fact- finding committee, which will take place over the coming weekend; we hope that the work of the committee will proceed expeditiously. We also welcome and support the efforts of the Secretary- General and of others to find a mutually acceptable basis on which to allow international observers into the West Bank and Gaza. We continue to believe that neutral observers, with the agreement and cooperation of both parties, could play a constructive role in ending the violence.”
2000-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4231 (2000) · source
“The United Kingdom welcomes this opportunity to discuss the increasingly serious situation in the West Bank and Gaza. We fully associate ourselves with the European Union declaration, which Ambassador Levitte has just quoted and which was agreed by European Union foreign ministers on 20 November. We urge both the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority to implement the understandings that were agreed at Sharm el-Sheikh and those that were agreed subsequently, and to take immediate steps to bring an end to the Violence. We condemn all violence. It was a cowardly act to bomb the school bus in Gaza on 20 November. But the kind of excessive retaliatory action which we have seen in recent days and weeks cannot be justified and cannot be in the interest of peace and of the resumption of negotiations.”
2000-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4231 (2000) · source
“We are also pleased that a date is being set for a meeting of the Military Coordination Commission, because contacts between the parties are also an important part of building confidence. But both countries do have to look to the long term. The conclusion of a lasting peace settlement will enable both sides to focus on development, reconstruction and reconciliation, which is what all this is about. My delegation looks forward to discussing the draft presidential statement proposed by the Netherlands. We agree that work on it should be completed next week if possible.”
2000-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4227 (2000) · source
“So we urge both sides to seize this opportunity for lasting peace and not to delay to do so. The deployment of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) will help the climate for that, but, as you have said, Mr. President, it must not be seen as a substitute for concluding a comprehensive peace agreement. They must not go down that cul-de-sac. They must concentrate on the overall agreement. But with the deployment of UNMEE, it is necessary that both sides give the necessary freedom of movement to the force to enable it to do its job effectively. The other points I was going to make have been covered, in particular by your five confidence-building measures, Mr. President. The United Kingdom supports those, so I will not go into further detail.”
2000-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4227 (2000) · source
“We are very grateful to the Secretary-General and to you, Mr. President, for your introductory and really very substantive remarks, as well as for the personal attention that you are bringing to this question. We warmly welcome the arrival of Ambassador Legwaila and of Major-General Cammaert. We are pleased that efforts by Algeria, the United States, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the European Union to restart the peace talks are beginning to make some headway and that the process is generally beginning to go in the right direction. Both sides need to allow the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities to be implemented. Their support for that suggests that the political will for peace exists. It is that political will that will be essential for the conclusion of a comprehensive peace agreement.”
2000-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4227 (2000) · source
“Kouchner has said about the practical and technical impossibility for the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to organize those, but we do not at this point regard this as being the end of the story as far as participation is concerned. If there are arrangements for people to vote from Kosovo in the Serb elections, then all parties, particularly Kosovar Albanians, must understand that this would be without prejudice to the future status of Kosovo.”
2000-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4225 (2000) · source
“Kouchner's intention to nominate representatives of the Kosovo Serbs to certain municipal councils, as well as his intention to widen involvement in the advisory structures, because this will make the current Kosovo structures more representative of public opinion and thus bring the current structures nearer to the people over whom they have influence. For this reason, we support him in that move. Lastly, on the issue of Serbian elections in December and how they affect Kosovo, we support in principle the ability of voters in Kosovo to participate in the planned Serbian parliamentary elections. We hear what Mr.”
2000-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4225 (2000) · source
“My second point, not entirely irrelevant to that, concerns future status. Deciding future status should not be a top priority for the moment in the short term. There are more pressing issues for both Belgrade and Pristina on which attention should be focused - for instance, economic regeneration and the rebuilding of society. It will, in the end, be up to Belgrade and elected representatives of Kosovo's communities to reach final agreement between themselves on status, with the help and support of the international community. That is the import of resolution 1244 (1999), which, of course, makes no final prescriptions on this point. Thirdly, we welcome Mr.”
2000-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4225 (2000) · source
“We, too, were particularly pleased at the success of the municipal elections held at the end of October, which should pave the way for Kosovo-wide elections in due course to restore the autonomy which was taken away from Kosovo in 1990. We are interested in the Special Representative's support for an election at a fairly early date. The United Kingdom has no specific date in mind, because the conditions have to be right for those elections first. The point is to work from now on to ensure that the right conditions are put in place and the right general atmosphere established. Of course, the changes in Belgrade are relevant to that, and elections will have to be preceded by a new registration exercise to ensure that Serbs and other ethnic minorities are fully included.”
