U.S. Department of State 95/10/25 Daily Press Briefing

From: hristu@arcadia.harvard.edu (Dimitrios Hristu)

U.S. State Department Directory

Subject: U.S. Department of State 95/10/25 Daily Press Briefing

Office of the Spokesman

[...]

CYPRUS

Membership in the European Union ..........................16

[...]

FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

Human Rights Abuses in Banja Luka/A/S Shattuck's Meeting.

  with President Milosevic ................................25-29

--Access of International Organizations/Western Press .....26,27,29

--A/S Holbrooke's Letter to Milosevic .....................27

--Activities of the War Crimes Tribunal ...................28,33

--Role of Serbian President in Human Rights Abuses ........28-29

--Access to Witnesses of Human Rights Abuses ..............32-33

Representation of Bosnian Serbs at Proximity Peace Talks ..30

--Schedule for Talks ......................................33-39

Russia's Role in Peace Implementation .....................31-32

Representation of Croatia at Proximity Peace Talks ........40

Visa for President Milosevic ..............................42-43

[...]

[...]

Q Early in the morning, the Foreign Minister of Cyprus had a meeting with Under Secretary Tarnoff here at the State Department. Immediately after the meeting, the Foreign Minister made a statement in which he said that the solution to the Cyprus problem is not a prerequisite for the acceptance of Cyprus in the European Union as a member.

Do you have any comment on that? Does the U. S. agree or disagree with this position?

MR. BURNS: The U. S. position is that we would support Cyprus's candidacy for membership in the European Union.

Q The entire island or part of Cyprus?

MR. BURNS: Well, Cyprus is a bizonal community.

[...]

Q Before I came in here, there was a little snippet on the wires from the AFP, quoting Assistant Secretary Shattuck on the Bosnian Serbs reopening detention camps near Banja Luka. Can you give us more - - do you have more on that?

MR. BURNS: It's something that we are looking into today. To answer your question, let me just review, for those of you who aren't aware, that Secretary Christopher asked Assistant Secretary John Shattuck over last weekend to travel to the region to look personally into these allegations of human rights atrocities in Banja Luka.

He met with Mr. Milosevic yesterday in Serbia, in Belgrade, and had a long meeting with him. Mr. Shattuck gave President Milosevic a detailed personal account of his interview of the refugees whom he encountered at Zenica last week.

He gave him on behalf of the Red Cross and the UNHCR a list of 1200 people who we believe are missing as a result of the Bosnian Serb military activities in Banja Luka. These are family members of people who have been kicked out of their homes in Banja Luka by the Bosnian Serbs. These are Muslems and Croats who have made their way to Zenica and who have missing family members from some of the terrible events that took place over the last three weeks in Banja Luka. So that list was handed over.

Mr. Shattuck requested that the United Nations and the international community and the Red Cross be given direct and immediate access to the sites in Sanski Most, in Banja Luka and in Srebrenica and Zepa from the past nefarious activities of the Bosnian Serb military leadership, where we suspect that there were human rights abuses.

In a speech last night on Serbian television, Mr. Milosevic said he had met with Mr. Shattuck, that he had received the direct request of the United States Government, and that he would attempt to comply with it. We heard from the Serbian Government this morning -- in fact, from the Serbian Foreign Minister, Mr. Milutinovich -- that international organizations will be given access within the next day or two to Banja Luka and specifically to those areas where the refugees in Zenica say the human rights abuses occurred. This is a positive development.

The words have been very good and welcome out of Belgrade, but we are going to remain interested in positive deeds as well as words. What I mean by that is that we hope very much that we will be given full access -- we, meaning the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United States Government and other interested governments -- full access to these sites, unfettered access to these sites, and access to any individuals who may have additional information on the terrible events that we believe took place in Banja Luka.

So that is some of the good news in a very bleak situation that came out of Assistant Secretary Shattuck's trip. He will remain in the region. He will remain in the region to lead the Administration's efforts to look into these incidents personally. He is working very tightly, together with the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross as part of this effort.

