 Let me welcome you to the United States Institute of Peace. We are very proud to be able to have the Secretary General's representative, senior representative, here, Mr. Ed Melkert, to talk to us today about what's going on in Baghdad and more broadly in Iraq. As many of you know, he had an opportunity to present to the Security Council two days ago, I believe. And this is a great opportunity for us and people in this room and even beyond this room to have an opportunity to get this update, and if he has some time, he is catching a train this afternoon. So I have to be sure that I watch the clock, but I hope to be able to have an opportunity to ask you for your questions at this time. I would like for people to turn off their cell phones so they don't make any noise. And I look forward to having an opportunity to raise these issues with you. But one thing I should say, the Dutch have this knack for me being able to do difficult jobs in diplomacy and other areas. And Mr. Melkert is no exception, starting at the World Bank, at the UN, and now as the SRSG, he is in a very, has been in difficult positions. This is probably the most difficult position. You can say, but I suspect this is as difficult a job as he has had. So again, we're very pleased to have you here, sir, and the floor is yours. Well, thank you very much for that introduction. I will resist the temptation to speculate on the result of the Dutch elections on the 9th of June, but it might be even more complicated than in Iraq, what will be the aftermath of that day. But yes, I must admit that it is extraordinarily complicated, but also I would say very gratifying to be able to be in the position where I am and also having the opportunity this afternoon to share some impressions and thoughts and updates with you, gratifying from the point of view of the UN, because Baghdad, Iraq is really a place where many dimensions of the classic UN missions come together to try to assist in the political process of transition, to try to continue to provide humanitarian assistance, particularly for internally displaced refugees, to work meanwhile on the transition from the stage of humanitarian assistance to development and policy advice for the new governments in a potentially rich country but where the organization of the priorities and the implementation of policies still requires a lot, particularly to ensure that the revenues will be of benefit to most instead of just a few. And there is the human rights mandate with many issues, freedom of press, position of journalists, prisoners, position of women as issues that actually deserve a lecture just by itself. This afternoon I think it's best from my side to give you a few, to share a few remarks on the political situation after the elections and in view of the government formation but of course other topics could be discussed as well and are certainly as important. On the moment that we speak right now, we hope that it's now a matter of days, but I might be still too optimistic, that the final result of the election will be ratified by the Supreme Court. There are still a few hiccups, even these days with appeals on certain candidates and even efforts to deduct votes from parties, votes that have been cast on the 7th of March. We have consistently advised the Independent High Electrical Commission that after the election dates no votes of parties could be deducted, regardless particular decisions on candidates in view of their background, not only the so-called debatification and the reference to the past of candidates but also their educational qualifications or their criminal records, it's all part of reality. We have never stated our opinion on individual cases but from the UN I very much advised on due process that should of course include respect for the votes cast on the 7th of March. As it looks now, we're very close to an outcome that is respecting that principle and we have had of course also the recount for the Baghdad voting stations, which was about one-fifth of the total votes cast. We were happy to see that the margin of error was less than 0.1%, so in that sense a very strong confirmation of the validity of the process and of the count and we believe that that has also helped many people to have confidence that is possible in Iraq to have a proper process in place and that's the start of everything, even if a lot of politics follows and that's of course very complicated in and by itself. And having said that, I think that I should actually start with the good news and that is that ever since the moment that the election law was agreed upon early December after lots of pulling and pushing and when there were complaints at that time in Iraq but also from abroad and from international media, including US media, I liked to make the point or the prediction that probably an election law in Iraq would be sooner agreed upon than the health bill in Washington and that was indeed what happened, so that was good at that time and the good news further was that the election law was a firm basis for preparations of the elections. I set aside the debatification issue but by and large the preparation was good, the election day was truly an historic, excuse me, truly an historic event with more than 62% turnout and not only that but really people, visibly people that were very happy to cast their votes and then we had a count and the recount and I hope very soon we can say the rest is history and the good news of that is that that is all according to the book, all according to the rules that had been agreed upon in the constitution. Constitution is far from perfect, the election law was far from perfect but given the history of Iraq it is all progress in the making and every new step is a big step forward and that is what I how we I think could characterize the election process to date. Circumstances in Iraq are still in in many ways of concern so that is maybe have good, have less good news. The have good news is that the ability of the government to govern and of the security forces to provide security has been greatly enhanced over the past two years or so and that is basically maintained at those levels as we speak and that is a far cry from the high insecurity and enormous levels of violence in 2006, 2007. However, it is also true that the level of violence at this moment is very comparable between January and this moment this year compared to the