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U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing, 01-02-01U.S. State Department: Daily Press Briefings Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>DAILY BRIEFING Richard Boucher, Spokesman Washington, DC February 1, 2001 INDEX: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO TRANSCRIPT: MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have a number of statements that I will do off the top, and then it is up to you whether we do questions one at a time. But the first is $10 million we are putting into refugee assistance for the Congo; the second is about the death of a US hostage in Ecuador; the third is about southern Serbia; and the fourth is Mitrovica. And I will skip World Wetlands Day. You can read that one in writing later. World Wetlands Day is tomorrow, which we will be celebrating here with an inundation or something. First, let me talk a little bit about the $10 million that we are pledging towards refugee emergencies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The United States is deeply concerned about the humanitarian impact of the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has displaced nearly two million people, generated over 327,000 refugees. Inside the Congo, war has in large measure stymied relief efforts for the displaced and the 330,000 refugees the Congo itself is hosting from its own neighbors, from Angola, Burundi, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda. So the United States will provide emergency funding of $10 million for assistance to refugees and conflict victims, allocated among various agencies: the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to help with refugee populations; the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund to help with essential pharmaceuticals; the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs -- that will work on quick-impact projects in the Congo; the Red Cross for emergency assistance to displaced persons; and the UN Security Coordinator for the deployment of field security advisors to help ensure safe working conditions for the people that work with these people. We are gravely concerned about the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and of course we call once again on all parties to abide by the Lusaka ceasefire agreement. This assistance package complements ongoing US Government emergency programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that total $32.6 million in Fiscal Year 2000. So we'll have a few more details in the full statement available to you after the briefing. Q: Can I ask one very brief question? MR. BOUCHER: Sure. Q: Is that ICRC you are talking about, or is it the American Red Cross? MR. BOUCHER: It is the $1.5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross for emergency assistance programs to internally displaced persons. Q: Is this just coming out of the blue today, or was it designed to coincide with the meeting between the Secretary and President Kabila? MR. BOUCHER: I think it is not timed quite that closely, but obviously the issue of the events in Congo is very much on our minds, and reflected both in meetings and in the humanitarian assistance. But these assistance programs are usually based on ongoing work with the agencies involved, to know the needs and to know where the funding has to go. Q: The situation is described as grave, of course, but has there been any noticeable improvement, any basis for hoping for improvement in the last few days, with the new president? MR. BOUCHER: No, really it is an ongoing situation that hasn't changed one way or the other in the space of a few days. It is a very serious humanitarian situation. The overall humanitarian conditions inside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I would say, remain dire. Refugee outflows continue, most recently owing to ethnic conflict in the northeast that has been exacerbated by the ongoing war. There is internecine fighting in eastern Congo. Government restrictions on relief activities have continued to hamper humanitarian operations, and that is obviously something we will want to discuss. Basic assistance to internally displaced and other victims of the war is nonexistent in many areas. One NGO study reported 1.7 million deaths above what would normally be expected in the last two years. Q: Do you think it will at least be contained in that stricken country, or do you see spillover? MR. BOUCHER: I think every effort is being made, not just to contain the conflict, but to resolve it. And in the meetings that the Secretary has been having yesterday with President Kagame of Rwanda, today with President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in our contacts with other parties in the region, every effort is being made to resolve the conflict through the Lusaka Accords, to have a peaceful reconciliation within the country, to have demobilization of the armed groups, and to secure the withdrawal of foreign forces. Q: Richard, I just want to make sure I understand. You're seeing no diminution in the fighting; is that correct? Q: Or no diminution in the suffering? MR. BOUCHER: No diminution in the suffering and in the humanitarian situation. The fighting sort of pops up and goes down in various places at various times. There has been this outbreak in the northeast that has caused new flows of displaced persons. But the situation, the overall situation, no, there is no real change. Q: Richard, I know this