U.S. Department of State 96/01/22 Daily Press Briefing

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

U.S. State Department Directory

Subject: U.S. Department of State 96/01/22 Daily Press Briefing

Office of the Spokesman

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FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

Assistant Secretary Shattuck's Trip to Region:

War Crimes Sites/Release of Prisoners ................9-14

Departure of Foreign Forces ............................11-13

GREECE

Reaction to Selection of Prime Minister Simitis ........14

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Q Assistant Secretary of State Shattuck was successful in visiting some sites over the weekend in Bosnia. Since his visit, there has been some discussion again about what IFOR's role will be in securing this area.

The sites that he visited at this moment are not secured by any IFOR troops. Is the United States confident that the evidence that they saw will be left in its present state as long as there are no troops to secure the areas or to make sure that nothing is tampered with?

MR. BURNS: That was a very strong warning that John Shattuck gave to the Bosnian Serbs and all others who might be tempted to tamper with evidence. He told them that would not work, number one; and, number two, now that these sites -- some of them at least -- have been looked at by him and by other investigators, including investigators from the War Crimes Tribunal, that that simply would not succeed; that the international community would pay attention to what happened at these sites.

I just talked to John Shattuck about an hour ago by phone. He was in Belgrade this morning. He is now in Sarajevo.

Let me tell you, first, that Secretary Christopher called him yesterday to congratulate him on the outstanding and very, very effective mission that he led to Srebrenica, and a dangerous mission I might add.

Secondly, the Secretary called him again today to reiterate the very strong support that Assistant Secretary Shattuck has from all of us in Washington and our admiration for the job that he's done.

John Shattuck, in arriving in Sarajevo today, met with Admiral Smith. He gave Admiral Smith a full briefing on his travel to Srebrenica. He stressed to Admiral Smith that based on what happened this weekend, Assistant Secretary Shattuck does believe that the Bosnian Serbs have an interest in cooperating with the War Crimes Tribunal and in cooperating with other efforts such as his trip to try to investigate war crimes.

Shattuck was able to visit all of the sites that he wanted to visit. He did not announce his visit to any of the sites in advance to local authorities, but he did have the cooperation of Bosnian Serb authorities to allow him to travel in the area, which, of course, is fully consistent with the Dayton Accords.

He met in Zvornic with the new Bosnian Serb Interior Minister, Mr. Kijac. He also met in Belgrade with President Milosevic this morning. Both President Milosevic and Minister Kijac have made very firm commitments today to John Shattuck that they will cooperate with the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal; that they will cooperate with any other effort to try to investigate the war crimes that we are sure were committed after Srebrenica, now when there are 6,000 to 8,000 men missing.

John, of course, is aware of the very good statement that was issued today in Sarajevo by Admiral Smith and Justice Goldstone. He fully supports the statement that was made by Admiral Smith and Justice Goldstone.

Of course, the details of future arrangements between IFOR and Justice Goldstone will be worked out between the two of them.

John subsequently met with Justice Goldstone himself and Justice Goldstone said he was very satisfied with the meetings he'd had with IFOR officials.

He is also looking into the prisoner exchange issue. This is an issue that concerns us. We had been hopeful Friday, noon, that Assistant Secretary Holbrooke had worked out an agreement on prisoner exchange. Our view is that all prisoners of all stripes and from all groups should be released immediately.

John Shattuck is meeting today with Carl Bildt, with the ICRC, and with the Bosnian Government to try to make crystal clear to all parties that all prisoners must be released. He had a conversation with President Milosevic on this particular issue and President Milosevic said that the Serbian Government would use its influence with the Bosnian Serbs to try to effectuate as soon as possible a complete prisoner release.

As you can see, he's had a very active weekend and we're very pleased with the results of his mission there.

Q Nick, where was the disconnect on the prisoner exchange? The Secretary announced that all the prisoners would be exchanged. Where's the disconnect?

MR. BURNS: We understood from Assistant Secretary Holbrooke as of noon Friday that we had worked out with the Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian Government and the Croatians a complete prisoner exchange. All of them agreed to that in a meeting which they all attended.

Subsequent to that, however, during the afternoon and evening hours here, we learned that only a little over 200 prisoners had been released. That would leave 600-700 prisoners who had not been released.

I understand that the process has been moving very slowly over the weekend. A few prisoners released here and there but not the complete release that we had expected. We're reminding all parties that it's their obligation under the Dayton Accords to release everyone immediately, and we're not going to stop talking to them until that happens.