same period last year and so that doesn't show the kind of progress that one would like to see, we're still talking about around 2,000 people killed since early January, more than 5,000 people injured, many incidents every day again, some parts of the country much more than in other parts of the country but certainly not yet a situation that would approach more satisfactory levels or manageable levels. And then the other news and I really can't say at this moment whether it's good or bad time will tell in the next few weeks and months is that as we are now very close to the ratification of the results, the full weight of the further process will be on the shoulders of the political leaders to have a serious government formation process in place and that's not self-evident how that's going to be organized, it's not self-evident from the political angle because there are of course different interests and although the interesting result of the election is that there are four major lists, all those lists are in fact made up of different interests that also within the lists are certainly competing for power and influence. And another aspect that is very important is that there are no clear rules, no real customs of course also in place that guides the political leaders to the next stage. Officially 15 days after the ratification of the results, the new parliament will be convened and the new parliament will have to elect a new speaker and the new president and then 15 days from then the president will ask a candidate prime minister to start form a government and if he wouldn't succeed there would be a next turn but that sounds slightly more orderly than it probably probably will be and just at the very start of the stage after the ratification there will be a great responsibility for political leaders to try to organize the process in order to ensure that the Iraqi voters will understand why it was that they cast their vote on the 7th of March and also to avoid the sense or anxiety that there could be a political vacuum in the country which is not necessarily the case because the outgoing government maintains authority over all decisions that are needed yet many countries know of course that in a transition to a new government the efficiency but also or the effectiveness but also the credibility of what the outgoing government does is in a different context than in the normal circumstances so keep that period very briefly is extremely important now here and there are a few principles that could help the different actors to find their way and that's also what the UN has advised and is advising them to do but of course from the role that we have which is advising at the request of the Iraqis according to the mandate that the Security Council has provided to us one important principle is the inclusiveness of the government here I think that some steps forward have been achieved because before the elections there was there was still there was still quite much talk of a kind of majority government with a relatively small majority versus a relatively big minority in opposition but more and more the understanding has grown that in a country like Iraq in the situation where it is now it might be very much preferable to have actually the major lists also represented in the government and that principle is more and more adhered to although the the risk still is that the process leading to that inclusive government wouldn't be very inclusive from the very beginning in other words that first two parties would come together and then a third party would come and then a fourth party would actually have only a secondary position or choice and that's one of the things that we try to discuss with political leaders that it would be very important that the process inclusive from the very beginning the second principle is that of power sharing actually in my interaction with many parties and their leaders it struck me that there is a sense that although the position of the prime minister in the Constitution is very clear and nobody basically wants to amend that that in the management of decision-making within the Council of Ministers it could be of great importance to have a clearer set of rules for the Council of Ministers that are basically not existing at this point in time maybe also with a clearer role for deputy prime ministers or ministers in certain key areas so that it would be clear that decisions would be taken more collectively which is an essential feature of a coalition to succeed as I know also myself from from working in countries where making coalition governments is the bread and butter of the politicians is not only your coalition agreement it's also how you take decisions on a day-to-day basis and a third principle although admittedly I think that for the time being we're least successful with advocating that point is that in absence of very clear time limits in the Constitution it could be helpful if politicians themselves would agree voluntarily on a kind of reasonable time periods to try to put a government together because as more generally in life certainly also in politics it helps to have certain deadlines or semi deadlines if not in post then in any case voluntarily agreed and again this is of course out of concern that the process might take so much time that it would have adverse consequences in in different ways so this is a bit the the update where we are now many things of what will happen may be part of speculation other things we might know and we might also try to position to define our own position on that in how as you when we can advise and obviously whereas you and not the only international stakeholder with the US government still in a in a very central position given the status of forces agreement that also will be a responsibility for the new iraqi government at least until the end of 2011 and with the neighboring countries visibly interested and involved in the process there is of course a lot of interaction between iraq and the international community but let me stop here and take any further question thank you very good very good that would be great that would be great if you would that works better for our friends in the back here this is very good this milker let me just ask you a question to follow up on your point about the lack of guiding principles for how this is all going to come together you or others have suggested