U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #50, 97-04-07
From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>
1257
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
I N D E X
Monday, April 7, 1997
Briefer: Nicholas Burns
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1 Welcome of Visitors (Cypriot Journalists)
1 Secretary Albright's Meetings Today with Israeli PM Netanyahu;
Possible Background Briefing
1 Secretary Meets Lithuanian PM Landsbergis 4/8/97
1-2 Secretary Speaks at FSI 50th Anniversary, Other FSI Events 4/9/97
ALBANIA
2 Statement of US Concern re Unrest and Political Polarization
BAHRAIN
2-4 Security Threat to American Interests; Notice re Security Situation
to be Issued Soon
TERRORISM
4 Status of Detainee Abu Marzook
4-5 Allegation of SYRIA Refusal to Detain Possible Suspect in Al Khobar
Bombing, Mughassil
4-5 Bombing Responsibility / Assessment of SAUDI ARABIA Investigation of
Al Khobar Bombing
GERMANY / IRAN
5-6 Mykonos Trial in Germany; Role of Iran in Terrorism
NORTH KOREA
6-7,9 Meeting 4/4/97 in New York with DPRK, ROK: Four-Party Talks;
Participants; Missile Talks
6-7 DPRK Food Shortages; U.S. $10 Million Aid Commitment; WFP
Distribution Program,
19 UN Interagency Food Appeal
MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
7-8 Secretary Albright's Meetings with Palestinians, Conversations with
King Hussein; Arafat
8 Role of European Nations in ME Peace Process
CHINA
9 INS Hong Kong Asst. Director James DeBates Under Investigation for
Selling Visas
19-20 DENMARK-Sponsored China Resolution at Human Rights Commission
GREECE / TURKEY
10-11 Amb. Niles Remarks re U.S. Mediating Role / Imia/Kardak, Aegean
Dispute
JAPAN
11-12 Port Operations Issue / Potential U.S. Response to Lack of Progress
MEXICO
12-13 Church-State Relations / Freedom of Religion / U.S. Confidence in
Anti-Drug Efforts
HAITI
14-15 Assessment of Elections / International Monitors / Police Security
Plan / Results
TURKEY
15 Investigation of Deputy Prime Minister Tansu Ciller Business
Activities
15-16 U.S. Relationship with Turkish Government Leaders / Death of
Opposition Leader
ZAIRE
17 Kabila Allows UNHCR Access to Refugees / Airlift Operation; Overland
Repatriation
17 Mortality Rate of Refugee Populations
17 Peace Talks in South Africa; U.S. Role / Situation in Zaire; Status
of Lumbumbashi
17-18 Status of Americans; American Military Presence / Foreign Involvement
COLOMBIA
18 U.S. Revocation of Visas
DEPARTMENT
18 Questions re Amb Wyche Fowler's Personal Correspondence
ALBANIA
20-21 No U.S. Forces to Albania
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB #50
MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1997, 1:18 P. M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
MR. BURNS: Good afternoon. Welcome to the State Department. I want to
welcome to the briefing today, 10 Cypriot journalists who are here through
the International Center for Journalists. Glad to have you with us.
Secretary Albright is attending the President's meeting with Prime Minister
Netanyahu, which I understand is ongoing. They have not finished that
meeting. At 3:30 she'll go over to the Madison Hotel to have another
meeting - her own meeting - with the Prime Minister. As you know, he will
be giving a speech tonight as well as a press conference later in the
afternoon.
We may have a background briefing here late this afternoon. I'll let you
know about that. I need to talk to the Secretary and others when they come
back from the White House, but it seems to me that's probably the best
thing to do. We'll be in touch with you in an hour or so about the timing
of that briefing.
I would expect it to take place somewhere around 5:30, however. The reason
for that is we'll want, of course, follow the Prime Minister's own press
conference, which I believe is scheduled for 4:30, if I'm not mistaken.
Tomorrow, the Secretary meets with the Lithuanian Prime Minister, Prime
Minister Landsbergis. This is an important meeting, an important
opportunity to address a number of issues that we have with Lithuania as
well as the Baltic countries in general. I mean that in a very positive
light and the very positive, strong cooperative relationship that we have
with the Baltic countries, including Lithuania. They will give statements
up in the Treaty Room and respond to your questions at a press conference
at the beginning of the meeting at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow.
On Wednesday, April 9, as I mentioned the other day, the Secretary's going
to be traveling over to northern Virginia to the Foreign Service Institute
to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Foreign Service
Institute. She'll be giving an address at 9:15 a.m. on "Diplomacy for the
21st Century." I encourage all of you who'd like to cover that event to go
over to FSI and to cover it. From 10:30 to noon there's a panel led by
Under Secretary for Global Affairs Tim Wirth. That panel is on foreign
policy and domestic politics. It includes my good friend Richard Haass,
who's, as you know, Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings
Institution, as well as Sam Lewis, formally Policy Planning Director here
at the State Department.
At 12:15, Bob Gallucci, another friend of ours, now Dean of the Georgetown
University School of Foreign Service, will give luncheon remarks. The Press
is invited to all of these events, and I'd encourage you to cover
them. It's a very important anniversary, the 50th anniversary of our
Foreign Service School, which, as you know, is in a brilliant, new
headquarters, has been for a number of years.
Finally, my last announcement, George, has to do with the situation in
Albania. Before we go to questions, I'd like to read a short statement. The
United States is greatly concerned about the continued unrest and political
polarization in Albania. Our Embassy in Tirana is in close contact with all
parties, and we continue to work with our European friends in the OSCE to
fashion a coordinated international response.
