YouSaid · the spoken record

Mahbubani

lines on the record: 1,011
first: 1999-09-11
most recent: 2004-05-10
sittings or episodes: 106
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

“Here, I am pleased that Ambassador Levitte, speaking earlier, called for regular assessments of the security situation to enable us to decide how quickly we can move forward with the establishment of a peace-building office, because there seems to be a general recognition that such an office could, indeed, play a helpful role in Somalia. Fourthly, we reaffirm our belief that a solution to the situation in Somalia must be based on respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of Somalia. Unfortunately, because these words are repeated so often, people sometimes forget that they are actually very important. Indeed, the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of Somalia must always be respected.”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“We note that the Secretary- General's report concludes that conditions are not suitable for the deployment of a peace-building office in Somalia. Certainly, we agree that the safety and security of United Nations personnel should be a fundamental principle in our considerations. There was also a long discussion of this issue in the informal consultations. While, as everyone agreed, we should emphasize the safety and security of United Nations personnel, we should also ensure that the deployment of a United Nations office is not held hostage by a warlord or two. We must find the right balance to ensure that the United Nations is able to be effectively supportive of the TNG.”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“By the same token, we in the Council should be mindful to ensure that Somalia does not become an "Afghanistan- minus" for the international community. Unfortunately, the parallels are compelling. Like Afghanistan, Somalia did not function as a State throughout the 1990s and, as the Ambassador of China said, it remains awash with arms. Indeed, earlier this week, when members of the Security Council met in private consultations to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, they cautioned against allowing Afghanistan to become a "Somalia 1993". By extension, we should ensure that Somalia does not become an "Afghanistan 2001". Thirdly, we see the restoration of a United Nations peace-building presence as being crucial to Somalia's recovery.”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“It is now clearly in the interests of the entire international community to encourage the establishment of stable Governments all around the world. Otherwise, as has already been shown, terrorists and other extremist elements can easily exploit pockets of instability to set up their operations. If I heard the Prime Minister accurately, he mentioned that a vacuum in Somalia could, indeed, provide the sort of pockets that the terrorists are looking for. I hope that the Council will bear that in mind. We note that comparisons have been drawn, both publicly and privately, between Afghanistan and Somalia. Robert Orr, a National Security Council official in the Clinton Administration, was recently quoted in The New York Times as referring to the present Afghanistan situation as "Somalia-plus".”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“We would like to make a few brief points with regard to the subject of today's discussion. First, we stress that there is a need to adopt what we call a "comprehensive" approach for Somalia. We cannot simply drift along; nor can we focus only on the provision of humanitarian assistance and neglect the other critical aspects of peace-building and the establishment of a stable Government. Members of the Council may recall that we advocated similar comprehensive solutions to other problems facing the Security Council, including the situation in Afghanistan. That brings me to my second, related point, that we really should take a fresh look at the situation in Somalia in the light of the events of 11 September.”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“38) One of the more encouraging things that Mr. Stephen told us two days ago that the people of Somalia are indeed war-weary and increasingly supportive of a national political solution that is no longer based on clan or factional affinities. As I told Mr. Stephen two days ago, we should try to build on this desire that the Somali people now have to move away from the clan- based system to a restoration of the nation and the national structure. If this is, indeed, the feeling of the Somali people, then we in the Council should send a strong signal of encouragement to the TNG and to the Somali people. As I said earlier, we hope that we will do so with the presidential statement to be adopted later. In this respect, I would like to thank Ambassador Kolby, of Norway, for agreeing to circulate a draft for our consideration.”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“8) However, the report goes on to highlight that the TNG has found it impossible, for the time being, to introduce similar law and order arrangements in other parts of Somalia due to a lack of resources. While the TNG has been able to gradually establish key State institutions, in addition to a functioning administration in and around Mogadishu, more assistance is clearly required. The report has concluded that "the completion of the Arta process remains the most viable option for lasting peace in Somalia." (ibid., para. 57). I hope that we will again endorse the Arta process when we come up with a presidential statement. The Secretary-General's report also states that "there was broad agreement that the Somali situation required urgent attention and that the TNG could be the basis for completing the Djibouti peace process." (ibid., para.”