U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Daily Press Briefing (June 9, 1995)

From: hristu@arcadia.harvard.edu (Dimitrios Hristu)

Subject: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Daily Press Briefing (June 9, 1995)

Office of the Spokesman

[...]

GREECE

  Extension of Territorial Waters; Turkish Reaction ....  7-8

CYPRUS

  Status of Special Coordinator James Williams Mission .  8

[...]

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

  PriMin Silajdzic, House Vote on Arms Embargo Lift ....  9

  U.S. Policy on Unilateral, Multilateral Lift .........  9-10

  Ceasefire.............................................  10

  Contact Group Activities .............................  10

  UNPROFOR Humanitarian Deliveries; Assistance Needs ...  11-13

SERBIA-MONTENEGRO

  Readout of Frasure Meetings in Belgrade ..............  10

TURKEY

  Readout of PM DAS Eric Newsom Visit to Turkey ........  11

[...]

[...]

Q It seems like it's getting too warm for comfort in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey. There are indications Greece --

MS. SHELLY: Summer.

Q Summer, too. But beyond that, it seems like Greece has intentions to really increase the territorial waters to 12 miles, and the Turkish parliament just yesterday issued a very strongly worded statement warning again that there will be cause for war. The recent Pentagon report, as you know, mentioned specifically that there might be a hot conflict between Turkey and Greece.

Is the State Department still considering the issue, as it did in the past, as a purely hypothetical question? Or do we have a new reading and evaluation on the situation?

MS. SHELLY: I confess that I have not seen these most recent events to which you refer. We have been over this at several press briefings in the last couple of weeks or so.

The countries involved have stated their positions before and they have stated them again in the context of the enactment of the Law of the Sea Treaty. But I think it's our general assessment that this issue has been handled in a way which has not been intended to provoke a greater crisis.

Our general assessment is that it has been handled in a relatively low key way. It's a sensitive issue. We're aware of that. The parties certainly are. Therefore, I think if we are to make a characterization of it, we think the approach has been a moderate one and not one designed to result in an escalation of the tensions and frictions between the two countries.

Q The Greece approach is a moderate, low key one?

MS. SHELLY: I think that we believe the way that the parties have approached this issue has not been undertaken in a way to try to escalate tensions which certainly do come and go in response to a number of different issues.

I don't have factual information on the most recent things to which you've referred. I'll be happy to check on that and see if we have anything more. But I think generally it's our assessment that both countries have approached this in a way which has not been intended to escalate the differences.

Q A related matter -- Cyprus. What's the status of James Williams' mission on the Cyprus issue with Mr. Beattie?

MS. SHELLY: I don't have anything with me on that today. I'll be happy to try to work up something for that for the beginning of next week. As you know, we put out a pretty detailed account about a week ago or so in the context of a report that was submitted to the U.S. Congress. It recounted a lot of the detail of the diplomacy.

I don't have a new update on that, but I'll be happy to try to get one for, say, Monday.

[...]

Q Christine, Haris Silajdzic yesterday said to the Helsinki Commission and to the press in a photo op he would very much prefer to have the arms embargo lifted, even if it cost the participation of the U.N. He said also -- he reiterated -- that no cease-fire was suitable to the Bosnian Muslim Government; just completely ruled that out.

As you know, yesterday in the Congress and the House of Representatives, a positive vote for a unilateral lift. Could you comment on Mr. Silajdzic's statements?

What will the Administration do if this unilateral lift becomes a compromise bill with the Senate and the House? Will the Administration veto it?

MS. SHELLY: On the first part, on Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic's testimony before Congress yesterday, I've seen the reporting on some of the remarks. I haven't studied the text. But I can tell you, in any case, this is something in which we would only make really a very general comment.

We've stated many times our deep empathy for the suffering which the Bosnian people have endured. The U.S. has taken a leading role in the humanitarian steps to try and ease that suffering.

We do not support the unilateral lifting of the arms embargo at this time. Our position on this has not changed. Unilaterally lifting the arms embargo would jeopardize our credibility with our allies and at the U.N. It would make it difficult to convince others to maintain embargoes against countries like Libya and Iraq. It would have several immediate and highly negative consequences such as an increase in the level of the conflict with what we believe would be a commensurate increase in civilian casualties.

It would also result in a likely withdrawal of UNPROFOR, and a possible ensuing humanitarian catastrophe. As we have said in the past, we would support a multilateral lift as long as there was a proper U.N. approval. But in the absence of that -- for the reasons I've indicated and many other senior officials have indicated -- we don't support a unilateral lift.

Q What Haris Zilajdzic had to say about "no cease-fire," we would urge the Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian Muslims, both, to go back to the status of a cease-fire?