We are deeply disturbed by the actions on Saturday by armed individuals who
blocked Prime Minister Fino from addressing a group in his own country. We
call on all Albanians and all groups in Albania not to interfere in the
process of re-integration and stabilization and to pursue their concerns
through dialogue.
It is the responsibility of all Albanians to insure the success of the
Government of National Reconciliation, which was formed with the agreement
of all major Albanian political parties. That was done through OSCE
mediation. The government enjoys broad international support that will not
be affected by threats or unilateral withdrawals from the process by any of
the individual political parties or groups inside Albania, and the United
States remains committed to working with this government, as do, of course,
all of the other countries that are working in Albania.
We also strongly support the activities of the OSCE, the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, and its leader, Chancellor Franz
Vranitzky. We understand that Chancellor Vranitzky will travel to Tirana in
the near future, and that the troops from the OSCE group will be deployed,
we hope, by the 14th of April.
I'm issuing a longer statement. I just wanted to give you the highlights of
it on the situation in Albania, because we are very concerned about it this
morning. George.
QUESTION: Somewhat to the southeast of Albania, do you have anything on
the reports of increased threats to American interests in Bahrain?
MR. BURNS: I think, as you know, throughout the Gulf we are mindful of
security challenges and mindful of the threat of terrorism. We'll be
issuing a public advisory shortly on the situation in Bahrain, which will
detail some of the concerns that we have there, which are of a general
nature. I'm not pointing to any specific event or specific threat, but I
know that American Government employees as well as American citizens in
general are encouraged not to congregate in public places in Bahrain.
We have a lot of our service people, of course, in Bahrain or going through
Bahrain because of our very close relationship with the government and our
naval facility there, and we have a fair number of individuals who work for
our Embassy there.
I know that Ambassador David Ransom has done everything he can to work with
the Bahraini Government to make sure that the commitment to protect
Americans exists, and it certainly does exist. But it's just good sense -
good common sense -- it's prudent for American citizens and government
employees to watch what they're doing; to be aware of their movements in
public places and not to congregate in places that are well known for
Westerners.
QUESTION: You can't get into more detail about the nature of the threats?
MR. BURNS: I cannot, no.
QUESTION: Shortly. You mean shortly today?
MR. BURNS: I think within the next hour or two we'll have a public
statement from our Bureau of Consular Affairs. I know our Embassy in
Bahrain has already talked to the press about some of this.
QUESTION: Nick, are they announcing that there have been threats?
MR. BURNS: No, I specifically said I'm not speaking to any specific
threat. It's the general security environment in the Gulf, including some
general information that we have. We think it's prudent to warn people. Of
course, we never talk about threats, even if we have them, because we want
to do our best to safeguard the security of all of our people there.
QUESTION: What's causing this advisory?
MR. BURNS: Excuse me?
QUESTION: Why are you issuing an advisory?
MR. BURNS: As I said, we're issuing this advisory because of our general
sense about the security situation in the Gulf and Bahrain.
QUESTION: So you have a general sense now that's it's less safe for
Americans in Bahrain than it was in the past.
MR. BURNS: As you know, Sid, there are a number of terrorist groups that
operate in the Middle East and the Gulf. We've had two attacks on American
forces in Saudi Arabia, with 19 people dead in Saudi Arabia. Any time you
have a concern, through whatever medium, a concern about the security
situation facing American citizens, we have an obligation to let American
citizens know and to let our own government employees know. That's what
we're doing today. So I'm not going to indicate any specific threat. I
can't detail any threat, because that would be injurious to our efforts to
counter the threat.
QUESTION: Has the State Department decided what it is going to recommend
doing about Abu Marzook?
MR. BURNS: Actually that's not a State Department issue at the moment. As
the Attorney General said, I believe, on Thursday, this is an issue now
that the INS - the Immigration and Naturalization Service - will have to
consider, given the fact that the Government of Israel has suspended its
request for the extradition of Mr. Abu Marzook. So it's a Justice
Department issue.
There are a number of options available to the Justice Department, but
they're legal options - they're complicated - and, when we have made a
decision, when the government has made a decision, I'm sure Justice and we
will let you know.
QUESTION: Yeah, but my question was, has the State Department decided on
a recommendation to make to the INS or Justice?
MR. BURNS: I don't believe at this point the ball's in the State
Department's court. I believe it's still over at Justice.
QUESTION: Can I ask you, there was a report over the weekend about a man
named Ahmed Ibrahim Mughassil. The report said - it was in The Washington
Post - said that Syria had refused to seize a Saudi suspect in the Khobar
Towers bombing, and this was the name of the gentleman. What, if anything,
can you tell us about this man? Is it true, as the story reports, that
Syria declined to help apprehend him? I mean, is he thought to have been -
is he thought by the Saudis - has he said, by anybody in the U.S., to have
been the mastermind behind the bombing? And I have a follow-up.
MR. BURNS: I was afraid of that. That was a very interesting and well
written report in the Post on Saturday. However, because there is an
ongoing investigation into the bombing of the Al-Khobar barracks, I just
can't touch that. I can't respond to any questions on it. I think you'll
know why. We have tried to work with governments around the world to locate
the people who masterminded and planned and executed the bombing of the
Khobar barracks, and we're working closely with the Saudi Government, as
you know.
But because there's an ongoing criminal investigation underway, in which
we're participating - the FBI is involved - we've chosen not to say
anything about the various leads that have surfaced in the press, and I'm
going to have to hold to that today.