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“Now it is time to take stock to see what more can be done to encourage the budding peace process. There have been some improvements, and, indeed, in our text we quote from the report of the Secretary-General, which points out that "The TNG inherited no personnel, buildings, archives, forces of law and order or tax-collecting capacity." Despite this, the report continues, "Ministries are beginning to function and a number of buildings have been rehabilitated for their use. A judiciary is gradually coming into place, with Sharia courts and their militia being absorbed by the TNG. Personnel are gradually being put in place to take charge of a police system in the capital and police have returned to all 14 district police stations in Mogadishu under a command structure." (S/2001/963, para.”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“We hope that today's discussion will build on it by also focusing on how the international community can play a useful role in forging a lasting peace in Somalia. Certainly, the establishment of the Transitional National Government (TNG), more than a year ago, marked a significant milestone in the search for peace and stability in Somalia. Indeed, one point that we made in the informal consultations was that we should try to imagine what Somalia would be like if we did not have a Transitional National Government. Clearly, this is an asset that we have. We are therefore pleased that, when the Security Council last met the Prime Minister, in January, the Council sent a strong signal of support and, indeed, welcomed the outcome of the Arta peace process.”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“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 divert from it from time to time to respond to other points that have emerged. The Council will recall that we suggested here a few months ago that it might be helpful to have a brainstorming session on Somalia. Indeed, we are very pleased that, two days ago in the informal consultations room, we had a very rich discussion on Somalia. It was not the usual exchange of written statements; there was a real, candid discussion. As I said at the end of the discussion, we hope that some of it will feed into the United Nations policy.”
2001-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4392 (2001) · source
“It is joining the Council of Europe, and we actually are very confident that as Bosnia and Herzegovina moves closer to Europe, through a process of osmosis the positive values that the Council sees in the rest of Europe will hopefully seep into Bosnia and Herzegovina and change the nature of the multi-ethnic fabric that we see in the society there.”
2001-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4379Resumption1 (2001) · source
“On the other hand, I gather that it has been reported that the Bosnian Serb Ministry of the Interior has filed criminal charges against nearly 3,000 Muslims and Croats suspected of committing war crimes against Serbs during the 1992-1995 war. But the Ministry of the Interior brought no charges against any Bosnian Serbs. So the question is: What impact are these developments a Milosevic's extradition and the charges against the Muslims and Croats - having on the society and what impact are they having in terms of multi-ethnic relations, because we all acknowledge that it is the multi-ethnic dimension that will determine the final political evolution. In conclusion, I must say that I join our colleagues in welcoming the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina is moving closer to integrating itself into Europe.”
2001-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4379Resumption1 (2001) · source
“The third and final question, which is in a sense the big question concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina, is about the overall trend with regard to multi-ethnic harmony, and that ultimately, of course, is the determinant of how Bosnia and Herzegovina will evolve. It has been reported that many Bosnian Muslims welcomed the extradition of Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague. They saw that as a positive development. But we gather that they will not be fully satisfied until the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic', and his military commander, Ratko Mladie, are also handed over to The Hague. I am not sure what is happening on that front.”
2001-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4379Resumption1 (2001) · source
“The ICG also criticized the international community for being unbalanced in its role in Bosnia and Herzegovina by focusing on institution-building and not doing enough in the necessary microeconomic reforms. Here I wonder if Mr. Petritsch has any comments on this question. The second question relates to the issue of refugee return. Refugee return is, of course, in some ways related to the overall process. It is, in some ways, a litmus test of how everything is going. I gather that, based on the number of refugee returns so far, this year's total returns will be more than last year's. This is a positive development. But there also continue to be problems. I am not sure whether other colleagues have raised this question, but if Mr. Petritsch could comment that might also be helpful.”
