security council 411365bfcf9b-6d27-4e9c...mr. kasanda (zambia) took the seats reserved for them at...

United Nations S/PV.4113

00-34504 (E) This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speechesdelivered in the other languages. The final text will be printed in the Official Records of the SecurityCouncil. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should beincorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegationconcerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-178.

Security Council ProvisionalFifty-fifth Year

4113th MeetingWednesday, 15 March 2000, 10.30 a.m.New York

President: Mr. Chowdhury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Bangladesh)

Members: Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. MársicoCanada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. AngellChina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. Wang YingfanFrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. DoutriauxJamaica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miss DurrantMalaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. HasmyMali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. OuaneNamibia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mrs. Ashipala-MusavyiNetherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. HamerRussian Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. LavrovTunisia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. Ben MustaphaUkraine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. Yel’chenkoUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . . . . . . . . Mr. HainUnited States of America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. Cunningham

Agenda

The situation in Angola

Letter dated 10 March 2000 from the Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant toresolution 864 (1993) concerning the situation in Angola addressed to the President of the Security Council(S/2000/203)

Security Council 4113th meetingFifty-fifth year 15 March 2000

The meeting was called to order at 10.40 a.m.

The President: I acknowledge with great pleasure thepresence among us of Mr. Peter Hain, Minister of State forForeign and Commonwealth Affairs of the UnitedKingdom, and I welcome him.

Adoption of the agenda

The agenda was adopted.

The situation in Angola

Letter dated 10 March 2000 from the Chairman ofthe Security Council Committee establishedpursuant to resolution 864 (1993) concerning thesituation in Angola addressed to the President ofthe Security Council (S/2000/203)

The President: I should like to inform the Councilthat I have received letters from the representatives ofAngola, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso,Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo and Zambia, inwhich they request to be invited to participate in thediscussion of the item on the Council’s agenda. Inconformity with the usual practice, I propose, with theconsent of the Council, to invite those representatives toparticipate in the discussion, without the right to vote, inaccordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter andrule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.

There being no objection, it is so decided.

I welcome Mr. João Bernardo de Miranda, Minster forExternal Relations of Angola.

At the invitation of the President, Mr. De Miranda(Angola) took a seat at the Council table; Mr. Sychov(Belarus), Mr. Adam (Belgium), Mr. Sotirov(Bulgaria), Mr. Tiendrébéogo (Burkina Faso),Mr. Snoussi (Morocco), Mr. Mutaboba (Rwanda),Mr. Kumalo (South Africa), Mr. Kpotsra (Togo) andMr. Kasanda (Zambia) took the seats reserved forthem at the side of the Council Chamber.

The President: The Security Council will now beginits consideration of the item on its agenda. The Council ismeeting in accordance with the understanding reached in itsprior consultations.

Members of the Council have before them a letterdated 10 March 2000 from the Chairman of the Security

Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 864(1993) concerning the situation in Angola addressed tothe President of the Security Council, documentS/2000/203, transmitting the final report of the Panel ofExperts established by the Security Council pursuant toresolution 1237 (1999) of 7 May 1999.

I should like to draw the attention of the members ofthe Council to document S/2000/200, which contains thetext of a letter dated 8 March 2000 from Uganda.

I call on Mr. Robert Fowler, Chairman of theSecurity Council Committee established pursuant toresolution 864 (1993) concerning the situation in Angola.

Mr. Fowler (spoke in French): Thank you for thisopportunity to brief the Security Council on the report ofthe Panel of Experts on violations of the Security Councilsanctions against UNITA. I am particularly glad that theMinister for External Relations of Angola, Mr. JoãoBernardo de Miranda, has been able to attend the meetingtoday.

The Panel has produced a consensus report which Ihighly commend to the Council. It is, I think, anoutstanding product, despite the very short time the Panelmembers had to produce it. I extend my thanks to thePanel, three members of which are with me today:Ambassador Anders Möllander, the Chairman; ColonelTiroyamodimo, the Vice-Chairman; and Mr. StanlakeSamkange, the Rapporteur.

The Panel was created pursuant to the Council’sresolution 1237 (1999) of 7 May 1999. This was the firsttime the Council created a body of this kind. The Group’smandate was to collect information on how the Council’ssanctions against UNITA were being violated and onthose responsible for these violations, and to offerrecommendations on how these sanctions might be madeto work. The Panel has done just that with regard to eachof the five areas of the sanctions regime implementedsince 1993: the prohibition on the sale or supply ofweapons and related material and other forms of militaryassistance to UNITA; the prohibition against the sale orsupply of petroleum and petroleum products to UNITA;the seizing of bank accounts and other financial assets ofUNITA; the sanctions against representation abroad andtravel by the UNITA leadership and the adult members oftheir immediate families; and lastly, the prohibition on thesale or export of diamonds by UNITA.

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As the Panel’s report makes clear in paragraph 2, theunderlying objective of the sanctions is to foster a durablepolitical settlement to the civil war in Angola by limitingUNITA’s ability to pursue its objectives by military means.If these recommendations are acted upon, this report willhave a real and substantial impact on UNITA’s ability towage war by reducing its revenues, increasing its costs andchoking off its supply. The Panel’s recommendations standto thwart Mr. Savimbi’s plans to take through force of armswhat he was denied by Angola’s voters eight years ago —if, that is, the Council acts on this report with the sameclear-eyed purpose and sense of responsibility that informedthe work of the Expert Panel.

The Security Council has repeatedly declared thatUNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi, is the principal cause of theresumption of Angola’s civil war. More than a millionAngolans have lost their lives during this 30-year war. Twohundred more die each day. It is a brutal and odious war inwhich the principal victims are innocent civilians. Five outof six Angolans alive today have never known peace andhave never experienced what virtually everyone in thisroom understands to be a normal existence. There is not aperson, a building, an enterprise or an institution in Angolawhich has not been damaged by this horrible war. Indeed,UNICEF tells us that Angola is the worst country in theworld in which to be a child.

Humanitarian agencies and human rights observers,who have access only to the outer edge of the humancatastrophe unfolding in Angola, offer terrifying datasuggesting that as much as a third of Angola’s beleagueredpopulation is internally displaced. In this connection, I amvery grateful to Mr. Holbrooke for focusing this Council’sattention on the issue of persons internally displaced withintheir own country. Most Angolans do not even have theoption of fleeing across borders. The horror in Angola is farworse than even these terrible statistics indicate. It is,however, both possible and necessary for the Council torespond and finally change the situation. This report offersus a clear design for doing so.

The war has undermined Angola’s bright prospects fordevelopment and continues to undermine good governance.It persistently threatens to further destabilize neighbouringcountries. Our priority must be to end this war soon.Sanctions alone cannot do this, but they can contributesignificantly to creating conditions conducive to stoppingthis war once and for all.

(spoke in English)

Security Council sanctions against UNITA have notworked well. More than a few people I have encounteredin my travels as Committee Chairman have accused meof idealism in suggesting that these sanctions were everintended to have any real impact. Many regarded theirimposition as a political gesture on which the Council hadlittle intention of following through. The result has beennot only a culture of impunity regarding the violation ofSecurity Council sanctions, but also a massive failureeven to communicate the activities covered by sanctionsand an imperfect understanding of what they wereintended to achieve.

Mr. Savimbi, however, was one of the few who didunderstand both the scope and purpose of these sanctions,and he took methodical and far-sighted action toneutralize their impact by systematically establishing avariety of overlapping supply systems and by purchasingfriends and facilitators in a number of countries andwithin the international arms bazaar, the diamond marketand among rogue air services. As sanctions began to bite,Mr. Savimbi adapted his plans, constantly jinking andtwisting to thwart — until recently, very successfully —the objectives of the sanctions regime.

This excellent report chronicles how Mr. Savimbiwas able to do this — how diamonds were used to buyarms, and how inadequate arms export control regimes,largely in Eastern Europe, coupled with the secretivepractices and opaque operations of the internationaldiamond market and the advent of ample andfreewheeling “pirate” air services in the post-cold-war era,combined to provide UNITA with just-in-time deliveriesof state-of-the-art weaponry. The report highlights the factthat these all-too-willing suppliers of services could nothave provided Mr. Savimbi with the wherewithal heneeded without the active support of some foreignGovernments, sometimes at the highest level.

The report further notes that despite the meticulous,specific prohibitions against access to the outside world,many officials — mostly in Western capitals — havecontinued to allow UNITA’s representatives to lobbyGovernments and the media. Other Governments havecontinued to extend warm welcomes to members ofSavimbi’s extended family and those of his seniorlieutenants, opening their schools and universities andissuing residence permits and travel documents —specifically contrary to measures imposed by the Council

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to deny UNITA’s leadership these precious benefits ofinternational legitimacy and acceptance.

The report does name names, including, in a fewinstances, at the highest level. This, of course, makeseveryone nervous, because, frankly, it has not been done.Some, it is claimed, are beyond criticism. However, Africanleaders, at their Organization of African Unity (OAU)summit meeting in Algiers last July, set, I believe, a newstandard for acceptable behaviour, one designed to ensurethat the “African renaissance” takes root and flourishes. Idoubt that such findings would have been possible withoutsuch a brave and unequivocal signal, and I salute theleadership of the OAU for setting the stage for such areport.

As was made clear by the Panel in paragraph 99,violations did not occur along clear geographical,ideological or linguistic lines — a fact fully reflected in thebody of the report. Sanctions busting was not limited to anyparticular region or subregion.

Panel members visited almost 30 countries over asix-month period and amassed a very large body ofinformation from a very wide variety of sources. The Panelreported only information that had been confirmed orcorroborated by more than one source in which its membershad confidence. As a result of the Panel’s unwillingness touse information that was not so corroborated, theinformation contained in the report is less detailed thanwould have been the case had a less rigorous standard beenapplied.

The Panel offers 39 recommendations, all of whichstrike me, as Chairman, as being realistic and achievable.Some are essentially procedural; others are more complex.Among the most challenging for us, I suspect, will be thoserecommendations that would have the Council applysanctions against leaders and Governments found to havebeen deliberately and methodically violating the sanctionsagainst UNITA. The recommendations propose meansthrough which this might be done, including the impositionof an embargo on arms sales to named countries for aperiod of three years — the first recommendation — andthe imposition of visa requirements and the revocation ofspecial travel privileges on the nationals of countries thatenable UNITA to flout restrictions on travel by its seniormembers and their immediate families; that isrecommendation 22. The Panel also proposes, inrecommendation 37, a ban on the holding of United Nationsor other international governmental conferences in countriesdeemed to be in breach of these sanctions, and it further

recommends that such countries not be elected to seniorpositions within the United Nations system or aschairman-in-office of any international or regionalorganization.

In the area of weapons and military assistance,recommendation 2 would have Governments register,license and monitor the activities of arms brokers andmake relevant information available to internationalorganizations seeking to curtail illicit arms transfers.Recommendation 4 would provide for the mandatoryauthentication and reconciliation of all end-usercertificates, and recommendation 3 would encourage thedestruction of surplus arms. The Panel supports the ideaadvanced by Ukraine of bringing together EasternEuropean suppliers of arms with a view to formulatingconcrete proposals on how best to stem the illicit flow ofarms from this region into Angola, and it recommendsthat representatives of the Southern African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) be included in these discussions.

