6.5 |
Planning and preparation for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, January to
March 2003
1143.
During the
debate, Sir Jeremy Greenstock stated that: “Whatever the
present
divisions
and resentments, we the Security Council, we the United Nations,
have a
central
role to play on Iraq and on the wider issues associated with it.”
That included
rapid
delivery of humanitarian relief and the earliest possible lifting
of sanctions.
Sir Jeremy
hoped that, “with the active contribution of the
Secretary-General”, rapid
progress
could be made “on this crucial area”. Ms Short was in New York to
discuss
humanitarian
issues and the UK had already set aside “about US$110m for
immediate
humanitarian
provision if there is a conflict” and was likely to announce
further funding.
1144.
Mr Annan
said that the “plight of the Iraqi people” was now his “most
immediate
concern”.
In the short term, a conflict could “make things worse – perhaps
much worse”.
The members
of the Security Council should agree to “do everything we can to
mitigate
this
imminent disaster”.
1145.
Mr Annan
stated that:
“Under
international law, the responsibility for protecting civilians in
conflict falls on
the
‘belligerents’. In any area under military occupation,
responsibility for the welfare
of the
population falls on the Occupying Power.
“Without in
any way assuming or diminishing that ultimate responsibility, we in
the
United
Nations will do whatever we can to help.”
1146.
Mr Annan
explained that there would be an appeal for additional funds to
finance
relief
operations and that decisions by the Council would be needed to
adjust the Oil-for-
Food
programme.
1147.
Mr Annan
concluded by expressing the hope that:
“… the
effort to relieve the sufferings of the Iraqi people and to
rehabilitate their
society
after so much destruction may yet be the task around which the
unity of
the Council
can be rebuilt.”
1148.
Mr Straw
told the Inquiry that, on 19 March, Mr Annan was reported to
have
said he did
not think there was a role for the UN in the circumstances of
internationally
controversial
military action.493
Mr Straw
said that Mr Annan’s remarks “made an
extensive
role for the UN doubly difficult”. There had been “no prospect at
that stage …
of a
central role [for the UN]”.
1149.
Most of the
issues raised at Mr Blair’s meeting on 6 March, including
the
role of the
UN, sectorisation and the nature of the UK’s post-conflict
contribution
in Iraq,
remained unresolved as the invasion began.
493
Public
hearing, 2 February 2011, page 117.
515