the possibility of a roundtable that would that would get the leaders together presumably all four major lists does this have resonance there is there a possibility that that could push them toward something in a restricted time frame that you suggested well the suggestion of a roundtable is actually iraqi based particularly al maraqim from the islamic supreme council so part of the ina coalition the iraqi national alliance and the sadrists have made that suggestion actually quite soon in the process they continue to repeat the suggestion for the time being it was very difficult to bring parties around that table partially because state of law coalition the prime ministers coalition has very much emphasized the needs that first the electoral process should be finalized and they have been also very active actually until these days to file appeals that prolong the process and partially it is probably also the the outcome of a multitude of bilateral meetings that have been taken place and that are taking place between all major parties and that have not yet led to the formula that would probably be satisfactory for parties to meet around one table and one of of those relevant bilateral contacts and developments is the agreement between state of law coalition and the iraqi national alliance so the two shiite parties that have announced that there is an agreement although they are still working at the elaboration of the implications of that agreement but i think that many observers agree on the point that this is particularly meant to try to select prime minister's candidates who then would have the support of two of the four blocks from the outset and that might change conditions for a possible round table so one other question and then we will open this up more broadly and i guess we will do this at the okay very good as a politician as a member of the parliament in the netherlands and as a as a minister you have observed that during the formation of the government during the period of time when when the government is being negotiated and these discussions among parties that may be an opportunity to solve some problems or at least to address some problems so that the government can have some views and a platform something to start off with when it is formed do you see that happening or do you anticipate that happening as these negotiations get serious as soon as the certification takes place it's a very important point we observe some indirect positive effects actually of the fact that after elections sometimes things can be discussed with a kind of new energy and inspiration that is not always there when before the elections for all kind of sensitivity reasons and particularly in the interaction between iraqia and the Kurdistan alliance we are seeing at this moment more possibilities than before to address some of the tensions in the province of ninua where after the provincial council elections in january 09 the Kurdish fraternal lists remained out of the provincial council and of the provincial administration despite the fact that the Kurds are representing around one-third of the population of ninua so tensions between the arab side lists hadba and Kurdistan fraternal lists have been high there were frustrations at the side of the governor that he was not allowed to travel in his province as some parts of the province are controlled by the Kurdistan Peshmerga forces in relation also to the joint security arrangements where the u.s. forces play a role with the iraqi army and the Peshmerga there are issues big issues as you know with minorities particularly christian minorities in ninua and there's a huge frustration at the side of many Arabs that there are detainees in Kurdistan who are either not known where they are or they are in faraway prisons cannot be visited by their families etc so on all these issues deputy prime minister isawi took an initiative last year to try to put an agreement together that would address basically all these questions he got stuck it was before the elections it was too sensitive and we have with him together we have tried to pick it up and with some noticeable progress at this moment there is now a committee dealing with classifying detainees in the Kurdistan region anticipating possible release or transfer we are just this week the first meeting of a committee on the protection of minorities with actually all major parties and of course representatives of the minorities included it will be difficult but it is definitely an important signal the the governor has been actually allowed so to speak to to come closer to be more consulted in issues that are relevant for the security in his province and we hope that all of this will lead in the coming weeks or so to the return of the Kurdish fraternal list in the provincial council and by all means that would be a very positive signal as there are also clear linkages with the wider agenda of the Arab Kurdish relations on oil revenue sharing disputed areas and Kirkuk which certainly is a big issue for the future and let me there make a second remark one would hope that in the coming weeks some emphasis would also shift from the discussion about process and prime minister and key ministerial posts to the key programmatic objectives for a new government the choice might be made of course to deal with that after a government is formed I mean that and that would in itself be legitimate but somehow before a new government would be seated there could be more space for compromise and for real understanding as to how to deal with these very sensitive issues and we from the UN in any case try to encourage our interlocutors to to look at it that way and to consider some some options to address these very good I'm going to ask one last question I can see that the ambassador lit has already figured out how we're going to operate here and he's positioned himself in front of this microphone others who would like to ask questions of the SRSG are invited to approach either microphone and we will try to alternate back and forth as you do that ambassador lit would give me one last question the US troop levels appear to be on track staying on track despite all of the all of the events and delays that they appear to be what effect will these reduced troop levels have on the UN well in the short run so now talking about the plans withdrawal in the coming months leaving around 50,000 still in the