Unfortunately, in the time available, the Panel wasnot able to learn more about how precisely and fromwhere the international arms merchants hired by UNITAwere able to obtain such a large range of sophisticatedweaponry. The report chronicles how Mr. Savimbi boughtend-user certificates from friendly Governments, throughwhich those arms dealers were able to fill their orders.But there are still some important missing links betweenthese bureaucratic niceties and the decisions we all knowmust have occurred within some of the manufacturing andexporting countries — and the motivations behind suchdecisions — which led to the release of such lethalmaterial, with or without a credible paper trail.

From my perspective, this ought to be a principalfocus of any decision we might take in the SecurityCouncil to pursue our monitoring efforts, and I commendto the Council, in this regard, the recommendation of theGovernment of Ukraine and of the Panel to convene theconference I mentioned earlier with respect toarms-exporting countries to determine how the supply ofarms to UNITA might be better curtailed.

With respect to petroleum and petroleum products,recommendation 8 calls for the monitoring of the borderareas adjacent to Angola, and recommendation 9 calls forthe institutionalization of information-exchangemechanisms among oil companies and Governments tofacilitate the flow of information regarding possible illegaldiversions of fuel. The creation within SADC of an adhoc committee is proposed in this regard. In

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recommendation 10 the Panel recommends that a DNA-typeanalysis be conducted for the purpose of determining theorigin of fuel obtained or captured from UNITA.

By recommendation 11 the Panel also calls for theimplementation of tighter internal controls within Angola,as well as, by recommendation 12, for the stricterapplication and enforcement by Governments of air safetyregulations regarding the transport of fuel and otherhazardous commodities by air.

With reference to diamonds, under recommendation 13the Panel proposes forfeiture where the legal origin ofrough diamonds cannot be established by the possessor and,by recommendation 14, for the imposition by Governmentsof restrictions — including blacklisting and criminalaction — on individuals and enterprises found to beintentionally breaking relevant United Nations sanctions. Inparticular, in recommendation 16 the Panel recommendsthat dealing in undeclared rough diamonds be made acriminal offence in countries hosting important diamond-marketing centres. In addition, in recommendation 17 thePanel recommends that a conference of experts beconvened to establish a system of controls that would allowfor increased transparency and accountability in the controlof diamonds from the source of origin to the bourses —including the development of mechanisms for identifying,within diamond markets, those stones that may havereached diamond centres without a customs declaration, andthe establishment of a comprehensive database on diamondcharacteristics and trends. The Panel also calls upon thediamond industry itself to develop and implement moreeffective arrangements to ensure that its membersworldwide abide by the relevant sanctions against UNITA.That is recommendation 18.

With regard to finances and assets, the Panelrecommends that Member States make provision for theforfeiture of UNITA-controlled assets the provenance ofwhich cannot be traced to a lawful source. Byrecommendation 19 the seized and forfeited assets should,in the main, be used to benefit the people of Angola.However, under recommendation 20, as an incentive, asubstantial bounty should be offered to any institution,non-governmental organization or individual that traces,tracks down and identifies UNITA assets that are subject tosanction. Further, in recommendation 21 the Panelrecommends that banking procedures be developed tofacilitate the identification of individuals covered bysanctions and the freezing of assets.

With reference to travel and representation,Governments that have issued passports to UNITAofficials and members of their families are called uponnow to revoke them and to report to the Committee inthis regard. That is recommendation 23. Governments arealso called upon to review carefully the status of seniorUNITA officials and representatives residing in thecountries concerned. That is recommendation 25. Inrecommendation 26 the Panel also calls for the updatingof the list of UNITA members subject to Council-imposedsanctions, for the expansion of the information containedtherein, and for the addition to that list of known officialor unofficial UNITA representatives abroad.

More generally, in recommendation 28 the Panelrecommends that SADC consider introducing mobileradar systems that can be rapidly deployed in thesubregion for the purpose of detecting illegal supplyflights across national borders, and in recommendation 29that SADC give consideration to the establishment of anair traffic regime for the control of regional airspace. ThePanel calls on the international community to provideassistance to SADC to implement these recommendations.

The Panel calls on Member States geographicallyclose to Angola to take immediate steps to enforce,strengthen or enact legislation making it a criminaloffence under domestic law for their citizens or otherindividuals operating on their territory to violateCouncil-imposed sanctions against UNITA. In addition, inrecommendation 31 the Panel recommends that MemberStates involved in the supply of arms to African countriesmore generally also take steps, where they have notalready done so, and that the enforcement of suchmeasures be made a high law-enforcement priority. Thereport specifies that pilots prosecuted for sanctionsbusting should face permanent loss of certification, aswell as incarceration. In addition, the Panel’srecommendation 24 calls for a warrant to be issued forthe arrest of a particular UNITA officer central —extremely central — to UNITA’s supply operations andurges that this be a top international law-enforcementpriority.

The report offers guidance on the management ofsanctions more generally — for instance, calling for theestablishment of formal links and regular collaborationbetween the United Nations and regional and otherorganizations involved in sanctions-monitoring andenforcement activities, including Interpol. That isrecommendation 32. In recommendation 33 the Panelrecommends that a “Sanctions Information Package”,

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including a Web site, be developed to increase awarenessof the scope and purpose of particular packages ofsanctions and to facilitate access to relevant information onthe part of national and international bodies.

It is clear that these sanctions are beginning to betaken more seriously and, more important, that they arebeginning to work. The credible testimony of a number offormer senior UNITA officers — notwithstanding the viewsof some former comrades-in-arms of Mr. Savimbi —suggest that, beginning last summer, UNITA was finding itharder to locate suppliers who would risk exposure, andmore expensive to deal with those who were willing toassume such risks. They were equally clear, however, aboutthe fact that Savimbi believes that he can still buy theproducts and the people he needs — that, in other words,it remains only a matter of money. Many witnesses stressedthat continued vigilance would be required to ensure thatthe world’s attention remained focused on the matter of theeffective application of sanctions; for, if we revert to pastpractice, Mr. Savimbi will soon find willing, cut-ratesuppliers who will re-emerge from under the rocks once thespotlight has shifted elsewhere.

There are welcome developments across the spectrumof the sanctions regime. I might cite, in this regard, veryrecent information from Brussels regarding measuresundertaken by the Belgian Government designed to respondto many of the concerns reflected in this report. These stepsare, I believe, consistent with what the Panel is calling forand include initiating research on techniques to identify theorigin of rough diamonds and engaging the Government ofAngola in improving the reconciliation of informationcontained in improved certificates of origin — which canstill be improved.

Additional information from a variety of sources will,we think and hope, continue to become available. I wouldnote, in this regard, that the Government of Belarus hasnow provided the substantive reply to the Panel’s questionsto which the report refers. In addition, several Governmentsare investigating suspected sanctions busters with theobjective of criminal prosecution. I know the Committeelooks forward to learning of the results of theseinvestigations. In referring to information available to thePanel, I should also note the steadfast support andencouragement that the Angola sanctions Committee andthe Panel have received from United Kingdom Minister ofState, Peter Hain, and I am delighted that he could be withus today.

The release of this report clearly does not suggestthat our collective efforts to deny UNITA the wherewithalto make war are at an end. The fundamental lesson thePanel has drawn is that continued vigilance is required ifUNITA is to be deprived of its military capability. Thiswill remain true until peace is at last firmly andirretrievably anchored within Angola. More than once, wehave seen how Mr. Savimbi’s UNITA used every secondof what we took to be peace to prepare for the next phaseof the war, to which he would return as soon as he hadbeen able to reconstitute his forces and restore hismilitary supplies.

In my discussions with the diplomatic community inLuanda a couple of months ago, I was struck by the utterabsence of any enthusiasm for further periods of phonypeace or for yet another round of sham negotiations.Instead, there seemed to be a widespread belief that, untilUNITA was denied the ability to pursue its objectivesthrough military means, the people of Angola wouldnever know peace. This, of course, is the missionassigned to me as Chairman of the Committee and theone the Council assigned to the Expert Panel: show ushow we can deny UNITA the military option. The Panelhas admirably acquitted this task. Its report has providedus with comprehensive and far-reaching recommendationsdetailing how this mission might be accomplished moreeffectively. Now it is up to us, as members of theSecurity Council, to implement it.

The Panel was, of course, not able to bring allinvestigative leads to a conclusion within its six-monthmandate. Members of the Panel rightly look to theSanctions Committee and to this Council to followthrough. Specifically, the Panel recommends in its finalrecommendation — recommendation 39 — that, asChairman of the Sanctions Committee, I be required toreport to the Council on actions taken to follow up on theconclusions and recommendations contained in this report.It further recommends that the Council ensure that it isable to monitor closely the further implementation ofsanctions as well as follow up on information collected bythe Panel where the Panel itself was unable to completeits investigations — possibly, by establishing a monitoringmechanism in addition to the Sanctions Committee. Inother words, now that the sanctions are beginning to havereal impact, we must not make the mistake of letting upthe pressure on UNITA.

Allow me to reiterate my thanks to Panel membersfor acquitting their task with such commendableprofessionalism and skill and for producing so lucid and

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compelling a report. Allow me also to thank colleagues inthe Secretariat and in the field who made it possible toovercome the administrative difficulties associated withlaunching a demanding initiative unprecedented in itsdesign and objectives.

The Member States that contributed to the Trust Fundestablished in association with the Panel also deserveparticular recognition. They are Brazil, Canada, France, theNetherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. OtherGovernments, including that of Switzerland, also providedsupport.

I am speaking here today as the Chairman of asubsidiary body of the Council. To underscore this point,our President and the members of the Council havepermitted some innovative seating arrangements thismorning which allow me to honour the Chairman, theVice-Chairman and the Rapporteur of the Panel, who havejoined us here today.

It would, however, be remiss of me if I did notacknowledge the support that my own Government hasprovided. The time and attention I have been allowed toaccord to my chairmanship of the Sanctions Committee andthe cost and extent of the travels that I and my colleaguesin the Canadian mission have undertaken are reflections ofthe real and deep commitment that the Canadian Ministerof Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy, accords to addressingpersistent threats to human security — threats which,tragically, are as acute in Angola as anywhere else in theworld. I should note, however, that Mr. Axworthy and theGovernment of Canada have been scrupulous in respectingthe independent nature of the initiative of the Expert Paneland have neither sought nor were offered an opportunity toinfluence the content of the Panel’s report.

Mr. Axworthy has, however, on numerous occasionsurged me to make these sanctions work better — that is, todo our bit to restore the Council’s credibility in the matterof the effective application of appropriate sanctions, atheme to which he intends to return next month duringCanada’s presidency. With the consent of the members ofthe Council, he hopes to convene a meeting of the Councilin mid-April to allow member States to address the broaderissue of making sanctions more generally effective and toact decisively on the recommendations contained in thereport before us.

Finally — and this time Dick Holbrooke is reallygoing to score some points on my attempt at Oscarpresentations — I must personally thank David Angell,

who, appropriately, sits today in the Canadian seat.Without David’s remarkable diplomatic skills, none of uswould have achieved nearly as much.

