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USIA - State Department Report (96-08-01)
From: The United States Information Agency (USIA) Gopher at <gopher://gopher.usia.gov>
STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 1996
(Burundi, Liberia, Panama, NKorea, Bosnia) (550)
There was no regular briefing, but State Department Spokesman Nicholas
Burns did speak on-the-record with reporters. No transcript is
available of this briefing.
BURUNDI -- Burns said that although the United States shares the
concerns of the Arusha conferees at the August 31 meeting, it has made
no decisions about imposing sanctions on Burundi. African regional
leaders agreed on sanctions to bring down the government of Pierre
Buyoya, a Tutsi, who seized control of Burundi from the elected
President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, a Hutu. African leaders who
ordered sanctions were from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Zaire, as
well as from the Cameroon (the current chairman of the Organization of
African Unity) and Ethiopia (the former chairman). Burns said that
while the United States believes the sanctions may have a "beneficiary
impact," the only U.S. action taken to date has been to suspend $1.7
million in developmental aid. Howard Wolpe, President Clinton's
special representative and envoy to Burundi, remains in the region for
consultations, but has yet to meet either Buyoya or Ntibantunganya,
Burns said.
LIBERIA -- The United States supports the July 31 decision by
Liberia's three main factions to disarm their fighters and declare a
ceasefire, Burns said. Noting that other similar agreements have been
made in the past and then fallen apart, Burns expressed the U.S. hope
that this time concrete actions would be taken to keep the peace.
PANAMA -- Burns responded to allegations made in a Washington Post
article ("Panama's Banks Remain a Conduit for Cocaine Traffickers'
Billions," by Douglas Farah, August 1 edition) that little has changed
in Panama since the regime of General Manuel Antonio Noriega. Burns
said that the United States believes that Panama has taken initial
steps to deal with its narcotics and money-laundering problems, and
while the United States is far from satisfied with the results, it
continues to help Panama push for progress in these areas.
NORTH KOREA -- The United States has no plans to provide additional
food aid to North Korea despite the recent flooding that has
devastated parts of that country, Burns said, because the United
States has already contributed $6.2 million in food aid to North Korea
via the World Food Program. U.S.-produced grain is currently being
loaded on the "Tampa Bay" and is expected to reach North Korea around
August 22.
BOSNIA -- President Franjo Tudjman of Croatia will meet with President
Clinton, Vice President Gore, and Secretary of State Christopher in
Washington D.C. August 2. The U.S. objective for the talks is to
convince Tudjman that he must pressure the Croats to accept the
slim-majority win of the Moslems in recent municipal reunification
elections in Mostar, Burns said. Although Burns refused to
characterize the August 2 meeting as a "crisis summit," he said that
the United States "needs to get satisfaction on Mostar .... Hope for
the new state certainly is going to be diminished if Mostar is not
settled." In addition, the United States wants to see greater
commitment on the part of Croatia to the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, improvement on human rights issues, and more cooperation
in apprehending Croatian war criminals, Burns said.
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