USIA - State Department Report, 96-12-16

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From: The United States Information Agency (USIA) Gopher at <gopher://gopher.usia.gov>

STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING REPORT, DECEMBER 16, 1996

Spokesman Nicholas Burns briefed informally. No transcript will be available.

TANZANIA -- U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda Robert Gribbin visited the Rwandan side of the Tanzania-Rwanda border December 15 with the President of Rwanda to make sure that there are adequate humanitarian provisions in place for the thousands of Rwandan refugees returning from camps in Tanzania. Burns called this "a very positive outcome," as long as the return is genuinely voluntary and not forced.

CHINESE VISIT -- Burns said Chinese National Security Advisor Liu Hua Qiu, who is visiting Washington at the invitation of National Security Advisor Anthony Lake, will meet with Secretary of State Christopher during the afternoon of December 17. Christopher will meet with Italian Foreign Minister Dini that morning.

BURMA -- Burns said that as many as 187 students and demonstrators were detained by the Burmese government late last week in the wake of the demonstrations there. The United States has strongly protested this action to the Burmese authorities, and has also protested continuing restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi. He said the United States has strongly urged the Burmese government to allow the students to demonstrate, and to open a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi.

SERBIA -- Burns said the demonstrations in Serbia over the weekend were the largest in the past month. He called the court ruling upholding the opposition victory in the municipal elections "a step in the right direction, although the court should never have been involved in this in the first place." John Kornblum met for two hours December 15 with Vuk Draskovic, a key member of Serbia's Zayedno opposition, whom he had invited to Geneva. Afterwards, they held a news conference, which was meant to symbolize the right of the opposition to have freedom of speech and assembly. "It doesn't mean that we agree with the opposition in all respects," Burns cautioned. He noted that the meeting, the first such meeting between a U.S. official and the Serbian opposition, was "deliberate."

Burns said he hopes the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will name "a prominent person" to lead its mission to Serbia. But, Burns warned the Serbian government that just because it invited the OSCE to visit the country that "it is not off the hook." It must, he said, do things that help bring resolution of the nation's current problems.

RUSSIA/IMF -- Burns said the United States is very pleased the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has decided to reinitiate its funding program for Russia.

ISRAEL -- Burns said that as a result of the Netanyahu-Arafat conversations, the first talks on Hebron were held December 16 between negotiators in Jerusalem. He called this "a very positive step forward," and said the United States hopes that both sides can get back to serious negotiations to conclude the Hebron talks.

In response to a question regarding the Israeli cabinet's decision to declare West Bank settlements to be a national priority, Burns again called the action "troubling" and "not helpful," and said the United States has stated its concerns to the Israelis. Burns also repeated his previously stated view that "when one side in the negotiations does something, or says something, or makes public statements that effectively preempt some of the major issues to be decided in negotiations we think it makes progress that much more difficult." He noted that White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry had said earlier that day that if President Clinton had been asked about the Israeli cabinet's settlement decision last Friday he would have responded the way Burns did.

Burns said that the Netanyahu government "has known our position all along, " but that the U.S. government was initially restrained in its comments because it felt it should give the new prime minister time to formulate his government's positions. But, he said, the action by the Israeli cabinet produced the U.S. reaction.

Regarding the letter signed by a number of former Secretaries of State and National Security Advisors urging a firmer response to the Israeli government's policy regarding the settlements, Burns said the department had been informed "about a month ago by one of the signatories who wanted to inform us of the exercise," but added that the letter was a private action by a number of "distinguished and eminent individuals."

The spokesman urged both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute to do things that are "cooperative" and "productive" and speed the negotiations. What the United States objects to, he said, are actions and words that disrupt the negotiations.

In response to a question, Burns said he did not know whether an Israeli government decision to increase subsidies to existing settlements on the West Bank would require the United States to make a commensurate reduction in the value of its loan guarantees, but he said he would check.

IRAQ -- Burns said the operation to evacuate Iraqi employees of U.S.- affiliated non-government organizations (NGOs) and their families from Northern Iraq to Guam has been completed. The refugees are being housed temporarily at a U.S. air base until they can be processed for political asylum in the United States.

On another matter, Burns said the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) plans to close the Atrush camp by mid-January because it had been used as a base by anti-Turkish PKK guerrillas. He said the 14,000 Turkish Kurdish civilians there will be encouraged to move to transit centers, where UNHCR can interview them to determine if they want to return to Turkey.

TURKEY/EU -- In response to a question, Burns said that the United States fully supports Turkey's effort to join the European Union. He said the United States believes Turkey is a European country, and that Turkey's future is to become a member of all major European institutions.

CHRISTOPHER/PRESS CORPS -- Secretary Christopher will hold a special news briefing for the State Department press corps at noon on December 19, followed by an informal reception.

(No transcript was available of the informal December 16 walk-thru.)

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