Many members of the Council will be aware that Ihad intended this morning to screen some furthervideotaped testimony from UNITA defectors. I havechosen not to do that, at least at this time, for tworeasons. First, given the not always accurate press storiesat the end of last week and the earlier than foreseendistribution of the Panel’s report, Members of theOrganization have less of a need to be assisted in a quickappreciation of the import and value of this report.Secondly, and more importantly, I do not want to divertattention from the report itself or to distract in any wayfrom its main messages. The video was intended tosupport and buttress some of the findings of the Panel,which, as the report indicates, drew on the interviews Iconducted in Luanda a couple of months ago as well ason many other sources of information. This excellentreport needs no embellishment to assist in driving homeits conclusions and recommendations. They speakforcefully and effectively for themselves and I heartilycommend them to you, Sir.

Mr. Hain (United Kingdom): I thank you, Sir, foryour kind welcome and congratulate you on bringing ustogether in open meeting on this vital subject. I am alsoextremely grateful to Ambassador Fowler for his updatingbriefing.

For far too long, Angola has been ravaged byconflict, used as a proxy by the super-Powers during thecold war and largely ignored when their priorities shifted.The Angolan people continue to suffer enormously. Theirsuffering is only briefly punctuated by false dawns ofhope provided by ultimately unsuccessful peace accords.

Angola is the worst place in the world to be a child.Life expectancy is 42 years. There are over 3 millioninternally displaced people. Millions of landmines are laidby both sides, killing and maiming every day. Thehumanitarian situation is dire. It is a country sodevastated it makes you want to cry and yet a country sorich in resources that, with peace and good governance,it could feed the whole of southern Africa and be a Powerfor prosperity and success in a continent blighted bypoverty and failure.

We cannot allow the misery to continue. The timehas come for the international community to face up to itsobligations. It is no good putting our hands up in the

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United Nations for sanctions against UNITA and thentaking no action while citizens in our countries makemoney out of misery. That is simply hypocrisy. We mustall rigorously implement and enforce sanctions. The timehas come to stamp on the sanctions busters. That is why thereport of the Expert Panel is so vital.

We have worked very closely with AmbassadorFowler and have fully supported his work, both financiallyand operationally. I would like to congratulate him on thedrive and commitment he has brought to the Angolasanctions Committee and to thank his country, Canada, forthe support that it has given him. His determination and thework of his expert panels have highlighted the porous andhaphazard nature of the enforcement of sanctions againstUNITA.

The report is very important for the United Nations. Itexposes the hypocrisy of those countries — and,sometimes, leaders — that condemn UNITA while some oftheir citizens and companies supply Jonas Savimbi with thearms, munitions, fuel and assistance without which 25 yearsof murderous activities would have ended long ago.

The report names and shames some of those illegallysupplying UNITA: some African Government Ministers andpublic officials, who should be ashamed of they way theyare inflicting catastrophe on their fellow Africans; manyarms dealers from Eastern Europe; and air companies andfuel suppliers that make money out of a war that has beenprivatized and is therefore less amenable to diplomaticpressure of a conventional kind. All of these are merchantsof death. It is time for all the Governments of the world toact against them. The United Nations must provide a lead.

The full force of law must be brought to bear on thoseresponsible. Britain has frozen several of Savimbi’s bankaccounts. I have named a number of alleged sanctionsbusters. I have passed their names to the United NationsAngola sanctions Committee. I will continue to pass on allsuch information. If we discover that any British citizens orBritish-based companies are implicated, we will act againstthem. We have to cut off Savimbi’s means to wage war.

The private sector has a major role to play, too.Private companies should take a lead. De Beers has doneso. I congratulate it on its initiative to stop trading in blooddiamonds from Angola. Other diamond traders should backDe Beers’s commitment to a written guarantee on allinvoices that its diamonds are not fuelling wars.

The Belgian Government and industry are nowcoming up with proposals on conflict diamonds — andnot before time. I hope other trading centres will followsuit. I am sure the Israeli Government will want to do thesame about Tel Aviv. It is encouraging that SouthernAfrican diamond-producing nations, the InternationalDiamond Manufacturers Association and the DiamondHigh Council in Antwerp are looking at the problem ofconflict diamonds. I urge others to do so as well.

The expert panels have shone their torch into somedark corners. We now need to turn on the light andexpose the full extent of the vile trade in UNITAdiamonds, arms, fuel and other supplies. And we mustremember that these same forces are driving equallydevastating conflicts elsewhere in Africa: in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo and in Sierra Leone.

Let us not forget why we are doing this. TheAngolan Government has had significant successesagainst Savimbi’s war machine. That is welcome. Butmilitary action alone will not end the conflict. TheGovernment cannot destroy UNITA’s military capability,just as UNITA has no possibility of winning the war.Only a political solution can bring lasting peace. Therewill have to be a negotiated peace settlement. ButSavimbi’s word cannot be trusted. He has always renegedon the peace agreements he has signed. Without him, thewar would end soon and UNITA supporters could expresstheir aspirations through legitimate political channels.

UNITA represents an important constituency inAngola. I again urge UNITA to replace Savimbi asleader. With him out of the way, and a differentleadership, UNITA can be as much a part of the solutionas it has, so sadly, been part of the problem.

The whole of Angola has been corrupted by the war.Once-noble objectives held by the Popular Movement forthe Liberation of Angola for decent public services, adrive against poverty and equality of opportunity werefirst diverted because of the necessity to fight UNITA.Then they were forgotten, as rich elites lined their ownpockets at the expense of their long-suffering people.Angola desperately needs to use its wealth to spend moreon building up its skills base, social projects, publicservices and infrastructure. I have had excellent meetingsto discuss this with the President of Angola and, today,with the Foreign Minister, who is here with us. I am verygrateful for their warm invitation to visit Angola. I intendto do so soon.

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To win full backing from the international community,the Angolan Government needs to ensure full transparencyand accountability, particularly in the oil account. This isessential if Angola’s immense economic potential is to berealized. It needs also to ensure that respect for humanrights and freedom of speech flourishes. It needs to involveall sections of civil society in that task.

The military defeats suffered by Savimbi, coupled withrenewed interest in and attention to sanctions busters, ledby this report, provides an opportunity, unprecedented in 25years, to end this war. We have an absolute duty to graspit. We have it in our power to do so by making sanctionsbite. All that has been lacking so far is the political will.

Savimbi’s supplies are ferried in by air, or sometimesby road. They reach him only because they are permitted todo so. It would not be difficult to stop this. The intelligencecapacity is there. Sanctions-busting planes and lorries areeasy to detect. Their points of origin can be identified. Letevery country cooperate to do this.

We need to ensure that the purveyors of misery aredetected by enforcing sanctions. I thank AmbassadorFowler for enhancing our capacity to do so. We welcomethe Expert Panel’s exposure of UNITA’s secretive andillegal network of middlemen and Government sponsors.But we need to do more than naming and shaming to breakUNITA’s ability to rearm. As the report makes clear, publiccensure must now be followed by decisive action in thesanctions Committee, in the Security Council, in the Statesconcerned and by their neighbours.

Britain looks forward to a series of mandatory UnitedNations resolutions to implement the report’s keyrecommendations. The Security Council, meeting nextmonth, must take decisive action. There must be no delayand no equivocation. The credibility of the Security Councilis at stake. The Security Council commissioned this report;we have a duty to act upon it and to support it.

Tough decisions will be needed. Governments in someof the countries named, including Belgium and SouthAfrica, have started to take action against their nationalswho are breaching sanctions. I welcome this. Unfortunately,others are already excusing themselves or denying theircomplicity. But now there is nowhere to hide. It is up to allof us — every one of us here today — to follow through.The Panel’s report highlights the plight of the Angolanpeople. We must not let them down.

The President: I thank the Minister of State of theUnited Kingdom for his encouragement to the Council toact on this report.

Mr. Yel’chenko (Ukraine): First of all, allow me, onbehalf of the delegation of Ukraine, to welcome theMinister for External Relations of Angola, Mr. JoãoBernardo de Miranda, and the British Minister of Statefor Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr. Peter Hain.

I would like to start my comments on theoutstanding presentation by Ambassador Fowler with onerecollection, which, in my view, will be very relevant inthe context of today’s meeting. Approximately a year ago,the Security Council received a report from theSecretary-General, on the basis of which it decided toterminate the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola.Undoubtedly, the resumption of war in Angola and theUnited Nations retreat from that country was an outrightfailure — one of the biggest failures of this world bodyin recent years.

Today the Security Council has received anotherreport, which provides undeniable evidence that theUnited Nations is coming back to Angola willing to makea tangible contribution towards restoring peace andsecurity in that part of the world. Ukraine is stronglyconvinced that decreasing UNITA’s ability to wage warby strengthening the effectiveness of the measuresimposed by the Security Council against it is afundamental prerequisite to achieving the ultimate goal ofputting a stop to the long-lasting suffering of the Angolanpeople.

I would like to express my delegation’s appreciationto all of the members of the Panel of Experts, whosestudious efforts have resulted in the very importantdocument just presented to the Council. The leadership ofAmbassador Fowler in that endeavour has been ofparticular significance and should receive the Council’sdistinct acknowledgement.

As to our reaction to the substance of the report’sfindings and recommendations, for understandable reasonsmy delegation’s comments today will be only initial andcertainly not comprehensive.

First of all, I would like to focus special attention onone particular point, which bears direct relation to mycountry. It is known that during the last twelve months,Ukraine has been the object of unsubstantiated allegationsin some media implicating her in the violation of

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sanctions imposed by the Security Council against UNITA.Very unfortunately, some of our friends, primarily in Africabut also in some European countries, were about to believethe truthfulness of those reports without their crediblecorroboration.

As a staunch and proven supporter of the Charter ofthe United Nations and decisions of the Security Council,Ukraine was seriously concerned by the emergence of sucherroneous presumptions. My Government has not onlydenied these allegations as absolutely groundless but hasalso provided reliable evidence that Ukraine was fully incompliance with international law and norms relating to theenforcement of sanctions against UNITA.

Today these assurances of the Government of Ukraineare impressively confirmed by the relevant findings of thePanel of Experts. With your permission, Mr. President, Iwould like to quote the most important pertinentconclusions from the report:

“The Panel’s investigation turned up no evidence thatthe Government of Ukraine sold arms or otherwiseprovided military assistance directly or indirectly toUNITA.” (para. 40)

Furthermore, as it is stated in another conclusion ofthe report:

“The Panel found no evidence to suggest that Ukrainewas directly or indirectly involved in the training ofUNITA personnel.” (para. 45)

It has always been inconceivable that Ukraine couldever be involved in direct or indirect support ofantigovernmental forces or in violation of SecurityCouncil’s sanctions regimes. The Government of Ukraineis very grateful to the Panel of Experts for dispelling anydoubt in that respect.

Ukraine will take active participation in furtherconsideration by the Council of the report’srecommendations. I would limit my present comments toonly one of them, recommendation 6, found in paragraph57, which is based on the earlier proposal by Ukraine toconvene an international experts’ meeting of majorarms-producing countries with a view to elaboratingeffective measures to prevent the reselling of arms from theend users to third parties.

We understand the reasons why the report advancesthe idea of bringing together Eastern European arms

suppliers. However, we strongly believe that the task ofstemming the illicit flow of arms into Angola has to beaddressed by all major arms producers and suppliersrather than be tackled only by a group of EasternEuropean countries. Ukraine will strongly advocateexpeditious, but also well-considered, further action bythe Security Council in response to the recommendationsof the report. Unquestionably, these recommendationshave to be studied thoroughly. At the same time, webelieve it is important to start the relevant work withoutdelay, and we are looking forward to Canada’s leadershipin that endeavour.

