U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #51, 97-04-08
From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
I N D E X
Tuesday, April 8, 1997
Briefer: Nicholas Burns
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1 Secretary Albright Attended Bilateral Meeting with Canadian PM
Chretien at White House
1 Secretary Speaking on CWC to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Today
1 Secretary to Speak at FSI 50th Anniversary; 4/9
1 Secretary to Address Annual Convention of The American Society of
Newspaper Editors; 4/10
1 Secretary to Present Shakespeare Award to Patrick Stewart; 4/12
2 Secretary to Deliver Keynote Address at Naval Academy, Foreign
Affairs Conference; 4/15
2 Five Statements on U.S.-Canada Bilateral Relations
2 Public Announcement -- Bahrain
3 Elections in Eastern Slavonia
CHINA
3-4 Signing of UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights
4 Divisions in EU over UN Human Rights Convention Vote
NORTH KOREA
4-5 Additional Reports of Widespread Famine and Food Shortages in DPRK
5-7 U.S.-DPRK Missile Talks
5-6 Update on Four Party Talks
MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
7-8 Upcoming Palestinian Delegation Visit to Washington/Minister
Ashrawi-Dennis Ross Meeting
7,10-11 Reports of Violence in Hebron
8-10 USG View on Status of/Conditions for Peace Negotiations
12-13 Proposal of a "Fast Track" to Final Status Negotiations
DEPARTMENT
11-12 Release of the Office of Historian's Report on Nazi Gold
CWC RATIFICATION
12 Prospects of CWC Ratification
ALBANIA
13-14 Multinational Force and Stability in Albania
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB #51
TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1997, 2:16 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
MR. BURNS: Good afternoon. Welcome to the State Department. I've got
a couple of things to tell you about. As you know, Secretary Albright
was over at the White House with the President for the meeting with
Prime Minister Chretien. At 3:30 this afternoon - just about an hour
and 15 minutes from now - she's going to go up to Capitol Hill to give
an address to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; make a statement
on the Chemical Weapons Convention.
You know that Senator Helms and others have been holding hearings today
with those people who are opposed. These are mainly former government
officials from Administrations past opposed to the CWC ratification.
She's going up to make an affirmative statement on why it should be
passed by the Senate - ratified by the Senate, excuse me - and that
statement is available to all of you - will be available to all of you
shortly in the Press Office.
Second, I want to let you know that tomorrow the Secretary will be at
the Foreign Service Institute at 9:15 in the morning to give an address
on American foreign policy. She'll also be meeting some of our students
and faculty members, including our Director, Tazi Schaffer there. As
you know, the press is cordially invited to that.
Also this week, the Secretary, on Thursday, will address the annual
convention of The American Society of Newspaper Editors. That's
Thursday, April 10th at approximately 1:15 p.m. This, I believe, is the
largest and most significant gathering of newspaper editors from across
the United States. She intends to speak about a variety of foreign
policy issues and then take questions from the editors. This is a
group, I believe, of about 550 people.
This event is open to the press. If you would like to cover it, you need
to check with The American Society of Newspaper Editors. It will be at
the Marriott Hotel. That's Pennsylvania and 13th - Thursday, April
10th; right.
On Saturday, April 12th, the Secretary will present the Shakespeare
Theater's Tenth Annual William Shakespeare Award for classical theater -
the Will Award. This is to Patrick Stewart in recognition of his
significant contribution to the on-going process of renewing and
invigorating classical theater in the United States. This award will be
presented at a black-tie dinner, to be held at the Andrew W. Mellon
Auditorium. That's Saturday. That event is also open to press
coverage. We have a lot of things for you.
Next Tuesday, April 15, Secretary Albright will deliver the keynote
address on the occasion of the 37th Annual Naval Academy, Foreign
Affairs Conference. This is part of their James Forrestal lecture
series. This draws students from nearly 100 colleges and 18 countries
to discuss ideas related to foreign policy.
The Secretary's address will be at 7:30 p.m., Alumni Hall, the Naval
Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. She'll be addressing that conference.
She'll also review a military parade earlier in the day - late in the
afternoon - of midshipmen. That should be a great event. All of this
is open to the press. The Press Office will be glad to help you with
any arrangements if you'd like to go to Annapolis. That's Tuesday, the
15th of April.