QUESTION: As you know, the Saudis are saying that they believe Iran had a
role in this bombing. Are you confident that the Saudis have the right
people; that their investigation is going in the right direction?
MR. BURNS: You've got three loaded questions there in one. The United
States has not determined if any country - any foreign country was involved
in the bombing of the Khobar barracks. We have not gotten to the end of the
investigation. We are working closely with the Saudis on the investigation,
but we do know one thing: The people who bombed Khobar barracks and the
people who killed 19 Americans will be apprehended, and they will be
brought to justice.
QUESTION: If a foreign nation's government was involved, what is the
message to that government?
MR. BURNS: That would be a very serious matter, indeed, but obviously at
this point it's hypothetical. Therefore, I can't predict what action the
United States Government would take.
QUESTION: What makes you so confident that the perpetrators will be
brought to justice?
MR. BURNS: Because we're going to be tireless in pursuing them, and we're
going to work as hard as we can and must, for however long it takes, to
find them, to hunt them down and bring them to justice. Hopefully, the
Saudis will be able to do that. We're working closely with the Saudis. But
either way, the United States and Saudi Arabia--we'll combine our efforts,
and we will get to the end of this, and we will bring these people to
justice. They do not deserve to get off scott free, and they won't.
QUESTION: Has Syria cooperated with you on this matter?
MR. BURNS: I cannot address that question. That pertains to the
investigation. We are working with a number of countries around the world,
seeking their help, seeking their active assistance to help us in this
investigation, and therefore it doesn't make sense for me to start giving
grades to certain countries of how well they've done or how well they
haven't done. We'll have to let history judge that, and perhaps at the end
of this whole affair, when the people are caught, when they've been brought
to justice, we'll be in a position to say more about who helped and who did
not.
QUESTION: But I didn't really ask you to grade them. I just asked a sort
of simple question. Has Syria cooperated?
MR. BURNS: Carol, at this point there's an investigation underway. I'm
just not going to be able to address that particular question.
QUESTION: A related question, which is that the Mykonos bar trial is
about to come to its conclusion. There are reports that this may change
Germany's attitude towards Iran. Are German officials saying that to you as
well - the U.S. Government?
MR. BURNS: The Mykonos trial is underway in Germany. It wouldn't be
prudent for me to make a comment on that, since it's actively under
judicial review now in Germany. I can say, however, that the United States
does not need to be convinced about Iran's role in supporting terrorism
internationally. We know that Iran supports Hizbollah and Hamas and other
terrorist groups, and we know that Iran has bankrolled and financed and in
some cases directed terrorist operations, not just against Americans but
against European countries and other countries in the Middle East.
So we're convinced of Iran's perfidy on the issue of terrorism in
general. But as for the Myknos case, I'm going to have to leave that to the
German Government and German prosecutors for comment.
QUESTION: Can you give us a readout on the meeting in New York on Friday
on Korea?
MR. BURNS: I'll be glad to. As you know, the United States meets
regularly with the North Korean Mission to the U.N. up in New York. We did
so on Friday. This time it was a three-way meeting: the United States, the
Republic of Korea and the North Korean delegation. The purpose of the
meeting was to explore further the United States and ROK proposal on the
Four-Party Talks following up the joint briefing that we had on March 5th
in New York.
The North Koreans indicated that they will be prepared soon to give the
United States and the Republic of Korea a formal response to our joint
briefing. Our hope, of course, is that the North Koreans will agree very
soon to the Four-Party Proposal themselves, and that those talks can be
begun. That's our hope. We'll see if that works out that way.
QUESTION: Nick - go ahead.
QUESTION: Did they define "soon"? Are we talking this week, or is it
"soon" -
MR. BURNS: "Soon" is "soon." In diplomatic parlance, "soon" means "soon."
(Laughter)
QUESTION: Was there a -
MR. BURNS: Sometimes "soon" is a couple of hours; sometimes it's a couple
of days. It's very seldom more than a couple of weeks. I would think
between several hours and several weeks. That's "soon." That's a very broad
definition of "soon."
QUESTION: Was there more discussion about their food situation?
MR. BURNS: I'll have to check. I know that - I'll have to check on
that. As you know, the World Food Program is looking again at the food
situation in North Korea to see if it is now going to be necessary to have
more international food aid arrive. There's been a lot of speculation, but
I don't believe there's been a formal World Food Program announcement. I
could be mistaken on that. Maybe I am mistaken on that. I'll check into
that.
In any case, we have made a commitment for $10 million, and we certainly
are in a position to listen to the World Food Program. But I know on
Friday we did not make any additional commitments of food aid. I just don't
know how big an issue that was and how it was discussed.
QUESTION: Does the U.S. remain confident that the food does, in fact, get
to the people who need it and it doesn't -
MR. BURNS: Absolutely, we do. Because the food is not distributed through
the North Korean Government or the North Korean military. It is
distributed through the World Food Program which has an excellent
record. We can verify where the food goes.
In this case, the appeal by the WFP is for food aid to young kids below the
age of six because they're the hardest hit in the current wave of
malnutrition of food shortages. We think it's appropriate to focus on
kids. That's where we want our food to go, and it will go in that
direction.
QUESTION: Is there any other aspect of the meeting on Friday that you can
talk about?
MR. BURNS: I can tell you that Mark Minton, our Office Director of Korean
Affairs, represented the United States along with Jack Pritchard of the
National Security Council. The lead participants from the South Koreans
were from the South Korean Embassy; and the North Korean Mission to the
U.N. was represented by Minister Counselor Han Song Ryol. Those were the
major participants in the meeting.