We also feel that it is absolutely important to hearthe views on the report of the wider membership of theUnited Nations and to take them duly into account beforeinitiating the Council’s drafting work on its furtherdecision. This is why, Mr. President, we would encourageyou to resume this discussion as soon as you deempracticable in order to allow those not members of theCouncil to air their opinions on the matter.

Mr. Doutriaux (France) (spoke in French): I shouldlike to welcome here the Minister for External Relationsof Angola, Mr. De Miranda, and Minister Peter Hain ofthe United Kingdom. We are also pleased to see somemembers of the Panel here, particularly the Chairman,Ambassador Möllander.

Thank you, Mr. President, for putting the situationin Angola on the Council’s agenda today. The people ofAngola have been suffering for too long from reallydevastating humanitarian consequences of a conflictwhich has gone on for far too long.

Today, for the first time we are considering thereport submitted by the Panel of Experts just introducedby Ambassador Fowler. I have three comments I wish tomake on the report introduced by the Ambassador ofCanada.

My first comment is that the report highlights a widevariety of kinds of actors who are involved in varyingdegrees in relations with UNITA. The experts mentionGovernments, but also companies, individuals, varioustraffickers, arms suppliers, airlines, mercenary groups anddiamond firms. The information also concerns verydifferent regions: Africa, Europe and North America. Thefirst impression one gets from the Panel report is thatthere is a great variety of actors and situations, and weshould bear in mind this variety. The report cannot be

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reduced to three or four names, but rather describes acomplex reality.

My second comment is that the report stresses theconsequences of sanctions busting, namely continuedfighting in Angola, for which UNITA is primarilyresponsible. So the consequences are really disastrous forthe people of Angola as a whole. The report also describeshow UNITA continues military activities outside of Angola.This is particularly the case with information aboutUNITA’s military support for rebels and for somebelligerent States in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.The report indicates that in exchange for that support, thosebelligerent States and rebel groups in the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo have helped UNITA get fuel ortrade diamonds. Thus, the report rightly shows that there isa serious effect of contagion of fighting and an increase inregional instability, which is particularly disturbing, asAmbassador Fowler has just told us in his introductorycomments.

My third comment is that the report describes howsanctions busting has evolved over time. Some informationis more historical, for example, ties between UNITA andZaire before 1997, with Congo-Brazzaville before 1998, orsome facts that go back to 1993 or 1995. Other informationis more recent and deserves very close scrutiny. In severalcases, the report shows that the sanctions regime hasbecome more effective. Much of this is because of thedevelopment of the military situation in Angola and effortsmade by the Government of Angola. But also, gradually,measures have been taken by the countries and in theprofessions concerned. For example, there were decisionsby the diamond industry last October, six months after thePanel of Experts was established to implement resolution1173 (1998) of June 1998. Establishing the Panel ofExperts has obviously had some impact in encouragingpeople to do something, but we have to analyze the actualsteps taken, especially by the De Beers company. In anycase, such decisions, such an evolution, should beencouraged.

It is now for the Security Council to look closely atthe information provided and the recommendations made bythe Experts. As I have just said, the experts’ reportdescribes a complex reality. That information deservesdetailed scrutiny by the members of the Council. I shouldlike to ask some questions in this regard.

With regard to the question of dates, in some cases theexperts were rather imprecise about the dates of allegedincidents. For example, it is often not indicated exactly

when some incidents took place. Sometimes the year isgiven but the day or month is not indicated; sometimesthere is no exactitude at all. It would therefore bedesirable to have more precise information on the dates sothat we can better determine — particularly with regardto the economic sanctions imposed in 1998, concerningdiamonds in particular — whether the events described bythe experts occurred before or after the imposition ofthose sanctions.

There is also the question of the sources ofinformation. Quite often those are not spelled out, therebyraising questions. Sometimes the experts indicate that theyhave obtained information from “a source close toSavimbi”. It is true that one cannot include all the namesin a public report. But some of these matters can bedetailed later.

There are also questions as to UNITA’srepresentation abroad. The report mentions that personsregarded as being linked to UNITA have been present inor have visited certain countries. But the experts do notsay whether those persons are or are not on the list drawnup by the sanctions Committee. One could therefore askwhether it is really a case of violations of sanctions whenthe persons mentioned are not on that list. In thisconnection, we should also make the proper distinctionsin order to better understand what steps need to betaken — particularly with regard to those proposed by thePanel — to update the sanctions Committee list.

We also have some questions about the scope of theviolations that have taken place. We regret that the reportstill does not give an overall estimate of UNITA’srevenue — what it has raised from diamond trafficking orthe total amounts spent on arms and fuel purchases. Iknow it is not always easy to get reliable estimates, butwe believe that even a rough estimate would help usestimate the relative importance of the various supplynetworks being used by UNITA, for example, for armsand fuel. If one could compare the orders of magnitude infigures, then we would better be able to assess the factscited by the experts. That would help us determine whatsteps need to be taken to ensure better respect forsanctions.

For example, more precise information is neededabout the network for the sale of rough diamonds. Thereport mentions the measures announced by the maincompanies in the diamond market, particularly those bythe De Beers company in October 1999. But the reportdoes not indicate whether measures were taken before

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then to implement the sanctions enacted by the SecurityCouncil in 1998. The report gives us quite a lot ofinformation about diamonds, but only as to certainEuropean markets, particularly the Antwerp market, butvery little, and in some cases none, about other diamondmarkets in Europe or elsewhere. Without question, moredetail would also be useful in this connection.

On all of these points it will be necessary to getexplanations from the countries mentioned in the experts’report. States cited by the experts, either because of deedscommitted by the Governments themselves or because ofdeeds committed by their nationals or from their territories,should be permitted to make their views known.Ambassador Fowler’s report directly accuses certainGovernments. Those are serious accusations. They werepublished just yesterday without the States concerned beingable to make their views known simultaneously. In fact, wedo not even know whether those States had an opportunityto respond to the experts during the time the report wasbeing prepared or whether they were specifically informedabout the accusations against them before the issuance ofthe report.

It is for these reasons that my delegation would likemembers of the Council to consider thoroughly theinformation in the report and the explanations that will beprovided by the countries concerned. One way to do thiscould be to turn this task over to the competent sanctionsCommittee, under the direction of its Chairman,Ambassador Fowler. The Committee could question theChairman of the Panel, Mr. Möllander, in greater detail. Itcould also receive communications from States cited in thereport that wish to make their views known. TheCommittee could then transmit its own conclusions to theSecurity Council. It will ultimately be up to the Council toconsider, on the basis of the sanctions Committee’sconclusions, what follow-up action to take on therecommendations of the experts.

I would note that some of those recommendations aregeneral in nature — for example, those on arms productionregisters — and should be dealt with in the competentforum. Other recommendations, particularly those dealingwith the imposition of new sanctions on third States, couldresult in problems regarding the effectiveness of that kindof step and the multiplication of sanctions regimes. Thesequestions go beyond the framework of sanctions againstUNITA and will require some thought at the appropriatetime by the entire Council on sanctions in general.

The Panel of Experts, under the leadership of theAmbassador of Canada, has gathered a lot of information.It has made a major effort that France has supported. Mycountry was one of the first to make a voluntarycontribution to the Panel. It is now up to the SecurityCouncil to consider closely the information andrecommendations of the experts and draw its ownconclusions. Efforts to implement sanctions should bepursued in order to make UNITA respect its obligations.

Mr. Hasmy (Malaysia): I would like to thank thePresident for convening this open meeting of the Councilto enable Ambassador Fowler, Chairman of theCommittee established pursuant to resolution 864 (1993),to present the report of the Panel of Experts on violationsof Security Council sanctions against UNITA.

I acknowledge the presence of the two Ministers atthis important meeting.

I wish to express my delegation’s appreciation forAmbassador Fowler’s forceful presentation of the report.Chairman Fowler and the entire team of the Panel ofExperts deserve our commendation for their outstandingwork in trying to give meaning to the efforts of theCouncil for a more effective implementation of thesanctions regime. We are profoundly grateful toAmbassador Fowler and commend him for theseriousness, energy and resources he has brought to bearon the work of the Committee. The result is an active androbust Committee which is at the forefront of theinternational campaign to cripple the war-makingcapability of UNITA. The success of those efforts isevidenced by the current military situation on the groundin Angola — in which UNITA has suffered serioussetbacks, thus decisively turning the tide of this long,debilitating war.

The report before the Council is as in-depth andcomprehensive as it is bold and candid. It has the courageto name people, commercial companies and Governmentson the basis of investigations carried out by the Panel ofExperts. Naturally, all those named should have the rightto respond to the allegations and to clarify their own rolesin the alleged sanctions-busting activities. If thoseclarifications are not plausible and cannot be borne out byfacts, the international community and the Council willdoubtless draw their own conclusions and take appropriateactions.

We note that the Panel of Experts has investigatedUNITA’s supply routes, which must now be effectively

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blocked if we are serious in our objective to frustrateUNITA’s war efforts. UNITA spends hundreds of millionsof dollars for its fuel, munitions and weapons supplies,which come in through various means — often on transportplanes with international and regional connections andsometimes with pilots well known to agencies monitoringAfrican conflicts. They invariably go through neighbouringAfrican countries, frequently with the assistance of corruptofficials who take their cut but whose Governments claimignorance of these illegal activities. Clearly, what is neededis a new will and determination on the part of theinternational community and this Council to enforce morevigorously the sanctions regime, and the full and moreeffective cooperation of the countries and the companiesconcerned in stopping breaches of the sanctions. This wouldinclude making those responsible accountable for theirtransgressions under international law.

On the diamond industry front, we welcome thedecision of the Government of Angola to embark upon awholesale effort to revamp and restructure virtually allaspects of the diamond- mining and diamond-tradingindustry of the country. We also recognize the steps beingtaken by Luanda to enhance enforcement of the sanctions,including the introduction of new, standardized certificatesof origin which will be harder to forge and make it easierto verify and keep track of diamonds. In these efforts, webelieve that the responsible Governments and industryauthorities should be invited to work with the sanctionsCommittee to devise practical measures to limit andultimately halt UNITA’s access to legitimate diamondmarkets. Major diamond-trading centres named in the reportneed to be consulted and fully engaged. At the same time,we are also mindful of the concerns that internationalsolutions to the Angolan problem must not be allowed toadversely affect the entire global diamond industry. Wemust do nothing to harm the legitimate diamond industry.Its cooperation is vital in finding ways to help us regulatethe trade so that it does maximum good and minimumharm.

Although it is possible that UNITA has enough wealthand resources to keep going for years, we are convincedthat the options for action contained in the report withrespect to this aspect of the sanctions regime areimplementable. Diamonds are UNITA’s lifeline, whichmust now be cut in order to dry up its main source ofincome for waging the war. UNITA’s assets must betracked down and confiscated and its bank accounts frozen.The international banking community must fully cooperatewith the Council in this regard. Appropriate Council actionshould be taken in respect of those individuals, companies

and Governments that have been named in the report andcannot plausibly or convincingly explain their allegedroles.

The report also makes clear that the weapons madeavailable to UNITA were of foreign origin. The illegalsupply of weapons to Angola and other parts of Africa issimply too numerous to ignore. The idea of bringingtogether these foreign suppliers of arms with a view toformulating concrete proposals on how best to stem theillicit flow of arms would be a constructive and,hopefully, an effective process in addressing this aspectof the problem.