This was the third trip that he's made to the region in the last four weeks, which I think demonstrates quite clearly the fact that we in this government believe that whoever perpetrated these crimes ought to be brought to justice. This is the beginning of that effort.

Q You told us a few weeks ago about the letter that Holbrooke wrote Milosevic on this issue. A lot of the charges that have been made, a lot of crimes that were alleged to have been committed, in fact, apparently happened even after that communication took place. What was the response to that letter? In the meantime, was the matter just dropped, or what?

MR. BURNS: The letter, I think, was sent last week, Tom -- the letter that Dick Holbrooke sent. But even before that letter was sent, our Charge in Belgrade, Rudy Perina, had both spoken with Milosevic and Milutinovic on the phone and gone in to see Milosevic.

We have heard consistently from President Milosevic and his colleagues in the Serbian Government that they are opposed to summary executions and murders and human rights brutalities against Muslims and Croats; that they would assist the international community in trying to locate the people who committed them. Those are positive words. But as I said before, words are not really sufficient in a situation like this; only deeds are.

We are now beginning to see, at least, the appearance of action on some of those words. We now have a statement out of the Serbian Government just this morning that they will give the international community access.

By the way, John Shattuck asked for access by the Western press as well. He felt, and we do feel, it's very important that cameras go into Banja Luka and that print reporters -- people who know the area and are expert in the area -- go into Banja Luka, people who will recognize, we fear, some of the same signs of Bosnian Serb brutality as you and others saw in 1991 and 1992.

We need now to see a fulfillment of the commitments that were made on Serbian television last night and directly to Mr. Shattuck and prior to that, to Mr. Holbrooke. We're counting on the Serbian Government now to give us every assistance that we're going to need -- we in the international community -- to pursue these allegations of brutality.

Q Nick, is there a selective use of Serbia's influence here? You make the request to open up these areas to outside inspection and they snap their fingers and say, it's going to be done. This follows two weeks of appealing to them to use their influence to stop the slaughter and they didn't do it.

MR. BURNS: I'm not here as an apologist for the Serbian Government. I am here as one who has said pretty consistently throughout this briefing in the last couple of weeks that deeds are a lot more important than promises and words. I've already said that we don't believe that there have been sufficient number of deeds to back up these words, but we may be beginning to see some action on the part of the Serbian Government.

We will remain skeptical about everything that we're told about these events by the Bosnian Serb leadership, certainly, until we have a chance to go in with our own eyes to verify some of these terrible stories that were told to Mr. Shattuck last week by the refugees in Zenica. We're going to keep at it because it is in the interest of the international community to strengthen the War Crimes Tribunal.

I should also say that as part of the discussion yesterday in Belgrade, Mr. Shattuck gave President Milosevic a very detailed description of the activities of the War Crimes Tribunal; the fact that a number of Bosnian Serbs have been indicted, including the two leaders of the Bosnian Serb community, Mr. Karadzic and Mr. Mladic, and a description of how the information that we have developed over the last two weeks or so concerning the situation in Banja Luka will be helpful to the War Crimes Tribunal. We thought that was a very important part of that discussion.

Barry.

Q Three thousand Muslim draft-aged men disappeared and were feared killed by the Bosnian Serbs. You -- the State Department -- was asked if there was a connection to Milosevic. There was no evidence at that point.

MR. BURNS: Yes.

Q There's been a lot of contact with Milosevic now -- Shattuck and others. At this point, you're looking to the future and saying, he's going to use his influence. These people are dead.

Can you now say whether there is any connection between those marauding bands of killers and the President of Serbia?

MR. BURNS: Barry, we have believed for a very long time that the Serbian Government, including Mr. Milosevic, have influence, obviously, on the Bosnian Serb community, in general, and we believe in the Bosnian Serb military.

I am not aware of any direct connection between President Milosevic and these events. I choose those words very carefully. Those are the same words I used in weeks past.

I am not aware of any information inside this government that I have seen or that anyone else has told me about that would link him personally to these events.