2001-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4379Resumption1 (2001) · source
“Also, the advantage of speaking late is that most of the key points have been covered by our colleagues here. We endorse them. I just have three additional questions. I apologize, since I was not here all the time, if some of my colleagues have already posed them. The first question concerns the state of slow progress of economic reforms. I understand that the World Bank has assessed that the growth rate of the Bosnian economy will decline if the country fails to implement economic reforms and attract foreign investment, and indeed, to quote our favourite in-house think tank, the International Crisis Group - ICG, it has warned that Bosnia and Herzegovina must press on with its transition to a market economy and urgently create a business-friendly environment to attract more foreign investors.”
2001-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4379Resumption1 (2001) · source
“Early on, I called this the 'dependency syndrome', which we must be aware of: the local authorities depend too much on the international community. That was the reason why I put forward the concept of ownership, which is basically building awareness. This is a process; it will not happen overnight. Indeed, it is not happening overnight. But the new Government has, I believe, moved decisively closer to embracing my idea of ownership." (S/PV4303, page 26) This is a verbatim transcript of what he said. If that is the case, if the ownership is indeed being taken over by the participants in the peace process, can we then expect to see a faster pace of change, faster progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so that Ambassador Kolby will not have to say that our progress is incremental, not fundamental?”
2001-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4379Resumption1 (2001) · source
“I think the questions we perhaps should ask ourselves are: Why is the progress incremental and not fundamental, and are we going to have a situation where every six months or every three months, when we come back to this issue, we will continue to see incremental progress only. If that is the case, what are the underlying causes for the slow incremental process of change? As I was thinking of the question, I happened to be reading the transcript of what Mr. Petritsch said when he addressed the Council in March this year. I want to read just one paragraph of what he said: "When it comes to the issue of ownership, it was very helpful when the representative of China pointed out that there is a certain tendency towards dependency.”
2001-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4379Resumption1 (2001) · source
“Members may recall that I suggested this view last week in the informal consultations. Since our time is unfortunately the most precious commodity we have, we can then concentrate on the big-picture issues and not necessarily on the small details. But perhaps, since the Council is going to convene the informal working group on procedures, we can deal with that too. The question that came to my mind as I was listening to Mr. Petritsch was: In what direction exactly are we going? Here I noted the remark made by Ambassador Kolby. He obviously understood the briefing better than I did. He said that the progress is incremental and not fundamental.”
2001-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4379Resumption1 (2001) · source
“First of all, let me join my colleagues in thanking both Mr. Petritsch and Mr. Klein for their presentations. I am truly sorry that I missed Mr. Klein's presentation. I had the good fortune of listening to him speak at a seminar in Washington DC. a few weeks ago where he was really sparkling, and I am sure that he was equally sparkling here. Before we get into substance, I would like to raise a small point of procedure. I was wondering whether we could try, just as we are trying to do in the informal consultations, to have an understanding that, when we are to have briefings on various subjects, it would be helpful if the briefer could circulate a fact sheet, giving us the main factual points, and then perhaps the briefing could concentrate on the qualitative aspects, instead of the quantitative aspects of the briefing.”
2001-09-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4379Resumption1 (2001) · source
“Finally, since the report is intended for the members of the General Assembly, we hope that in this year's debate in the Assembly, its members will provide us feedback on both its content and format, and that we will be able to take on board this feedback in preparing next year's report.”
2001-09-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4375 (2001) · source
“At the same time, over the years the report has grown in length. Based on a rough estimate of $600 a page, this draft report will cost us $350,340. I think that, if we are going to spend that kind of money, it is only fair that we should review the product that we are obtaining. We are, of course, very pleased that the members of the Council have agreed to refer this matter to the informal working group of the Security Council concerning the Council's documentation and other procedural questions. We hope that this informal working group will meet soon to start reviewing ways of improving the report. Since this informal working group does not meet very often, I believe that the sooner it meets, the better it would be for our work.”
