U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #79, 99-06-23
From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>
953
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
I N D E X
Wednesday, June 23, 1999
Briefer: James P. Rubin
IRAQ
1 Opposition groups KDP, PUK discussing implementation of
September agreement.
FRY (KOSOVO)
2 KLA has agreed to store its weapons after 90 days.
2 KLA members have aspirations to eventually form police
force and national guard.
2 UN will create a police force in Kosovo.
3-4 Ambassador Scheffer will accompany FBI forensic team to
Kosovo.
4 US has been primary provider to International War Crimes
Tribunal.
4 US wants to see local institutions become part of civilian
administration of Kosovo.
5 US has reports that indicate some Russian mercenaries were
active in Kosovo.
5 Spokesman Rubin met with many KLA leaders in Kosovo
recently.
6 Decision to relinquish arms was extremely difficult for
KLA.
6-7 International community will regularly discuss progress,
make further decisions as necessary.
7 Kosovo is a de facto protectorate.
7 Serbia retains sovereignty, though some real aspects of
sovereignty have been affected.
8 Perceptions of future would be affected by presence or
absence of indicted war criminal leading FRY
8 Behavior of KLA will be watched closely by international
community.
9 Ambassador Gelbard met recently with Serbian democratic
opposition leaders.
9 US supports goal of a democratic Yugoslavia.
10 US supports humanitarian aid to Serbs, but not
reconstruction assistance.
11 Up to War Crimes Tribunal to decide who is indicted.
11 US wants to support transformation of Kosovar Albanian
groups into genuine democratic political parties
11 Serbian Orthodox Church's call for Milosevic to step down
extremely significant.
15-16 US froze assets on five indictees on May 28, encourages
other governments to do same.
IRAN
12 US views arrest of 13 Jews for espionage with great
concern, has been in touch with other governments who
maintain relations with Iran about it.
UN
12 US committed to pay its arrears, supports Senate bill.
CANADA
13-14 US unaware of bilateral talks about a unified currency.
NORTH KOREA
14 Ambassador Kartman met today in Pyongyang with Vice Foreign
Minister, discussed results of visit to Kumchang-ni
underground construction site.. Future visits to site are
agreed to.
TURKEY
15 US issued worldwide caution yesterday concerning Kurdish
reaction to Ocalan trial.
CYPRUS
US fully backs Ambassador Brill's work to counter
misinformation about Kosovo.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB #79
TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1999, 12:35 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
MR. RUBIN: Hello. Welcome to the State Department briefing; and let's
everybody welcome Carole Giacomo's return - at least I do.
Today is Wednesday. This is the State Department briefing. We have a number
of notices to the press that we will file with you. I have no opening
statement; let me go to your questions.
QUESTION: I think the meetings with the Iraqi Kurds have been thoroughly
covered on the Hill - you're probably aware of the testimony. But the
briefing here was called off, and if there's anything you think has to be
added that wasn't said on the Hill --
MR. RUBIN: No, I'm sure the person who knew the most about it spoke to it
on the Hill.
QUESTION: Well, that's good enough, then.
(Laughter.)
QUESTION: I'm sure it's clear as a bell.
QUESTION: Does the fact that this background briefing has been postponed
twice indicate that things are not going all so great there?
MR. RUBIN: No, I wouldn't assume that the arrangements with the press are
necessarily decisive indicators of good or bad news.
The delegations from the KDP and PUK have engaged in intensive, detailed
and positive discussions regarding the implementation of the September
agreement. Several points under discussion need to be referred to their
respective leaderships. We will be continuing our engagement with both of
the parties, and expect that they will be able to take the difficult but
necessary steps towards greater reconciliation.
Since the discussions are still ongoing, we have asked the parties to
refrain from speaking about them in the media; and therefore, it would be
inappropriate for us to do so. We don't have a specific timetable for you.
We hope that this round of discussions can be concluded with real progress
on some of the implementation issues. However the talks transpire, we will
remain engaged with the parties, and trust that they will continue to work
to implement as quickly as possible those elements on which there is
agreement and work to narrow the gaps on other issues.
QUESTION: Can I ask you a question about Kosovo? There seems to be some
confusion about what is required of the KLA. Do you think that there is
some confusion there?
MR. RUBIN: No.