came up a half an hour ago or so, but could you clarify, please, on these working groups? Is there one specifically on the Congo, or is it for Africa in general? I don't think it is quite clear to me. MR. BOUCHER: I think the way to do it, the way to explain it, is to say that there are people working on the Congo. Obviously this is a subject of interest to the Secretary, given the events there, the assassination, the opportunity to have these meetings here. So there is a group of people who got together. The Secretary has said to you all two things: one, that he is looking at a number of different areas of policy. Obviously with the developments in the region and the opportunities here, he is looking at Congo and that situation there. And there are people to do this for him, but we will have a working group structure, an interagency working group structure, in this Administration, as he said, that will go forward and look at all areas. Q: Is that their normal practice, to have a group of people working together on a particular subject? MR. BOUCHER: Yes, it is. I mean, it shouldn't be news to anybody that we get people from different agencies together to look at problems. Q: Exactly. MR. BOUCHER: Well, that is the way we have done business for a long time, and we will continue -- Q: But does that constitute a working group? I mean, does it have any sort of formal existence? MR. BOUCHER: Some of them do and some of them don't. I don't even know if the form and structure has been announced, so it is merely something that each administration organizes. But the fundamental principle of the Secretary asking some people to look at things together from different agencies and working through issues that way is obviously something that has been done before, and it has not just been invented for the Congo. Q: Does the meeting this afternoon imply US acceptance or approval of the legitimacy of Kabila's position? MR. BOUCHER: I think we did that question a dozen times a week ago, so I will refer you back to that. We work with the government; he is head of the government; we are working with him. Q: Richard, is it fair to assume that in the Congo that there is an increased focus now in terms of the US and trying to work out some sort of peaceful settlement through the Lusaka Accords? This is now a heightened focus? MR. BOUCHER: I hesitate to do the compare and contrast things because we have talked very often about this region. We talked very often in the last few months, and in fact years, about the efforts the United States was making. I think the focus in the conflict has to remain on the parties themselves. The Lusaka Accords are among the governments in the region and the parties in the region, and those are the people that have to carry it out. Naturally, whenever the United States has an opportunity such as that presented this week, we will talk to the parties about how they can do that and encourage them to go forward. Q: I'm just a bit confused about why you are trying so hard to play down the idea that the Secretary is showing interest, or a particular interest in a particular place. I mean, doesn't that make sense? Isn't it just natural that you have the leaders of two belligerent countries in town, both of them meeting with him, that he is going to have an increased focus on that? I mean, it is not -- MR. BOUCHER: Let me say that. Isn't that what I just said? I think I just said that given the developments in the region, the assassination and the hardship, the opportunities presented by these leaders in town to talk about them, the Secretary is obviously looking at the Congo at this stage and has had people, has talked to people within the system, and has gotten people together, had people across different agencies work together in order to develop our thoughts and policy that way. But I am not trying to -- I am not -- I, for one, don't think it is that surprising, shocking or astounding or newsworthy, the fact that there is a group of interagency people working on the Congo. The fact is, the United States works on the Congo and we have devoted considerable attention to this. The Secretary is devoting his time and attention to this because of the situation there, just as you said. Q: Well, of course, but it is news, because there isn't anything else coming out. (Laughter.) MR. BOUCHER: Well, that is a sad commentary on the state of the news. But we will try to make some other news, if I can. Q: Thank you. MR. BOUCHER: Let me talk about Ecuador, if I can. The Department of State abhors the senseless death of kidnapping victim Ronald Clay Sander. His body was found on January 31st, yesterday. Our condolences go out and have been conveyed to Mr. Sander's wife and to other family and friends. We will call for the immediate and unconditional release of the remaining hostages unharmed. The United States will continue to work closely with the Government of Ecuador to gain the release of remaining hostages and to bring to justice the perpetrators of this horrible crime. Q: Do you have any indication who is responsible for this killing, who has taken the hostages? I think the latest reports still seem to leave it pretty vague. Maybe you have better information than we do. MR. BOUCHER: Yes, it is still vague. We haven't seen any particular identification of the people involved, of the group or whatever. Q: You have no indication as to the whereabouts or welfare of the other hostages? And you presume them to still be alive, I assume? MR. BOUCHER: Yes, and we