country we we do not foresee immediate consequences and we have of course also we're in close consultation with the US on that however the next step that is scheduled for next year will have many consequences for the UN and so this is what we will discuss with the membership in New York in in Altam in terms of logistical support protection support and of course the finances that will be needed for that which is not necessarily a popular topic in an era of budget discipline but for the UN to maintain its footprint in Iraq and not only in Baghdad and Erbil which are based our two main bases at this moment it will be important to to be more supported by the membership so the drawdown of the American forces has consequences yes we are honored to have the Iraqi ambassador to the United States with us here today at any time Mr. Ambassador you would like to ask a question you are welcome to do this yeah that would be fine I'll just take the opportunity to follow up on this last point you know on the 19th of August 2003 we all witnessed the big tragedy of the attack against the United Nations after that we witnessed a retrenchment of the United Nations in terms of its attitude to security there was reluctance to expand its its operation in Baghdad a lot of its operations were run from Jordan and in Baghdad their movement was restricted and so on and so forth and you know with over the years obviously this has to some extent relaxed but now with the advent of the withdrawal of American forces and reliance entirely on Iraqi security is there a move within your team to relax further and operate in a more integral way with in terms of circulating in Iraq and interfacing with ministries and leaders or are you still under the worry left by the last attack well thank thank you for that question and also the reference to the tragedy in 2003 we must be realistic it's certainly not any longer 2003 or 2006 or seven but analysis of what some groups have in mind in protesting against foreign presence in Iraq is not only directed against the US but there are also others that are very explicitly mentioned so we must factor that in whether it's right or wrong they are certainly wrong in their assumption that the UN is there for any other interest than the strict UN mission and the impartiality which is the feature of our contribution but that is of course not not shared or understood by by everyone having said that I do agree with you that the assumption for the UN to be there should be that we should be able to interact as much as possible with the people that we want to serve frankly as a former politician I find it terrible that I don't have the opportunity that I did in my country all the time to go around on markets and public places and schools or whatever and to to have this kind of feeling also for the for the country that all of us must have fortunately we have been able to have many more people that used to work from a man now working from Baghdad or from Erbil or some other places and we want to pursue that but that is of course as circumstances permit but we are keenly aware of the need to do so and I must also acknowledge here that the the performance and the quality of the Iraqi security forces has certainly increased on average not everywhere to the same extent or in the same level of reliability but the Iraqi authorities are extremely serious in working on that and I believe over time that will also be a very important support effective for our work thank you we'll start here yes thanks David led a retired American Foreign Service officer also at embassy Baghdad a few years ago you know my question really was about the the shrinking of the American military presence but could you expand a little bit on some of the opportunities that you see that might be arising now that the United States military may no longer be may no longer have such a big presence in addition to some of the additional risks to Iraq well it's it is it is quite difficult for me to to speak about that because part of it is just speculation and I would also not like to to have say a political interpretation of of any remark that I would like to make on this let me just say that last year end of June when the American most of the American combat forces withdrew from the urban areas there were lots of say dark expectations as to what that would entail and one cannot say that that that has come true there have been some horrible explosions several several times but on on average the the level of security has not suffered from from that step maybe even a bit on the country although I would like to underscore the point that I made that the levels of security are not really going down further than the the drop that started maybe one and a half year ago and there is certainly a huge opportunity for the Iraqi security forces to impose themselves and that's what we saw around the elections the the security arrangements around the elections were really quite strongly organized under the responsibility of the so-called higher security committee that was led by the Iraqi police chief general Aydin and of course the US was there to back up but certainly the Iraqis led that operation and they did so in a very professional and by and large successful way and I suppose that that these kind of opportunities will also become more visible the less us troops are there and let's also face it that for some groups in society the presence of us troops has of course remained a matter of controversy even after the status of forces agreement as agreed with the government so in that sense also their withdrawal takes away for those groups a bone of contention and I would think that particularly what what is going to happen in the course of this year should not really be of impact on the security situation but let me stop here please thank you thank you ambassador Taylor and thank you mr. market for your presentation my name is Ahmed Ali from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy I have two very quick questions the first one your right to point out that the right government asks for Yonami's advice and for Yonami's participation however it seems that whenever it comes to a critical issue or sensitive issue and Yonami does take an active role it comes under criticism for being biased for one party or another party and referring to the election law there was some criticism towards Yonami and then towards