QUESTION: And what - why -
MR. RUBIN: You've got to be more specific. I don't know who's confusion
you're referring to.
QUESTION: Well, you have KLA commanders saying that they are not required
to give up their weapons, and General Mike Jackson saying, yes, indeed they
are, and he has ways of doing it. That seems to be some conflict there.
MR. RUBIN: Yes, there is no conflict. The agreement is quite clear about
this: after 90 days, all the weapons, all automatic, small arms weapons
will be stored in the registered weapons storage area. Thereafter, their
possession by KLA personnel will be prohibited and such weapons will be
subject to confiscation by KFOR. That's about as clear as the English
language can get.
That doesn't mean that you're occasionally going to get suggestions from
KLA leaders or sub-commanders or zonal commanders about their aspirations
for the future; and there's no question that they have aspirations to
participate in the police force, as well as to create a national guard
along the lines of the US National Guard. That's an aspiration, and if that
aspiration is achieved then obviously they would have weapons. But from the
Western standpoint, all we agreed to was to give due consideration to that
aspiration. So, I wouldn't overstate the comments of some of the sub-
regional or zonal commanders.
QUESTION: The idea of a guard is somewhat down the road, and it's just a
possibility; but participating in the police force seems to be more
realistic. While they wouldn't head it, there may be many of them in the
police force. I know it's stretching for a parallel - no two situations are
similar -- but the Palestinian Authority is a police force and those
policemen carry weapons. In fact, they carry weapons that are very similar
to the weapons carried by a national guard or by an army in some cases. Do
you know if there will be any limitations on the kind of weapons or
the number of weapons, or are you not into that yet?
MR. RUBIN: I think that's a little premature. It will be the United
Nations that creates a police force, using the same approach they've used
in Haiti and other parts of the world. The United Nations didn't create the
police force in the Palestinian Authority; the United Nations will create
the police force here. Therefore, if there is an analogy -- and usually the
analogies are overdrawn -- I would link it more to the Haiti model
than the Palestinian model. But it's up to the UN to make those decisions
on what weaponry is appropriate for a local police force.
As the undertaking indicates, the international community is asked to give
special consideration to membership by individual KLA members in the police
force, and we think that's quite reasonable.
QUESTION: Information on land mines -- the State Department put out a
memo a couple of days ago that they were changing the an existing contract
with a company called Ronco Consulting Corporation to send in teams of de-
mining experts. Some of these teams would come from Bosnia and Croatia
where they have been working. Do you have any information as to whether
people have arrived in Kosovo, and have they begun to work?
MR. RUBIN: Let me say that I will try to get that information for you.
But on a daily basis, the best single source of information for what is
going on in Kosovo is going to be the KFOR press briefing. I would urge you
to ask your colleagues in the field to be posing these same questions to
them. As this force stands up and as a lot of the details of forensic teams
and land mind issues and police issues and a lot of these others develop,
they will have real-time information while I will have policy-oriented
information.
Obviously, if there's a policy issue with respect to some issue like the
police force or problems in the land mine area, it's properly addressed
here. But I don't have any current information on the status of that
particular team; and again, would suggest that the best source for that
information would be folks on the ground who know who's going in and out. I
don't even have the information on when the intention was to go. The only
new team that I know is going is from the FBI, and Louis Freeh gave
an extensive press conference about that a short time ago.
QUESTION: But they weren't de-mining; they were --
MR. RUBIN: No, I'm talking about something else; I'm just giving you an
example. Lee Freeh gave a briefing about his people going in to help in the
investigative area.
QUESTION: On that same point Betsy had a question on, can you find out
for us or give us a little background on this company? Specifically, is it
the same Ronco that makes kitchen gadgets that are sold on late-night
television? I've never heard of this --
MR. RUBIN: I will try to get you some information on this company and its
facilities. I won't try to ensure that that information includes all of the
advertisings they may have had and what time of day those advertisements
might appear.
QUESTION: I don't know if you have this. In terms of the FBI and what you
just brought up, are there a number of State Department officials from war
crimes that are also -
MR. RUBIN: Ambassador Scheffer is accompanying that team.
QUESTION: Anybody else from the State Department?