would urge anybody holding them to keep them alive and, in fact, to release them. We are working -- various US Government agencies are working-- with the Government of Ecuador, and will continue to work with them, to try to get the release of these hostages. Q: Late yesterday you put out a Public Announcement about Ecuador which was obviously unrelated to this, but how -- I can wait until after you do the -- it's a question about the general situation in Ecuador. How concerned are you about these protests? MR. BOUCHER: I think that's something I'll have to get back to you on. Q: Richard, are you saying that the US authorities at the embassy or wherever has never received any communication from anybody claiming to hold these people and making any -- setting out any demands for their release? Or have you received so many and you can't work out which one -- MR. BOUCHER: I didn't say that. I said I don't have anything to say about who might be holding him. There has not been an organized public statement or anything like that. We obviously have various pieces of information about this, but I'm not able to go into that. Q: Okay. So you can't say whether you've received any kind of demands or claims or whatever? MR. BOUCHER: No, there has been no public claim; there has been no identified group that's made a claim. Q: Are you able to say how his body was found? I mean, did somebody just stumble over it in the jungle or was there a phone call? MR. BOUCHER: I think there was -- it was pretty grisly, actually. The body was found, if I remember, by a roadside and then there was some kind of radio transmission that identified where it was and the fact that he had been killed. Q: From the people who -- Q: The radio transmission itself must be important -- MR. BOUCHER: I'm not getting into clues and identities. I draw the line there. Q: His company, we've heard of, has been negotiating over ransom amounts and things like that. I know the US never supports paying ransom for hostages, but how are these messages communicated between whatever this group is who is demanding money and the American company? MR. BOUCHER: I appreciate the questions and the fact that you would like to know these things, but I think you also have to appreciate that this is a very sensitive, delicate subject at a particularly sensitive time for the families and the people involved, and I'm just not going to be able to go into detail about what we know, what we know is going on. I will say that we're working very closely with the Ecuadorian authorities to try to get these people released, but as far as how things are communicated, what we know, who has contacted us and those sorts of things, I just can't get into that. Q: You don't know whether the other are still alive? MR. BOUCHER: As I think I was asked, we assume they are alive and certainly would urge that no harm come to them. Q: The last time an American oil worker was taken in this area, there was some speculation that they might have been taken over the border into Colombia. Are you working with the Colombian authorities on this matter in any way? MR. BOUCHER: I think the principal discussion and contact here is with Ecuador. I'm not exactly sure of the location here, but if there is a Colombian connection I'm sure we're working on that as well. Q: Do you know -- can you say if this is a political crime, or just an awful crime per se? MR. BOUCHER: No. Q: Richard, do you have any reaction to the Indonesian parliament's…? MR. BOUCHER: No, let me finish the things I want to make statements on, if I can, okay? All right. Now, let's talk about southern Serbia. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Covic has made a statement about a plan that the Serbian Government has to achieve a peaceful political solution to the situation in southern Serbia. This is something that we welcome. Together with our allies and other concerned parties, we will carefully review the plan. We do believe that this initiative provides a basis for starting a peaceful process to end the conflict. Okay. And the last thing I want to say is about the situation in Mitrovica, the second largest city in Kosovo. We call for calm among all parties in Kosovska Mitrovica. The current violence by militant demonstrators against NATO peacekeepers there is no way to solve the grievances. We call on the demonstrators to cease immediately their confrontation with NATO peacekeepers, and we urge them to address their issues peacefully through consultative bodies of the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo, and the NATO-led Kosovo force. The operational mandate of NATO-led Kosovo force requires its peacekeepers to provide a secure environment in all of Kosovo for all its citizens. The United States fully supports the NATO-led Kosovo force and the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo in their efforts to maintain law, order and stability in Kosovo. Okay, where are we going to go? Q: Wetlands? MR. BOUCHER: February 2nd is the 30th Anniversary of World Wetlands Day, and we will give you a statement about how we are celebrating tomorrow. Q: Are we invited? MR. BOUCHER: Yes, you can go to the wetland of your choice. Q: (Inaudible) -- Serbia and Mitrovica, because Secretary Powell will be meeting with Kosovar leaders, and as well as the Serbian Prime Minister, I believe. MR. BOUCHER: Yes. Q: Is there any plans at all for a joint three-way discussion on some of these issues that you just talked about? MR. BOUCHER: Well, the three Kosovar