Given the situation, we are willing to pursue these leads wherever they may lead. That's always been our position, and that, in fact, is part of John Shattuck's mandate as he travels through the region. He's currently in Zagreb.

Q (Inaudible) Milosevic has protected him consistently since he committed crimes in '91 in Croatia. He seems to be the one that was responsible for this. Isn't that a connection?

MR. BURNS: We know something about Arkan's activities both in prior years and also, we think, about his activities over the last couple of weeks. He's a criminal. He runs a rogue paramilitary group. He is a Serbian. He does have a residence in Belgrade.

As to his personal relationship, Tom, with President Milosevic, I don't know. It's a question that I'm quite willing to be asked every day. It's a question that we're willing to look into, but I don't know anything about his personal relationship with Milosevic.

Q Nick, did the Serbian Foreign Minister also say that the Western press would be given access to those areas, or just the international relief organizations?

MR. BURNS: I know that John Shattuck gave a press conference just in the last two hours in Zagreb. I've not seen a transcript of that. I had two conversations with him this morning. It was not clear at that time just who would be given access. We think now it will definitely be the United Nations and the ICRC. I don't know if the Serb and the Bosnian Serb authorities will give -- in this case, the Bosnian Serb authorities -- will give the press access. We have requested that. We will continue to request it. We'd like to see it happen.

We think it would be a positive development to have independent people, objective people, journalists, investigate the situation for themselves.

Q I thought you said it was someone in Washington who spoke to Milutinovic, but it was Shattuck?

MR. BURNS: No. It was John Shattuck who spoke to Milutinovic. I don't know if I misspoke or not, but it was John Shattuck who spoke to him.

Q Another issue on --

MR. BURNS: John was in Belgrade, and he met with Milosevic and Milutinovic and then had subsequent phone conversations with Milutinovic.

Q Another issue on Milosevic.

MR. BURNS: Let's just go here to Bill.

Q If you've got one on the Tribunal, go ahead.

MR. BURNS: Why don't we just go ahead with your question.

Q Concerning Milosevic and the meetings with Secretary Christopher in New York, Nick, there was the issue last week, reports that basically the Bosnian Serbs would withdraw from the peace talks, or not participate in the peace talks unless Russian or other friendly troops were involved in the PIF force.

My first question to you, did this turn out to be true? Was this coming from Milosevic and the representatives of the Bosnian Serbs, this particular demand?

MR. BURNS: I don't believe that that demand has been made to Dick Holbrooke or to Secretary Christopher or anybody else involved in the peace effort. I've never heard of it.

The Bosnian Serbs and the Serbs will be in Dayton, Ohio, late on the 31st to convene the talks with us on November 1. I'm just not aware of this demand.

Q Then, may I ask, to follow up --

MR. BURNS: Perhaps they're saying things publicly but they're not being said to us privately. It's more important what they say privately, of course.

Q Okay. It's very important to know. And then the summit assignment that was given by the two Presidents to Perry and Grachev to get it together so the Russians could participate was then not a response to Bosnian Serb threats --

MR. BURNS: Not at all. The facts are that the United States and our NATO allies are planning to be the core of a peace implementation group -- military group -- after a peace agreement is secured.

We would very much like Russia to be part of the effort. Russia, of course, will not place its troops under NATO command. Russia will not be as tightly integrated with our forces, for instance, as will, say, Canadian and French and British forces. But we think there is a role for the Russians. President Clinton and President Yeltsin, I think, agreed on that. Now it's up to Secretary Perry and General Grachev, when they meet here tomorrow, to get into this issue very deeply, as they've already begun to do. We hope to produce a solution to this.

Q If a solution isn't produced -- just a minute, Barry, please - - if a solution isn't produced, this is not then viewed as a deal- breaker or something that's going to a priori, negate the --

MR. BURNS: No. We've never been told by the Bosnian Serbs that this is a concern that will impede their participation in the talks or their participation in the solution to these problems.

Q Nick, would there be a role for a military force as a non- combatant sort of role in a peace implementation force -- civil engineering types of things? How important would that be to --

MR. BURNS: For the Russians? For the Russian Government?