Betsy.

Q Smith said this morning that all of the foreign forces were not out of Bosnia yet. What efforts are you making to make sure that the mujahedin and others are out of there soon. Friday is that deadline.

MR. BURNS: We're concerned about it. This was a deadline that was also not met on Friday. We are raising this at the highest levels of the Bosnian Government. Dick Holbrooke raised it with President Izetbegovic. John Shattuck is raising it with his colleagues in the Bosnian Government. Of course, Admiral Smith is working his channels to make the Bosnian Government aware that it is their responsibility to see that all foreign forces who do not claim any right to Bosnian citizenship should have been out of there by last Friday. If they are still there, if there are still some remaining, and we believe there are, they should be out as soon as possible.

Having looked at this question very closely over the course of the past couple of weeks, Betsy, we're convinced that many of the mujahedin and other foreign forces have left, and they left via Croatia. We have had this confirmed by sources within the Government of Croatia.

However, it is clear that some remain. We're concerned about their presence. Some remain in the American sector. That, of course, represents a possible future threat to American forces which we will not countenance.

Q Do we feel that we know who all of these people are and where they are?

MR. BURNS: I don't believe that anybody has an exact number that can be credible of all foreign forces who are resident in Bosnia before the signing of the Dayton Accords. I don't believe we have an exact number of those who may be remaining.

But, in general, through various means available to us, including the information we're picking up because our troops are there, we're pretty well aware of who the people are that remain; where they are and their general number. We're concerned about it, and we're going to use all of the influence that we have to convince those people to leave.

Still on Bosnia?

Q Going back a minute to Shattuck's warning and the State Department's warning that it simply wouldn't work to try and destroy the evidence from mass graves. If those mass graves are not guarded and if they are not looked after, it can work; they can be dug up and the bodies can be disposed of in some fashion. Why do you say it cannot work?

MR. BURNS: That would be the case if there had not been any objective Western travel to those sites, and now there has been. And, secondly, if there had been no testimony from the survivors of Srebrenica. There was testimony given just a couple of days after the fall of Srebrenica by the women and children who made it to Tuzla; and subsequent to that, of the men who survived the march through the woods from Srebrenica to Tuzla during that week in July. A lot of them have already given their testimony to the International Committee of the Red Cross and to the War Crimes Tribunal. That testimony can't be altered.

Now that John Shattuck and the two investigators from the Tribunal have had a first-hand, personal look at some of these sites, if they are altered -- and, of course, they took photographs over the weekend and they have their own personal memory, which is very deep about this -- if they're altered, we'll know about it.

So I think that any attempt by the Bosnian Serbs or those responsible for the gross war crimes that were committed after the fall of Srebrenica, any attempt is going to fail.

Justice Goldstone has been looking into this particular incident for many months now. When he visited Washington a couple of months ago, he said he was far along in his investigation. In fact, part of the indictment issued against Karadzic and Mladic is based upon the actions of Bosnian Serb troops after the fall of Srebrenica.

So I think there's sufficient evidence and information out there that will thwart any attempt to try to wipe the slate clean.

Q Does the Tribunal at this point have enough money and other resources to --

MR. BURNS: The Tribunal needs more support from the international community. Right now it has 22 people on loan from the United States Government -- from the Justice Department, from the State Department, from the FBI. These are investigators. They are lawyers, criminologists who are working with Justice Goldstone in The Hague.

He also has more than a $20 million commitment from the United States. We're the leading financial contributor to the War Crimes Tribunal. He certainly needs more money. He needs more people to help him do the research. When he was here and when he visited with us, he made it very clear that one of his problems is he's got so much raw information coming in and so few people to process that information that the process of issuing indictments is going slowly.

So we certainly would support other countries stepping forward to give additional financial and personnel resources to Justice Goldstone.

Still on Bosnia, before we move on. Yes, Lambros.

Q Do you have any reaction to the new Greek Government under the Prime Minister Costas Simitis, which has been sworn in today in Athens?

MR. BURNS: We're very pleased that Prime Minister Simitis has taken office. The State Department issued a statement on Friday, congratulating him upon his selection as Prime Minister, and the White House, more importantly, also issued a statement on Friday, welcoming him. Greece is an important NATO ally, and we look forward to working with him and his new government.

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(The briefing concluded at 2:09 p.m.)

END