MR. RUBIN: I don't know whether he's accompanied with anybody, but he is
going to be there. He's the head of our war crimes office. He would be the
appropriate State Department official to accompany the FBI investigative
efforts they're making on behalf of the Tribunal.
QUESTION: Will his role be overseer, basically?
MR. RUBIN: He will be accompanying the team and he is the interagency
coordinator for war crimes activities. But obviously, the FBI has its own -
I don't even know how to finish that sentence.
QUESTION: Expertise.
MR. RUBIN: Expertise, thank you.
QUESTION: On follow on that - is the US providing more personnel and more
assistance than any other country to -
MR. RUBIN: That's been the pattern in the past; I would have to check.
It's certainly been the pattern the United States has provided the most
financial, personnel and political support to the Tribunal since its
inception, which is something that I think is widely known to have been
pushed, and sometimes the War Crimes Tribunal prosecutors call Secretary
Albright the mother of the War Crimes Tribunal.
QUESTION: The British Foreign Secretary today was talking about creating
a currency in Kosovo. That's not really my question. My question is, how do
you see the autonomy plan now unfolding for Kosovo? Have you identified
what you think may be a government, for lack of a better word?
MR. RUBIN: Those decisions are to be made by the international civilian
administration, by the United Nations not by the United States. What we
would expect to happen is in the coming days, the United Nations would name
the special representative and the deputies that would be needed and the
civilian aspects of everything in Kosovo, other than the security created
by KFOR, as the responsibility of the United Nations. Because they're just
getting up and running, I don't believe we have taken firm positions on
specific questions like the one that you mention.
Obviously, we do want to see local institutions become part of the
provisional administration as quickly and as practically as possible. There
are issues of elections that are some months away. So it will be up to the
UN civilian administrator, as they get going, to make decisions as to what
extent the local institutions should play a role in the international
provisional administration.
QUESTION: I don't recall - the current - I believe Rambouillet addressed
the question of currency and trappings of an economy such as that.
MR. RUBIN: I hate to admit, but I don't know the answer to that; but I
will inquire as to the currency question.
QUESTION: Currency and the flag and stamps.
MR. RUBIN: I don't think the idea was to - Rambouillet and the current
agreement makes clear that Kosovo - the sovereignty of Yugoslavia has not
changed, and the currency, flag and airline tend to be the big three when
it comes to sovereignty for some of the smaller states. So it would
surprise me if all of those things happened very quickly.
QUESTION: Jamie, anything more on the Iranian Jews who have been
attained?
QUESTION: On Kosovo, yesterday, according to the Pentagon, some Russian
volunteers and mercenaries joined Serbian paramilitary groups. Do you have
contact with the Russians which this paramilitary or the Russian volunteers
involving the war crimes - who they are, where are they?
MR. RUBIN: We've had a variety of reports that indicate individual
Russians participated or were mercenaries in Kosovo, just as individuals
from many countries were mercenaries in various conflicts wherever they
occur. I don't know what our contact with Russia is on the subject, but I
can check for you.
QUESTION: Jamie, I'm sorry I wasn't here when you talked about the KLA.
Is it correct that you went as an envoy to the KLA; is that accurate? And
what can you say -
(Laughter.)
No, that's not accurate?
MR. RUBIN: We don't have an envoy to the KLA. I did go to Kosovo to work
with some of the senior military leaders in KFOR and in the British
military, to work on the demilitarization agreement, and met with a number
of the top KLA leaders - if not most of them - at their command headquarters
outside of Pristina, and was in Pristina when Mr. Hashim Thaqi signed the
demilitarization undertaking in Pristina.
So I certainly was there. Secretary Albright asked me to go there because
the need for us to convince the KLA to follow through on its commitment to
demilitarize that was made in the Rambouillet accords. She asked me to work
closely with Mr. Thaqi to encourage him to sign the agreement, which he
did.
QUESTION: There's a report today - the reason I ask - in The Washington
Times that the KLA is going to gather up their small arms and they're going
to keep them unto themselves, unto their own guard, I guess, their own
security - going to keep those weapons and allow the KFOR to come by and
see if they're still there. Is that accurate?
MR. RUBIN: Well, before you came in, we had this discussion with one of
your colleagues. I indicated that the agreement is quite clear on what's
required: within 90 days, all the weaponry has to be under the control of
KFOR, and any weaponry that is not is subject to confiscation.