Q Right.

MR. BURNS: That's certainly along the lines of what we've been discussing with the Russian Government -- perhaps a role having to do with reconstruction, with engineering, with mine-clearing, that kind of thing. That kind of role was discussed at Hyde Park. It will be discussed when Secretary Perry and General Grachev get together.

David.

Q Before we get off the Russians, you may have seen a Reuters story out of Brussels that purported to know what's going to happen, and said that a group of 2,000 crack troops would be sent and would be under some sort of a tactical Russian command but under the overall umbrella of the NATO commander, much along the lines of what the French have done in the past. Any accuracy in that report?

MR. BURNS: None, (Laughter) in the sense that President Clinton and President Yeltsin came out and spoke to you on Monday afternoon and said they did not have such an agreement. I know that there has been no follow-up since then at the senior level. That won't happen until the two Defense Ministers get together. So there's no truth to that report. I saw the same report you did and was amused by it.

Q A follow-up on the previous question. You mentioned that Mr. Shattuck asked, among other things, for access to individuals who might know more about what happened around Banja Luka.

MR. BURNS: That's right.

Q Do those individuals include Arkan?

MR. BURNS: I think that the international War Crimes Tribunal and anyone interested in human rights would appreciate the opportunity to talk to him.

Q (Inaudible) made available?

MR. BURNS: I don't believe that John Shattuck put forward a list of people with whom he wanted to talk. But, certainly, when the international community goes to Banja Luka, when the Red Cross and the U.N. does, they'll need to talk to people who we believe, or who local authorities believe, may have had either a role or some knowledge of these events.

These events were not carried out in secret. There have to be many, many people who either were a party to this or perhaps have some limited knowledge that could be helpful in piecing together the larger picture of what happened. That's of interest to us.

Q If I missed it, I apologize. Did Milosevic convey any sense that he would cooperate in giving access to relevant people?

MR. BURNS: I do know that he has specifically now said that he agrees the international community should have access, and that the Serbian Government will be helpful in this process through its influence with the Bosnian Serb authorities inside Bosnia.

I don't know if he had made any specific commitment that the United Nations will be able to question specific people. I just don't know.

Q You mean access to sites, not individuals?

MR. BURNS: Sites -- yes, that's right.

Q What about individuals?

MR. BURNS: I don't know if he has made any specific commitments about access to individuals. He has made a specific commitment about sites..

Q The international War Crimes Tribunal, earlier I think there were many problems -- they didn't meet, they didn't have funding to operate and everything. Are they functioning now normally and do they have a headquarters? I know that they were building a headquarters.

MR. BURNS: Yes.

Q How is it functioning now? Did they meet?

MR. BURNS: The Tribunal is functioning in The Hague. It's headed by Judge Richard Goldstone, a South African jurist is highly respected. It has an international staff.

The United States has provided some of the staff members from the U.S. Government. We've also provided several million dollars in financial assistance. We have an obligation -- all of us -- to keep this organization well funded so that it can do its business.

Q Nick, what can you tell us about the pre-Dayton -- the summit meeting that's been arranged with Boris Yeltsin? What's the purpose of it? How does it advance the Dayton talks?

MR. BURNS: Let me just take you through, I think, what will happen in the next couple of days leading up to that meeting and the November 1 meeting.

First, the Secretary is going to be having an all-day discussion tomorrow with the Bosnian peace team and a number of his closest advisors at a U.S. Government facility outside of Washington. He wanted to get everybody in one room together before he, the Secretary, leaves for Amman and Dick Holbrooke and his peace team get into the final days of preparation for the peace talks.

The Secretary will review our diplomatic agenda for the talks -- both our strategy and our tactics; the proposals we may be making to the parties once these talks convene -- to discuss some of the press and logistical arrangements for the Wright-Patterson talks, and also to talk about how we can use our contacts around the world and our alliance with our Contact Group friends and colleagues to further the peace talks, how we'll work with them -- the Russian Government, the French, British, and German Governments -- throughout the talks.