On to some of the issues of the day. One more thing, actually, I should
say, and that is, the Prime Minister of Canada has been here. The press
conference just concluded. We have four statements about this visit
that are available to you in the Press Office. These are statements on
environmental cooperation between the United States and Canada, on
science and technology, on border management, and on law enforcement and
justice. That's in the Press Office.
Yesterday, we talked a little bit about the situation in Bahrain. I
just want to mention again today that we have issued a public
announcement today. This is available to all Americans here in the
United States who are considering travel to Bahrain and to the many,
many Americans who live and work in Bahrain.
This reflects the statement that was issued yesterday by the United
States Embassy in Bahrain. Essentially, we are encouraging Americans to
maintain a high level of security awareness. Civil disturbances
continue in Bahrain. They do not appear to target Americans.
The U.S. Embassy continues to recommend that Americans exercise the
strongest caution while following their daily business and social
routines. The Embassy continues to receive information about possible
terrorist threats to the United States military in the region, in the
Persian Gulf region, including in Bahrain.
In response to these threats, the United States Navy has restricted
liberty and barred visits to clubs, bars, and restaurants until further
notice. The Embassy recommends that American citizens also avoid
frequenting these establishments until further notice. Americans should
report any suspicious incidents to the United States Embassy in Bahrain.
Americans considering travel to Bahrain may wish to consider this
information when making their travel plans. This is being posted today.
It's available to all of you in the Press Office.
Finally, I have a statement that we're issuing today on the situation in
Eastern Slavonia.
The United States Government notes that Croatia will hold elections on
April 13 for seats in the upper house of parliament and for local
offices. The voting in Eastern Slavonia will be particularly important
in accordance with the Erdut Agreement; and, for the first time, in the
aftermath of the Balkan wars, Eastern Slavonian Serbs and Croats will
vote for the officials who will represent them in a unified, integrated
government.
This is a key step toward national reconciliation. It was foreseen in
the Dayton process when Secretary Christopher and Dick Holbrooke
negotiated the Eastern Slavonia covenant with the Croats and the Serbs.
Now is the critical moment to move beyond rhetoric and to consolidate
democracy. The United Nations Security Council has followed closely
developments in the run-up to these elections and supports the election
process as part of peaceful reintegration of people in that region.
Through the U.N. Transitional Authority in Eastern Slavonia, the
international community has worked very hard to create the conditions
necessary for successful elections.
The United States encourages all citizens of Croatia, including the
residents of Eastern Slavonia to participate in this democratic process.
We strongly urge the residents of the region to stay and take advantage
of their rights as citizens of Croatia. By taking part in the
elections, they guarantee themselves representation in the structure of
governance and a future in Croatia itself.
We note that thousands of Eastern Slavonian residents have already
registered to vote. International observers are in place. The United
States will have over 100 election observers on the ground. Of course,
we are, in this effort, very grateful for the work of the U.N.
Administrator Jacques Klein, who also happens to be an American Foreign
Service officer. He and his staff have made an extraordinary effort to
hold these elections. The United States fully supports their efforts.
It is gratifying to see the situation in Eastern Slavonia reach this
point. If you remember back to November 1995, Eastern Slavonia was one
of the major sticking points at Dayton, Ohio, in the peace talks. It
was Secretary Christopher's intervention in those talks on this issue
on, I believe, November 10, 1995, that broke a very significant logjam.
The fact that they're on the verge of elections speak volumes about
where the Balkan process is. It's heading in the right direction,
particularly in Eastern Slavonia.
QUESTION: Did you see the statement by China today concerning their
decision to sign this international pact which, I believe, the United
States has been encouraging them to do - international economic, social,
and cultural agreement?
MR. BURNS: I heard about a statement on that. Unfortunately, I was not
briefed on that by any of our experts in the building. But,
nevertheless, we will look into that for you, George, and see if, in
fact, these reports are accurate.
The fact is that we have encouraged China to adhere to certain
international covenants governing human and religious rights. More
importantly, we are looking for concrete, pragmatic changes on the
ground in China's human rights practices and the way that China treats
its own population. Frankly, we have not seen any significant change in
the way that China treats its own people. Therefore, we are proceeding
to support the resolution tabled by Denmark in Geneva at the U.N. Human
Rights Commission.