I expect we'll continue these meetings, these U.S.-North Korean meetings,
and from time to time involve the South Koreans in the meetings as well.
QUESTION: There's a story out of South Korea that the North Koreans
requested another briefing. Was that part of the talks?
MR. BURNS: This may have been the briefing you're talking about. This is
a general discussion on the Four Party talks. I don't know if the request
that you're referring to was subsequent to the Friday meeting.
QUESTION: I thought it came out of that meeting they asked for?
MR. BURNS: We've had a lot of briefings. We're willing to have another, I
guess, but we'd really like the North Koreans to accept the proposal - to
accept the proposal. We hope we can make progress with them in that regard.
Yes, David.
QUESTION: Is Secretary Albright and/or Dennis Ross meeting with the
Palestinian delegation tomorrow? Is there anything scheduled on that?
MR. BURNS: I hope I'll be in a position to say something about that maybe
in a couple of hours. I know you've seen reports in the papers that Hanan
Ashrawi is going to meet with the Secretary. She's not on the Secretary's
schedule today. I don't know if Hanan is in Washington. She is in
Washington? I don't believe she has met with anybody in the
U.S. Government.
QUESTION: (Inaudible)
MR. BURNS: There are - excuse me? Excuse me?
QUESTION: She's going to be on CNN at 2:30.
MR. BURNS: Oh, then, she's definitely in Washington if she's going to be
on CNN. I don't believe she met anybody in our government this morning. In
fact, I'm quite sure about that.
There may be some other Palestinian officials visiting. When I can confirm
it, I will. But, obviously, we'll want to be in touch with the Palestinians
as closely as we can. Chairman Arafat is in Delhi, so it's harder to be in
touch with him. We'll look forward to an occasion to bring the Palestinians
up to date on what happened today in the meeting with Prime Minister
Netanyahu.
In the Middle East. Why don't we stay in the Middle East for a
while. Howard.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) phone calls to Arafat?
MR. BURNS: The Secretary spoke twice yesterday to King Hussein in
Minnesota. I think once before his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu
and once after where His Majesty, the King, briefed her on the meeting with
the Israeli Prime Minister. I'm not aware that the Secretary called
Chairman Arafat over the weekend. I can check to be sure, but I don't
believe so.
Carol.
QUESTION: These EU-Mideast experts were meeting in Brussels today and
were working on proposals to cooperate with Washington. I wonder if you
have any ideas about whether the Europeans can play a role at this point?
MR. BURNS: I'm not aware of the meeting specifically. We do have, from
time to time, talks with the Europeans in the Middle East. Obviously,
whatever can be done to encourage the Israelis and Palestinians to move
forward, we would welcome. But I think it's obvious that the United States
has the lead role to play internationally. We are the critical
intermediary. We understand that responsibility; we accept it, and we're
going to exercise that responsibility.
Still in the Middle East? Anymore on the Middle East? North Korea. Yes.
QUESTION: There are a couple of reports that the U.S. and North Korea
are going to resume missile talks sometime this month. Do you have anything
on that, or do you have any date on them?
MR. BURNS: I cannot confirm talks on missile developments; no. I'll let
you know when that happens.
Laura.
QUESTION: Is there anything you can tell us about the American official
who is under investigation for selling visas out of the consulate in Hong
Kong?
MR. BURNS: All I can say, Laura, is that that's an issue of great
interest to us. This is the case of Mr. James DeBates who is the assistant
officer in charge of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Hong
Kong.
He is the subject of a pending inquiry by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service. We have to direct you to the INS for further
comment, but that's a very serious matter, indeed.
QUESTION: How do you spell his last name.
QUESTION: Is he still there, Nick.
MR. BURNS: D-e-B-a-t-e-s.
QUESTION: What is the inquiry into?
MR. BURNS: It's an inquiry into some very serious allegations against
him, which you've read all about in the newspapers. I can't comment further
because this is an inquiry underway, and we don't comment on government
inquiries into the conduct of our own employees until the inquiries are
completed.
Mr. Lambros.
QUESTION: Since we have some Greek and Turkish Cypriots today with us, do
you have anything on Cyprus? Any progress to report?
MR. BURNS: We have Cypriots, right?
QUESTION: Excuse me?
MR. BURNS: We have Cypriots here?
QUESTION: That's exactly -
MR. BURNS: Right.
QUESTION: I agree with you 100 percent, but keep your promise - Cypriots!
That's the right statement.
MR. BURNS: We recognize the government on Cyprus - the government of
President Clerides. Anyway, Mr. Lambros, delighted to have you with us. Is
there a question?
QUESTION: Do you have anything on Cyprus today? Any progress to report
since we have them here?
MR. BURNS: I don't have anything on Cyprus on today, Mr. Lambros. No,
nothing particular; no.
QUESTION: Your Ambassador to Greece, Thomas Niles, in an interview
yesterday, published in Athens, stated that in case of a conflict between
Greece and Turkey in the Aegean, the U.S. is going to intervene. Could you
please comment and clarify - militarily, politically, or both?
MR. BURNS: The United States is going to work to make sure that there
isn't a conflict between Greece and Turkey. Greece and Turkey are valued
NATO allies. As you know, we've often volunteered our good offices to try
to help them sort out their problems, which are numerous. But we're
confident that with the proper attention by both of them - by the Turkish
and Greek leaderships - there won't be a conflict. They'll continue to have
disagreements, but that's far short of a conflict.