So it's going to be a full day of discussions tomorrow.

The Secretary then will go off to Amman on Saturday morning. He'll be returning on Monday evening. During that time, Dick Holbrooke and his diplomatic team will be working through the weekend with all the members of the Contact Group to prepare for the talks.

On Monday, you all will be given access to Wright-Patterson. The State Department will be setting up a tour of the facilities for anybody in the media who is interested in going. Cameras are welcome. This is your opportunity to take some footage of the conference hall and the other places where these meetings will take place.

On Tuesday, President Yeltsin has invited Presidents Izetbegovic, Tudjman, and Milosevic to Moscow for a meeting which we would expect would last a couple of hours.

The purpose of the meeting, as described by the Russian Government this morning, is for President Yeltsin to give his very strong personal support to the talks at Dayton and to the effort to make peace; to indicate that the United States and Russia are closely engaged together in this effort; and for President Yeltsin to give some of his personal views to the three Presidents so that we might enforce some momentum in the peace process as these talks are convened.

The three leaders will fly from Moscow to Washington on the 31st. I believe they'll be arriving in Dayton late on the 31st. You'll have an opportunity -- at least those of you from television -- to view and film the arrival at the airports.

Then on Wednesday morning, November 1, the Secretary will fly from Washington to Dayton. He will convene the talks, meaning he will likely have meetings with the three Presidents -- probably individual meetings. Then he will convene a group meeting of the three Presidents, their delegations, and the other delegations -- Russia and the Contact Group partners who will be present. That is an open media event. All of you are welcome to be there. There will be public remarks. They'll be quite extensive remarks, I think, by the Secretary and others.

After that, I know it's the Secretary's strong view, Dick Holbrooke's strong view, that then the negotiators should retreat into privacy.

What we would expect is for we in the State Department -- in fact, specifically me, here -- to keep you apprised on a daily basis of what is happening inside the military base. I'll be speaking with Dick Holbrooke many times a day.

From time to time it may be possible for Dick or Secretary Christopher to make public statements. But I think that these negotiations will be carried out pretty much in private. The Secretary intends from time to time to visit Dayton to participate in the talks.

As Dick Holbrooke told you a couple of weeks ago when he was here, the objective here is to keep the parties there until they produce, themselves, a peace agreement which would be ready then to be signed at Paris when the French host the peace conference. Those are the objectives and some of the things that we're working on.

Q (Inaudible) just ask why it was necessary that they start off in Moscow? Will the three of them meet Boris Yeltsin together? In other words, will it be a group of four together in one room?

MR. BURNS: The purpose of these talks, as the Russians intend them, is to have a group meeting -- President Yeltsin and the three Presidents. This was an issue that President Clinton and President Yeltsin discussed at Hyde Park the other day.

President Clinton thought it was an excellent idea when President Yeltsin raised it with him. President Clinton encouraged President Izetbegovic and President Tudjman to attend; and last night Dick Holbrooke had a phone conversation with Mr. Milosevic, and we encouraged him to attend.

We think it's a positive development because we think it strengthens the peace process, it strengthens international unity and resolve on the eve of the Dayton peace talks, and it makes clear to all the parties involved -- all three of them and their supporters everywhere -- that the United States and Russia are together; that we cannot be played off against each other; that we not only have the same strategy for these diplomatic negotiations, we have the same tactics; and that Russia fully supports the fact that these proximity peace talks will be taking place here in the United States, and that Russia will be an active participant, in fact a co-sponsor of those talks.

So we thought it was actually an important opportunity to grab hold of when it was suggested to us by the Russian Government.

Q Will this be the first time these three have been together in a room?

MR. BURNS: I don't know the answer to that question. I can check. It's an interesting question that we probably ought to be able to answer. Betsy's shaking her head, but --

Q I don't think so. I think they've met together in Geneva. It may have been a couple of years.

MR. BURNS: Let us check that and try to tell you the last time they met, if in fact they did meet.

Q What time on Wednesday is the main event?