leaders. No, there is no plan to get them together, at least on our side. I haven't heard of anything they might be doing, but we have not made any efforts in that direction. Of course the Secretary looks forward to discussing these situations with the parties that he will talk to tomorrow. Q: So on that, he also, I presume, was discussing some of this this morning with the new Chair-in-Office of the OSCE, the Romanian Foreign Minister. Can you give us a readout on that meeting with a particular eye towards anything that was involving the Balkans, US commitment to the Balkans, and also if there is anything bilaterally going on between the US and Romania? MR. BOUCHER: Okay. If I don't hit one of those things on the way through, remind me at the end. The Secretary met this morning for about a half hour with Romanian Foreign Minister Geoana. The Minister is in town for three days, January 29th through February 1st. Their discussion, I would say, was about two areas. One is the bilateral relationship, and particularly the efforts that the United States can make to help Romania in its own efforts to reform and progress. And we heard, I think, a strong commitment to reform from the Romanian Foreign Minister, and he heard from Secretary Powell a strong desire for the United States to help. The discussion was very much about showing the results of democracy and an open economy, and making those clear to people inside the country and in the region, about how they could benefit from those. And they focused on the strategic partnership that we have with Romania, including an ongoing dialogue, for example, in the economic area where Under Secretary Larson has had a series of discussions with them about reform and how we could support it; and then also in the area of crime, which is an increasing concern in this region. So that is where we talked about the bilateral relationship, the reform process and where Romania is headed, and how we could very much help with the process that they have under way in that direction. The second basket of issues discussed was Romania's role now as the Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. So he and the Secretary sort of ran down quickly the various issues on the OSCE -- the organization's agenda, and I think talked as much about the sort of general approach as any specific issue, and that is that the Romanian Foreign Minister outlined for the Secretary his desire to have an active role as the Chairman-in-Office, an active role in Southeastern Europe, as well as many of the other areas that they OSCE works on. And the Secretary said that was something we would support and work with him on. Q: (Inaudible) -- the Foreign Minister yesterday raised this in speaking and saying that he was all for -- MR. BOUCHER: In terms of the US commitment to -- Q: He was all for -- he thought, yes, a review was in order for policy, everyone's policy, towards the region, but that the US would have an indispensable role to play and he didn't want to see -- militarily as well as economically and otherwise, …. MR. BOUCHER: In terms of the US role in the Balkans, US commitment to the Balkans, in terms of military forces, the Secretary said to him what he said in testimony and elsewhere. He is not looking to cut and run, that they are looking at the deployments we have there, at the state of our forces there, the balance of our involvement there, and that we would be working with allies as we reviewed the overall posture of US forces. Q: Richard, going back to Kosovo, what will the Secretary be telling these Kosovo leaders tomorrow about possible links between Kosovo radicals and the Presevo Valley people? MR. BOUCHER: The meeting tomorrow, of course, will be the first one that the Secretary will have with this group, so that will be part of the discussion. I think what I would say generally is that we have looked for all leaders in the region to encourage people to act peacefully and to take up issues with the UN and the NATO-led Kosovo forces that are there. Many of the key ethnic Albanian leaders in Kosovo have said this already, so obviously we would want to encourage these leaders as well to call on people to end the violence and to take up these issues peacefully. Other topics? Barry. Q: Running way behind in the polls -- Mr. Barak has invited President Clinton to speak to the Israeli people two days before the election, and which he will on Channel Two, the commercial television channel. Does the US Government have any view about a former President apparently injecting himself into domestic politics? MR. BOUCHER: No. Q: The USS Cole. I don't know if you can confirm reports that an agreement between the United States and Yemen, that any suspects found outside of Yemen that could be charged with the bombing of the Cole, will be tried in the United States? MR. BOUCHER: No. We have talked about the fact that we have reached understandings with the Yemeni Government about how to handle different things. We have talked about the excellent cooperation, really in some cases extraordinary cooperation, we have had with Yemeni investigators. But I think we have declined to go into specifics, and I am not able to do that for you here. You may check with the Department of Justice as to their view of the appropriate location for the trial for various suspects, but I am not going to go into that level of detail in terms of what we have discussed with the Yemeni Government. Q: Very, very briefly, can you just run down what are going to be the