QUESTION: If you find your Ambassador Thomas Niles filed a demarche with
the Greek Government against the music festival organized in Imia on May
25th by the magazine, Nemesis?
MR. BURNS: I missed the verb. What did he -
QUESTION: He filed the demarche -
MR. BURNS: Excuse me?
QUESTION: Demarche. Protest.
MR. BURNS: A protest. Okay. Did Ambassador Niles file a protest?
QUESTION: Yes.
MR. BURNS: I'll have to check. I'm not aware.
QUESTION: You promised the last time that you're going to check into -
MR. BURNS: I have to continue to check on this one, Mr. Lambros.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. BURNS: I'll check on it very hard.
QUESTION: The magazine Naval (inaudible) Proceedings of the U.S. Navy, in
its last issue, an article written actually by a former senior State
Department official proposes for the Aegean Sea, in case of conflict, the
following separation of the forces by a green line, deployment of a
multinational force under U.N. auspices, creation of a new strategy
(inaudible) by the international conference, and, finally, the partition of
the Aegean via the Imia judicial process.
Since it's a U.S. Government publication, do you have any comment on this?
MR. BURNS: Before I answer that, I still want an answer to my question,
which is, how many musicians can you fit on Imia/Kardak? (Laughter) That's
the key question. How many musicians? How many rock groups at one time and
how many spectators -
QUESTION: The island is big enough to have a concert, something like
that.
MR. BURNS: I'll take your word for it. But I am still interested in an
authoritative view on that question.
Mr. Lambros, on the second question, I'm just not going to speculate on a
question like that, as you know. We have a long-standing position of what
we want to have happen. We want to have Greece and Turkey get together to
resolve their own problems. I don't think public advice at this point will
be helpful.
QUESTION: Could you give us a readout on the current maritime
negotiations that are going on with the Japanese "For Peace" stevedore?
MR. BURNS: Yes, I can tell you. As you know, when Secretary Albright was
in Tokyo, she had a conversation - a couple of conversations - about this,
as did the Vice President. The United States seeks a comprehensive solution
to the problems in Japanese ports.
The Government of Japan needs to take prompt action to reform the prior
consultative system and to open to foreign firms the licensing of
stevedores and terminal operations in Japan's ports.
Reform in these areas would ultimately benefit the Japanese people because
they would be very much in line with the position that the Government of
Japan has taken recently on other matters of deregulation.
Costs in Japanese ports are among the highest anywhere in the world. They
directly drive up the price of both Japan's exports and Japan's imports. So
it's in the interest of the Japanese consumer, of the Japanese population,
as well as the United States and other countries to see reform in Japan's
port system. Right now, there isn't fair play.
American firms, other foreign firms, do not have access to the bidding on
contracts that they should have.
Absent a comprehensive solution that we are seeking, the United States
Federal Maritime Commission will impose fees of $100,000 per voyage on
Japanese liner carriers calling at U.S. ports.
We hope it doesn't come to that. We are ready and willing to talk through
this problem with Japanese representatives. I can tell you that we have
such meetings underway right now. They began on April 2; they are
continuing today. When they're completed, perhaps we'll be in a position to
say if we've made progress.
We're not targeting any specific individuals here in the Japanese
Government, but we are targeting practices. Japan needs to open up its
economy in many ways, and here's a very good example where Japan needs to
get in line with international standards and allow foreign firms the
ability to compete fairly for contracts.
QUESTION: Is it correct that these sanctions are scheduled to go into
effect on the 14th of this month?
MR. BURNS: We have talks underway right now. We hope very much it won't
be necessary to impose these fees - these very costly fees - on Japanese
carriers, liner carriers. But absent progress, the United States will not
have no alternative but to impose these fees.
QUESTION: Have you given them a date or a deadline?
MR. BURNS: We are talking now to the Japanese today in this building and
throughout Washington. They will continue those talks, and we hope Japan
has heard our message.
Bill, welcome back. We missed you. We missed you.
QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you very much.
MR. BURNS: Mr. Lambros, we missed Bill, didn't we? We did.
Bill. Yes, sir.
QUESTION: Were you in Rome?
QUESTION: No, no. But close. I was in Mexico City. Nick, the reports from
Mexico - one of the very disturbing reports - in the past several weeks,
the Catholic Church - heads of the Catholic church - have come out strongly
in support of Mr. Zedillo government's reform, especially their fight
against narco-terrorism, narco-subversion. When they did so - and I believe
this was associated with the General Gutierrez scanda - the government
severely repressed the church, silenced the church.
The church since has come out, the Archbishop, the head of the church
there, has come out and said, "We need true freedom of religion in
Mexico. The church is crying out to the government for this.
Nick, my first question - I think the primary issue is, in fact, when a
government is aided by the church and rejects that aid, sir, is that
government, in fact, a moral government? Is that government fighting the
cartels?
MR. BURNS: We miss you, Bill, but was that a question or a statement?
QUESTION: Well, let me ask if this government sees that as disappointing
insofar as the performance of Zedillo's government?
MR. BURNS: Bill, we don't comment on church-state relations in Mexico. I
can't remember ever doing that in more than two years here. I'm not going
to start today.
The Mexican Government has a narcotics problem and it's dealing with that
problem as best as it can, and we're working closely with it. I have
nothing to say on these allegations. It's the first I've heard of these
allegations.
QUESTION: Let me follow up. The church came back out and said, "We need
true freedom of religion in Mexico." Is that an issue that concerns this
government, or is that also off limits?