However, there is also an aspiration expressed by the KLA to have an army
along the lines of the US National Guard. That is an aspiration that we in
the international community will take due consideration of as part of the
process that leads to the determination of the final status of Kosovo. No
decision has been made on that issue. There's no question they have such an
aspiration. There's no question that for the KLA this was an extremely
difficult decision that, after having fought bravely for their freedom from
the oppression of the Serb forces in Kosovo, the war crimes of Serb forces
in Kosovo, the crimes against humanity of Serb forces in Kosovo that
it wasn't an easy thing for them to give up their weaponry.
But they agreed to do so in this agreement, which was a difficult thing for
them to do, but followed through on their commitment they made in the
Rambouillet Accords. And they've now expressed their aspiration about what
would happen in the future. That's an aspiration that certainly is
understandable, but with respect to the position of the West, at this point
all we have committed - or we will be expected to do is take it into
consideration.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) - I'm sorry, it's lost on me. I mean, is there
another - will there be a set point with the US and France and Germany -
they'll sit down and make another judgment --
MR. RUBIN: I always hate it when things are lost on you, so let me try to
find you.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MR. RUBIN: You're lost and now you will be found.
QUESTION: Yes. How does the US continue to keep its hand into the
internal affairs --
MR. RUBIN: There is a UN civilian administrator - international civilian
administrator. There is a process whereby many of the countries that were
involved in this will continue talking about it. Kosovo isn't going away
just because the air campaign has ended. So the international community
will regularly discuss the progress and the future of Kosovo. At the
appropriate time, decisions will be made about whether meetings should be
held or what additional steps should happen, and those will be based on
what's going on on the ground and the developments in the region.
So there is no time frame that I can offer you at this time, other than I
think the international community is going to be reviewing this matter
daily. This is a matter of extreme concern. We have 50,000 troops heading
for Kosovo - some 20,000 plus already there and another 30,000 expected to
arrive shortly. So the international community is going to be very focused
on this; and obviously NATO is not going to be there forever, so the future
status of Kosovo is something that's going to be very important to most of
the capitals involved in the peacekeeping operation and, obviously,
the UN civilian administration that is going to be running it. At the
appropriate time, people will try to work on the next steps.
But beyond making clear that we do think it is appropriate to take into
account the Rambouillet accords and the need to develop the permanent
status for Kosovo, that's premature at this time.
QUESTION: I was wondering what mechanism and the time frame - you started
on that - maybe it isn't formed yet - formulated yet. But you talk about
the UN civilian administrator --
MR. RUBIN: In consultation with the key countries of concern.
QUESTION: Is this Security council, or a consultation --
MR. RUBIN: Yes, the Security Council. I mean, look, there's a number of
countries that are going to be heavily involved. Some members are will be
on the Security Council, some might be heavily involved who are not on the
Security Council. They may play a big role in the reconstruction of Kosovo.
So there will be a process that develops for considering this, but at this
point it seems premature and not particularly useful to begin to spell it
out.
QUESTION: It's a trusteeship in the old-fashioned sense.
MR. RUBIN: It's a de facto protectorate. There is an international civil
administration that is running Kosovo on the civilian side; there is
international peacekeeping force - KFOR, NATO - that is running it on the
security side until further notice.
QUESTION: And that doesn't contradict the Serbian sovereignty in the US's
view?
MR. RUBIN: That will be done in a way to respect Serbian sovereignty
because we haven't made a decision about it not being under Serbian
sovereignty. Clearly, Serbia has lost a lot of sovereignty as a result of
the wars that it has fought and the war crimes that its forces committed
and the fact that it was subjected to a lengthy air campaign by the
international community -- the result of which is that nothing has changed
with respect to our position about Serb sovereignty. But as a practical
matter, all Serb forces were removed from Kosovo and the only ones that can
come back - very small numbers - are subject to the approval of KFOR.
Similarly, the Serbs will not control the borders.
So some of the very real aspects of sovereignty have been affected very
practically and very really, but that doesn't mean that we've changed our
view on the principle of sovereignty.
QUESTION: Is any of the de facto arrangements - will they be affected by
the leadership in Belgrade?
