U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing, 01-03-16

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From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>

Richard Boucher, Spokesman

Washington, DC

March 16, 2001

INDEX:

STATEMENTS
1         13th Anniversary of the Halabja Massacres
1         Arab-Israeli Public Affairs Committee
SPAIN
1         Readout of the Spanish Foreign Minister’s Visit
MACEDONIA
1-3       Status of NATO Troops
KOSOVO
3         Comments of Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister on KFOR Troops
THE HAGUE
3         Judgment on Dispute Between Bahrain and Qatar
TURKEY
3-4       Ambassador Pearson Meetings
DEPARTMENT
4-6       Readout of Secretary Powell’s Meeting with Bono
UNITED NATIONS
6         Comments on Annual UN Human Rights Committee Meetings; Cuba
          Resolution; China Resolution
MIDDLE EAST PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
7         Situation Update; Visit of Prime Minister Sharon; Visit of
          President Mubarak; Visit of Chairman Arafat
RUSSIA
7-8       Comments on Proposed Arms Deal with Iran; Discussion of Meetings
          with Foreign Minister Ivanov

MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Good to see you here at this late hour on a Friday afternoon.

Let me mention a couple of statements that we will be putting out. We I think every year put out a statement on the anniversary of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons attack on Halabja, and we will be putting that out again today. And I think it is a reminder of the importance of constraining the regime's ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction. I will leave it at that for the moment. You will see the whole statement.

Second of all, so that everybody knows -- I think many of you know about the Secretary's speech on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. at the Hilton Washington and Towers to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee's 42nd Annual Policy Conference. Details on press arrangements and contacts are available from the Press Office.

And those are the only mentions of statements that I have, and I would be glad to take your questions.

Q: Is there anything you have to elaborate on that extraordinarily terse readout on the Spanish meeting? They reaffirmed the January agreement, that's interesting.

Was there any discussion, for instance, of US troops, more of them coming out of Bosnia? That may be a simply get-acquainted session, that's fair enough. But is there anything more to be said about the meeting?

MR. BOUCHER: I suppose there is plenty that can be said about the meeting. We try to do it in a concise and terse way for you whenever we can so that you find it more useful.

The Secretary's characterization obviously of a very good discussion, a broad discussion was very true in the actuality of the meeting, that they discussed a whole host of areas -- US-Spanish cooperation, defense cooperation. They talked about Kosovo in particular. I don't think they actually talked about withdrawal of US troops; they talked about Spaniards sending more forces in some of those situations. Obviously we are all going to meet our NATO commitments and try to make sure that NATO sustains whatever level of forces it needs.

The Iraq policy was discussed, and I think there is a meeting of minds on that, on the purposes that we are trying to achieve, and probably any host of other things that I can't remember right now.

Q: What about Gibraltar? What did the Secretary say was the US position on the dispute with the British?

MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary wasn't asked for any particular US position. I think you all have known our position is that the allies should try to work these issues out between themselves. It did come up in passing, the Spanish Foreign Minister noting the Spanish position quite clearly.

Q: It only came up in passing?

Q: Well, did they clear up that rain-Spain-plane thing, too?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, that's fixed.

(Laughter.)

Q: That's right, did they talk about the King's visit?

MR. BOUCHER: Again, that was mentioned, I think --

Q: Don't worry -- it's already been announced by the White House, March 22nd.

MR. BOUCHER: Good. Okay, has it been announced by the White House?

Q: Yes.

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, they talked about it. (Laughter.) Based on that assurance, yes, they talked about it and other upcoming US-Spanish visits, which is part of the idea of this joint declaration and the kind of special relationship it establishes. There is a lot of cooperation across the board with the Spanish, and you'll see other ministers coming to town for specific discussions at other agencies. The King and Queen are coming, and then there will, I am sure, be further visits in the future.

Q: Did the Spanish bring up the idea, which they have occasionally mentioned, of reconvening the Madrid peace conference?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't think that came up, at least not in the sessions that I was in. They did have a private discussion on the side, but it wasn't mentioned this time.

Q: Can I ask you about Macedonia? Would the US consider having NATO troops move across the border into Macedonia if the situation continues as it's going? And are you considering that?

MR. BOUCHER: I think at this point I would call that a hypothetical. There has, at this point, not been any kind of decision to move troops from Bosnia to Kosovo or in any way across the border.

We are indeed very concerned about the extremist violence in Macedonia. We are doing things. Ambassador Pardew of the State Department's European Bureau was in Skopje earlier this week, March 12th and 13th. He met with the Macedonian president, with the prime minister and other political leaders, and he made clear our strong support for the Macedonian Government and its response to these provocations. He emphasized our unequivocal rejection of the extremist violence.