MS. SHELLY: The cease-fire and trying to get it extended in a more formal kind of way is something which remains, of course, a very key objective of ours at this point.

Q Christine, Ambassador Frasure has returned from the region. Is there any readout from his most recent visits with the Serbian President? Did he bring back anything from those discussions that are being considered now?

MS. SHELLY: We announced before that he was coming back and would have some consultations back here which we have been having. Where we left things, or where he left things out there, was to signal to President Milosevic that the Contact Group proposal, as you know, for a suspension in sanctions in exchange for recognition, that that offer is still on the table.

I'm not aware of any new communications which we have received from President Milosevic since Ambassador Frasure's return. But the offer is certainly still there, and it's something that I think we'll pursue discussions on at a point where we feel that the circumstances justify it.

Q Are you aware of any other level of Contact Group meetings, whether it's Ambassador Frasure's or anyone --

MS. SHELLY: I'm not aware at this point that there are any Contact Group meetings planned. That is something that I'll continue to check on everyday.

Q What can you tell us about Assistant Secretary Eric Newsom's recent visit to Turkey? What was accomplished? Can you give us an idea?

MS. SHELLY: Assistant Secretary --

Q Newsom?

MS. SHELLY: Deputy Assistant Secretary Newsom. I gave what I thought was a relatively full rundown on visits to Turkey about a week ago or so -- maybe that was 10 days ago or so. I don't have anything new on this one. I'll be happy to check and see.

We do have, of course, political/military consultations with Turkey and visits out there by State Department political/military officials. Defense Department officials, obviously, go out there as well, so we do have discussions with Turkey on a regular basis.

So I would assume that the visit of the PM Deputy Assistant Secretary was made in that context. Whether we would wish to offer more specific details on topics that he discussed, I don't know. I'll be happy to check and see.

Q Christine, also on Bosnia, there were reports that U.S. troops were going to go to Italy for training as a possible backup for some either withdrawal or reconfiguration. Now there are stories coming out that these troops will not go to Italy for the training. Do you have anything on this?

MS. SHELLY: That's not a State Department issue. That's a Defense Department issue. You need to ask there.

Q On another related issue. There's also the question that if the UNPROFOR troops attempt to make deliveries to Sarajevo and other places, there has to be a certain amount of consent on the part of the Serbians. I believe the term used is "minimum consent."

The question is -- which also is an item of discussion in the European press -- what is the date, the final date, where we consider that that consent is either forthcoming or is not forthcoming and therefore requires a new contingency in planning?

MS. SHELLY: Your last question is a very complicated question. It's simply not something that I'm in a position to answer.

I can touch on the humanitarian situation in Bosnia and on the root question, generally. As I think you know, UNHCR would like to bring in aid over Mount Igman, the so-called "Blue Route." But at the present, as you're certainly aware, the security threat is very high.

The Bosnian Serbs, I'm told, promised yesterday to open a new route into Sarajevo. The details on this are sketchy, I think, at this point. I don't know if the U.N. believes that it will dramatically improve the conditions in Sarajevo.

Some convoys got through within the last day or so to U.N. safe areas. They got through to Srebrenica and to Zepa. Two other convoys, however, that were also destined for Srebrenica, were blocked by Serb forces.

The overall situation, of course, is one which is very worrisome. There has been renewed Serb shelling and sniping in Sarajevo. It's reduced residents to a state of fear and suffering which is similar to what they endured prior to February of '94.

Civilians in Bihac and the eastern enclaves are virtually cut off along with the U.N. forces that are stationed there. The situation in Bihac is described as particularly critical.

By denying free access to U.N. aid convoys, the Bosnian Serbs, once again, are using food as a weapon. UNHCR food stocks in Sarajevo are depleted. The last 300 tons of flour was transported from the airport to the city's center on June 7. In the next food distribution cycle, the UNHCR expects to be able to reach only about 15 percent of its targets.

Bakeries are threatened by both flour and fuel shortages. They usually run on natural gas but they've had to switch to diesel when the gas supply was cut off by the Serbs on May 28.

The UNHCR airlift has been down for 63 days now. UNHCR convoys from Kiseljak to Sarajevo have been down for 15 days. The only aid in that period was 40 tons of flour brought over the treacherous Mount Igman route by Bosnian Government volunteers.

According to local estimates, the average household has a one-month supply of food and reserve. Water has been off for 15 days. Shallow wells dug by the ICRC have helped somewhat. However, the World Health Organization officials fear waterborne epidemics due to water shortages and lack of chlorine tablets.

I think that underscores the necessity of trying to find a way to get routes open so that humanitarian assistance can be brought in. We certainly call upon the Bosnian Serbs to cease using food as a weapon in this struggle.

[...]

(The briefing concluded at 1:36 p.m.)

END