MR. BURNS: It hasn't been scheduled yet, but early enough in the day that everyone will have an opportunity to cover the event and deal with it in terms of your deadlines. Certainly, we've got that in mind.

Q Nick, is the Secretary considering taking press along with him on his plane?

MR. BURNS: That's an option that we are looking into. It's something, in fact, that we'll be making a decision on very shortly, and we'll let you know as soon as we can on that.

Q And on Wednesday will there be briefings from Dayton or will the briefings you're referring to be here in Washington?

MR. BURNS: I'm glad you asked the question, because that's an important aspect of this.

We're not going to be establishing a press center in Dayton. There will be people on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base -- a few members of my staff, a few members of the European Bureau, along with some of the Public Affairs staff from the base -- who will be present on a daily basis to answer questions.

But we're not going to establish a media center. There will be no briefings from Dayton. None of the participants will brief. Dick Holbrooke will not be briefing, and our intention is that I will be briefing here in Washington through the briefing at one o'clock. I will have been in touch with Dick Holbrooke, he and I hope a couple of times during the morning, so that I can give you his best sense of what is happening in all of its dimensions.

I imagine some days we'll have relatively little to say. Other days we might have quite a lot to say. All of the heads of state who will be present and all of the delegation heads from France, Britain, Germany and Russia have pledged along with us that they will not make themselves available to the media. This is not to be tight-fisted. It is simply to try to enhance the prospects that these negotiations will succeed.

I think all of us agree -- all the participants agree -- that the chances for the talks going more smoothly are enhanced if there isn't a requirement for them to posture, frankly, on television or on radio, and there isn't a requirement for them to think at the end of every meeting, "Oh, what are we going to say to the press now?"

They're going to be negotiating much as they did at Camp David, without access to the media. But we understand that it's our obligation and specifically my obligation to keep you as well informed as we can. I want to tell you I take that obligation very seriously, and we'll try our very best. But we really think this is the best way to conduct these talks.

Q Nick, what about a press center for the day that the talks open? Will there be some sort of --

MR. BURNS: I think for the day before, when I think a lot of the networks will be there to film the arrival of these three heads of state and for the day that Secretary Christopher is there with them, we will have enough people down there to support you and to help you do your job. Whether it's a formal media center or whether it's putting enough people on the job to make sure that everything runs efficiently, we'll get that job done.

Beyond that, the media center is really right here in the State Department after that day.

Q We need to know specifics about that for planning purposes.

MR. BURNS: Right. And I've agreed to meet some of your colleagues at 4:15 this afternoon to talk specifically about the media's requirements, and any of you in fact are welcome to come up to my office for that meeting. I'll be meeting with the leadership of the State Department Correspondents' Association. But, if you have special needs, you can either come to the meeting or let me know by telephone or after the briefing what you think they are.

I think we have a pretty good sense of what the network requirements are, radio and also print. I think we're going to try our very best to help you cover the story. It's a story that we would like to see covered, and we will try to provide you, as best we can, in a very limited way with the information that we have. There won't be total silence. We'll have something to say every day.

Q "Limited" is the word, right? (Laughter)

MR. BURNS: Some day we'll say they met for three hours and they wore blue suits, and it was a good meeting; and other days we'll have a lot more than that to say.

Q Nick, so just to recap the highlights. Monday is a media tour?

MR. BURNS: Monday is a media tour.

Q Tuesday, access for arrivals of the three principals and any other delegations?

MR. BURNS: At the airport.

Q At the airport.

MR. BURNS: At the airport, not on the base.

Q At the airport, not at the base?

MR. BURNS: Right. Because they'll be arriving -- they'll be greeted at the airport by Assistant Secretary Holbrooke.

Q (Multiple questions)

Q It's an Air Force base.

MR. BURNS: Yes, on the landing strip but not inside the facility. You see, we have essentially taken part of the base for the meeting and housing for their compound, and their arrival is not at that part of the base but a different part of the base.

Q And on Wednesday, the big opening.

MR. BURNS: Yes.