QUESTION: Will you co-sponsor it, too?
MR. BURNS: Oh, I think so. I think the United States will co-sponsor
it, yes, as will a number of other countries. As I said yesterday, we
hope to defeat the efforts of those, including China, that wish to stop
any kind of debate in Geneva about the human rights situation in China.
That's the right forum for debate, and there clearly needs to be a lot
of international discussion about the poor record - the very poor record
- of the Chinese Government and the way it treats its own people.
QUESTION: Do you have anything to say about the divisions in the EU on
this subject?
MR. BURNS: It's unfortunate that there are divisions. One would have
hoped - we certainly would have hoped - that the European Union would
have spoken with a single voice, a unified voice, on this issue. We are
very grateful to Denmark for having stood up for human rights around the
world - in this case, in China - as Denmark has throughout its history.
If you remember back to Denmark's record during the Second World War, it
has an unmatched record for human rights observances during the last 60
or 70 years. The Danes are continuing in their very good tradition in
that respect.
QUESTION: While we're in Asia, have you seen the reports suggesting
that the food shortage is even worse than earlier reported and that
there are evident signs of widespread starvation?
MR. BURNS: We've seen a number of those reports. In fact, Congressman
Tony Hall just returned from a trip to North Korea. He gave very
strong, dramatic statements to the press about what he saw about the
deprivations and the food shortages underway in North Korea. I know
that on April 4, the World Food Program Executive Director, Catherine
Bertini, announced in Seoul that her organization would double its
current appeal for North Korea to 200,000 metric tons of food
commodities valued at $95.5 million.
The United States has not made a formal decision about additional food
assistance to North Korea. However, we remain open to appeals by the
United Nations humanitarian agencies. We are seriously reviewing this
expanded request by the World Food Program.
I would also note that Cargill Corporation announced yesterday that it
had reached agreement with the North Koreans for an initial, modest
commercial sale of wheat in the near future. The exact terms, of
course, are up to Cargill to reveal. That's proprietary information,
but we hope very much that there can be efforts to meet the severe food
needs of the North Koreans.
QUESTION: Do you have independent corroboration that there is
widespread danger of starvation?
MR. BURNS: We rely on the World Food Program and the other United
Nations agencies to be, in effect, the authoritative voice on these
matters. We do not have an American Embassy, any kind of official
presence, as you know, in North Korea. So we have always, historically,
relied on these agencies to give us their best assessment. As you know,
the United States has consistently responded positively to these
requests for food assistance. We announced in late February, of course,
$10 million in food assistance for the first appeal that was made by the
World Food Program.
I also want to say - let me just add to that. I think since the Fall of
1995, we've given a total of $18.4 million in cash and in-kind donations
to the North Koreans as a response to United Nations appeals.
Yesterday, I was asked about possible missile talks scheduled between
the United States and North Korea. I did check on that.
The North Koreans have indicated to the United States their willingness
to hold a second round of United States-North Korean missile talks very
soon. We are currently working on the exact date and location for such
a meeting, but I think it will be held quite soon. As usual, our great
expert on these matters, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert
Einhorn will head the U.S. delegation. I'm not aware who will head the
North Korean delegation.
The last such talks were one year ago, April 1996, in Berlin.
QUESTION: When is it?
MR. BURNS: We are working on the date and location for the talks, Sid.
I expect to have something for you very shortly on that because I think
that's being worked out.
QUESTION: Any word from the North Koreans on the Four Party talks?
MR. BURNS: No word yet from the North Koreans. We're hoping for word
soon.
QUESTION: There's a bit of confusion. The North Koreans have said
they've requested another high-level briefing, at the level of the Four
Party talks briefing which makes it appear that the ball is kind of in
the U.S. court now as to whether - can you clear it up?
MR. BURNS: As I understand it, there are no definite plans at the
moment for a higher level meeting. The North Koreans have indicated to
us their willingness to meet soon, to respond formally to the proposals
that were made by the United States and the South Koreans. This was
back in early March. I believe it was March 5th in New York, as you
remember. That's what we're waiting for.