MR. RUBIN: I'm sure that people's perceptions in Kosovo about their
future will be affected by the presence or absence of an indicted war
criminal who has been indicted for command and control over forces that
committed war crimes in Kosovo. I'm sure that would have a big impact if he
weren't there.
QUESTION: Is it fair to assume that whether or not NATO and the
international community countenance is the KLA or the Kosovo Albanians
having some sort of a national guard will depend on a, how far they move
towards establishing a civil society in their own area; b, the political
developments in Belgrade? I mean, is it fair -
MR. RUBIN: Keep going; I just want to write this down for tomorrow's
press guidance. What was c?
QUESTION: There was something else - see, you interrupted me. But anyway,
those are the kinds of things that you would look at, right?
MR. RUBIN: Sure. Would it help if I said it? Obviously, the international
community is going to be watching closely what transpires in the Balkans
and in Kosovo. The behavior of the KLA is going to be a factor in the
reputation they develop, the willingness of outside governments to work
closely with them. I think contrary to a lot of mistrust and misperceptions
about the KLA, there are many people who didn't think they would sign this
demilitarization agreement, didn't think they'd follow through with it.
They proved to be wrong.
They did demilitarize on paper, and since that signing KFOR has confirmed
that a number of the steps have been taken along those lines. So the world
will be watching very carefully, and if the KLA follows through on the
commitments it has made, that will have an impact on people's perception of
it as an organization and also the extent to which it does transform itself
into a political institution will be important as well.
Meanwhile, on the Serb side, the fact that Serbia is led by an indicted war
criminal certainly creates grave concern on the part of Kosovar Albanians,
who are fully justified in fearing future under a Serbia or a Yugoslavia
controlled by an indicted war criminal.
So those two factors certainly will play into the developments in Kosovo
and the Balkans in the coming weeks and months.
QUESTION: Going to Milosevic, what is the US doing to assist in his
removal from office? Can you tell us a little bit about what was the
purpose of Ambassador Gelbard's meeting recently with opposition leaders in
Montenegro?
MR. RUBIN: Yes, I can. I hope. It's here, I know it's here; I saw it. If
you'll bear with me, I will - I got it, I got it.
It would really be a lot easier if you guys did the questions and the
answers. Then I could just sit on the side of the room.
QUESTION: It depends on what is available on a guidance basis.
MR. RUBIN: We have long supported the goal of a democratic Yugoslavia. To
this end, we are in contact with Serbian democratic opposition figures in
the same way we maintain contacts with the democratic political opposition
in other countries. We do not support any particular individual, but rather
the goal of a democratic government in Belgrade.
The National Democratic Institute and the International Republican
Institute have, in the past, provided assistance to municipalities in
Serbia. No reconstruction assistance for Serbia, however, will be provided
unto a Belgrade government under the control of Milosevic, an indicted war
criminal.
We have not - contrary to what you hear in Belgrade - in meetings with the
democratic opposition, advocated the violent overthrow of the Belgrade
Government, nor offered any groups or individuals money to do so.
Ambassador Gelbard did meet recently with opposition leaders. These were
not secret meetings. We have been meeting with opposition leaders for a
number of years in our search to bring democracy to Yugoslavia.
Milosevic is an indicted war criminal, along with a number of persons
currently in leadership positions. We have no doubt that the people of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will come to the same conclusion as the
Serbian Orthodox Church - that these leaders are not the path to a peaceful
and prosperous future. So we support a democratic Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, and will meet with democratic opposition leaders to that
end.
QUESTION: Jamie, part of that was -
QUESTION: Barry, let me do one follow, and then you. In terms of
comparison to Iraq, for years the international community has had sanctions
and the US has adopted a policy in November of regime change; but that
hasn't produced any results. So is it a little bit of wishful thinking of
the US that his removal will be -
MR. RUBIN: Well, again, like in Barry's question, apples and oranges
generally don't compare well. For those who have been to Iraq and have been
to Serbia, I think it's fair to say that Serbia and Iraq are not the same
country. They have very few of the same attributes; it's a completely
different society, a completely different system. In this case, the one is
an indicted war criminal, and there are many other differences. So people
who make facile analogies to Serbia and Iraq will probably end up with
their names in boxes at the top of The Washington Post, eating their
words some day.