On another aspect of the report, we share itsassertion that there is a clear link between all crises inAfrica. Angola was led to intervene in the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo because UNITA sought to operatefrom that country. Paragraph 50 of the report indicates thesubstantial presence of UNITA troops and advisersfighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,including the deployment of UNITA troops in the north-eastern sector of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.These undeniable linkages clearly underline the need forthe Council to deal with all the crises in the region in acomprehensive manner.

We must now put to good use the vital store ofinformation in our possession pertaining to the breachesof sanctions against UNITA. The Council should nowlook carefully at how it can target individuals who profitin the prolongation of the war. We should also examineclosely the legal options open to us. All of this wouldrequire the continuing strong support and cooperation ofGovernments both within and outside the region. TheCouncil obviously cannot act alone, even with such aneffective and indefatigable Chairman of the sanctionsCommittee as Ambassador Fowler. Member States andinternational agencies must collaborate effectively withthe Council to achieve this.

All who yearn for peace in Africa must worktogether to usher in this peace. The report calls forcountries of the Southern African DevelopmentCommunity to play a major role to enforce sanctionsagainst UNITA. This is their major contribution to helpfind an African solution to this African problem. WithUNITA weakened by the Angolan Armed Forces militarysuccesses and increasing surveillance of its supplychannels, we should not miss this opportunity to actdecisively now, lest we be accused of timidity and lack ofresolve, or worse still, hypocrisy. Let us work together to

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end the plague of destruction, pain and death forced onAngola and its long-suffering people.

My delegation is naturally concerned at the continuingacts of sanctions breaking vis-à-vis UNITA, whichconstitute a very serious challenge to the Council’scollective authority. My delegation therefore urges MemberStates to respect fully the existing Council resolutions onsanctions against UNITA. The report has put forward a setof 39 bold and far-reaching recommendations for theconsideration of the Council. We believe many of theseproposals are concrete measures which should be seriouslyconsidered in order to ensure that the sanctions regime willbe more effectively observed. We agree with ChairmanFowler that the Council should be more actively engaged inthe effort to improve the implementation and enforcementof the sanctions against UNITA and to curb existingviolations. My delegation is aware that there is a very realrisk that when the spotlight is turned off, UNITA and itspartners will go back to doing business as usual. Thisshould not be allowed to happen. The Council shouldvigorously work to put more teeth in the implementation ofthe sanctions regime, for with UNITA there can be nobusiness as usual. My delegation looks forward toparticipating actively and constructively in a further, in-depth consideration of the report by the Council.

Finally, my delegation once again condemns moststrongly the downing of the two United Nations aircraft inUNITA-held territory in Huambo in December 1998 andJanuary 1999. The involvement of UNITA in the shootingdown of the two aircraft and the “specific orders” given toUNITA soldiers by Savimbi to shoot down any and allUnited Nations aircraft reflect the criminal character of thisrebel group and its rogue leader. Such actions cannot betolerated or the perpetrators allowed to go with impunity.

Mr. Cunningham (United States of America): TodayI am speaking as coordinator of the troika of observerStates to the Lusaka Protocol: the United States, Portugaland the Russian Federation. We are grateful to Minister forExternal Relations Miranda for attending this meeting andlook forward to his contributions to this discussion. We alsowelcome the arrival of Ambassador José Patricio, who willsoon present his credentials to the Secretary-General.

We welcome the report of the Expert Panel andcommend Chairman Möllander and his Panel members fortheir sustained efforts. The work of the Panel has enhancedthe role of the international community in the search forlasting peace in Angola, and it has also focused newattention on the link between the illegal exploitation of

Angola’s natural resources and the continuation of theconflict. We recognize the creative and energetic work ofAmbassador Fowler as Chairman of the sanctionsCommittee, believing that his commitment to theimplementation of sanctions served as an importantcatalyst for this report.

Sanctions remain a key tool in the internationalcommunity’s efforts on behalf of peace in Angola. Thereport of the Expert Panel has highlighted in stark anddramatic fashion a systematic pattern of violations by theUNITA leadership and with the collusion of foreignactors. Whether the foreign actors are motivated by greedor by political conviction, their support for UNITA’smilitary machine has prolonged the suffering of theAngolan people. While we believe that the overall impactof sanctions has been beneficial to the search for peace,this report clearly demonstrates a need for continuedstrengthening of such measures, particularly in the areasof diamond sales, arms purchases and foreign travel. Wenote that the cumulative impact of the three sets of UnitedNations sanctions has been to gradually erode UNITA’sability to resupply its forces and to capitalize on itsexternal links. However, the key elements of the reportare its recommendations for future action. We lookforward to working with the Council and others to turnthis highly informative document into a reinvigorated planof action.

The Expert Panel and the Committee have, in ourassessment, increased the cost and difficulty of UNITA’scontinued military campaign. It is very difficult tospeculate on UNITA’s present military capacity.However, the information available to us indicates that therenewed vigour that Ambassador Fowler and the ExpertPanel brought to the implementation of Security Councilresolutions 864 (1993), 1127 (1997) and 1173 (1998) hashad a positive impact.

In addition to making a contribution to the search forpeace in Angola, the sanctions Committee and ExpertPanel have also done pioneering work, under challengingcircumstances, on the difficult question of applyingsanctions regimes to non-State actors.

The Security Council has long maintained theposition that the primary cause of the continued conflictin Angola is the failure of UNITA to abide by itscommitments under the Lusaka Protocol. Sanctionsremain a tool to be used in pursuit of the goals of theLusaka Protocol, still the most viable blueprint for peace,continued democratization and national reconciliation.

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The international community’s expectation of UNITAis its full demilitarization, the full extension of Stateadministration and its full participation in the democraticpolitical life of the country. The Security Council’ssanctions must remain in effect until all elements ofUNITA have taken full, irreversible and verifiable steps tocompletely implement the Lusaka Protocol.

UNITA sanctions have always been targeted at theleaders of the organization who have remained outside theLusaka process and at its military capacity, not at thoseleaders who have participated in the institutions establishedby the Lusaka Protocol, and not at the overwhelmingmajority of UNITA’s supporters, whom we believe to be infavour of peace.

The revelations and recommendations of the ExpertPanel require careful consideration, and we look forward toa discussion in the Council on next steps. For now,however, the report paints a picture — one which is largelycorroborated by our own information — of continuedinternational support for UNITA’s military leadership. Atthis point, we strongly urge the leaderships of those partiescited in the report to re-examine their policies vis-à-visUNITA and to commit themselves to comply fully with allCouncil measures in effect.

Mr. Mársico (Argentina) (spoke in Spanish): I shouldlike at the outset, Mr. President, to thank you for conveningthis open briefing. You are well aware of the importancethat we attach to this kind of meeting. I wish alsoespecially to thank Ambassador Robert Fowler, theChairman of the sanctions Committee on Angola, for hisintroduction to the report of the Panel of Experts, containedin document S/2000/203, and, through him, all of themembers of the Panel.

Furthermore, I wish to welcome the presence at thismeeting of the Minister of External Relations of Angola,which I deem of the greatest importance, and of MinisterPeter Hain of the United Kingdom, who has honoured usonce again with his presence, sharing with us histremendous and broad-ranging personal and professionalexperience in matters relating to Africa.

For more than 20 years, the international communityhas been striving to secure a peaceful settlement to theconflict in Angola. My country can identify itself with theseefforts; indeed, from 1989 onwards it has deployedpersonnel there, since the operations of the United NationsObserver Mission in Angola began.

Despite that presence and the successive efforts ofthe international community, the results have not been notsufficient to bring the conflict to an end or to promotecompliance with the 1991 Peace Accord or the 1994Lusaka Protocol.

In this conflict, the existence and abundance ofnatural resources, and of diamonds in particular, haveplayed a significant role in perpetuating the conflict byfostering war, facilitating the purchase of weapons, fuelsand even of political support. The strategic value ofdiamonds was recognized by the Security Council whenin 1998 it incorporated into the sanctions regime a ban onthe sale of diamonds from UNITA sources.

The continued conflict in Angola has no singleorigin. However, the presentation of this report, theattention that it has attracted and the fact that we all havecome to meet here today should be used not only topromote enhanced implementation of the sanctions butalso to step up political efforts to put an end to theconflict in Angola.

The report, as we read it, raises many issues that gobeyond identifying violations or attributing blame. Ibelieve that we need to ask ourselves what we need to doto ensure that this kind of situation does not recur. In thearea of peacekeeping operations, the concept of “lessonslearned” is a meaningful one. It should be significant alsoin the context of sanctions.

This comment serves also to remind us once againof the need to consider seriously the desirability ofestablishing more effective monitoring mechanisms forsanctions regimes. We wonder what message is sent by asanctions regime without effective controls.

Over the last 20 years the international communityhas invested considerable sums in the peace process inAngola. How much in the way of resources, however, hasbeen allocated to the effective monitoring of thesesanctions? What consequences might there have been forthe Angolan peace process if there had been moreeffective monitoring of the sanctions regime?

The Panel’s report is a genuine effort to clarify fullycertain relevant issues, such as how the sanctions arebeing violated, who is violating them and what measurescan be taken to make sanctions a more effectiveinstrument in the Angolan peace process. To this end, thePanel is presenting the Security Council with 39recommendations and a set of conclusions. In the coming

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weeks we shall have to study them carefully and actaccordingly.

However, it is noteworthy that in recent days theinformation contained in the report has already producedsignificant repercussions: many Governments and forumshave started a number of investigations. We encouragethese endeavours and trust that the appropriate correctivemeasures will be taken with equal determination.

This report is useful not only for Angola. It shouldserve to remind us of all that remains to be done withrespect to other sanctions Committees. In this regard, itcontains a number of elements that we feel might be of useto the panel of experts on sanctions recently set up by theSecurity Council under the leadership of AmbassadorFowler, and which will be reporting to the Council in amonth’s time.

In conclusion, I would like to recall that in 1994 thenon-governmental organization Human Rights Watchpublished a lengthy report on the violations of the sanctionsregime then in force in Angola. That report anticipatedsome of the conclusions of the current Panel. We hope thattoday the international community is better prepared toreact to this kind of information and that we will be able totake good advantage of this new opportunity. The course ofaction we now take depends on each and every one of us.For our part we hope that a further report in four or fiveyears time will not find us in the same situation.

Mr. Lavrov (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian):First of all, like my colleagues I would like to say that I ampleased by the presence at today’s meeting of the Ministerfor External Relations of Angola, His ExcellencyMr. De Miranda. We also join in the thanks expressed heretoday to the Panel of Experts and its Chairman,Ambassador Möllander, for the work they have done. Weare also grateful to the Chairman of the sanctionsCommittee, Ambassador Fowler, for his introduction of thisreport to the Security Council.

As can be seen from this preliminary discussion today,members of the Security Council are united in theirassessment of the situation in Angola and also in theirassessment of the role to be played by Council sanctions insettling the conflict. It is clear that enhancing theeffectiveness of the sanctions regime offers great potentialfor stepping up pressure on the military and politicalleaders of UNITA, who are responsible for the breakdownof the Lusaka process.

There is a direct link between violations of thesanctions regime and the continuing threat the regionposes to international peace and security. This is thestandpoint from which we are looking at the report thathas been submitted to the Security Council, whichcontains extensive factual information about sanctionsviolations and specific recommendations on how to stepup monitoring of the implementation of the sanctions.

