Q: [inaudible] why do you keep saying you are concerned what would happen in light of the Mehlis report? You have been urging, through your spokesman, for restraint. What is worrying you? Why are you calling for restraint? What are you afraid of?

SG: I haven't said I'm afraid or I'm worried. So relax. I haven't said I'm afraid or I'm worried.

Q: [inaudible] that you called for restraint, Sir, today, so that I'm following up.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, why did you ask that Terje Roed-Larsen postpone his briefing to the Council from this week to next week? Is it too many blows for one country in one week?

SG: No. The Council has lots of work and its agenda has to be managed. And my own time also has to be managed, and we need to decide what I am going to take up first, and when, and what other issues are on my agenda. And Mehlis was coming in to see me this week, and I intend to release his report as quickly as I can. Then I will turn my attention to the report on 1559 and also deliver it to the Council. So, it doesn't – What is important is the Council gets both reports this month. It doesn't matter which goes first, and I don't think we are trying to delay to “ease the blow” for one country or the other.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, you said earlier in the week that you wanted to try and avoid politicization of the Mehlis report. In a region like the Middle East, how, realistically, is that possible? And are there any suggestions or is there any advice you would have on how this could be done?

SG: Yesterday I indicated that this is a technical exercise, a juridical exercise, and we need to keep it pure. And I was going to keep it that way. There may be politicization of the issue by others in the region or elsewhere, but I don't think it should be my business as Secretary-General to be engaged or encourage politicization. So I would give a technical and judicial report – a prosecutorial report – done by Mehlis to the Council. And, of course, Mehlis's report is the beginning, not the end, because the magistrates and others will have to follow through on that report and decide whom to charge and whom to bring to the dock. But you are right that you can't prevent people from politicizing it and implying all sorts of – I've read things in the papers, in the press, which has really surprised me, and some of it is pure fiction, honestly.