QUESTION: Jamie, the thing you just read - that bit about reconstruction
has been superseded, hasn't it? You've decided with electrical facilities
and other -
MR. RUBIN: No, you're wrong; that's not correct.
QUESTION: We are now - the US is now is -
MR. RUBIN: Can I try to answer your question?
QUESTION: Can I just finish the point? Is the US now not prepared -
MR. RUBIN: It's really easier if you do both.
QUESTION: Is it not sure that the US is now prepared to assist the people
of Serbia, provided it is a civilian pursuit, like electricity - stuff that
NATO bombs destroyed?
MR. RUBIN: No, no; n-o, period. There is a process going on to define
where does humanitarian assistance end and where does reconstruction
assistance begin. That is the issue that the President and others addressed
in Europe and will continue to address. But the basic way of thinking about
it is reconstruction assistance we're opposed to; humanitarian assistance
we support. Defining that is going to be done very carefully. But that
is our policy.
QUESTION: So I guess the trick - not trick in a pejorative sense - but
the gimmick is that providing --
(Laughter.)
--providing electricity to -
MR. RUBIN: The pejorative gimmick.
QUESTION: Providing electricity to innocent civilians who have no
electricity will be humanitarian assistance instead of reconstruction.
MR. RUBIN: I don't think any decision has been made on that.
QUESTION: But it's a matter of definition, isn't it?
MR. RUBIN: Correct; that's what I just said.
QUESTION: Fine.
QUESTION: Back on war criminals, several weeks ago you gave a list of
nine Yugoslav commanders who are in Kosovo. Given the new evidence that the
atrocities were very systematic, pervasive and apparently organized, are
you, the US Government, now pushing to have these military commanders
brought to justice?
MR. RUBIN: We do not push for indictments of individuals; that is not our
job. It's up to the War Crimes Tribunal to make decisions about who should
be indicted and who shouldn't. We certainly want to provide the International
War Crimes Tribunal as much assistance as possible in trying to determine
who should be indicted and who shouldn't be indicted in terms of intelligence
information and as much information as we can. But it would be up to
them to make a decision as to who they would focus their investigation
on.
QUESTION: Back to the politicization of the KLA, what are the US plans to
help in this? You mentioned NDI and IRI earlier in the Serb opposition.
Does the US have any plans to send any group over or provide funding for a
group to go over to teach them the finer points of -
MR. RUBIN: Well, we certainly want to support their transformation to
being genuine democratic political parties, and we would certainly be very
supportive of that. I don't think we have any specific plans I can announce
right now, but I think some thought is being given as to how we can be
supportive of an effort to transform these people from a liberation army to
a political organization that is as effective as it was on the ground.
QUESTION: Get rid of the comparison about Iraq; forget I even mentioned
it. Why isn't it wishful thinking to think that these assistance methods
will work?
MR. RUBIN: Well, I think for those who know the Serbian society, the fact
that the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is an extremely important
institution in Serbia, has made the decision to call for Milosevic to step
down, people who understand that society think that's a pretty significant
step. So that's a reason why it wouldn't be fair to call it wishful
thinking.
We can't achieve it by ourselves. It's the Serbian people and their
institutions that are going to have to decide what's best for them. But I
think the fact the Serbian Orthodox Church has called for his removal is a
significant piece of evidence.
QUESTION: One more on Kosovo? Let me try this one. In the areas along the
Kosovo-Yugoslav border, who is responsible for keeping the KLA and the
Serbs from getting together militarily, from continuing their conflict
along that border; the KLA from forays into Serbia, per se? Is that
something that is tasked to the KFOR?
MR. RUBIN: Yes.
QUESTION: It is. And the KLA has agreed to stay out of those areas; is
that correct?
MR. RUBIN: The KLA and KFOR are developing a good working relationship.
QUESTION: New subject - the question of the detained Iranian Jews is
attracting increasing interest. There are congressmen who are interested,
who have mentioned the possibility of a mission by Jesse Jackson. What can
you say about all that?
MR. RUBIN: We have made it clear that we view with great concern the
arrest of 13 Iranian Jews on charges of espionage. Secretary Albright has
called these arrests unacceptable. We have called on the government of Iran
to release these individuals immediately and to ensure that they are not
harmed. This issue was discussed in Cologne. We certainly maintained
discussion with other governments who maintain relations with Tehran to
urge them to take up this issue. If Jesse Jackson can achieve their release,
we would welcome that.