Korkuk and the dips as well so I wonder if I could get your reaction on that is that is that damaging to Yonami's efforts as it takes a much more active role in the future or is it just for public consumption and political consumption essentially essentially the second question is about alleged secret prisons in Iraq you know the right government says they're not secret we know about them but then there's another contention from the families of the detainees is Yonami doing anything to address that issue is it doing to work with the right government to prevent their the profillation proliferation of those situations because many Iraqis feel that the presence of US troops is controversial but there are other Iraqis who think that if US troops are they're concerned that if these prisons are existing right now they might even double when US troops leave let me start with the the the second question yes we're we're certainly involved with the issue and also expressing concern whenever and wherever that is needed and justified also in the recent examples I mentioned this committee on detainees in in Ninoa so on detainees in the Kurdistan region which is another example where we try to help to identify cases that sometimes were not known but at the same time that's also an interesting experience to demythologize a bit because the figures that were around about say disappeared or or not known detainees in the Kurdistan region were really in the thousands according to some but it turns out that we're talking some hundreds at maximum so it all helps to to bring the real proportions to light but then it's still a matter of concern and for instance in the case of the Kurdistan region the these administrative detention issues where people are put in prison actually without any process any due process starting at any point and this is happening in in different parts of Iraq and should be brought to the attention of the authorities that's what we do with our regular human rights reports and and more than than that it is very important although partially of course also kind of heritage of of previous years but the normalization of that is certainly one of the human rights priorities on your first point yes eunami should of course be credible to to all sides i mean impartiality is for me really the golden standard and and frankly the only way in which eunami could operate but impartiality doesn't mean that you don't have an opinion because there are certain standards that need to be adhered to be it in an electoral process being in in the interaction between parties being in in just identifying the general interest of of the people and the country admittedly there's always a subjective element to it but we're of course not in isolation doing that we are guided by the security council mandate and if necessary also the consultations with the security council members once every three months i am in new york for these consultations and as long as that backing is there and the backing is also there of major the major actors in Iraqi politics we can play our role sometimes take a hit but then like to cherish the idea that that's all for for the better and for the before the future but credibility impartiality and having access to all that that those are the key ingredients for our operation and the only way in which we can operate effectively sir yes thank you my name is raid Muhammad i'm a private citizen my issue is the iraqi diaspora they have reached i guess beyond you know saturation beyond limit they obviously have been anticipating for years you know to go back in 2005 many european countries including germany started previewing iraqi cases because a lot of them applied under the premise of saddam hussein and he was gone he was out of the picture i had the opportunity to meet with president bush and i raised this issue with him shortly after kandilisa rice went to europe including germany and the subject more or less faded you know behind backgrounds but lately you know with the sentiment against refugees against muslims arabs in europe netherland germany and of course the fallout you know the economical fallout a lot of these iraqis are very nervous you know and they really you know it's becoming a dangerous situation because they need to know what's happening in iraq iraqi refugees are living in lumbo you know to try to extend their hand to them and help them and and you know be patient with their situation and one other issue is that the ambassador raised the issue of 2003 so that takes us back to years is it does the united nation intend to indict people who played a big role in perpetuating the iron fist of saddam hussein from 1991 until 2003 by smuggling his oil and basically generating the money and the cash that he needs to further you know brutalize the iraqis while circumventing the united nation sanctions and i can supply you with a lot of names i know a lot of a lot of in person they smuggled the precious metal out of iraq through one bridge in turkey it's very clear right under the nose of united nation and sloppy you know uh observers they were driving everybody and you know smuggling iraqi oil and bringing back to saddam whatever he needed to continue his slaughter of particular in this case arab sunnis and shea so your question so my question is the united nation does the united nation intend to open these files and prosecute some of these criminals who right now actually have you know strong hand in iraq as we speak controlling iraqi fortunes and iraqi population thank you very much thank you well i see your points there but that is really beyond the mandate of uh of unami so the the mission that that i represent so i prefer not not to get into that because that's uh that's for a full afternoon i suppose um the other point um that you made a unhcr high commission for the refugees is certainly doing a lot in iraq both for returning refugees and certainly also for internally displaced persons and working with refugees particularly in jordan and siria but also in some other countries i think it's very hard to make a general statement or judgment on the position of refugees and also their opportunities to return and to return safely in that sense the situation in iraq is very differentiated between the huge differences between different parts of the country many refugees have returned successfully i'm not in the position to second guess the um