2001-09-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4375 (2001) · source
“I think that, if we judge it by that criterion, clearly there is room for improvement. We mentioned some of these reservations when we discussed this in the Council, but, as you said, Mr. President, the train had already left the station this year, and therefore we agreed to stay aboard. We would also like to make it very clear, however, that we believe that the time has come to review this report and the manner in which the Security Council reports to the General Assembly. This is, after all, a key point that is mentioned in Article 24, paragraph 3, of the United Nations Charter, which states that "The Security Council shall submit annual and, when necessary, special reports to the General Assembly for its consideration." Indeed, whenever we carry out our Charter responsibilities, we should do so as well as possible.”
2001-09-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4375 (2001) · source
“In terms of illuminating the General Assembly on the actual work that takes place in the Council, I suspect that it fails to achieve that objective. We are not quite sure why this is the case. It is possibly because we may not have had sufficient time to discuss this draft report in depth. It could also possibly be because this draft report is the result of various decisions taken over the past 35 years, often without questioning. Just to cite one example, this draft report, as you said, Sir, is for the period from 16 June 2000 to 15 June 2001. This divides two presidencies in half. We are not sure what the logic behind this is, but apparently this decision was taken 35 years ago and has not been revised since then. Equally important, in the most recent decision we took, we agreed that this report should be more analytical.”
2001-09-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4375 (2001) · source
“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 critical of it and it is only fair - before anyone asks us why, if we were so critical, we did not speak out at the point of adoption 4 that we speak out now. In doing so, we would like to stress that we are not criticizing any members of the Secretariat or, indeed, any of our colleagues. We know that a lot of hard work and effort have gone into the preparation of this draft report and we commend those who have put in the effort. Unfortunately for us, however, we find that the final product is not a satisfactory one.”
2001-09-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4375 (2001) · source
“What happened yesterday also demonstrates clearly that the international community has to come together to react to such terrorism. Several proposals have been tabled this morning for a stronger international response. We support all these responses, and we hope that the Security Council will come together and deliver a very effective response to ensure that the events of yesterday are not repeated. We also join our colleagues in supporting the draft resolution before us.”
2001-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4370 (2001) · source
“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 tragedy. We join our colleagues in conveying our deepest condolences to the victims and their families and to the people and Government of the United States of America. Both the President and the Prime Minister of Singapore have conveyed the condolences of Singapore to President George W. Bush. We also join others in strongly condemning these acts of terrorism. We have consistently taken the position that terrorism anywhere should not be condoned for any reason whatever.”
2001-09-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4370 (2001) · source
“The larger discussion yesterday was about how we can ensure that the Security Council is perceived by the rest of the United Nations community to be dynamic and to be changing in response to the needs of the day, and in response to all the feedback we are getting from the rest of the United Nations community. Once again, Sir, we congratulate you on a very successful presidency.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“Of course, we are specifically looking to the presidency of France in September. At the end of the discussion there was no decision, but I was pleased that there seemed to be a kind of implicit commitment that, first, we should try to complete the tremendous work that Ambassador Chowdhury has done in the working group on sanctions. Ambassador Chowdhury has put in an enormous number of hours. I think the time has come to bring his work to fruition, and I hope that will happen in September. And secondly, as suggested by one colleague - either France or the United Kingdom, I believe - if we are going to discuss the question of the speakers' list, it should be referred to the informal working group on documentation and other procedural questions. I hope that too will be done. Those were just two minor results of the discussion yesterday.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“I will not soon forget the rather eloquent intervention by Ambassador Ward - which we are used to - and the passionate intervention by Ambassador Wegger Strammen - which we are not used to - on the subject we discussed. I think it is important for us not to see these discussions just as theoretical sessions, but as sessions that should over time have an impact on the actual work of the Council with a view to improving its working methods. Clearly, this institution, like any other, is not perfect. It is a human institution; it needs improvement. I thought that many useful suggestions for improvements were put forward yesterday, and I hope that some way will be found, as part of the President's principle of interconnected presidencies, to use some of the ideas from that discussion for future presidencies.