QUESTION: Could you say in what form the request to Iran was made?
MR. RUBIN: I didn't say that we made a request to Iran. I said that we'd
been in touch with any other governments who maintain relations with Tehran
to urge them to take up this humanitarian issue. But I am sure that the
government of Iran is aware of our position on this subject from comments
from this podium and elsewhere.
QUESTION: Another subject -- the Senate has approved conditional
repayment to the UN of the $819 million. Do you have any comment on that,
with particular emphasis on the conditions?
MR. RUBIN: The Administration has committed to payment of US arrears and
to reform the United Nations and other international organizations. We are
very pleased that the authorization bill passed by the Senate contains
provisions that address these issues, and we appreciate the efforts of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee in crafting this bill. We support the
Senate bill and we're anxious to move forward on the arrears issue.
QUESTION: How about the conditions - the unilateral lowering of the US
share of expenses?
MR. RUBIN: Well, I'm not going to parse every sentence of the bill. I
said we support the bill. All bills could use improvement, and we've always
said that.
QUESTION: Are you in favor of unilateral declarations of --
MR. RUBIN: We support the bill.
QUESTION: I have another question. Are you in favor of countries
unilaterally declaring what their proportion of the dues should be?
MR. RUBIN: It doesn't say that it's a unilateral; it says that it should
be negotiated with other members of the United Nations. That's the
objective.
QUESTION: Well, they're conditional - they don't get the money if --
MR. RUBIN: Well, but it's not a declaration. We think that this should be
worked out, and we hope that other countries will see the wisdom of working
out an arrangement to lower our assessment.
QUESTION: The Prime Minister of Canada has announced that he and his
government, or at least the Cabinet, will spend two days next week in
retreat, studying their relationship with the United States. At that time
of the announcement, he said the Cabinet would be looking at a shared
currency with the United States, and also open borders. Broadly, first, I'd
like to ask are you aware of any formal contact on these subjects between
the government of the United States and Canada, or the State Department and
the Foreign Affairs Minister in Canada?
MR. RUBIN: We are unaware of any discussions between our two governments
about a unified currency.
QUESTION: Let me ask you about breaking down those two points. On the
unified currency, is that, in American views, a non-starter?
MR. RUBIN: We've had extensive discussions in our shared border accord
forum about a series of practical projects to facilitate the lawful
movement of goods and people across our common border. This important forum
was established by President Clinton and Prime Minister Chretien in 1995.
We consider it a big success. We haven't had any discussions between our
two governments about a unified currency. Whether there's some person in
the US Government who has their own idea of what should and shouldn't
happen in the future - I just am unaware of any view that we have
other than we want to work with them.
QUESTION: Well, perhaps I might help you with one of those views. A
couple of weeks ago, at the Center for Strategic International Studies,
Treasury Secretary Rubin --
MR. RUBIN: Good name.
QUESTION: Yes, indeed. Any relative - said, in specific, on the issue of
shared currencies - not directed, necessary, to Canada - but said the
United States is not going to run the monetary policy for any country but
our own.
MR. RUBIN: Sounds like sound financial advice.
(Laughter.)
QUESTION: And I would presume that's a view that's shared here at the
State Department.
MR. RUBIN: We have great respect for the financial advice of the
Secretary of the Treasury.
QUESTION: So in simple terms, the border discussion might be interesting,
but the shared currency is off as far as Canada is concerned?
MR. RUBIN: Yes.
QUESTION: You don't want to give a verbal answer.
QUESTION: Is that yes -- that's a yes?
MR. RUBIN: I can say that we've had no such discussions, and I certainly
would not want to give any indication that we have any different view than
the Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin.
QUESTION: North Korea? Is there anything new you can tell us about what
exactly is going on there, in terms of policy reviews? I know there's this
meeting coming up on - soon - Friday, is it?
QUESTION: Friday.
MR. RUBIN: Let me give you the North Korea run-down. Ambassador Kartman
met today in Beijing with North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan
to apprise him of the results of the May 20-24 visit to the Kumchang-ni
construction site per an earlier agreement. Ambassador Kartman's discussions
will continue tomorrow. His talks will also cover matters related to the
implementation of the agreed framework, and the upcoming Four Party Talks,
plenary, in Geneva in early August. I don't have any further details for
you at this point.