decisions by countries that have enabled refugees to stay but now encourage them sometimes to go back so that's all i can say on that score i suppose this record the institute of peace is very pleased to welcome the institute for the study of war and the next question will come from hello i'm kim kagan the president of the institute for the study of war it's wonderful at long last to meet you since somehow i've missed you in iraq every single time um you had mentioned in your discussion of the principles guiding uh the un and in its advice to iraqi politicians on election formation uh that the risk of being exclusive uh in government formation pertains not only to whether all parties are included in the government but whether major lists are included in the discussion of who will become prime minister um it's the ongoing discussion right now between state of law coalition and the iraqi national alliance over setting up a committee to select the prime minister an inclusive process uh and if it is please explain why if it is not what are the kinds of ideas uh that you or other iraqis are surfacing uh to try to create an inclusive process of selection will that only happen uh if in fact iraqia gets the first chance to form a government thanks well it's uh it's an important question not easy to answer and i can certainly not explain what's going on i can just observe um and in my observation um i think it is in itself legitimate that two parties would come together and try to find a common basis for supporting basically anything whether it's a problematic objective or um the prime minister position however there are different statements from different actors under the ina state of law um um cooperation that have referred to the needs not only to find uh say support within their cooperation but also to check that so to speak with the position of other parties so to consult them now whether they will do that how they will do that and when that will happen uh i could not say that that is i think unclear to any observer at this moment but it doesn't exclude that that would also be part of the consideration and let's not forget that even when um iraq or ina and state of law together uh are very close to a majority but they don't have a stable majority so you you need um at least a third uh block or some smaller parties but preferably actually more support for the prime minister and i believe that point is actually widely recognized so this is then perhaps more about the sequence of the process than necessarily inclusion or exclusion over time it it might serve also the purpose of exclusion whether that will be interpreted that the other side the same way is a totally different question if i could follow up on kim's uh question there one of your principles that you mentioned uh government coalition inclusive of all major winning lists what would that look like is that me is there not an opposition in that formulation what does the how does it work well i've i've made the point to the security council um this this week that uh yes if you would have all major lists included in the government you could not speak of the say the governing minority majority versus the uh the opposition minority but i've made a point that probably the inclusiveness of the government is the radical alternative to the exclusion of many communities and many people in governments in iraq in the past so that in that sense if it's really about change this this this could be a very good way of um representing that that feeling and that uh desire for change that was probably also around at the time that the voters cast their votes that of course does not preclude the parliament from um fulfilling its role as a controlling organ in the framework of constitutional checks and balances and interestingly i observe that um within different parties some people are working on improving the procedures in parliament um and basically making sure that the parliament can show its teeth when it's necessary to those that uh that that have the authority in the different areas um and that is not necessarily along party lines that you could develop that and i believe we could also support parties in in that and that could improve the the role of the demo or the development of the democratic process in the near future very well very good sir um to respect your uh train ticket why don't we take the last these be the last three questions um and we will go here mr. melkert ambassador taylor thank you for speaking with us today i just have two quick questions looking beyond government formation what do you see um what are the key challenges iraq is going to face in the neighborhood iraqi foreign policy and specifically how do you see or what role will unami play in helping iraq to fulfill its chapter seven obligations well um the the foreign policy equation is is very complex as you as you doubtlessly know um looking back over the past few years um there has certainly been some some problems in iraq's initial ambition and also something that was very much supported from the security council perspective to be part of say a wider neighborhood regional development because the say the level of interaction bilaterally with different neighboring countries is is different um you know that uh after last august the relations with syria got tense the relations with so the arabia are not at the level of um ambassadors only very recently an iraqi ambassador has been appointed for um kuwait and at the same time we see a very high level of involvement of particularly iran and turkey uh in different ways and and for different reasons but certainly part also of the political and economic interaction in the region we try to advise all parties that it would be important for a new government to develop uh say a more multilateral approach also towards relations in the region because there's there's an enormous potential in the region i don't need to explain that and yet it is it is very much um under uh used um one might perhaps speculate that the the high intensity of interaction between capitals and many political leaders could probably improve the um opportunities for such neighborhood relations interestingly um both from iran and from so the arabia like from other capitals the the point has been made that it would be in the interest of iraq to have an a government inclusive of all lists that was not immediately or originally the