topics for the meeting with the Macedonian that is happening soon? MR. BOUCHER: Very briefly. Q: Extremely briefly. MR. BOUCHER: That's an invitation I can't refuse. US-Macedonian bilateral relations and regional issues, including ways to strengthen regional cooperation. Brief. (Laughter.) Q: That was a little bit too brief. MR. BOUCHER: You asked for it. Q: That was a little bit too brief. Can you just give one -- never mind. MR. BOUCHER: We'll make sure you get a more detailed readout, more specific readout, afterwards. Q: We talked about some of this Lockerbie stuff yesterday? I'm not sure if we went through this, or if this comment was made at that time, but in London the Ambassador to the UK said that Libya is willing to pay compensation for the victims, but only when the matter is final, and they believe that legally it's not final since they're filing an appeal. Does the US feel that that's appropriate, and are we willing to wait through the appeal process to start seeking compensation? Or not start, but do we consider that that's reasonable? MR. BOUCHER: Are we willing to wait through the appeal process for this issue to finally be resolved? For the legal issues, yes, and maybe for some of the UN issues as well. But the requirement for compensation is not something that started yesterday. That has been the subject of UN resolutions for years now. So there is no -- there shouldn't be any particular delay. They can and should pay it right away, should have paid it when the UN resolutions first asked for it. Q: So if they're saying it's possible that the decision could be reversed and they wouldn't be held responsible, why would they be willing to pay compensation at all? MR. BOUCHER: Well, the UN didn't tie the request for compensation to this particular trial or to this particular verdict. The UN all along has felt that Libya should pay compensation, and that remains the situation. It should have been done a long time ago. It can be done now. There's no reason to wait. Q: Anything new on aid to India and the earthquake? MR. BOUCHER: I can give you rundown of where we are in terms of India. Q: Could you explain that? Why on earth would the United Nations expect compensation from Libya if both of these guys were acquitted? I mean, you could yaw your face in the rule of law in the legal process. That was what your argument for years and years and years is that this had to go to trial, then you say they have to pay compensation whatever the verdict. I must say, I think many of us -- MR. BOUCHER: I mean, maybe you could have asked the question -- when was it -- five years ago when this first came up. But it's been a longstanding and ongoing decision and determination by the international community in the Security Council that Libya bore a certain responsibility for these events, and therefore should offer compensation. I mean, if you're going to make that argument, you could make, well, we have to wait for all the civil suits to play out. But the civil suits will play out. But this has been done independently. It's based on a determination by the international community and in the UN Security Council. It was done many years ago, and I think is well justified by the facts as we know them, whatever the outcome of a particular case. Sorry, I was looking for India here. At this point, the operations have shifted from search-and-rescue to relief for the survivors. United States assistance is supporting that effort. Damage is very severe in the cities of Ahmedabad and Bhuj, and it's becoming clear that many smaller towns and rural areas have been at least equally devastated. It's not clear how much relief assistance at this point is reaching some of these remote locations. Reportedly, the populations from the worst-affected areas are moving elsewhere, and some on the busses that the government has supplied. Yesterday, our consulate in Mumbai received information on the death of a fourth American citizen. We got that information from a relative on the scene. We have no further reports at this moment of American casualties. Q: When did it go to three? Did I miss something? MR. BOUCHER: When we talked about it over the weekend? Yeah. Q: Really? Q: We only heard two in our last -- MR. BOUCHER: We had two last time somebody asked at a briefing. I think the last few days we've had information that there were three. Now we know of four. Q: (Inaudible) -- three and four? MR. BOUCHER: No, not at this point. I think I was asked the other day whether these were long-term residents or whatever. I'm told they tend -- I can't go into details of any individual--but the people in that area tended to be Americans, people who were normally residing in the United States who were back on visits to family, sometimes slightly extended ones, but people whose normal residence was in the United States who were back for visits. Many, many of the Americans in the United States, Indian-Americans in the United States, actually come from this part of India. Q: (Inaudible.) MR. BOUCHER: No, they were Americans. That's good enough for us. We are continuing our efforts in Gujarat to gather information on the welfare of any other Americans who may have been affected. In Gujarat, serious bottlenecks remain on transport, communications and infrastructure. Some areas are seeing the restoration of electricity and telephone services; roads and railroads are reopening; major congestion in Bhuj and Ahmedabad airports has been eased, but the lack of mechanical unloading equipment is hampering