We assume they're going to come back to us and say, "Let's have another
meeting." Whether that's a briefing or whether that's a forum for the
North Koreans to make a formal response to us on the proposal for Four
Party talks, we'll have to see but we think it's going to be the latter.
Of course, we'll remain flexible here. We want to talk to the North
Koreans - we and the South Koreans. We want to further these
discussions. We want to make progress so that the Four Party talks can
begin.
Yes, Sid.
QUESTION: Just on the missile talks. Could you sort of bring us up to
date on what you want out of the missile talks, what kind of things
you'll be discussing?
MR. BURNS: These talks are designed, as they were one year ago this
month, to review the adherence by North Korea to international standards
on the safeguarding of missile technology. As you know, the United
States has placed proliferation and missile proliferation as one of the
most important issues in our foreign policy agenda - our global foreign
policy agenda. Whenever we can engage in talks with countries like
North Korea or China on these issues, we do so. So that's a general
response, Sid. If you're looking for a more specific agenda, I can
consult with Bob Einhorn and get back to you.
QUESTION: Would you like them to join the MTCR?
MR. BURNS: Excuse me?
QUESTION: Would you like them to sign on to the MTCR?
MR. BURNS: Obviously, we want to see the broadest possible inclusion of
countries in the MTCR, because that's the major international regime
that governs - that tries to limit the proliferation of missile
technology and missiles themselves. But, if you'd like, I can consult
with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Einhorn and see if we can get
you something more specific before these talks are held.
QUESTION: Maybe you could talk to us after the talks.
MR. BURNS: That's another possibility. We'll see.
QUESTION: Could we go to another subject. Have you invited the
Palestinians to send a summary delegation, and have you had a response?
MR. BURNS: We understand that the Palestinian Authority will be sending
to Washington in the next couple of days a senior level delegation. We
have not yet been told who those people will be, although we have some
ideas, but we haven't been told officially. So I'll have to wait before
I can give those names out. As the President just said a half hour ago,
we're looking forward to this. It's the next step in our attempt to put
the negotiations back together.
Meanwhile, Hanan Ashrawi is in town. In fact, she probably arrived
about two minutes ago to see Dennis Ross. She'll be consulting with
Dennis and Aaron Miller and others this afternoon. She'll be with some
of the permanent representatives of the Palestinians here, and then we
will await the visit of the senior level Palestinians; and at that point
we'll have to consider where we are. We'll remain in touch this week
with other regional leaders - Arab leaders - about the situation
pertaining to the peace talks, and then we'll have to decide on the next
steps.
Frankly, we believe that, as we said yesterday, we are at a critical,
difficult moment in the peace negotiations, and clearly confidence has
been lost on both sides. There's a need now to try to rebuild that
confidence and a sense of trust, and that's where we are heading. We've
got to try to piece back together a credible process where both the
Israelis and Palestinians can believe that there is some reason to hope
for progress. But the last thing I would say is just to reaffirm
something that was said earlier today by the President, and that is that
we Americans are optimists, and we are going to work hard to make sure
that these peace negotiations are revived. That has been our experience
over the last quarter century. We've been successful in doing this in
the past, and we're going to work toward that end.
QUESTION: Have you seen the reports of new violence in Hebron and I
think now three deaths involved?
MR. BURNS: We've seen the reports of three dead and over 100 people
wounded in Hebron today in vicious violence - I mean vicious trouble,
vicious violence in the West Bank - and obviously we hope for an end to
the kind of violence that we saw today, and we hope for a resurrection
of a different kind of climate where Palestinians and Israelis sit down
with each other and negotiate their differences.
QUESTION: Albania -
MR. BURNS: Let's keep on the Middle East, and then we'll go to Albania.
QUESTION: As I understand it, Arafat will not be in the Palestinian
delegation that comes. Does that diminish or dilute in the opinion of
U.S. diplomats the mission of the Palestinians?
MR. BURNS: No, it doesn't, because we've been in pretty much constant
communication with Chairman Arafat. We know what his views are. We'll
be able to talk to him by phone, both the Secretary and Dennis Ross, and
these people, of course, will be senior level people, among his closest
assistants, and they will speak for him and for the Palestinian
Authority. It is the next step in the process. But there will be
further steps, obviously, beyond that as we attempt to revive these
negotiations.