Like other delegations, we are very carefullyanalysing the information contained in the report, and weare also looking at how in practical terms therecommendations could be adopted. It is clear thatsubstantive consideration of the report will take placeonce members of the Security Council have studied thedocument. It is also clear that the report has to be studiedin the capitals, but even at this stage we can say that theinformation contained in the report does confirm the needfor the Council’s sanctions Committee to continueworking vigorously, with a view to taking further steps soas to more successfully implement the relevant decisionsof the Security Council.

We believe that the most serious attention should begiven to the Panel’s recommendations on stepping up thesanctions Committee’s efforts, inter alia, in enhancing theeffectiveness of the current sanctions regime as regards allthe areas set forth in the Security Council resolutions.These areas include illegal supplies of arms, petroleumproducts, the export of diamonds, the handling ofUNITA’s assets and so forth. We are ready to workclosely and actively on this issue with the Chairman ofthe sanctions Committee and all of our partners in theSecurity Council. We feel sure that we will all continueto make progress on this work and to conduct ourselveswith the utmost seriousness.

Mr. Hamer (Netherlands): We are witnessing todayquite an extraordinary event. An independent expertpanel, established by this Council, has investigated theviolations of sanctions against UNITA, lifting the edge ofa veil that had for so long hung over the complexstructures and networks that have allowed UNITA tomaintain its stronghold over the years. This effort iswithout precedent, and it is an achievement in itself.

Like others, we commend the expert panel and thesanctions Committee, under the chairmanship ofAmbassador Robert Fowler, for their work. Their reportwill send a strong signal that this Council is serious aboutthe sanctions it imposes. We expect that the report’spublication, in and of itself, will make a difference in

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terms of the effectiveness of the United Nations sanctionsagainst UNITA.

The report itself concludes that its effects can alreadybe seen and that it has become harder for UNITA to selldiamonds and to buy weapons because of increased risks tothose involved now that their shady dealings stand in theinternational limelight. The Expert Panel and the sanctionsCommittee Chairman are to be congratulated for this.

My delegation agrees that the effects of the report canbe lasting only if there is a sustained follow-up. We haveoften spoken out in favour of the more effective monitoringof sanctions, and we have made some concrete proposals tothat effect. The report’s suggestion that the Panel should besucceeded by some monitoring mechanism, so as to avoida return to business as usual, is important and deserves ourfull support.

The recommendations in the report deserve carefulstudy by the Council. We will surely be revisiting the issueover the coming weeks and months, with more specific anddetailed comments and suggestions. Allow me at this stageto limit myself to a few preliminary remarks on someelements of the report and its recommendations.

First, on diamonds: in a sense UNITA’s access tomineral wealth constitutes the core of the problem. IfUNITA were unable to pay for its military and diplomaticefforts, it would never be able to continue its senseless war.Therefore it is essential that we devise ways and means toestablish the origin of rough diamonds. Withoutdocumented evidence as regards the origin, it is impossibleto distinguish legal trade from illegal trade, and this isobviously in the interest also of bona fide exportingcountries such as Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.

More generally, the Security Council needs to addressin a systematic manner the problem of how conflicts arefuelled and prolonged by the access of the parties — legalor otherwise — to vast quantities of strategic resources.This issue goes beyond diamonds, and it goes beyondAngola. In fact, three of the bloodiest conflicts in Africa —in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo — are fuelled by the illegal export of resources.

Secondly, on arms: the Netherlands welcomes theconcrete and practical recommendations of the Panel inresponse to the violations of the arms embargo againstUNITA. The Panel touches upon a number of veryimportant issues that for very good reasons are high on theagenda of other forums as well. These issues include

brokerage, arms registers and end-user certificates. ThePanel’s conclusions and recommendations merit study andwide distribution, so as to feed the discussions in otherrelevant forums.

Exchange of information and transparency are key ifwe are going to be serious about combatting violations ofsanctions. In this respect we should intensify our dialoguewith exporters and potential exporters of arms andmilitary equipment. More specifically, my delegation seesa role for regional organizations, such as the SouthernAfrican Development Community (SADC), in particular,but not exclusively, with regard to embargoes on armsand military equipment. Similarly, one could think of theEconomic Community of West African States(ECOWAS), since some of its members are linked, in oneway or another in this report, to illegal arms deliveriesand ECOWAS, after all, has such a splendid record indealing with issues like small arms at the regional level.

Finally, as I said earlier, the most important thingnow is to see to it that the Panel exercise gets the bestpossible follow-up to avoid a return to business as usualand to the culture of impunity which has so far prevailed.We would like to be actively involved in any futureefforts to develop the monitoring mechanism proposed inthe report. It also seems to us that many of the proposalsand recommendations in this report contain importantlessons for the improved effectiveness of other sanctionsregimes. This is an issue the Council should revert towith some urgency.

Miss Durrant (Jamaica): My delegation joinsprevious speakers in thanking you, Sir, for convening thismeeting. We also wish to welcome the Minister forExternal Relations of Angola and the Minister of State ofthe United Kingdom, who are with us today.

My delegation wishes to thank Ambassador Fowlerfor his clear and comprehensive presentation of the reportof the Panel of Experts on violations of the Council’ssanctions against Angola. We also wish to pay a tributeto him for his leadership of the Sanctions Committee,because it is largely thanks to his initiative, commitmentand willingness to be innovative that the Expert Panelwas established by the Council. We also wish to thank themembers of the Council for the diligence, fearlessnessand timeliness with which they have executed theirmandate.

As the report reminds us, the purpose of thesanctions was not to punish UNITA, but to promote a

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peaceful settlement of the lengthy conflict in Angola byrequiring UNITA to comply with obligations which itundertook in 1991 and 1994 and by limiting UNITA’sability to pursue its objectives by military means. It was forthat reason that the sanctions were carefully targeted,relating to the supply of arms and fuel, UNITA’s bankaccounts, foreign travel of UNITA’s officials and theoperations of UNITA’s offices abroad. All of these havebeen addressed by the Panel’s investigations andrecommendations on sanctions-busting.

We have noted from the report that the Panel’sexistence and presence have already had the importanteffect of stimulating Governments and others into focusingon what each of them can do to improve theimplementation and enforcement of sanctions and to curtailexisting violations. We therefore share the Panel’s view thatthe Security Council and the international community mustremain engaged in this effort. We must send a strong signalthat breaches of the Council’s sanctions regimes cannot betolerated and that the activities of violators will not gounpunished.

My delegation recognizes that the report of the ExpertPanel and its recommendations will require detailed studyby the Sanctions Committee and by the Council itself. It isalso important that those cited in the report cooperate withthe Council by providing it with the necessary information.At this time, my delegation therefore wishes to offer a fewpreliminary comments, as this report has implications notonly for Angola, but for the wider international communityand for the sanctions regimes imposed by the Council.

First, the report leaves no doubt that there have beenserious violations of the sanctions regimes by individuals,companies and government officials. Those who haveviolated the sanctions regime on Angola share in theresponsibility for the human suffering resulting from theconflict and, with UNITA, are equally culpable in many ofthe tragic incidents, including the shooting-down of theUnited Nations aircraft.

Secondly, the Governments of the countries whosenationals are engaging in sanctions-busting have anobligation to investigate and to take appropriate actionagainst those who are responsible. Such investigations andactions must be undertaken in a transparent and crediblemanner.

Thirdly, it is clear that UNITA abused the periodfollowing the signature of the Lusaka Protocol toaccumulate arms and prepare itself for restarting the war. It

is also clear that it was aided and abetted in this by awide range of individuals in many countries.

Fourthly, the international community must bring toan end the flow of illegal arms to conflict situations. Itmust also better regulate the legal export of arms,particularly in regard to end-users.

Fifthly, the plundering of Africa’s mineral resourcesto purchase arms to fuel these conflicts must be broughtto a halt. In the case of Angola, without buyers for thediamonds, UNITA would not have been able to selldiamonds to finance its purchase of arms.

It is also clear that there has been a linkageestablished between the conflict in Angola and theconflicts in the Great Lakes region.

The perpetuation of the conflict in Angola continuesto divert scarce resources, which should be used for theeconomic and social development of Angola. Mydelegation therefore calls on UNITA to spare the innocentpeople of Angola further hardship by ending the fightingand by complying with its obligations under the LusakaProtocol. The war-weary people of Angola deserve to livewithout the violence and fear which have attended themover the past 25 years.

The report presented to the Council today representsa significant milestone. The action taken by the Councilwill present an opportunity for us to clearly demonstrateour determination to implement our decisions aimed atfurthering international peace and security.

Mrs. Ashipala-Musavyi (Namibia): Let me firsttake this opportunity to thank you, Sir, for convening thisimportant open briefing to discuss the report of the Panelof Experts on violations of the Security Council sanctionsagainst UNITA, an issue which is of critical importanceto my country and to the entire region of the SouthernAfrican Development Community (SADC).

The presence here today of Mr. João Bernardo deMiranda, the Minister for External Relations of theRepublic of Angola, is testimony to the importanceAngola attaches — and rightly so — to this matter. Wealso commend Minister Hain’s personal participationtoday and we highly appreciate his contribution.

Let me take this opportunity to highly commendAmbassador Fowler, the Chairman of the SanctionsCommittee against UNITA, for his serious and tireless

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efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the Security Councilsanctions against UNITA and the obligations of memberStates to fully implement the Security Council resolutionsagainst UNITA. Not only did Ambassador Fowler prove hisleadership qualities and diplomatic skills, but, through hisdetermination, he also sought to promote and restore thecredibility of the Security Council in the preservation ofhuman security and the peaceful resolution of that conflict.Indeed, my delegation notes with appreciation that there hasbeen progress in the work of the Committee sinceAmbassador Fowler took over its chairmanship. Mydelegation pledges its fullest support for his tireless effortsto help bring peace to Angola.

We express strong support for the work undertaken bythe Chairman of the Expert Panel, Ambassador Möllander,and his team, and thank them for producing this veryinformative report within the prescribed period.

Eight years ago — on 15 September 1993, to beprecise — the Security Council adopted resolution 864(1993), the first resolution imposing mandatory sanctionsagainst UNITA in the area of arms and military equipment;thereafter, similar resolutions were adopted in the area ofpetroleum products, diamonds and finances. That decisionby the Council was due to UNITA’s intransigence andnon-compliance. In its determination to resolve the conflictin Angola by compelling UNITA to comply with itsresolutions, the Council reaffirmed on several occasions itsreadiness to review the measures and to consider theimposition of additional measures against UNITA.

Contrary to the expectations of the internationalcommunity, with the assistance of some States, internationalorganizations and individuals, UNITA became stronger dayby day in its fight against the Government and the peopleof Angola.

I am trying to recapitulate this scenario so as toillustrate the various efforts which were employed by theCouncil in trying to resolve this conflict and, moreimportantly, so as to ensure that the Council will takeseriously the report which has been presented by the Paneland the recommendations contained therein. Ifimplemented, the recommendations can help bring lastingpeace to Angola.

Resolution 1237 (1999), inter alia, established thepanels to inform the Council on how the sanctions againstUNITA were being violated, who was violating them andwhat could be done to make the sanctions more effective.As the report clearly indicates, the objective of the Expert

Panel was to promote a political settlement of the longconflict in Angola by requiring UNITA to comply withthe obligations which it undertook when it signed the1991 Bicesse Peace Accord and the 1994 LusakaProtocol. Full implementation of resolution 1237 (1999)will do just that. It will deny UNITA the ability to keeppeace and development hostage in Angola and, indeed, insouthern Africa.