Furthermore, Ambassador to Macedonia Michael Einik met again today with Macedonian President Trajkovski and other senior leaders. He reiterated our support for the necessary steps that Macedonia is taking to prevent the activities of a small group of extremists from disrupting inter-ethnic cooperation and further progress on reforms.

Ambassador Einik has further met with the leadership of the ethnic Albanian political parties, both in the government coalition and in opposition. We also understand there is a discussion under way in the Macedonian parliament regarding further steps to highlight the overwhelming majority opinion against extremist violence. And I want to make quite clear we see this as violent activities by a small group of extremists; they are repugnant to the majority of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia. Unprovoked attacks like this have very little support in Macedonia and are opposed by the United States and the rest of the international community.

Any concerns of the Albanian community can be and should be addressed through democratic structures of Macedonia. They have a multiethnic civic society, and that is the way to address the issues, any issues there might be, not through this kind of criminal violence.

Q: So the Secretary has now met with, or at least been introduced in initial meetings to virtually all the players -- well, a lot of the players in the region, including the Macedonian president and both sides of the Kosovo deal. Has he made any calls or is he thinking about stepping in to -- not traveling there but at least, you know, personally becoming involved instead of having his employ – whatever, do it for him?

Q: Subordinates.

Q: Subordinates. Yes, subordinates.

MR. BOUCHER: His trusted agents.

Q: Yes, yes.

MR. BOUCHER: The United States carries out diplomacy through ambassadors as well as directly from the Secretary. You saw what the Secretary said on Capitol Hill the last three or four times he has appeared up there, that pursuing and preserving American interests involves of course the President and the Secretary, but that all the work that's done on a day-to-day basis is done by experienced and professional diplomats. So don't denigrate the --

Q: I'm not.

MR. BOUCHER: -- esteem that the Secretary holds our professional diplomatic contacts in.

Q: That is not what I was trying to do.

MR. BOUCHER: At the same time -- I don't want to do that either, but I do point out to you that the Secretary personally talked to the Macedonian president after he was at NATO. They talked on the phone. We've been working on and discussing the situation in Macedonia with our NATO allies. The Secretary discussed it with European Union representatives when they came. When was that, a week or so ago? Worked further on it with Lord Robertson when he was here. So in terms of the international community's response, the Secretary has been very active in discussing this issue and working this issue with a variety of other foreign ministers, and sometimes in direct contact with the Macedonian Government.

Q: But since this latest escalation in the last couple days, he has not been

personally --

MR. BOUCHER: Not in the last day or two he hasn't.

Q: And also just one other thing very briefly. Jim Pardew doesn't have the same title that he had before, right? What is his position now?

MR. BOUCHER: I would have to double-check what his title is these days. He is working these issues for us in the European Bureau.

Q: Richard, what response do you have to those comments by the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister in Ottawa yesterday saying that the US contingent in KFOR wasn't pulling its weight?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I have anything particular to say on that. I'll let the military speak to that, I think.

Q: Today the international public justice in The Hague issued a judgment in the dispute between Bahrain and Qatar disputed islands. This dispute has lasted more than 60 years, and the litigation itself is the longest in the history of the Court, more than 15 years.

Do you have any comment on the judgment?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, this has indeed gone on for a long time. Both Bahrain and Qatar are very close friends of the United States and we have long urged a peaceful settlement to the dispute. We understand that both nations have announced their acceptance of the ruling, and we would congratulate both parties for their efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the issue.

Q: The American Ambassador in Ankara, Mr. Pearson, met Prime Minister Ecevit and his two deputies separately, so what was the reason or purpose of his meetings? It was extraordinary meetings because of he met separately these guys?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know what precisely what these meetings were about. I think the Embassy out there might be able to tell you that. Ambassador Pearson has been working very closely with the Turkish Government and with others on questions of the financial situation in Turkey. He has been working with them on the European security issue. So it could be any number of things that we work together with our Turkish allies.

Q: But he asked --

MR. BOUCHER: I'm sorry. Our ambassadors, as we discussed, have meetings all over the world every day with important people to discuss vital issues. But exactly which vital issues Ambassador Pearson discussed yesterday I really don't know.

Q: Can you give any kind of rundown on the meeting with Bono?

MR. BOUCHER: I think I can do it. Let me try to do it without my notes and refer if I need them. The discussion this morning with Bono was about a number of issues. As you know, he has been active on issues involving Africa, issues involving debt, issues involving AIDS, and that we were pleased to have the opportunity to discuss some of these things with him.