QUESTION: Was he invited to be among this group, do you know? Arafat.
MR. BURNS: I think it's his decision to send the delegation that he is
sending. That's his decision. As you know, we, of course, would not
turn down an opportunity to see Chairman Arafat. This is the way that
he wanted to handle these negotiations. We respect that. The people who
are coming, if they are the people who we think they are, are well known
interlocutors of the United States and highly regarded by us. I think
these will be very important talks.
QUESTION: As you work toward piecing back together, to use your words,
the peace process, does the State Department or does the Clinton
Administration feel that the visit by Prime Minister Netanyahu furthered
that goal?
MR. BURNS: I think what you've seen in our comments over the last 24
hours is that we're at least moving again. We have people coming. We
are talking to them - the Israelis and Palestinians. We are injecting
ourselves into this process. The United States has offered ideas.
We've asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to consider them. We'll ask the
Palestinians to consider them. At the same time, we're listening to
them. Hopefully, by the end of this process, we'll have convinced both
of them that it's time to go back to face-to-face negotiations.
Obviously, it was a very useful visit by the Prime Minister, and we look
forward to a similar one by the Palestinians.
QUESTION: Nick, as the President said yesterday, he used the word
"precondition" - that an end to violence is a precondition to making
peace in the Middle East. Will Mr. Ross tell the Palestinians that?
MR. BURNS: Our position on this has been constant for well over a month
- zero tolerance - and that means that everyone involved in the peace
negotiations has to dedicate themselves to that proposition, with the
understanding - and I think this goes to your question - that progress
in the peace negotiations can't occur in an environment where there is
widespread fighting and violence. The situation has to calm itself
domestically in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip before we can see
real progress at the negotiating table.
QUESTION: Well, precondition is a very specific word, and while the
President only used it once, let's assume he used it with some
aforethought. "Precondition" means you can't negotiate until you get
the declaration that the Palestinians have zero tolerance for violence.
MR. BURNS: I think, Barry, that all of us would - and I think the
Palestinians would agree - that progress is not going to be made in an
environment where there's violence from either side. There has to be
zero tolerance for violence.
QUESTION: I'm not talking about progress, but I'll drop it, because I
don't think you're going to answer the question. The use of
precondition, unless he's using it loosely, means that until this
happens, until there is a declaration of zero tolerance for violence
from the Palestinians, the U.S. does not want to go ahead with seating
the two parties at a table and negotiating. You need this first to go
ahead; and not you need it first to do well, you need it first to do
okay, you just need it first, period. Do you need it first, or, if you
can find a way to get the two sides going without that red light you
used to talk about, is that okay, too?
MR. BURNS: Barry, let me just try to summarize what I think the
American position is, and that is what I know the American position to
be, and that is that we want the Palestinians to do everything they can
to choke off violence and terrorism. We want the Israelis and
Palestinians to agree on a resumption of negotiations. We want both of
them to be true to the commitments that they've made to each other as
part of the Oslo process.
Those aspirations that I've just put forth require both sides to take
positive actions for peace, and they require both sides to think of the
other as a negotiating partner with political needs, and that I think is
the essence of the American position. We're looking for positive
actions from Israel as well as from the Palestinians; and on violence
we're looking for a clear renunciation of terrorism from the Palestinian
leadership. We've seen statements by Chairman Arafat, and it's always
good to see reaffirmations of those statements.
QUESTION: You're coupling the two sides again and what you want from
both. The President yesterday made it clear there is no quid pro quo
from the U.S. standpoint so far as the cessation of violence. Whatever
you guys may think of Har Homa, whatever you may think of Jerusalem,
whatever you may think of anything, he wanted as a precondition, a
declaration that there is zero tolerance for violence. You are doing
the customary thing -
MR. BURNS: Barry, that's a different -
QUESTION: -- of asking both sides to be - you know, to reconcile and
make a compromise and all that. That may be your strategy, but I'm
asking you simply about a precondition of the declaration against
violence. But that's the last time I'll try it, I promise.
MR. BURNS: I just heard a new question from you, at least in my own
mind.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) else I better rephrase it.