The situation in Angola continues to worsen. UNITAis continuing with its atrocities, indiscriminate killing ofthe innocent civilian population and the laying oflandmines, and this report clearly indicates that themandate of the Panel was to promote a politicalsettlement to the never-ending conflict in Angola. UNITAmust comply with the obligations it undertook when itsigned the 1994 Lusaka Protocol. Let me take thisopportunity to remind the Council that the Organizationof African Unity (OAU) itself has adopted variousresolutions on the situation in Angola, and thoseresolutions should be taken into account. Furthermore, theSouthern African Development Community has declaredSavimbi to be a war criminal, a decision that was, in turn,endorsed by the OAU.

We agree with the conclusions of the report thatUNITA would not have continued with its political andmilitary ambitions had it not been for the support ofcertain States and individuals that have provided the rebelmovement with safe havens, facilitated sales and passageof weapons and assisted it with end-user certificates. It isalso true that the willingness of some arms-supplyingcountries with little or no regard as to where those armswould finally end up contributed immensely to boostingthe morale of rebels in Africa in fighting againstlegitimate Governments. Hence, peace in Angola lies inthe hands of those individuals and Governments whichare intentionally and knowingly assisting UNITA’s warmachinery.

We note the information presented in the report onthe link between the war activities of UNITA in Angolaand the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We concur with the evidentiary standard employedby the Panel. However, it is highly possible that importantlinks might have been omitted. We are therefore stronglyof the view that the ongoing investigations of personsallegedly connected to UNITA will help during themonitoring process, which my delegation endorses and towhich I shall revert later.

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With regard to sanctions busting on arms and militaryequipment, the conflict in Angola has caused immense andunnecessary suffering to the people of Angola, resulting inthe loss of millions of lives and the destruction of property.The United Nations continues to spend millions of dollarsto help resolve the conflict in Angola. Sadly, millions ofAngolans have known only war. This war could have beenended and taken off the Council’s agenda had it not beenfor the support UNITA receives from within and outsideAfrica. It is therefore imperative that the Council applysanctions to those leaders and Governments that havesustained UNITA’s political and war machinery, inviolation of Council resolutions. This bold andunprecedented action will enhance its authority anddemonstrate its seriousness in the maintenance ofinternational peace and security.

We appreciate the good work of the InternationalCriminal Police Organization (Interpol) in uncoveringUNITA’s smuggling operations. Indeed, Namibia undertookinvestigations into the existence and activities of suchoperations, which have not been completed. Theconclusions relating to arms and military equipment prove,among other things, that the capacity of UNITA to continueto pay for what it wants has kept the war in Angola going,thus maximizing the suffering and agony of the Angolanpeople and those of the entire region.

Paragraph 68 of the report refers to small-scalepetroleum smuggling on the Namibia-Angola border. TheGovernment of Namibia will certainly look into this matter,and we would appreciate assistance to curb those illegaldealings. We will continue to contribute to the Committee’swork in this regard.

We commend the conclusions relating to petroleumand petroleum products. We would have thought that theconclusions would include all countries whose nationals areimplicated in these activities according to the report.

We are greatly concerned at the extremely lax controlsand regulations governing the world’s rough diamondmarket. Illegal trading in diamonds is the main source offunding of rebel movements in Africa, particularly inAngola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of theCongo.

We take serious note of paragraph 84 of the report,and we want underscore that Namibia has not been anofficial channel for the illegal diamond transactions ofUNITA. We carried out investigations, going as far as thediamond markets in London, and it was discovered that

those diamonds came from Namibian mines. We wereable to do that because Namibian diamonds have specialcodes attached to them, thereby making it easy to controlsmuggling.

The private sector has an important role to play here.We welcome the measures taken by De Beers to ceasebuying any diamonds from UNITA. This has undoubtedlyhad an effect on UNITA’s cash. We also highly commendthe Angolan Government for the reform measuresundertaken to restructure the mining and diamondindustry. We support the Panel’s 6 recommendationsrelating to diamonds.

With regard to UNITA’s finances, it is importantthat countries where UNITA representatives controlfinancial resources be identified. The panel should indeedprovide the Committee with information on particulars ofbanks, bank accounts and credit cards used to facilitateUNITA’s transactions. We agree with therecommendations relating to finances and assets. In ourview, recommendation number 20 will serve as anincentive for disclosing finance busting.

It is our sincere hope that bank secrecy laws will berevised to enable States to uncover the amounts of illegalfunds of the identified sanctions busters with a view tofreezing them and finally releasing them to the authoritiesconcerned, for the benefit of the people concerned, in thiscase the Angolan people.

With regard to UNITA’s representation and travelabroad, the Government of Namibia has carried outinvestigations and discovered that none of the peoplewhose names were provided by the Panel are residing inNamibia. We regret, however, our failure to communicateour findings to the Panel in time, as was indicated in thereport. We continue with further investigations in thisregard, and any information will be communicated to theCommittee.

We support the recommendations relating toUNITA’s representation and travel abroad. We have nodoubt that Interpol, if requested, can indeed coordinate aninternational response to arrest warrants for thesesanctions busters.

We note the information provided on the role oftransport in sanctions busting and propose that thoseproposals be further examined by the Committee. Wewelcome the recommendations on related matters,especially those inviting the Southern African

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Development Community (SADC) to consider introducingthe mobile radar system with the assistance of theinternational community.

On board the United Nations planes shot down inAngola were Namibian nationals. For the sake of all thosewho perished on the two planes and all other UnitedNations workers whose lives were taken by the enemies ofpeace, we support the relevant recommendation under thissection.

With regard to recommendation 35, on considering theprovision of medical supplies to UNITA, further thoughtshould be given to this proposal so as not to create anyloopholes for sanctions busting.

We also agree that a copy of the report should besubmitted to the Organization of African Unity and SADCSecretaries-General. We are also in agreement that themonitoring mechanism should be established.

The Panel has given us its report. The Chairman of theCommittee has introduced the report. Let us go to work onthe recommendations contained therein. Namibia looksforward to the discussion of the draft resolution on theserecommendations at the earliest possible time.

Finally, peace is cheaper than war. Let us help bringlasting peace to Angola.

Mr. Wang Yingfan (China) (spoke in Chinese): TheChinese delegation expresses its gratitude toMr. De Miranda, Minister for External Relations of Angola,for attending this public debate. We also thank AmbassadorFowler for presenting to us, in his capacity of Chairman ofthe sanctions Committee on Angola, the report by the Panelof Experts.

We express our profound concern over the long-standing lack of progress in the peace process in Angola.UNITA and, in particular, Mr. Savimbi have refused toimplement the commitments they undertook in the LusakaProtocol, as well as the relevant resolutions adopted by theSecurity Council, and therefore should be considered theparty that bears the main responsibility for the currentsituation in Angola. UNITA has constantly madeprovocations and attacked innocent civilians — evenattacking United Nations personnel and aircraft — andtherefore deserves the condemnation and the sanctions ofthe international community.

The Chinese delegation appreciates the great effortsmade by Ambassador Fowler as Chairman of thesanctions Committee and his colleagues in order toimprove and strengthen the United Nations sanctionsregime against UNITA. We have noted that recently theinternational community has been achieving ever-greaterconsensus on the sanctions against UNITA. Variousconcerted actions are being taken.

However, the sanctions against UNITA are far frombeing effective. Mr. Savimbi and UNITA are still usingall means and channels available to bust the sanctionsimposed by the Security Council. One specific exampleis that of the diamonds produced in the areas under itscontrol, which are being used by UNITA in illicit armstrading. It has to be pointed out that no country, companyor individual should be allowed to collude withMr. Savimbi or UNITA in an attempt to bust thesanctions imposed by the Security Council.

As long as violations of the sanctions regimecontinue, peace will not come to Angola and thesufferings of the people of Angola will continue. Westrongly appeal to all countries to genuinely abide by therelevant resolutions of the Security Council, in accordancewith the Charter of the United Nations, by putting an endto the supply of arms or any other forms of support toUNITA and by taking other effective measures to preventviolations by their own nationals. The Chinese delegationsupports the work carried out by the Panel of Experts asmandated by the Security Council.

The report that has been presented to us today by thePanel of Experts is informative. I would like to reiteratethat the signal sent to us by the report is very clear:measures have to be taken to strengthen the sanctionsregime. The Security Council must provide positivesupport in this regard. Because the report and therecommendations contained therein cover many fields,such as the political, economic, commercial and militaryfields, they also involve many complex issues, and wehave to study the report very carefully. We support thesanctions Committee’s having an in-depth considerationof the report and the recommendations contained thereinso as to help the Security Council take timely andpractical measures.

Like other countries, we believe that strengtheningthe sanctions against UNITA is in itself not our purpose.Rather, it is a tool to create the necessary conditions fora final political solution to the question of Angola. It isour hope that the international community will be able to

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work together, coordinate various actions and strengthen itssanctions against UNITA so as to force it to lay down itsarms soon, cease all hostilities and embark upon the pathtowards national reconciliation at an early date.

Mr. Ouane (Mali) (spoke in French): I would first ofall like to thank you, Mr. President, for organizing thisbriefing on the final report of the Panel of Experts createdby resolution 1237 (1999) of 7 May 1999.

I would also like to welcome the presence at thismeeting of the Minister for External Relations of Angolaand of Minister of State Peter Hain of the United Kingdom.

Naturally, I also wish to thank Ambassador Fowler,Chairman of the Security Council Committee createdpursuant to resolution 864 (1993), for his very detailedintroductory statement, as well as the members of the Panelof Experts, whose final report we are considering today.

In the context of the initial consideration of the matterbefore the Council today, I wish to make the followingpreliminary comments.

First, Mali deplores the continuing conflict in Angola,which has lasted some 25 years and for which UNITA isprimarily responsible. The Angolan people have sufferedtoo much as a result of the war. The time has thereforecome for the international community to put an end to it.From this standpoint, the report we are considering todayproposes rigorous measures aimed at cutting off sources ofillegal revenue obtained by UNITA from the sale ofdiamonds, reducing its access to petroleum supplies andlimiting its procurement of arms and ammunition. In thisregard, I wish to pay tribute to the tireless efforts ofAmbassador Fowler to facilitate a political settlement to theAngolan crisis by restricting UNITA’s ability to continue topursue the military option.

Secondly, the report before us today shows that,notwithstanding the sanctions, UNITA has been able toevade their impact through the existence of a complexnetwork that has made it possible for it to sidestep thesanctions and have at its disposal a formidable warmachine. Various actors, including Governments, have beencited. In this regard, I would like to lend my delegation’ssupport to the proposal made by France concerning thefollow-up to be given to the experts’ recommendations.

Thirdly, the report under consideration also establishesthat despite violations, the sanctions have begun to bearfruit. It is clear that the serious difficulties being

experienced by UNITA with regard to fuel supplies arethe result of the beneficial effects of the sanctions.

In this connection, I would like to underline that, insolidarity with the struggle of the Angolan people, Maliis resolved to seek the further strengthening of sanctionsagainst UNITA. It is for this reason that my delegationexhorts all Members of the United Nations to look closelyat the conclusions and recommendations contained in thereport. We also take the view that it is important for theinternational community to lend its support and providethe necessary assistance to Angola’s neighbours so as tosupport their efforts to secure better monitoring of thesanctions.