MR. BURNS: We are concerned with freedom of religion worldwide. From
time to time, when there are gross violations of religious rights such as
the case of China, for instance, then we speak up. But I don't believe
that's the case here. There may be some issues between the church and the
state in Mexico, but it's not appropriate for the United States to comment
upon those.
QUESTION: Finally, do we still have full confidence in the Zedillo
government as fighting against the cartels?
MR. BURNS: Yes, we do. We should give a place to Carol because she's been
on vacation. She's back and she's probably - excellent suntan. She had a
great time. We won't say where she was.
Actually, given the prior question, perhaps you would like to comment on
that.
QUESTION: I didn't do any politics in Mexico.
MR. BURNS: Carol was in Mexico. Sorry.
QUESTION: Now you've thrown me off. I wanted to ask about the Haiti
election there this weekend. I'd be interested in your assessment of it. It
sounds like it wasn't really a ringing endorsement of democracy? The
turnout was very low.
MR. BURNS: That sometimes happens in the United States as well for local
elections, town elections, municipal elections.
Yesterday's peaceful elections were for nine Senate seats, two Chamber of
Deputy seats, 133 town delegates, 564 territorial assembly
representatives. We believe the elections - notwithstanding Carol Giacomo's
comments - we believe these elections were an important step in the process
of consolidating democracy in Haiti.
These were the fifth elections since democracy was restored in 1994. They,
we hope, will continue to decentralization of political power in Haiti by
bringing democratic rule to the local level for the very first time. This
is in accordance with the 1987 Haitian constitution.
The elections were observed by a delegation from the Organization of
American States, and U.S. Embassy officials from Port-au-Prince
participated in this as well as organizations from around the
world. Available reports to us, including from our Embassy, indicate that
the elections were free and fair and were open.
There were scattered reports of outside interference in the electoral
process which election authorities and the Haitian National Police were
able to resolve in each instance.
The Haitian National Police, by the way, implemented a thorough election
security plan which helped to assure that the elections would take place in
a peaceful and orderly manner. This follows the Haitian National Police's
recent success in arresting several major gang leaders in Cite Soleil and
deploying prominently throughout Port-au-Prince, and that, we believe, was
a strong deterrent to criminal activity before and during the elections.
So we think the Haitian National Police, in contrast to a network report on
Friday evening - in strong contrast to that network report - we think the
Haitian National Police record before and during the elections was actually
quite good.
Voter turnout, as expected, was low in urban areas; somewhat heavier in
rural areas. The Electoral Council has stated that official results will be
published in about 10 days. The turnout was low in urban areas and
throughout the country, I guess, if you look at, say, the last elections
they held - the last national elections that were held. That's sometimes
true in the United States as well, but it is a democracy, and these are the
fifth elections that they've had.
The important thing is that the dictators never allowed people to vote and
now they can, and people are responsible for their own democracy. So we
think the elections were a positive development, and we look forward to
working with the Haitian Government to further the evolution of Haitian
democracy in the future. We are disturbed by some of these network reports
that found the Haitian National Police somehow wanting in their performance
before these elections. We actually thought the performance was quite
strong.
Still on Haiti? Charlie, any follow-ups on Haiti? No. Sid.
QUESTION: Is the Clinton Administration or the United States
investigating the American business affairs of Tansu Ciller? And, also,
are you satisfied that the Turkish Government's investigation into that
whole sordid episode was done in an impartial, penetrating way?
MR. BURNS: I'm not aware that anybody in the United States Government is
investigating anybody in the Turkish Government, nor should we.
The second question, Sid, that you refer you to is clearly an internal
matter for the Turkish politicians and the Turkish Government to sort
out. It's not for the United States to make a statement on that.
QUESTION: You put a lot of stock into Mrs. Ciller. There's some rather, I
would think, serious allegations against her that no one is really
investigating, including some business schemes here in the United States;
potential offshore money laundering? That's nothing the United States is
interested in?
MR. BURNS: Sid, there have been many allegations made against Mrs. Ciller
in Turkey by Turkish politicians; mainly, the opposition party, so I'd
refer you to them. We're going to leave this to the Turkish political
system to sort out.
I see no reason why the United States should initiate any kind of
investigation whatsoever because we're not aware that anything untoward has
occurred in our own country.
QUESTION: You're not turning over any rocks regarding Mrs. Ciller because
without her you would lose any influence whatsoever you have over Turkey?
MR. BURNS: I reject that, Sid. I don't think that's accurate, and that is
not an accurate picture of the state of play in our relationship with
Turkey. The fact is, we have an alliance relationship with Turkey. We
continue to work closely with President Demirel and Deputy Prime Minister
and Foreign Minister Ciller. They're good allies. We'll work with them very
closely on NATO issues, European security issues, Bosnia, the Middle
East. Turkey just signed an important economic agreement with Israel today,
which we applaud.
There's no crisis in U.S.-Turkish relations despite what you may read in
the press. There are some problems, and we will work through those
problems, but I want to be very clear about the first question you
asked. There is no inclination on the part of anybody in our government to
look into the activities of Mrs. Ciller or her family here in the United
States. That kind of thing is generally left up to local authorities here
in the United States, when it does occur, and there is no reason for us to
get into that right now.
QUESTION: You said the Administration works with President Demirel and
Deputy Prime Minister Ciller. Does the Administration work with Prime
Minister Erbakan as well?