MR. BURNS: Well, you asked a new question in my mind, and you asked the
President that question yesterday. You asked it.
QUESTION: I didn't ask if it was a precondition. He volunteered
precondition.
MR. BURNS: No, you talked about the fact - you asked a very specific -
QUESTION: Quid pro quo.
MR. BURNS: That's right, and the President answered it the way,
obviously, he wanted to, which is United States' policy, and I cannot
improve on the President's answer to that question. It is not
acceptable to think that Israel can go forward in a climate where
there's continued terrorism, and that's what the President was saying
yesterday. Israel should not have to pay something to have violence
ended and terrorism ended. That's exactly what the President was
referring to, and I'm glad you gave me an opportunity to just point to
his remarks of yesterday. But I think your initial questions were
slightly different, at least in my own mind.
QUESTION: Just for clarification, just for the record, my understanding
- my recollection of what he said was that there would be zero tolerance
for terrorism.
QUESTION: Correct, terrorism.
QUESTION: You keep using the word "violence." You're not equating
stone throwing with terrorism.
MR. BURNS: No, I think we're talking about the type of terrorism that
we saw nearly three weeks ago in Tel Aviv where a man walked into a caf
and blew up innocent civilians, or where people try to blow up school
buses - Palestinians trying to blow up Israeli school buses. That kind
of terrorist activity is not going to be - cannot be a part of the peace
negotiations, and we must have zero tolerance for it.
We do not approve of stone throwing. We don't approve of shooting
bullets. We don't approve of knifings. We are against violence as
well. But I think Barry's question yesterday -
QUESTION: --the question was about terrorism.
MR. BURNS: Barry's question yesterday was about terrorism, but I don't
want to be mute here on the question of violence either. We don't
support violence.
QUESTION: There are two - unsurprising, there are two totally
different, differing - I don't know if you've been into this - accounts
of what happened. The Israelis say that the seminary students on their
way to Abraham's Tomb were attacked by tear gas. The Palestinians say
there was no provocation. The seminary students opened fire on the
Palestinians. Of course, you know what happened afterwards. Two others
were killed and scores were injured by Israeli troops. Were those
seminary students attacked by -- or does the U.S. know?
MR. BURNS: The United States does not know. We weren't there.
American officials were not on the scene, so therefore we can't know.
There are two different sides to this story. We regret the violence.
We regret the loss of life. We regret the fact that over 100 people are
injured, but we are not taking sides. We're not trying to point the
finger at either side. The Israeli police and military officials will
have to try to figure out which side is responsible, and there's a
judicial system in place to handle that kind of process.
QUESTION: Does the U.S. have any second thoughts in light of this
incident about Israel withdrawing from 80 percent of Hebron and turning
over security in most of the town to the Palestinians? Do you think
security - do you have any second thoughts about whether security can be
maintained in light of today's incident?
MR. BURNS: We believe in the Oslo process. We believe in the
commitments made in Oslo. This was a decision to redeploy from Hebron
made by Prime Minister Netanyahu's government. Obviously, that
government supports the decision. The Palestinians do, as do we.
What we do want to see happen in Hebron as well as in other areas where
Israeli troops and Palestinian policemen come together, is we want to
see cooperation between the Israeli military forces and the Palestinian
police. That is essential. Everyone would agree that is essential to
provide for a secure environment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
David.
QUESTION: Has the Department figured out yet which day it is going to
release the Historian's report on Swiss gold? I gather it's being
printed.
MR. BURNS: The Department has not yet figured out the exact day of the
release, although I think it's going to happen in the month of April, I
would venture a guess. I hope to be more specific about that as soon as
I can. I did talk to Stu Eizenstat last week. We had a general
discussion of when we'd like to do it, but we haven't settled on a
specific date. It's very complicated, because information continues to
flow into us about the activities of a variety of countries. Just over
the weekend, new information about a country in Europe came in. We have
to look through this. We have to search through our archives, and all
of this work - a great deal of it - is being done - I just want to
congratulate him again - by our Historian, Bill Slany, who does a
terrific job. So when the time comes to set a date, we'll let you know
about it, and Stu Eizenstat will be here, and he'll present it to you
publicly.