2000-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4225 (2000) · source
“Later in this debate France will make a statement in the name of the European Union, and that statement will make the fundamental points of substance which the United Kingdom subscribes to, and we wholly associate ourselves with that. I want to make just a few extra points. First of all, I want to pay very warm tribute to Mr. Kouchner and to his whole team for what they have achieved over the last year and a quarter in Kosovo. This is the most difficult of the international jobs that we are monitoring from the Security Council. Against the background we all know he has had to face, it has been an extraordinary achievement. The United Kingdom thanks him for that, as well as the whole of the European Union. Let me say a word on the elections.”
2000-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4225 (2000) · source
“We have to talk as the Security Council to other parts of the system, to the economic and social parts and to the General Assembly and its committees on some aspects of what we are doing, and we have to explore further with the Secretary-General his responsibility, and with the Under-Secretary-General and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations their responsibilities, for putting into the pot what is not there and what your paper and your debate are asking for. We must follow this up. There have been some suggestions as to what we should do. We must not put resolution 1327 (2000) on the shelf. We have an enormous amount to do before your question is answered, Mr. President, and we have improved the performance of the Security Council. Thank you for this debate. I think it has been extremely useful.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“President, you would be disappointed, I think, if we left this room - and we need to hear what non-members of the Council have to say this afternoon - without agreeing on some action that we need to take to follow up the thoughts that your paper has inspired. I think the Brahimi report covers a lot of what we want. I am not sure that we do not need a special subcommittee of the Council on peacekeeping operations to take up some of these professional and detailed points. I think we need, as Namibia has said, small missions occasionally, perhaps two or three people going out to an area and bringing back some firsthand experience, before we pass the mandate.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“We talked about it in the retreat. We need to talk about it again. It is not a matter of double standards. It is a matter of the nature of different organizations, different armies, different requirements and different experiences. This week we had in town the Deputy SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander in Europe) from NATO. We had a very interesting small dinner party, talking about the differences in approach between NATO, on the one hand, and United Nations peacekeeping, on the other, which brought those of us who were listening some lessons that will have to be gone into in greater detail. Mr.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“I do not think we are broad enough in our approach. But what did come out of this morning, I think, is a very clear lesson that the decision on exit has to be related to a transitional mechanism. We do not just get out. We hand over to a mechanism that deals with the next stage. The United Nations Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium was an example. Civilian police and civilian experts are needed for this; a DDR process is needed for this; and an understanding with the host country is needed for this. Bangladesh pointed also to the role of non-governmental organizations and civil society. There is also the question of resources, both money and troops. We need another discussion about why it is that developed high-tech armies do not want to do low-tech United Nations peacekeeping.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“That again I think has been a lesson in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere. I will not go on about other things that Brahimi brings to us: the broader coordination that is necessary, from conflict prevention all the way through to post- conflict peace-building, and, as China has rightly said, including the ownership of the country itself of the programme that it is involved in, of the peacekeeping operation, because it is the ultimate authority to which we have to return authority when we exit. That is extremely important. It brings in economic questions, arms flow questions, mineral resource questions, demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) questions, regional questions and the very function of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General. All that has to be looked at again.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“That is a difficult one, because the original mandates have not taken account of that and have not really given us flexibility from the original objective to deal with it. Therefore, we need to build into our thinking an awareness of the possible need for change. We do it as we go along. We are flexible as a Council. We ordain on the day what we have to do. But we do not necessarily understand each other on that. Canada talks about conflict management and training up the international community and particular countries that are relevant to manage conflict as we go along. That is management. We have not learned how to do it in the Council. I think France also pointed to the fact that clear objectives for a peacekeeping operation are not always possible.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“I am not saying that the United Kingdom has solved that problem in the Sierra Leone context, but we have national reasons for wanting to show a very great determination to end it. The Australians did in East Timor. NATO did in the Balkans. But that leadership does not extend into all the functions and responsibilities of the United Nations or the Security Council. I think we need to talk a bit more about leadership and the limits of the United Nations in carrying out complicated operations when the leadership function is dissipated among parts of the international community. Then there is a stage which we have not really got to grips with, the stage when something happens to a peacekeeping operation that changes its basis. Lome breaks down; the Revolutionary United Front go back to war.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“Absolutely crucial- and this is in the lap of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, at least in the first instance- is that there needs to be better planning, higher speed, better coordination and all the things that fall under Brahimi. Mr. President, you used one word in your introduction, when throwing questions at us, that not one member of the Council then picked up. That word was "leadership". Nobody has talked about it. This Organization as a whole is seriously deficient in leadership. We pass the buck endlessly. Look at the shape of this table. Between the Secretary-General, the Council, the membership and the troop-contributors, we pass the buck around endlessly.