operations at both facilities. Food, medicine and other relief supplies are rapidly flowing into Gujarat from the rest of India and from international donors, and I can run down what the United States is doing here. The Agency for International Development has committed $9 million now, of which 1.6 million will go to Catholic Relief Services, to work with them. We have already spent over 1.9 million of this Agency for International Development funding on the direct emergency humanitarian assistance. Commodities from the first Agency for International Development airlift have included water purification equipment, and that has arrived in Gujarat. The second airlift of water purification and storage equipment, plastic sheeting and tents, is departing from Milan, Italy, later this week. Department of Defense aircraft are leaving today for Gujarat with tents, blankets, sleeping bags, forklifts and trucks. The total value of the Defense Department's contribution at this point is $6 million. Catholic Relief Services and CARE are distributing over 100,000 daily rations of food. There is a ten-member Disaster Assistance Response Team from the US Agency for International Development that's assessing needs in Gujarat and coordinating responses there and in New Delhi, and a Defense Department Assessment Team is due into India today. Other US officials are in Gujarat to help organize logistical operations. We obviously continue to work very closely with India to assure assistance is most effectively provided to the victims. As I've mentioned before, the Agency for International Development does a daily fact sheet on this situation, and you can get even more detail from them in that sheet. Q: Regarding Brazil, has the State Department received any information at this point on President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's trip to the US since President Bush talked to him and invited him? And in that case, I mean, assuming that Brazil is such an important partner to the US, how long before you nominate a new ambassador, and is Katherine Harris being considered? MR. BOUCHER: Questions of ambassadorships, you can go ask to the White House. Questions about President Bush's schedule, you can ask at the White House. Questions about President Cardoso's schedule, you can ask in Brazil. All I can tell you here is that we don't have any meetings set up with him at this point. Q: In Israel, there are reports today that a US citizen arrested last month has been released, and a human rights group says at least five other US citizens are being held. Can you confirm that? MR. BOUCHER: No, I didn't have that information. I will have to check on that. Q: You haven't seen it? MR. BOUCHER: No. Q: Richard, do you have any reaction to the censure of President Wahid in Indonesia by the parliament? MR. BOUCHER: The simple answer is: No, it's an Indonesian matter. It is inappropriate for us to speculate on what is going on and what might happen. We certainly encourage demonstrators or other people who are involved in this to conduct themselves peacefully, but the question of the parliament and other things like that is a matter for the Indonesians to decide. Q: I apologize if this has come up already, but following the meeting with the Romanian Foreign Minister, does the Secretary have any view of prospects for a return of the OSCE mission to Chechnya? MR. BOUCHER: That wasn't discussed in any detail with the Romanian Foreign Minister. Obviously the Secretary in talking to him supported his view of playing an active role as the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE. And it has always been our view that the OSCE had a role to play in helping with the Chechen conflict, so nothing has really changed on that. Q: A question concerning Austria and the compensation package for stolen Jewish property in Austria. The leader of the Jewish community in Austria has come out in criticizing the package strongly, and he also refused to sign it. Is that of any concern to you? Does it change the American stand toward this issue, especially with regard to the legal repercussions? MR. BOUCHER: This is Dr. Ariel Muzicant? I understand he was one of the signatories of the document, and we would say that we regard all the parties who signed or initialed the joint statement in Washington on January 17th as full participants in the historic undertaking. Q: It doesn't change your position? MR. BOUCHER: We were very pleased that we were able to reach this agreement. We are pleased that on January 31st the parliament approved it, approved the amendment to Austrian legislation that provides for the establishment of the general settlement fund. And I think they have done other things, actually -- amendment of social security law, federal law, nursing allowances, victims assistance -- things like that that had to be included. So these are other steps forward in resolving all the outstanding claims, and we certainly consider the whole package positive and very much support it. Q: Can I follow up on this briefly? Is it this Administration's understanding, then, that the concept of legal closure is not affected by Mr. Muzicant's criticisms? MR. BOUCHER: Our understanding is that the package stands, and that the people who have signed up to it are bound by it and remain full participants in it. And we want to go forward, continue to go forward rapidly, to a full implementation. Q: Thank you. [end] Released on February 1, 2001
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