same thing that was said by everyone but the one we have seen a certain convergence of of ideas and hopefully that could also be a platform for progress than after uh the new after the government formation now in chapter seven that is something that that is a very important point for all iraqi part parties that the chapter seven sanctions that are still in place after the going back to the gulf war 1990 1991 that um iraq could exit from these which in itself makes perfect sense but there are a number of conditions that need to be fulfilled and one of the key points is really um an unambiguous uh reaffirmation of the borders between iraq and kawait as designed in resolution 833 in 1993 so this is a very much a political matter and then there are important issues about missing persons about compensation payments the border maintenance that should relatively easily be addressed um once that political clarification would have been provided and this is one of the issues where i hope that the post election space will turn out to be bigger than the pre-election space because it was very difficult actually to bring parties together on that point clearly the un has has a role also in this the security council must decide on that eventually and we'll try to work into that direction thank you my question is about the judiciary in iraq and there have been a number of attempts by uh political actors to co-opt or influence the judicial branch of iraq to in my view undermine the democratic process and uh the debathification being one uh the large number of arrests of members of one particular party being another and there continue to be appeals uh today uh to the judicial branch to try to influence um the outcome of the election and my comment to you is seems to me that the un and you in particular have been somewhat quiet on some of these issues and i was wondering if you could comment on your view of how how serious are these issues and what's the degree to which they threaten to undermine the democratic process thanks well let me say i i really do appreciate your question i think it's an important question but i also back for some understanding that i will remain relatively quiet in my answer because um at some points some moments where uh there was there were reasons for concern we have certainly not hidden our opinion on that but um my preference is there to play and not only there we do that more often a more discrete role because first and foremost it is important that there is an acceptance of the role of the judiciary as the arbiter in in uh in processes and to cut through stalemates um to have an understanding by all parties that in the constitutional system the judiciary has to play its role which sometimes can even be more important than whether you like or dislike the outcome of that role that the judiciary is is playing so there are these two interests at the same time that we have to factor in also in terms of what we advise and with whom we speak but um let me just say that nothing escapes us last question sir my question is regarding the uh current disagreements in the interpretation of the constitutional article that governs the definition of the largest block that gets the first shot at forming the government and there's certainly some disambiguity some ambiguity in uh explaining the second part as to who gets the second shot if the first one fails um would you say that this is an irrelevant point of formality that at the end of the day it's the block that actually gets the support of 163 or uh uh voters that gonna form the government or is it actually a matter that uh of importance in the sequence of the process and if it is uh what kind of role does unami play in in resolving this dispute thank you well thank you for that question and chairman also for allowing the most difficult question to be asked as the last one it is of course an important question which also has has gotten considerable political weight yet i can share with you as i did with mr lawi mr maliki and others that i think it is important really to make a distinction between the not an important uh form formality of who would be asked by the president to have the first try to form a government and the political reality which which has much more weight as to where is the majority for anyone who would want to be prime minister in the likelihoods that actually clarity about where that majority is will have been achieved already before even the president will be in the position to formally ask uh a candidate prime minister to start forming a government this goes also back to the experience four years ago although i i certainly would would not like uh would not prefer to see a repetition of that process but where it actually where parliaments after convening kept its session open for a very long period of time until such time that there was clarity about the political agreement on all the major positions prime minister speaker president and some other important issues with regard to the new government so in other words whilst it is understandable that iraqiya is is happy in the first place that they had most seats and that they referred to that constitutional article there was also the reality that a non-binding opinion from the supreme court had been asked by state of law that said it can be either the the winner of the elections or the largest bloc after elections once parliaments is formed and a bloc comes together and there's of course speculation that i in a state of law could be that together and then they would have more seats than iraqiya but my point remains that the part from all the subtleties there and the legal interpretations and my advice to parties is is really to focus on the politics and to understand that in a system of minority parties the electorate does not directly elect the prime minister the prime minister is the results of the coalition formation process and that is majority based so it's better to look at the end of the process than to focus all attention and maybe controversy on the starts of the process. Mr. Melker let me on behalf of everyone here and those viewing this thank you very much for taking the time here to speak to the american people and the folks in this room you've got a very difficult job as you know better than anyone and we are very lucky that there's a judgment at the helm here and we had the best of best of luck but join me in thanking