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“But I think that in making that remark they were not subscribing to what is a much broader understanding that the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) cannot actually start the operation until certain conditions have been met because the United Nations does not have an endless capability or an endless will. It has very severe limits, and the Secretary-General is now clearly aware of those limits and is going to tell us what those limits are. So we, too, have to have an understanding of what we are capable of as the United Nations. Then, the third area is implementation.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“Once we set the mandate, there is then a second item beyond the initial analysis, and that is that everybody understands the mandate: the wider membership, particularly the troop contributors, or potential troop contributors which means that they must be consulted before we finalize the mandate. In among that broad understanding there has to be an assessment of the capability and will of the international community to perform the mandate. Namibia pointed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a clear example, in Namibia's View, of potential or actual selectivity.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“That is a problem because we are not in charge of the peace agreement. I think we should insert our interests into the agreement at a much earlier stage, as Jamaica and others have said. Then there would be a criterion in the mandate for the exit. In other words, we have to direct the peacekeeping operation with a clear objective which can be judged as having been finished. As Ambassador Holbrooke said, at the very least the original problem has to be dealt with, and Ambassador Ward set out a number of other considerations which establish how we can define that the objective has been met. That is extremely important, and we do not always do it; we have to do it.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“I think we all think that Brahimi is quite right in asking for a specific, strategic analysis capability to be present in the Secretariat. But it has to be an analysis not just of the swamp into which we are sending our peacekeeping operation but of the causes of the problem. All members have said that. And it is not just the causes; it is the context. Some have pointed to the regional context, and some have pointed to the political, economic and social context into which we are sending a peacekeeping operation. The mandate has to pick that up, and the mandate, as has been stated here, is very often dependent - and should very often be dependent - on the peace agreement that the parties have come to. We are not free. We are not starting from scratch in authorizing a mandate.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“It is otherwise too expensive or too difficult for our national decision- makers to agree to commit themselves to a collective operation. So it is strategy that we are talking about. This debate is taking place only two days after we adopted resolution 1327 (2000), so we have done a lot of the work that we are talking about, and it is absolutely clear that we must have at the front three things in particular. One is a much deeper and broader analysis of what we are doing, and we need to have the equipment for that analysis. There is no point in just asking for it. It has to be the Council's analysis because the Council is responsible, but we obviously need the professional work of the Secretariat to do much of that analysis for us.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“But we have not actually answered the question, "how?", and we need to decide how to answer it. There were some nuances in the debate. One or two old hobby horses came out, and some things that were not entirely relevant to the question came out. I think that Namibia's remark that the responsibility of the Security Council must not abrogated, the question of whether we are too selective in the termination of peacekeeping operations are questions that the Security Council has to look at politically. But, actually, in talking about exit strategies, we are talking about strategy. The United Nations, in the area of peacekeeping and in some other areas, is to a large extent, a minimalist Organization. We do not have many resources, and we try to get away with the minimum possible to deal with a certain situation.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“I wanted to speak late in the debate because I wanted to hear what other people said and to pick up the tenor of our discussion, so I am going to speak quite informally. I am grateful to the Permanent Representative of Tunisia for remaining this long. Mr. President, you asked a question at the beginning of the meeting, a question that has been answered obliquely. That question was, can the Security Council improve its performance in the termination of peacekeeping operations? I think the general answer around the table has been that it can, and that it has to, improve its performance. The question is, how? Having listened to 13 other members of the Council, I think that we are remarkably united in the prescription that we have put forward, and that is a good thing.”
2000-11-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4223 (2000) · source
“Our support for United Nations objectives in Sierra Leone is continuing evidence of that. We agree that those with the greatest capacity must contribute in proportion, and the United Kingdom does so. The British Prime Minister told the Millennium Summit that the Brahimi Report was right and that it should be implemented within a l2-month time scale. We again congratulate the Panel on achieving a step change in our thinking. We should be clear that peacekeeping is a vital tool in the maintenance of international peace and security and an essential component in our wider and priority task of delivering sustainable development. In the interests of all, we must collectively ensure that we take the historic opportunity offered by the Brahimi Report to get peacekeeping working.”
2000-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4220 (2000) · source
“The Permanent Representative of Bangladesh referred earlier to his delegation's proposal to require the permanent members of the Security Council to contribute to every peacekeeping operation. His statement carried the implication that all permanent members fail to meet their responsibilities in respect of peacekeeping. I reject that implication. Over the past decade, the United Kingdom has been a leading contributor to peacekeeping operations, providing troops and police, as well as resources, in significant quantities, and initiating training activities among Member States, especially in Africa. We also devote huge resources, and sometimes British lives, to operations enforcing or supporting international peace and security in much more difficult circumstances than those of traditional peacekeeping operations.”
2000-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4220 (2000) · source