MR. BURNS: Yes, when we can, we work with him. Obviously, when we can
meet him, and we do meet him - that hasn't happened many times over the
course of the last eight or nine months - of course, we work with Prime
Minister Erbankan.
I mentioned Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ciller because she
has tended to take the lead on relations with the United States. She and
Secretary Albright saw each other at NATO just a month or so ago. I know
she's in contact with our Embassy. Of course, President Demirel is the
head of state. Of course, we'll work with Prime Minister Erbakan.
Of course, it's important, obviously, that the United States work from a
foundation. The foundation that we have is that Turkey is a secular
democracy and that those secular traditions are very important to
continue. There are a big part of the relationship with the United States.
QUESTION: Last weekend, one of the prominent Turkish opposition political
party leaders died. Do you have any reaction -
MR. BURNS: Was here?
QUESTION: No, in Turkey.
MR. BURNS: One of the prominent . . .
QUESTION: Turkish political party leader.
MR. BURNS: Was in Turkey?
QUESTION: Nationalist Party leader Mr. Turkes died this weekend.
QUESTION: He died.
MR. BURNS: I'm sorry, I didn't get the word. I didn't understand the
question.
QUESTION: He was died last weekend. Do you have any reaction about
Mr. Turkes.
MR. BURNS: Obviously, the United States would like to pass on its
condolences to the family, but I don't think we have any further statement
to make from Washington. But I'll have to check and see if our Embassy in
Ankara has made a statement.
Betsy.
QUESTION: Nick, could you tell us, please, what the state of play is in
Zaire? Have the international organizations gotten access to the Hutu
refugees, and what is the situation in Kinshasa?
MR. BURNS: We're looking at two aspects of the situation in Zaire. First,
we're pleased to say that over the weekend Mr. Kabila did agree to give to
the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees access to the estimated 80,000
Rwandan refugees, who are in makeshift camps along the Kisangani-Ubundu
railroad, 16 and 25 kilometers south of the city. This is very good
news. We welcome Mr. Kabila's cooperation.
This means that UNHCR will be able to transport the most vulnerable of the
refugees to Kinsangani airport and airlift them either to Goma or directly
to Kigali. This is made possible by the grant by the United States a week
ago today of $3 million to finance the airlift operation. The healthier
refugees will be transported and repatriated overland by truck.
We think the airlift might be able to begin later this week, and we hope
that the truck convoy could proceed sooner than that. So we have the money
from the United States to finance this, and we certainly have the need,
because continued reports estimate that as many as 120 refugees are dying
per day. That trend has continued throughout the weekend, and we think that
there are an estimated 20,000 vulnerable unaccompanied children, sick and
elderly refugees who ought to be airlifted out first.
This is a very dramatic situation. I think here we have to thank the
leadership of the United Nations, and frankly we have to thank the
political influence of the United States and the European Union who
convinced Mr. Kabila to make this plan work.
On the talks in South Africa, all I can say is that they opened over the
weekend. The United States has not been directly involved in the talks, but
we are exercising our influence from the sidelines, particularly with
Mr. Kabila and others, and we wish the U.N. envoy Mohamad Sahnoun
well. The situation in Zaire continues to deteriorate, with further
fighting over the weekend, particularly in and around Lubumbashi, the
second largest city in the country. There is reason to be very concerned
about that particular fight, and we continue to call upon Mr. Kabila and
the Zairian Government to cease firing and to engage in political talks to
sort out their problems.
Anything else on Zaire?
QUESTION: Is the situation in Kinshasa - I mean, is the U.S. considering
getting these people - getting U.S. citizens out by boat or are you still
calling for -
MR. BURNS: We are watching the situation very carefully, because we have
the security of our employees and citizens in mind. However, we have not,
as far as I know - unless this piece of paper tells me anything differently
- changed the orders to our Embassy. Right now we have voluntary departure
for dependents of our Embassy employees. We have not decided to evacuate
our Embassy personnel, but we'll keep that under review.
The United States military is present in Libreville, Brazzaville, and the
USS Nassau is off the coast of West Africa and is available to assist in
any evacuation.
Mr. Kabila said over the weekend that the presence of American military
forces was a threat to the territorial integrity of Zaire. This is not
so. It's simply not so. The presence of the American military in Gabon, in
Congo, and on the seas is to be available for any kind of evacuation that
should be necessary of American citizens and American Government employees.
The United States has no intention - zero - of intervening militarily in
Zaire to affect the course of the fighting. We support the territorial
integrity of Zaire. We think that foreign forces ought to stay out, and
we've warned, of course, the governments in Central Africa as well as the
Government of Angola to keep foreign forces out, not with much success,
because we think that there's been very worrisome developments, both on the
Angolan-Zairian border and with the border with Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.
But that's the intention of our military. There is no political reason here
for Mr. Kabila or anyone else to be worried about the activities of our
military.
QUESTION: You don't have any numbers, do you, on Angolans who might have
been sent to Zaire -
MR. BURNS: I don't have any numbers, just to say that we've made it clear
to Angola as well as to other countries, the ones that I've mentioned in
Central Africa, that they ought not to interfere in the ongoing crisis in
Zaire. The situation is complicated enough without them getting involved.
QUESTION: Nick, the U.S. Embassy in Colombia announced over the weekend
that it had stripped 257 Colombians of their U.S. visas because of
involvement with drug trafficking. The first question is, will the
U.S. continue with this practice in the future? And the second question
would be, the Embassy also said that it would not subject some of these
people who might live in the United States at this point to
deportation. Why is that?
MR. BURNS: What I'd like to do is take your question and get you a good
answer by the end of the day. I think we owe you that, because it was in
the news over the weekend.