QUESTION: If my colleagues will indulge me, another question, different
subject. Have you - there's hearings today on CWC, and, of course, the
Secretary will speak about it. Have your legislative people done any
nose counting yet? Do you think that you can get two-thirds of the
Senate to vote for it?
MR. BURNS: We are very hopeful that two-thirds of the Senate will reach
the conclusion that they've got to ratify the CWC before too long. We
are hopeful, and I would even venture to say we're optimistic, because
we think it's unquestionably in our best interests. I think you need
look no further than the bipartisan gathering on Friday at the White
House where Colin Powell and James Baker, Republicans as well as
Democrats, got together, and they spoke in one voice about the need for
the ratification of the CWC and why it's in our national interest.
QUESTION: Nick, last night - back to the Middle East - Netanyahu in a
speech to APAC, his third speech of the day, before getting on his
airplane, flatly ruled out - and I'll get you the words, if you'll trust
my reporting, that - he flatly ruled out giving up any part of
Jerusalem, returning to the '67 borders or a Palestinian state. If
that's his position, what is the point of pushing for final status
talks, from the U.S. view?
MR. BURNS: But it's exactly -
QUESTION: What do you expect his position will be?
MR. BURNS: But that's what final status talks are all about. The
Israelis and Palestinians agreed, as you know better than anybody, in
1993 that the final status talks would include these very difficult
issues of Jerusalem - the future of the Palestinian-controlled areas -
and all of that, of course, and all of the attendant problems that flow
from them are designed to be discussed in these very important
negotiations.
Our point is let's get there. Let's help the Palestinians and Israelis
get to the point where they can discuss these problems.
QUESTION: They're not disheartened.
MR. BURNS: No, we're never disheartened, because I think the track
record is that the United States needs to remain a positive, balancing,
objective partner to both the Palestinians and Israelis, and we're going
to keep this process going. You just heard the President say that not
too long ago.
QUESTION: Can we take another swing at fast-track? It sounds like the
French idea for NATO expansion. It seems to be disappearing.
MR. BURNS: Is this NATO or the Middle East?
QUESTION: No, this is in the Middle East. But it reminds me of the one-
day life of the French proposal for the Big Four NATO powers to get
together and talk about ways to make Mr. Yeltsin less alarmed about NATO
expansion.
Netanyahu left town saying, "Hey, there could be other ideas." Have you
guys put the kibosh on fast-track and not gone public with it? And why
would you do that if -
MR. BURNS: Fast-track for final status talks?
QUESTION: Yeah. Since he says he's still committed to Oslo; he'd carry
that out even while moving to fast-track. Is that a bad idea?
MR. BURNS: What has to happen, Barry, is that the two sides have to
agree on any proposal to make it a successful proposal. So the Israelis
and Palestinians need to agree. Right now they cannot agree on how they
should meet - in what place, at what time, and what table, and how they
should structure their talks. Right? So it's up to the United States
to try to help them do that.
The President put some ideas in front of the Prime Minister. We'll put
them in front of the Palestinians, and we'll try to move forward.
The President answered your question yesterday. He said what he said
about that particular proposal. We've obviously heard it. We know the
reasons why certain people want to push it. We'll now listen to the
Palestinians, and we'll try to move forward with both of them on all
these issues.
QUESTION: A couple of questions. First of all, I would like to know
whether the United States thinks the government of President Berisha is
some kind of an obstacle to the pacification of the country?
Second, what do you expect the results of the multinational force would
be? Are you optimistic for that mission?
MR. BURNS: On the second question, we are hopeful that by April 14th
the European force will have taken its place in Albania and that it will
be an agent of stability in Albania.
On your first question, the obstacle to stability and peace are the
armed insurgents who seem to think they're above the law in Albania, the
people who chased Prime Minister Fino away from an important event over
the weekend. So, therefore, I think all Albanians need to support their
government. Their government is a broad-based government that includes
all the major political parties, including the opposition - the former
opposition. So that's the place to provide for stability in Albania.
People in Albania need to look toward that government as the agent of
stability and look at the armed people in the streets, the insurgents as
the obstacles to peace and stability.
Thank you.
(Press briefing concluded at 2:50 p.m.)
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