Q Are there going to be statements or just shooting arrivals on Tuesday?

MR. BURNS: I don't know yet. I'll get back to you on that.

Q Does the pledge of silence apply to the arrival, in other words?

MR. BURNS: I don't know if we'll restrict them to that. We'll just have to see what they're interested in doing.

Q (Inaudible) sizes of the delegations yet?

MR. BURNS: We are negotiating that issue with the delegations. There are a finite number of rooms available in that very spacious base. We can't take several thousand participants. We were hoping for about 200 from nine delegations. They will all be housed there. They'll all have their specific housing areas, which I think is convenient for them. There are dining facilities. There's a meeting hall. In fact, there are several meetings places. There's one big meeting hall that we'll take you through next Monday and show you.

Q These Presidents are going to have to continue to run countries from Dayton.

MR. BURNS: That's right. And there will be communications facilities available to them.

Q Are some of them bringing them their own?

MR. BURNS: I assume that some of them will be bringing their own, yes, but I don't know specifically what that means. I can tell you that it was pretty clear from President Tudjman after the meeting with President Clinton yesterday that he will not be participating throughout the length of this conference; that he will be participating for the first couple of days, and then I think he intends to go back to Zagreb. He may or may not come back. His delegation will stay and his Foreign Minister -- Minister Granic -- will represent the delegation.

This is not surprising -- I think Dick Holbrooke mentioned this a couple of weeks ago -- because many of the issues, of course, have an impact on Croatia -- the Eastern Slavonia issue -- but not all of them; but all of the issues have an impact on Bosnia and Serbia and the Bosnian Serb representatives. So we would expect that Mr. Milosevic and Dr. Izetbegovic will be there for the length of these proceedings.

Q Didn't Secretary Christopher last week say something to the effect that Croatia is the biggest question mark in the whole Yugoslav conflict now, over in the Senate Foreign Relations?

MR. BURNS: I don't remember that specific comment, but I'll be glad to maybe take -- if you want to take another tack at it.

Q I don't remember the exact words either, but there was -- he did make a statement saying that -- sort of focusing on Croatia as being potentially a problematic player in this process.

MR. BURNS: We very much would encourage Croatia to look upon these proximity peace talks as the avenue and channel for resolving the Eastern Slavonia problem. Some of the statements that we saw last week and even in recent days from the Croatian Government are not at all encouraging, and we've let them know that personally. President Clinton raised this personally with Tudjman yesterday, that there is no excuse for using force to resolve the problem in Eastern Slavonia. I'm not quoting him. I'm just giving you a figurative sense of what was said -- that there's a negotiating channel for it in these proximity peace talks, and we think an agreement can be reached.

So we think these statements out of Zagreb are a little bit discordant, and we are not pleased by them, and we've made that known directly to the Croatian Government.

Q Nick, doesn't this cast a cloud when Tudjman would say, well, if it doesn't succeed in Dayton, that we're going to take military action in Slavonia.

MR. BURNS: I think he ought to try very hard, along with the Serbs, to make it succeed at Dayton. I don't think it's a cloud. I think we're hearing a lot of things in the days running up to these negotiations for public effect. A lot of things are being said that we don't think really are an accurate description of the private positions of these countries.

Q (Inaudible)

Q I'm sorry -- give me a chance.

MR. BURNS: I'll be glad to give you a chance.

Q Do you have any comment on the North Korean agent infiltration of South Korea?

MR. BURNS: North Korean -- excuse me?

Q Agent infiltration of South Korea?

MR. BURNS: Yes. I'm looking for the right -- yes.

Q I think there's a lot more on Bosnia.

MR. BURNS: Well, I would just like to answer this question. This gentleman has been waiting very patiently. I'll be glad to go back to your question.

We have seen reports in the press that, following a shoot-out with South Korean police and soldiers, a man identified as a North Korean infiltrator has been captured. The circumstances of this incident are not clear and we are now seeking additional information on it.

The infiltration of agents into the Republic of Korea is a provocative action not in keeping with North Korea's stated desire to reduce tensions with the Republic of Korea. That's a fairly clear statement about our views on this particular incident.