He, I think, recognized that the United States is meeting its full commitments on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative, that we had money in the budget last year, we have money in the budget again this year to meet those commitment. He recognized and expressed, you know, welcomed Secretary Powell's statements about Africa, about HIV-AIDS and the seriousness with which the Administration was going to take the issues.

And they discussed how the various threads that were working together could be made to work better. The Secretary emphasized that there were success stories in Africa that we wanted to support and work with, but there were also very serious issues, and that we wanted to be able to work on issues of development, of war, of HIV-AIDS, working with our pharmaceutical companies where we could, working on debt relief where we could, and making these issues work together successfully. And that was pretty much the tenor of the meeting, things that they discussed.

Q: In what capacity did he come in? Is he the head of some organization?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not exactly sure what the organization might be. He has certainly been a person who has been very active on these issues over the last several years. He has had meeting, I think, with a variety of heads of state and important international players on this. He worked very hard, I think, on the Hill when it came last year to getting the authority and the funding for the debt initiative, and in that regard, I think has performed an able service in making this all possible.

Q: Did he request the meeting, Richard?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

Q: Can you say what the purpose of the meeting was?

MR. BOUCHER: To discuss the issues that he is concerned about.

Q: Did they talk about music at all? (Laughter.)

MR. BOUCHER: Only on the side.

Q: Is the Secretary a fan of U2?

MR. BOUCHER: He didn't express any one way or the other.

Q: No?

Q: Did he bring any albums? (Laugher.)

Q: Okay, well if you can't -- so there was no levity at all in this meeting?

MR. BOUCHER: Was there levity at the meeting? There was a very friendly and levitative environment, I would say. (Laughter.)

Q: Okay, well, is the Secretary willing to meet with other celebrities who have had projects in the international sphere?

MR. BOUCHER: Matt, I'm not here to issue an open invitation for everybody to run up to the Secretary's office and talk about what they care about.

Q: Well, I think you may have done that.

MR. BOUCHER: I think we do recognize that a lot of individuals in the private sector coming from a lot of different backgrounds have been very important to some of these issues in the world, and we listen to these people. Obviously we listen to people like the families of the Lockerbie victims. Or we listen to people like Queen Noor, who the Secretary saw not long ago on the issue of de-mining. And we listen to people in the private sector who have been active on issues like the debt relief program for poor countries, and the AIDS issue, all of which are important to us. And if people are out there working hard on these issues with people in the private sector, as well as people in Government, I think it behooves us to talk to them.

We are in a new age; we are in a democratic age, when there are a lot of players besides the Government, and we are going to work with everybody that can help us achieve our goals.

Q: The UN Human Rights Commission's annual meeting starts on Monday, and I thought you might have something prepared there to sort of preview the meeting from the US point of view.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not sure I can preview it any better than -- I believe the Secretary made some comments during his hearings. This session is important to us. We will be going in looking for concerted action by the international community in support of human rights. We don't underestimate the political difficulty of some of these issues for other governments. We have been working very hard with other governments on various resolutions.

As you know, the Secretary has been talking to people, making phone calls about China resolutions, about Cuba resolutions. We will also be talking to others about what action might be taken on the Sudan and on Iran. And I'm sure there are other issues that will come up that are important to us.

Q: Iraq as well?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, Iraq.

Q: Has there been --

MR. BOUCHER: So there are a number of issues that will come up during the session. The session lasts five or six weeks, I think. So not everything will happen on Monday. But as we move forward for this, I think it is important to know the Secretary has been working on these issues, he has been raising these issues with European foreign ministers, with other governments, and discussing the Cuba resolution just this morning with the Spanish Foreign Minister, since they have a particular interest as Spain and as a member of the European Union.

So the Secretary has been very active on these issues and will continue to be during the session so that the US can achieve its goals, or at least come as close as we can to achieving our goals.

Q: When he met with the Swedish Foreign Minister and other EU representatives last week, did the issue of China come up and the possibility of EU support for what the US is trying to do?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes. In that meeting, I remember in particular the issue of China came up, and the issue of Cuba as well, the Cuban resolution and the China resolution.

Q: On the Cuban resolution, are you making any progress in your attempt to remove the part that you find offensive?

MR. BOUCHER: I would say that we are achieving a greater level of understanding on why it is difficult and why we don't think embargo language belongs there. I'm not going to start counting votes yet.

Q: On the China resolution, could you describe any of the diplomatic efforts at this point to try to actually see that it passes this year?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have a full list. We have been active in embassies, we have been active with the Secretary directly in some of these meetings as well.