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“I do not know whether it was intended to be really substantive or pro forma, but I thought we ended up having a very substantive and meaningful discussion of the meeting that took place among the representatives of Bangladesh, the United Kingdom and Colombia, who represented the Security Council in the 13 June meeting with the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters related to the Security Council. I flag this because, as we all know, many of the discussions that take place in the informal consultations are leaked, and sometimes we are uncomfortable about that. But this time, I hope that the discussions will be fully leaked to everybody, because we actually had many useful interventions.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“I think that the commitment that we made in that resolution as a whole, and also in this particular paragraph, is something that members of the Council should take note of. Non-members too should take note of it, because they should remind the Council that this is a commitment that it has taken on board by adopting this resolution. My third and final point refers to the discussion we had yesterday afternoon in informal consultations.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“It reads as follows: "Reiterating the shared commitment to save people from the ravages of armed conflicts, acknowledging the lessons to be learned for all concerned from the failure of preventive efforts that preceded such tragedies as the genocide in Rwanda (S/l999/1257) and the massacre in Srebrenica (A/54/549), and resolving to take appropriate action within its competence, combined with the efforts of Member States, to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies". (resolution 1366 (2000) That is, in our view, a very significant paragraph, because, frankly, the track record of this Council on conflict prevention has not been a glorious one. It has failed to spot many conflicts and serious situations.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“I hope that the discussion you organized at the Princeton Club, Sir, will leave a lasting legacy of guiding the Council always to factor in the regional dimension in its deliberations. Secondly, I would like to commend Colombia's presidency for completing work on the resolution on prevention of armed conflict. As we all know, that was a commendable initiative by the delegation of Bangladesh. The number of hours that Bangladesh has put in to ensure that the resolution was completed is amazing, and we would like to commend that delegation. But there is one small point that we would like to draw to the attention of non-members of the Council, which is one small paragraph: the eighteenth preambular paragraph. I would like to read it aloud.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“Of course, the mission that the Secretary-General sent, which was led by Assistant Secretary-General Ibrahima Fall, reconfirmed that regional approaches are needed. Of course, you need a similar regional approach in the Great Lakes region. That is something that I think the Council has taken cognizance of. One other point along those lines is that these regional approaches should not be confined only to Africa. They can be extended to other regions. Frankly, in the last two months, we have had another vivid lesson of this, when we saw how the problems in Kosovo had spilled over into Macedonia. By just focusing on Kosovo in our discussions, perhaps we missed the regional dimension.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“As you yourself said, Sir, these presidencies are interconnected. So where we have useful innovations in one presidency, we hope that they will be carried forward in the future. That discussion was useful not just in procedural but also in substantive terms. One of the key conclusions that I brought back from the discussion that morning was that if we are going to find solutions to many of the key, difficult items on our agenda, we cannot just view them nationally. We have to View them regionally. The classic cases that were mentioned that morning at the Princeton Club included West Africa, where the problems of Sierra Leone and Liberia and the Mano River Union area flow into each other, and we have to take a regional approach.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“Perhaps the wider membership might want to take note of these events that took place during your presidency. Let me begin with the discussions that took place early this month at the Princeton Club on regional approaches to conflict management in Africa. Here again, Sir, I commend you for participating personally in that meeting. I found those discussions useful in at least two ways. First, in terms of procedure, it was an eye-opener that if you take the same group of people and move them to a slightly different location without this formal setting, you can have a much more substantive discussion. I thought that the discussions that we held on that day were far more candid than most of those that we have had in this Chamber. Therefore, I think that this was a useful innovation, which, I hope, other presidencies will carry on.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“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 we think that it can be a very useful addition to the work of the Council. Let me also say that we were supposed to have a very quiet, sleepy month in August, but it turned out to be quite busy and hectic. Following your suggestion, Mr. President, that we should make brief, focused, frank interventions, I will confine myself to making three points and will not cover the whole agenda for the month. I wanted to highlight the following three points because I thought they were noteworthy.”