Mr. Ben Mustapha (Tunisia) (spoke in French): Ishould like to join other members of the Council inwelcoming the presence among us of the Minister forExternal Relations of Angola, Mr. De Miranda, and theMinister of State, Foreign Office, of the United Kingdom.

I should also like to thank you, Mr. President, fororganizing this meeting of the Council on the situation inAngola.

I should also like to thank Ambassador RobertFowler, Chairman of the sanctions Committee on Angola,for his introduction of the report of the Panel of Expertscharged with examining violations of the sanctionsimposed by the Council against UNITA.

The delegation of Tunisia welcomes the publicationof the report that has been presented to us pursuant toresolution 1237 (1999). This document — which is thefruit of six months of investigations, inquiries and studiesundertaken by the Panel of Experts headed byAmbassador Anders Möllander to keep the Councilinformed about violations of the sanctions againstUNITA — illustrates, if indeed there is a need to do so,the will of the Council to ensure respect for the sanctionsit imposes under the Charter.

In this connection, I would like to recall that Tunisiahas supported the imposition of sanctions against UNITA,in the belief that this tool can help us promote asettlement of the conflict by preventing UNITA fromfinding the means of continuing its destabilizing andviolent objectives and by forcing it to comply fully and asclearly as possible with the obligations it agreed to whenit signed the Lusaka accord. In this connection, wewelcome the conclusion of the Panel of Experts that therehas been a significant reduction in UNITA’s ability to

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manoeuvre as a result of the pooling of the internationalcommunity’s efforts to ensure respect for the sanctionsregime and to stop violations thereof.

The report contains numerous recommendations as tomeasures to be taken — notably, on the implementation ofstricter mechanisms aimed at ending illicit movements ofarms for UNITA’s benefit and the sale and supply of theoil that feeds its war machine. Other equally importantrecommendations relate to the establishment of effectivecontrols over diamond smuggling, which is the main sourceof financing for UNITA’s war effort, as well asrecommendations with regard to UNITA’s representationabroad and the travel of its representatives overseas. Therecommendations proposed to the Council by the Panel ofExperts are designed to make the regime of sanctions onUNITA more effective. There is no doubt that theyconstitute a strong and unequivocal message as to theresolve of the Security Council to ensure that theinternational community’s desire to impose peace in Angolais respected.

However, while we greatly appreciate the work doneby the Panel of Experts in drafting its report, we would liketo draw the Council’s attention to the sensitivity of some ofthe information, conclusions and recommendations itcontains, which, in our view, must be handled verycarefully because they involve, among other things, thenaming of heads of State. We would have preferred thereport to avoid giving information citing certain parties, atleast at this stage, so as to first be certain of its absoluteveracity. In the absence of irrefutable evidence tocorroborate those allegations, and until the partiesconcerned are allowed to provide information that may giveadditional clarifications for the benefit of the investigation’sobjectivity, we believe that it would be preferable toproceed gradually by first engaging the attention of theStates and parties concerned before making suggestions ordeciding on appropriate steps. I believe this approach wouldgive the necessary credibility to the investigations of thesanctions Committee, and that credibility will certainlyserve to enhance its ability to act.

The Tunisian delegation expresses the hope that thepublication of certain elements in the report will lead togreater awareness on the part of the internationalcommunity of the importance of strictly applying thesanctions regime and the need to persevere in efforts to cutoff the sources of supplies to UNITA to force it to fulfil itsobligations under the Lusaka Agreement.

The President: In view of the lateness of the hour,I would like to say in my national capacity that I willforgo this opportunity to make a national statement. I willdefer it to a subsequent stage. But I will not let thisopportunity pass without first thanking AmbassadorFowler for his presentation and the determination withwhich he pursued the matter and which brings us to thismeeting and also to thank the Panel of Experts for itsvery thorough work. We look forward to examining itsrecommendations more thoroughly as we go back to thesanctions Committee.

The second point that I would like to mention hereis that Bangladesh believes that in addition to theirinherent merit, the recommendations are also veryimportant and relevant and have serious implications forthe general issues relating to sanctions, with which theCouncil is now seized, and the experts group which wehave recently set up will also look into the general issues.I think the recommendations will have an importantpurpose to serve when that experts group takes up itsresponsibility.

I resume my function as the President of theCouncil.

I should like to inform the Council that I havereceived a letter from the representative of Uganda, inwhich he requests to be invited to participate in thediscussion of the item on the Council’s agenda. Inconformity with the usual practice, I propose, with theconsent of the Council, to invite that representative toparticipate in the discussion, without the right to vote, inaccordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter andrule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.

There being no objection, it is so decided.

At the invitation of the President, Mr. SemakulaKiwanuka (Uganda) took the seat reserved for himat the side of the Council Chamber.

The President: I now have the great pleasure to callon the Minister for External Relations of Angola,Mr. João Bernardo de Miranda.

Mr. De Miranda (Angola)(spoke in Portuguese;English text furnished by the delegation): Allow me at theoutset to congratulate you, Mr. President, on behalf of myGovernment and myself, on your assumption of thepresidency of the Security Council for this month. Ishould also like to congratulate the outgoing president for

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the dynamic and wise manner in which he conducted theproceedings of this organ during his term in office.

Let me also take this opportunity to welcome veryspecially the presence in our midst of His ExcellencyMr. Peter Hain, Minister of State for Foreign andCommonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, and tocommend him for his Government’s commitment and theefforts of the international community aimed at theeffective implementation of the Security Council resolutionson Angola.

Once again this Council has an opportunity to addressthe question of Angola, one of the longest conflicts in thehistory of Africa, which, fortunately, is finally coming to anend. This meeting is not intended to search for any newpeace solutions, for these already exist and are still valid.We are here today to assess the extent to which UnitedNations Member States are adhering to United Nationsresolutions, and in particular to those of the SecurityCouncil, and to try to find ways to make them moreeffective.

The report of the Panel of Experts established by theSecurity Council pursuant to resolution 1237 (1999), theintroduction to which we have just heard, is clear proof ofwhat my Government has repeatedly stated in this Council:the rearming of UNITA’s military wing and Mr. Savimbi’sinsistence on the option of war have been possible onlybecause of the connivance of some Governments, politicalindividuals around the world and businessmen in violatingthe sanctions imposed by the Security Council.

Parallel with the destruction of the social fabric andthe infrastructure of Angola, we have been witnessingattempts by some political circles in various world capitalsto bring about a lifting of the international pressure andcleansing the image of Mr. Savimbi, despite thecondemnation of Mr. Savimbi by the Security Council andthe entire international community for being mainlyresponsible for the continuation of the war in Angola. Inaddition to gravely violating the spirit and the letter of theresolutions on sanctions, such actions are an incitement toand unequivocal encouragement of terrorism in Angola. Wenote with concern and apprehension that those States thatharbour such political circles, although they profess touphold the sanctions, continue to allow such practices totake place.

The violation of the sanctions regime imposed by theSecurity Council is in all respects a criminal act. Byfinancing and supporting the war effort, those responsible

have rendered themselves co-perpetrators of crimesagainst humanity committed in Angola by Jonas Savimbi.At the same time, interference in the internal affairs ofother States is of particular concern because suchinterference is always a source of conflicts. The UnitedNations will never be able to fulfil its role in the area ofinternational peace and security as long as Memberscontinue to fail to comply with its Charter and thedecisions of its organs.

By imposing mandatory sanctions against UNITA,the Security Council intended to curtail its ability to wagewar and to persuade its members to embrace thedemocratic system. The achievement of these goals willhelp speedily to put an end to instability in Angola.

The report that has been submitted to the Council isthe result of complex and tireless work carried out atgreat risk by an independent team of experts who arerecognized for their moral integrity, their great andunquestioned sense of justice and their devotion to thecause of world peace.

By their nature and reach, their suggestions seek tocontribute to the establishment of peace in Angola and toput an end to the insecurity now prevailing in the world.We must recognize that all of this is an imperative forwhich all of the members of the international society beargreat responsibility.

We expect the countries mentioned in the report toreact in some way, trying to deny the evidence presentedagainst them in the report. We understand this attitude,but we would be remiss were we not to remind them thatsanctions violations have resulted in a major disaster at alllevels of political, social and economic life in Angola. Itseems to us that at this stage, the most important thing isfor the countries, organizations and individuals mentionedto examine their own consciences and change theirattitudes towards the war in Angola, ending their supportfor Mr. Savimbi.

We hope that from now on all of the countries,Governments and individuals mentioned will cooperatewith Angola and with the United Nations, even tacitly, ifthey prefer, and that the whole of the internationalcommunity will, in the interest of world peace, fullyrespect the sanctions imposed against UNITA and in thisway contribute to ending the war in Angola.

The situation resulting from the internationalimpunity of culprits who perpetrate, finance, encourage or

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abet atrocities against humankind is extremely bleak. In mycountry, we are witnessing, as I have mentioned earlier, asituation comparable to a natural disaster. We have alreadyhad some illustration of this here. Over 3 million peoplehave been displaced and are surviving thanks tointernational charity. Hundreds of refugees in neighbouringcountries have been abandoned to their fate, and a patternof death and poverty has emerged that is unprecedented inAngola’s recent history.

All of this has happened because of one individual bythe name of Jonas Savimbi, with the support of a handfulof countries and individuals — in all parts of the world,unfortunately — who are completely indifferent to thesuffering of their fellow men.

We feel that appeals to their consciences or sense ofduty no longer suffice. It is imperative that we take decisiveaction and call things by their proper names. I will say itagain: crimes against humanity are being committed byJonas Savimbi. The Organization of African Unity, theSouthern African Development Community and theNon-Aligned Movement have named Jonas Savimbi as awar criminal as a result of this bleak situation.

In view of the irrefutable evidence contained in thesanctions Committee report, the Security Council mustconsider taking measures against those implicated.

My Government fully supports the recommendationscontained in the report as a step in the right direction, andwe trust that they will be included in the upcoming draftresolution of the Security Council on Angola.

Making these recommendations mandatory will onceagain underscore the important role that the internationalcommunity should continue to play in the search forlasting peace in Angola. In current circumstances, thisrole should include an increase in international pressurefor the greater isolation of Savimbi and the directattribution to Mr. Savimbi of responsibility for the crimesagainst humanity being committed in Angola; thestrengthening of sanctions against UNITA; the effectiveimplementation of resolutions 864 (1993), 1127 (1997)and 1173 (1998); and the ensuring of the smoothfunctioning of the sanctions Committee.

The dynamic impetus imparted by AmbassadorRobert Fowler and his team from the time he becameChairman of the sanctions Committee cannot and mustnot be held back, because thus far he has made asignificant contribution towards reducing violations andenhancing the mobilization of various sectors of theinternational community in order to block the sources offinancial support for terrorism in Angola. This immenseeffort on the part of the members of the Committee andits Chairman is fully recognized and deeply appreciatedby my Government. We will continue to lend our fullcooperation to the accomplishment of their task.

The President: In view of the lateness of the hourand the fact that there are as many as nine speakersremaining on my list, I should like, with the concurrenceof the members of the Council, to suspend the meetingnow and resume it at 3.30 p.m.

The meeting was suspended at 1.20 p.m.

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