Yes, sir, Bob.
QUESTION: A few weeks ago there was an internal inquiry going on
concerning Ambassador Wyche Fowler and some of his correspondence out of
Saudi Arabia. Has that inquiry been completed?
MR. BURNS: I don't know if I'd call it an inquiry. I think questions were
raised at the time. What I'd like to do is check on that, because I have
not, frankly, heard anything about it in a couple of weeks, and I'll get
back to you.
QUESTION: The United Nations has released its new appeal for food aid. Do
you have any indication what the U.S. will be?
MR. BURNS: The World Food Program?
QUESTION: No, it's an interagency appeal.
MR. BURNS: Interagency of the U.N. agencies.
QUESTION: Yes.
MR. BURNS: I know that we intended to talk to them once the report was
issued - once the official appeal was issued. Let me try to go back and see
if I can give you a more comprehensive answer to that question. That's a
fair question.
QUESTION: One more on human rights, but this is China -- China and
Denmark, specifically. Nick, the Chinese are fighting the U.N. resolution
of censure on human rights that the United States is involved with Denmark
about. Denmark is being threatened financially, politically, being leaned
on heavily by the PRC. Do you have any reaction to these attempts by the
Chinese to, I take it, just eliminate this resolution?
MR. BURNS: First of all, the United States will co-sponsor a resolution
tabled by Denmark on the human rights situation in China at the U.N. Human
Rights Commission in Geneva. We welcome the decision of Denmark to sponsor
the resolution. This reflects a commitment to the universality of human
rights practices. Secretary Albright did have a phone conversation with
Foreign Minister Petersen a couple of days ago once Denmark had made its
decision.
We'll be working with the Danes, with the governments around the world, to
coordinate our efforts in anticipation of a likely no-action motion that
would prevent the issue from coming to the floor. This motion would surely
be brought by China or one of China's allies that don't want to see human
rights debated in the only forum the United Nations has to debate human
rights. We'll try to defeat that motion, and we'll try to bring this to a
vote, hopefully, in a week or two. I think the vote is currently scheduled
for April 15, although sometimes those things change.
In answer to the larger question of Chinese criticism of Denmark for having
decided to sponsor the resolution, as the Danish Foreign Ministry said, the
U.N. Human Rights Commission is not a tribunal. It is a forum where United
Nations members discuss the issue of human rights around the world. To deny
the discussion, to try to prevent a discussion from even occurring, denies
the very principles for that organization's existence.
If you can't discuss human rights in Geneva at the UNHRC, where can you
discuss it. We think it's the premiere multilateral forum for the
discussion of human rights, and we believe that there ought to be open,
international discussion about very serious problems in China pertaining to
human rights abuses.
So we very much support the Danish Government and the other governments
that will be co-sponsoring. You know the position of the United States all
along has been this. We hoped it wouldn't come to this. We hoped there
would be actions by the Chinese Government that would make it unnecessary
for the United States, Denmark and other countries to go to Geneva. But,
frankly, we haven't seen any actions by the Chinese Government that would
indicate a change of heart, a change of practice, a revision in their
policies in the way they treat their own people.
It's going to be necessary for us to proceed to Geneva, absent last-minute
Chinese action, which probably will not be forthcoming.
QUESTION: Are you saying that this action by the PRC confirms the
repression in China?
MR. BURNS: I'm saying that to protest, as the Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman did today - to protest Denmark's tabling of a resolution seems to
deny the very reason for the existence of the U.N. Human Rights Commission,
which is a forum for talk. It's not a tribunal, but it is a place where
problems can be presented internationally, and there are clearly problems
in China that deserve to be debated internationally. That's why the United
States intends to co-sponsor this particular resolution.
QUESTION: Nick, what's the United States doing to make sure that you can
defeat the Chinese effort to have no action taken on this. China has warned
before, and there are human rights advocates who think the United States is
getting involved in this effort too late in a direct way this year to
really have an impact. So my question is, what are you doing to try to
keep China honest?
MR. BURNS: We will work with the other members of the U.N. Human Rights
Commission through Ambassador Nancy Rubin in Geneva - our Ambassador there
- to try to convince them that the issue of human rights in China ought to
be on the international agenda, and at the very least ought to be brought
to a vote.
This notion that somehow you use a parliamentary procedure to deny a
resolution even from reaching the floor seems to us to defeat the very
purposes of the Commission itself, when you're talking about such a
prominent issue of human rights practices, such as what we've seen in
China.
QUESTION: So you haven't started this lobbying effort yet.
MR. BURNS: We've been very active behind the scenes for quite some time.
QUESTION: The Italian Government expressed today great concerns about the
unpredictability of the military mission in Albania because the country is
controlled by rebel groups and criminal gangster. Are you aware of those
concerns, and are you planning to deploy forces, too, in the near future to
control the situation over there?
MR. BURNS: Mr. Lambros, that's why one of the first things I did almost
an hour ago in this briefing was to read a statement of concern about the
activities of the organized thugs in Albania, which have made it difficult
for Prime Minister Fino and the others to organize an effective
government. We very much support the efforts of Italy and Greece and other
European countries to organize -- Greece and Turkey and Italy - Greece and
Turkey working together - to try to stabilize the situation in Albania.
QUESTION: Are you planning to deploy forces in the near future? This is
my question.
MR. BURNS: No, we're not.
QUESTION: Why?
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. BURNS: Thank you.
(The briefing concluded at 2:08 p.m.)
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