2001-08-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4363 (2001) · source
“I realize that these are not easy questions. I am not so sure whether it is fair to ask the Under- Secretary-General to answer them. But we think that these are the sorts of questions that the Council certainly should have been considering during the past few months, perhaps in an attempt to prevent from happening the situation that we see today on the border between Kosovo and Macedonia.”
2001-08-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4359 (2001) · source
“Or is it our role just to take note of it and welcome it without in any way either endorsing it or rejecting it? What is the technical role of the Council when regional organizations take a leadership role on such difficult issues? I also have a fourth question, which is perhaps the most difficult. I think that, if all goes well and the Agreement works and operation Essential Harvest succeeds, we should commend NATO and welcome the fact that a very dangerous situation has been prevented. But if it does not work, who will pick up the pieces? Will it be the Council that will have to pick up the pieces and say, "Okay, it is now our responsibility to look at the situation and see what we can do about it"? If that is the case, how do we arrange for the passing of the baton, and for who does it and when?”
2001-08-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4359 (2001) · source
“It is an interesting question for the Council to ask because, from time to time, we issue statements and calls and declarations saying that we should engage in prevention of armed conflict. Why did we not succeed in this case? Of course, the second, related, question is, what form of preventive action could the Council have taken if it had indeed paid attention to all the signals coming through indicating that trouble was brewing on the border and that it would spill over into Kosovo? The third question - and here I note of course that the Council has welcomed NATO involvement in Macedonia, which I frankly believe we should all welcome- may perhaps be a theoretical, legal question. Does the Council in any way need to legitimize such action?”
2001-08-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4359 (2001) · source
“Collapse in Macedonia would likely delay achievement of a stable, multi-ethnic Bosnia; damage prospects for peacefully negotiating Kosovo's final status; jeopardize Serbia's democratic transition; and significantly damage NATO's credibility in Europe and beyond." (The Wall Street Journal, 22 August 200], p. A16) Clearly, we therefore have some fairly hard questions to raise about the Agreement and the impact it is going to have on the situation in Kosovo. Four questions came to my mind while reading it. The first question is, having participated in at least eight discussions on Kosovo, could we in the Council in any way have anticipated this dimension of the problem? As that dimension has clearly had a significant impact on the situation in Kosovo in all our discussions, why did we not anticipate it?”
2001-08-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4359 (2001) · source
“"Macedonia's peace agreement is signed and within a few days, barring further hitches, 3,500 North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] troops will be on the ground to collect the ethnic Albanian rebels' weapons. But no one who cares about the future of the Balkans is breaking out the champagne. Too many on both sides of the divide are only too keen to continue the struggle, and the NATO mission, as presently constructed, has neither the mandate nor the capacity to create sustainable peace. This is Macedonia 2001, but it looks unnervingly like Bosnia 1992. "More is at stake here than the breakup of a small, impoverished country, and all the human misery that could go with it.”
2001-08-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4359 (2001) · source
“But before doing so, I would just like to raise a small, procedural matter. I was reading the Framework Agreement and noticed that the first sentence says that "The following points comprise an agreed framework for securing the future of Macedonia's democracy and permitting the development of closer and more integrated relations between the Republic of Macedonia and the Euro-Atlantic community". I am somewhat intrigued by the phrase "Euro-Atlantic community". Is this a new organization? Does it have an address? Does it have a legal structure? Or is it a general political body? I am just sort of curious as to the origin of that phrase. But, turning to the agreement, let me just read what was said by Mr. Gareth Evans, the President of the International Crisis Group.”