These US-North Korea bilateral talks were planned prior to the military
confrontation between South and North Korea. Beijing was proposed as the
site for the meeting by the North Korean side as a matter of convenience.
Ambassador Kartman has already briefed congressional members on the outcome
of the visit to the Kumchang-ni site. Our South Korean and Japanese allies
have also been briefed. We expect to issue something publicly on the US
assessment in a few days.
The next visit to the Kumchang-ni site, per the agreement negotiated in
March, will be in May 2000. We expect the statement of our view to
basically follow the following lines. According to the team's report, the
underground site at Kumchang-ni is an extensive, empty tunnel complex. A
fuller technical analysis was conducted to determine as best we can what
the site might have been intended for. While suspicions remain at present,
there is still nothing that leads to the conclusion that there is a
violation of the agreed framework. We expect to provide further details
shortly.
We successfully negotiated for multiple access to the site, precisely in
anticipation of an outcome such as this one where we would want to be able
to ensure future visits so that we could fully remove our suspicions about
the intended use of the site. So we will return next May for another visit,
per our agreement with North Korea, and for subsequent visits to remove
fully our suspicions.
QUESTION: This statement - could we expect that to come on Friday with
these meetings with the --
MR. RUBIN: They're not linked to the three-way consultations. It's not
linked to that. It's just part of the consultation process with the
Hill.
QUESTION: On a new subject, some European countries have issued their own
national security alerts because of developments in the Ocalan trial. Have
the United States issued such a warning?
MR. RUBIN: Yes, we have. Earlier, on June 22 - that is, yesterday -- we
issued a worldwide caution with respect to Kurdish reaction to the Ocalan
trial. I can get you a copy of that after the briefing.
QUESTION: For the Kosovo operation, Greek Cypriot center right Diko Party
and the Communist -- (inaudible) -- Party described NATO as a murderer of
babies and the US officials as barbarians. And also, President Kyprianou
asked that Ambassador Kenneth Brill has to be expelled. How do you feel
about this accusation; and also, do you think this affects US efforts to
solve the Cyprus problem?
MR. RUBIN: We fully support Ambassador Brill's very active efforts to
carry out US policy on Kosovo. He has worked hard and creatively to counter
the misinformation that has appeared in much of the Greek Cypriot press
about Milosevic's criminal activities and the brutalities committed against
Kosovar Albanians. Any suggestion that a reprimand is needed is totally
inaccurate.
Ambassador Brill met with President Clerides, as he does regularly. I don't
normally comment on confidential diplomatic discussions, but the focus of
the discussion was our effort to find a solution to the Cyprus problem and
that continues. I can say that Ambassador Brill wrote to several political
party leaders on June 9 and 10. These letters dealt exclusively with this
situation in Kosovo and the inaccurate and irresponsible statements made by
party officials during and after a June 7 anti-NATO rally in Nicosia.
It is the job of an American ambassador to explain and articulate and
represent the views of the United States. As you know, from this podium we
have spoken very clearly and forthrightly about the evil crimes committed
in Kosovo by the Milosevic regime, and it would be appropriate for our
ambassadors to try to counter some of the propaganda coming out of Belgrade
and other places. The same people who for days and day and days you saw on
the television saying none of this happened I think will be interesting to
see what they have to say now that they're uncovering mass grave sites
regularly and frequently in Kosovo. And maybe some of those people who said
it wasn't true should be asked to respond now.
QUESTION: One more - I forgot about this earlier. Can you say anything
about the Swiss decision earlier today to freeze Milosevic's assets?
MR. RUBIN: We have frozen the assets of the five individuals who were
indicted by the War Crimes Tribunal. We put out an executive order on May
the 28, designating the five indictees as specially designated nationals,
further tightening our restrictions. We certainly would want as many
countries as possible -- we welcome as many countries as possible, acting
to freeze the assets of indicted war criminals.
QUESTION: That would include Switzerland?
MR. RUBIN: That would include Switzerland.
QUESTION: Thank you.
(The briefing concluded at 1:15 P.M.)
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