Q: But Richard, the Secretary doesn't plan or see the need to go to Geneva for this -- like the previous Secretary made a rather extraordinary detour out of her schedule to present the -- to present the US position, especially on China -- the China resolution last year. There is nothing like that in the works, is there?

MR. BOUCHER: Not that I am aware of. That was rather extraordinary, as you know, from things in the past. I'm sure the Secretary will determine how best he can support our effort, whether it is in his meetings and phone calls, or other ways. I'm not quite sure yet. He has certainly been doing both.

Q: This week the Secretary has linked more than once the start to any new negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis with a significant reduction in the amount of violence that is taking place.

Prime Minister Sharon is coming next week; President Mubarak is coming at the end of the month; King Abdallah is coming next month. Are you planning to invite President Arafat to visit, or are you also linking it to the significant reduction in the amount of violence?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything for you on a possible visit by Chairman Arafat. I suppose that would be a White House invitation. You might check there.

Q: Do you have any reaction to the call in Congress for Russian aid to be possibly cut if Russia does sign new arms deals with Iran?

MR. BOUCHER: I hadn't really seen it.

Q: It's a letter from Congress to the White House, but I'm certain that it comes here as well. Have we been discussing it as possible sanctions?

MR. BOUCHER: What the Secretary made clear in the meeting the other day and what we've made clear to the Russian Government and in our public statements is our view that selling arms to Iran could destabilize a region in a way that could be a serious threat to the national security interests of the United States and our allies and friends in the region. Selling advanced arms and sensitive technology is our particular concern. Iranian weapons of mass destruction and missile programs are also a serious threat to Russia.

So preventing Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and missile delivery technology is clearly one of our top foreign policy priorities, and we have made clear that any Russian nuclear or missile cooperation with Iran is and would remain a serious impediment to improving our bilateral relationship.

In addition, the Secretary made clear the other day in his meeting with the Russian National Security Advisor that sales of advanced conventional weapons or things that contribute to programs for weapons of mass destruction could have legal implications; indeed, selling any Russian weapons to Iran could have legal implications and that we would intend to abide by our law in that respect.

Q: Including financial implications?

MR. BOUCHER: The different laws are written in slightly different ways in terms of the kind of sanctions, the kind of assistance to governments it might not permit. So it would depend on the item. There are waiver authorities, but clearly the high degree of American concern has been registered, has been made quite clear by the Secretary and by many others in terms of what the United States is doing; and second of all, that the Secretary also made quite clear that we have laws that pertain to these transfers, and were there to be transfers or weaponry we would have to follow -- we would have to look at them in accordance with our law, which could involve sanctions.

Q: Has the Secretary spoken with Foreign Minister Ivanov recently?

MR. BOUCHER: Not since --

Q: Not since Sergei Ivanov?

MR. BOUCHER: I can't remember when the last time was. They might have talked on the phone. Obviously he talked to the Russian National Security Advisor just a day or two ago.

Q: I'm sorry, he has spoken to him since then, or he hasn't?

MR. BOUCHER: No, he hasn't talked to the Russian Foreign Minister since he talked to the Russian National Security Advisor. I don't want to get the Ivanovs confused.

Q: What about the Sharon visit? Can you give us any idea of the schedule for the Secretary with regard to the Prime Minister being here?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have the full schedule of the Prime Minister. The Secretary would expect to meet with him on Monday.

Q: What time is that?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that I have the time yet.

Q: On that, the speech that the Secretary is giving on Monday morning, AIPAC has kind of been billing it as his first major foreign policy speech since taking office. Is that the way you guys would bill this? Is this going to be a major foreign policy speech on the Middle East -- not to say that not everything that the Secretary says isn't important.

MR. BOUCHER: I know, but you've got to say that because that's the first thing I'm going to say.

Q: Exactly.

MR. BOUCHER: In our mind, everything the Secretary says is important. We don't always manage to convince you of that. (Laughter.) But I would say that this is going to be certainly the first major chance for the Secretary to talk primarily and principally about the subject of the Middle East, and so you'll hear, I think, a very clear exposition from him of the United States views at this stage in the process.

Q: But usually when this building or the White House bills a presidential speech as a major speech on something, you're going to announce a new policy or some kind of maybe perhaps a change in something. Should we read that into what AIPAC as billing this speech as?

MR. BOUCHER: I wouldn't quite predict that. I would say a very clear exposition of the Secretary's views.

Q: How about a major nuance?

(Laughter.)

MR. BOUCHER: A very clear exposition of the Secretary's views on the subject.

Q: Thank you.

[end]

Released on March 16, 2001

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