| Date | 28 March 1997 |
|---|---|
| Started | 20:40 |
| Ended | 20:55 |
Links for full page
URL: wiki:
Instructions
Click on the Link to this button beside the speech or paragraph to expand it to a useful panel containing:
- The date of the speech
- A link to the original page of the PDF document
- A URL that can be used in most blogs
- A structured Citation template suitable for use in a Wikipedia article.
Those last two rows (“URL” and “wiki”) use textboxes to hide most of the text.
To access this text, right-click in the textbox with your mouse and choose “Select All”, then right-click again and choose “Copy”. Now you can right-click into another window and choose “Paste” to get the text.
The situation in Albania Letter dated 28 March 1997 from the Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/1997/259)
| President: |  | Mr. Wlosowicz Poland |
(The Presidency changes each month to the next member in alphabetical order) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Members: |  | Mr. Somavía Chile |
 | Mr. Qin Huasun China |
 | Mr. Berrocal Soto Costa Rica |
 | Mr. Abdel Aziz Egypt |
 | Mr. Dejammet France |
 | Mr. Da Gama Guinea-Bissau |
|
 | Mr. Konishi Japan |
 | Mr. Mahugu Kenya |
 | Mr. Monteiro Portugal |
|
 | Mr. Park Republic of Korea |
 | Mr. Lavrov Russia |
 | Mr. Osvald Sweden |
|
 | Sir John Weston United Kingdom |
 | Mr. Gnehm United States |
|||
Adoption of the agenda
The situation in Albania
Letter dated 28 March 1997 from the Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/1997/259)
The President
I should like to inform the Council that I have received letters from the representatives of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey, in which they request to be invited to participate in the discussion of the item on the Council’s agenda. In conformity with the usual practice, I propose, with the consent of the Council, to invite those representatives to participate in the discussion, without the right to vote, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter and rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.
There being no objection, it is so decided.
The President
The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations.
Members of the Council have before them the letter dated 28 March 1997 from the Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, document S/1997/259.
Members of the Council also have before them document S/1997/260, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by Albania, Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Spain, Sweden, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands have joined as sponsors of the draft resolution.
I should like to draw the attention of the members of the Council to the following revisions to be made to the text of the draft resolution contained in document S/1997/260 in its provisional form.
The last part of the seventh preambular paragraph should read:
“in particular those of the OSCE and of the European Union”;
and the last part of operative paragraph 4 should read:
“further authorizes these Member States to ensure the security and freedom of movement of the personnel of the said multinational protection force”.
I should like to draw the attention of the members of the Council to the following documents: S/1997/226 and S/1997/230, letters dated 17 and 14 March 1997 from the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, and S/1997/251, letter dated 24 March 1997 from the Chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General; and S/1997/258, letter dated 27 March 1997 from the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General.
It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to vote on the draft resolution before it, as orally revised in its provisional form. Unless I hear any objection, I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.
There being no objection, it is so decided.
I shall first call on those members of the Council who wish to make statements before the voting.
Mr. Qin Huasun (China)
The Chinese delegation is concerned about developments in Albania and hopes that tranquillity and stability will be restored in Albania as soon as possible. We therefore support the political and diplomatic efforts made by the international community towards the settlement of the Albanian question.
The question of Albania is a complex one. In essence, it is the internal affair of Albania. For the Security Council to authorize action in a country because of strife resulting from the internal affairs of that country is inconsistent with the provisions of the United Nations Charter. This matter should therefore be handled with extreme caution. Moreover, we have never been in favour of the Security Council frequently invoking Chapter VII of the Charter in authorizing such actions.
At the same time, however, with due regard for the relevant requests of the Albanian Government and for its urgent desire for the return of stability to Albania as soon as possible, the Chinese delegation will not stand in the way of the adoption of the draft resolution.
In our view, the ultimate settlement of the Albanian question depends on the Albanian people themselves. We look forward to the restoration of stability and calm to Albania at the earliest date.
The President
I now put to the vote the draft resolution contained in document S/1997/260, as orally revised in its provisional form.
| favour | against |
| abstain | absent |
favour=14 against=0 abstain=1 absent=0
Chile, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, France, Guinea-Bissau, Japan, Kenya, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States
The President
The result of the voting is as follows: 14 votes in favour, none against and 1 abstaining. The draft resolution, as orally revised in its provisional form, has been adopted as resolution 1101 (1997).
There are no further speakers on my list. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on the agenda.
Before adjourning the meeting, I would like to thank all present here tonight — members of the Security Council, other Members of the United Nations, and members of the Secretariat — for their commitment and their patience. I hope they will all have a well-deserved peaceful weekend.