2001-08-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4359 (2001) · source
“We thought it would be useful to raise some questions in this area that, we hope, someone may be able to answer- although I will confess to Mr. Jean-Marie Guehenno that these may be difficult questions for him to answer. I have taken note of the fact that the Council issued a presidential statement on 13 August, two weeks ago, welcoming the signing of the Framework Agreement in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia by President Trajkovski and the leaders of the four political parties. But my understanding is - that is, to the best of my knowledge even though I was not here at the time - that there was no substantive discussion of that issue. It may be useful to have a substantive discussion of it. I will illustrate this by reading a few paragraphs from a recent op-ed piece written by Gareth Evans on that agreement.”
2001-08-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4359 (2001) · source
“I too would like to join my colleagues in thanking the Under-Secretary- General for Peacekeeping Operations, Mr. Jean-Marie Guehenno, 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 joined the Council, and it is very difficult for us to find something new to say. But, for the record, we want to reiterate the points we have made in the past on this issue. There is, however, one new dimension as we meet today. As several speakers have pointed out, that dimension is the developments in Macedonia. Everyone, I think, has said that developments in Macedonia are linked to developments in Kosovo. This is clearly a variable of uncertainty that we have.”
2001-08-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4359 (2001) · source
“One way of finding out what the answer is for the Security Council to visit East Timor, as indeed was just proposed by Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello. This is just a suggestion that we support. Finally, this morning at the informal consultations a draft presidential statement on East Timor was introduced. In principle, we believe that such a presidential statement could be helpful. But, as we also emphasized at the informal consultations, we have grave reservations about rushing this statement. We hope that all of us will deliberate carefully on this presidential statement before we reach a final agreement. It is vital that we send the correct signals at this delicate phase of East Timor's transition.”
2001-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4351 (2001) · source
“We hope that the problem of East Timorese refugees in East Nusa Tenggara province can be resolved in a comprehensive manner. There can be no doubt that at the end of the day, as Mr. Jose Ramos-Horta emphasized a few minutes ago, the East Timorese themselves will ultimately be responsible for the success of their own nascent State. They have demonstrated their clear commitment and eagerness to take over once they are ready to do so. The question for us in this Council is whether the United Nations has the wherewithal to stay the course and leave only when it has fulfilled its mandate of providing the framework for self-government and establishing conditions for sustainable developments. This is the key question we have to answer.”
2001-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4351 (2001) · source
“President Megawati Soekarnoputri has to address many pressing and diverse challenges throughout the Indonesian archipelago. We are therefore confident that Indonesia also sees it to be in its own interest to have a successful and smooth transition in East Timor. The international community should therefore encourage goodwill and understanding between East Timor and Indonesia. We note with interest the results of the registration process of the refugees remaining in West Timor. We hope that the United Nations will continue to work closely with Indonesia to repatriate and resettle the refugees who have indicated their preferences, while keeping in view that some might change their mind after the political situation in East Timor stabilizes. We also look forward to hearing the results of the security assessment mission to West Timor.”
2001-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4351 (2001) · source
“Indeed, this is what our European partners have often asked us to do when looking at the complex interlinked problems in the Balkans. At the recent meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held in Hanoi, the ARF Chairman issued a statement on 25 July which also "reiterated the need for the support of the international community, including ASEAN, to play an active role in the nation-building efforts of East Timor up to and beyond the territory's independence". ASEAN is clearly aware that it has to play its part in helping East Timor, but it has its own limitations. In addition, a new Government has recently been installed in Indonesia, East Timor's closest neighbour. We are pleased that this has been achieved smoothly. Nevertheless, Indonesia has recently undergone a difficult period of social, economic and political change.”
2001-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4351 (2001) · source
“Having just looked at the progress of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) last week, it might also be useful to draw some comparisons between the two operations, given their similarities in size and population. While UNMIK is only one pillar of the international community's commitment to Kosovo, United Nations members spend roughly the same amount of the United Nations peacekeeping budget on UNMIK as on UNTAET, and will probably do so for a much longer period of time. It is also important to bear in mind that no other region in the world has replicated the security architecture in Europe. The Security Council must therefore factor in the broader political, social and economic context and the regional dimension when considering East Timor.”
2001-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4351 (2001) · source