Q (Inaudible) that he seems to have gotten so far south?

MR. BURNS: Excuse me, Betsy. I didn't hear the first part?

Q How concerned are we that this man was able to get so far south?

MR. BURNS: Well, again, I understand from our Embassy in Seoul that the circumstances surrounding this man's appearance are not clear to us, and we are now seeking further information from the South Korean Government on this incident.

We clearly do not believe this is a -- this kind of act is helpful, and it is provocative, and we are against it, obviously.

Q Authoritative reports say that the relations between North and South Korea are deteriorating. Could you comment on that?

MR. BURNS: We are a strong ally of the Republic of Korea, South Korea. We stand by the Republic of Korea. We have a security commitment. We have U. S. forces, and we are doing everything we can to help the tensions be reduced between North and South, and doing everything we can to keep the agreed framework in place, and it is in place.

Yes?

Q Nick, can we go to --

MR. BURNS: Yes. Let me just go back here now.

Q A simple one. What is the latest about Mr. Milosevic's entry visa? Would it be a kind of restricted, so-called Fidel Castro visa, or a regular entry visa?

MR. BURNS: I'm not sure we are going to have to study this application quite as seriously as we studied the Castro visa application, which was quite complicated.

But I understand that President Milosevic has not yet applied for a visa. I would expect that he will be doing so in the next couple of days because he has got to travel next Tuesday to the United States. Once the application has been received, we will issue a visa to facilitate his travel to Dayton, Ohio. As Secretary Christopher said on television on Sunday when he made himself available to the American press corps and to the American people -- and he also made himself available after that press appearance, by the way, once again to the wires -- after speaking out to members of the press and sharing views with them and taking questions, he said that there was only one reason for President Milosevic to come to the United States, and that was to go to Dayton, Ohio, to participate in these talks.

So of course we are going to give him a visa. There has been some talk by some people here in Washington that we shouldn't give him a visa. Well, the surest way to torpedo the peace process is to not allow the person who is going to be negotiating on behalf of one of the parties to come to the United States.

So we have every reason to give him a visa and we will do so, and we expect that he will go directly to Dayton, Ohio, and stay there until peace is made.

Q (Inaudible)

MR. BURNS: Excuse me?

Q Can you and would you restrict the visa to just Dayton or 25 miles around Dayton?

MR. BURNS: I haven't been a Consular Officer in about l2 years and my consular law is rusty. I don't know if we have the ability to write in on a tourist visa -- it's not a tourist visa, it's an official visitor's visa -- you can only go to certain places.

We can for people like Fidel Castro; but in this case, I just don't know if it's a 25-mile radius around Dayton, Ohio, or whatever it is.

Q (Inaudible)

MR. BURNS: Excuse me?

Q There is a large Serb community in Chicago.

MR. BURNS: There is not going to be any time to go to Chicago because President Milosevic will be in Moscow on the 3lst of October. He has got to leave Moscow early enough in the day to fly back directly to Dayton, Ohio. There won't be any time to stop any place else. And once he gets to Dayton, he will be ensconced in the comfortable confines of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Our intention is that he and the others will stay there until there is a peace agreement.

Q (Inaudible) another issue?

Q I have another issue also. The U. S. apparently has joined the European Union in complaining to Slovakia. What's the issue with Slovakia?

MR. BURNS: Well, you know, Ron, just before I came out here, I saw the same press report, and I thought to myself, what's this all about, so I guess I had better check into it and get back to you.

Q You still don't know?

MR. BURNS: Well, it is not that I still don't know. I don't know. (Laughter.)

Q Tomorrow?

MR. BURNS: I'll be sure to know tomorrow. Write this down, Charity. Charity and I will know tomorrow, right? We'll know tomorrow.

Q Nick, following President Clinton's Executive Order to stop companies in the U. S. doing business with companies that serve as fronts for the Cali cartel --

MR. BURNS: Yes.

[...]

(The briefing concluded at 3:15 p.m.)

END