Source: http://www.un.int/usa/06_240.htm http://www.un.int/usa/06_240.htm Date: September 22, 2006 USUN PRESS RELEASE #  240(06)   September 22, 2006 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     Remarks by Ambassador John R. Bolton, U.S. Representative to the United Nations, on Sudan, Iran, and other matters, at the Security Council stakeout, September 22, 2006 Ambassador Bolton: Okay, I don’t really have anything except we are going to -- expecting to be passing a rollover for the mandate for the U.N. Mission in Sudan today. And in preparation for the meeting this afternoon that Secretary Rice will co-host with Danish Foreign Minister, Per Stig Moeller, on the Sudan. At which time we expect a lot of emphasis to be placed on the importance of getting the transition from the African Union to the U.N. as soon as possible. Reporter: How do you read all of the speeches so far? I mean a lot of the very strong anti-American sentiment that’s been expressed? Is this something that you are concerned about? Is this just sort of standard -- you’ve seen this in year’s past? What are you getting from the atmospherics in the GA to be? Ambassador Bolton: Well, I think there are obviously some leaders who are more willing to express the anti-American sentiments in public. But I don’t think, for example, this year that President Chavez has gotten more anti-American than he has been in the past. I think that there is, perhaps more of an inclination to vent those emotions here because they think they are more likely to get a positive reception. But I think that behavior doesn’t do them any credit and it certainly doesn’t benefit the United Nations. Reporter: Ambassador Bolton, you have moved on the UNMIS resolution from I think a 6 month extension to just a (inaudible). What do you hope to get accomplished in these next couple of weeks or is it just time for reflection? Also, how is the U.S. going to move ahead on the findings of the panel of experts report on Sudan? The government of Sudan is continuing to violate U.N Security Council resolutions. Ambassador Bolton: The purpose of the 2-week extension, really, is to take advantage of the decision by the African Union on Wednesday, which was a very positive development, to extend the AMIS mandate. There was a discussion of a variety of steps that might be taken at the Perm 5 Foreign Ministers meeting with the Secretary-General yesterday at the luncheon. And we felt that because there are a number of ideas out there, including the idea of Prime Minister Blair for a Heads of State meeting on Sudan, that this short, technical rollover made some sense. That would give us more time, I think, to build up momentum and pressure on the government of Khartoum to accept the inevitability that there is going to be a UN Peacekeeping force. Reporter: (Inaudible) panel of experts report? Ambassador Bolton: Well, we’re going to be proposing a resolution today, informally, to extend the panel of experts’ mandate and to begin to discuss what steps we might take in response to the report. Reporter: Ambassador, you will be discussing an issue of Kosovo, can you brief us on what you have and will be the next future steps? Bolton: Well, of course right now the Council’s listening to President Tadic’s expression of the views of the government of Serbia. Following that, we’ll have a briefing by Martti Ahtisaari, the special representative, on his take on the state of play in negotiations on status and the Council will have a discussion of that. Our position has been clear for some time. We think it’s important after seven years of uncertainty for Kosovo, that the people of Kosovo and Serbia and the region as a whole deserve to have their status resolved and that’s certainly the point we’ll be stressing. Reporter: (In audible) Bolton: President Tadic has spoken this morning to present the view of the government of Serbia, and then there will be an Arria-style meeting later today for the purpose of to hear from the Kosovar Albanians. Reporter: The contact group had Kosovo, has a timeline or pushed a timeline. Is the Council going to endorse that or -- Bolton: I don’t think we contemplate a presidential statement or anything on that today. That’s been the position of the United States’ Ambassador Wisner has been expressing in the meetings in a variety of fora. Reporter: Can you give us a sense of where things might stand on discussions with Larijani? The Russian ambassador yesterday obviously gave the impression that they don’t feel nearly the same sense of urgency that you do on these sanctions discussions. Where are we headed? Ambassador Bolton: Well, I think at this point, Javier Solana is looking to find out where Larijani is, and then see if they can agree on a mutually agree on a convenient, great city of Europe where they can meet, or a great city of almost anywhere. It would be nice to have the meeting. We thought the meeting would occur within the last seven days, or I guess I should say the third or fourth meeting of this serious. We are trying to go the extra mile or indeed go several extra miles to give the European Union the fullest possible chance to explore the options that they have been pursuing. But I think the President and Secretary Rice made it very clear this week that absent a verifiable suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment activities, we’re prepared to move for sanctions here in the Council and to take similar steps to exert economic pressure on Iran outside the Council, and that remains our view. But this is an effort to accommodate our friends in Europe and we’re making every effort to accommodate them. And I’m sure that they are just as eager to get this resolved because there is no doubt that for the last three years Iran has used the cover of negotiations to continue to perfect technical aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. As you recall, but I will repeat because it’s important. Hassan Ruhani, the former chief nuclear negotiator, made a speech where he quite publicly said that Iran and taken advantage of negotiations with the EU3 to perfect their uranium conversion facility at Isfahan, a facility that converts uranium from solid form into a gaseous form, which needs to be done before the enrichment step can be taken. Time works for the Iranian side to allow them to make progress to perfect all of the various aspects of the work they need to complete the nuclear fuel cycle. That’s why suspension is so important. Reporter: Just now you mentioned that you thought that anti-American sentiments were getting a better reception here. I’m wondering why you think that is these days and how that effects policy like Iran and Sudan and other things that Americans are trying to (inaudible) -- Ambassador Bolton: I don’t think I said it’s getting a better reception than temporally from other times, I think what I was trying to say, and perhaps I didn’t say it artfully was that it just gets a better reception here period. But, it’s not surprising and I think it’s important frankly, for people to hear this because I do think it’s a reflection of what some of these governments think and I think it helps when the American people get to hear it directly. Reporter: On Sudan, Ambassador, you had a PRST kind of floating out there, what concerns have delayed moving ahead on that? Ambassador Bolton: Again, with the decision of the African Union on Wednesday we think that’s a step forward and I think it’s just a matter of time and scheduling before we’ll bring that PRST back up probably as early as next week. Reporter: What do you expect to come out of today’s meeting with all the Foreign Ministers on Sudan? Is it just a review or are you going to give out assignments on how to pressure different governments to pressure Sudan? Ambassador Bolton: Well the format of the meeting of course is not just Foreign Ministers of Security Council nations, but of important regional players in the matter and I think it’s intended to try and demonstrate that the concern to prevent a further deterioration of the situation in Darfur is not just something that the United States and United Kingdom and a few other countries feels but that it has much broader concern that we want to demonstrate through this meeting and I expect there will be a statement coming out of it from the co-hosts of the meeting, the Foreign Minister of Denmark and our Secretary of State, that a number of governments will be supporting. Reporter: (Inaudible) his proposal that they should recognize Israel? Ambassador Bolton: I don’t have anything that I would say here. I think probably in Washington there may be a further reaction to that as appropriate. Anything else then? Okay. Thanks a lot.