U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #50, 97-04-07

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U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing

I N D E X

Monday, April 7, 1997

Briefer: Nicholas Burns

ANNOUNCEMENTS
1     Welcome of Visitors (Cypriot Journalists)
1     Secretary Albright's Meetings Today with Israeli PM Netanyahu;
      Possible Background Briefing
1     Secretary Meets Lithuanian PM Landsbergis 4/8/97
1-2   Secretary Speaks at FSI 50th Anniversary, Other FSI Events 4/9/97
ALBANIA
2     Statement of US Concern re Unrest and Political Polarization
BAHRAIN
2-4   Security Threat to American Interests; Notice re Security Situation
      to be Issued Soon
TERRORISM
4     Status of Detainee Abu Marzook
4-5   Allegation of SYRIA Refusal to Detain Possible Suspect in Al Khobar
      Bombing, Mughassil
4-5   Bombing Responsibility / Assessment of SAUDI ARABIA Investigation of
      Al Khobar Bombing
GERMANY / IRAN
5-6   Mykonos Trial in Germany; Role of Iran in Terrorism
NORTH KOREA
6-7,9 Meeting 4/4/97 in New York with DPRK, ROK: Four-Party Talks;
      Participants; Missile Talks
6-7   DPRK Food Shortages; U.S. $10 Million Aid Commitment; WFP
      Distribution Program,
19    UN Interagency Food Appeal
MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
7-8   Secretary Albright's Meetings with Palestinians, Conversations with
      King Hussein; Arafat
8     Role of European Nations in ME Peace Process
CHINA
9     INS Hong Kong Asst. Director James DeBates Under Investigation for
      Selling Visas
19-20 DENMARK-Sponsored China Resolution at Human Rights Commission
GREECE / TURKEY
10-11 Amb. Niles Remarks re U.S. Mediating Role / Imia/Kardak, Aegean
      Dispute
JAPAN
11-12 Port Operations Issue / Potential U.S. Response to Lack of Progress
MEXICO
12-13 Church-State Relations / Freedom of Religion / U.S. Confidence in
      Anti-Drug Efforts
HAITI
14-15 Assessment of Elections / International Monitors / Police Security
      Plan / Results
TURKEY
15    Investigation of Deputy Prime Minister Tansu Ciller Business
      Activities
15-16 U.S. Relationship with Turkish Government Leaders / Death of
      Opposition Leader
ZAIRE
17    Kabila Allows UNHCR Access to Refugees / Airlift Operation; Overland
      Repatriation
17    Mortality Rate of Refugee Populations
17    Peace Talks in South Africa; U.S. Role / Situation in Zaire; Status
      of Lumbumbashi
17-18 Status of Americans; American Military Presence / Foreign Involvement
COLOMBIA
18    U.S. Revocation of Visas
DEPARTMENT
18    Questions re Amb Wyche Fowler's Personal Correspondence
ALBANIA
20-21 No U.S. Forces to Albania

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

DPB #50

MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1997, 1:18 P. M.

(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

MR. BURNS: Good afternoon. Welcome to the State Department. I want to welcome to the briefing today, 10 Cypriot journalists who are here through the International Center for Journalists. Glad to have you with us.

Secretary Albright is attending the President's meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, which I understand is ongoing. They have not finished that meeting. At 3:30 she'll go over to the Madison Hotel to have another meeting - her own meeting - with the Prime Minister. As you know, he will be giving a speech tonight as well as a press conference later in the afternoon.

We may have a background briefing here late this afternoon. I'll let you know about that. I need to talk to the Secretary and others when they come back from the White House, but it seems to me that's probably the best thing to do. We'll be in touch with you in an hour or so about the timing of that briefing.

I would expect it to take place somewhere around 5:30, however. The reason for that is we'll want, of course, follow the Prime Minister's own press conference, which I believe is scheduled for 4:30, if I'm not mistaken.

Tomorrow, the Secretary meets with the Lithuanian Prime Minister, Prime Minister Landsbergis. This is an important meeting, an important opportunity to address a number of issues that we have with Lithuania as well as the Baltic countries in general. I mean that in a very positive light and the very positive, strong cooperative relationship that we have with the Baltic countries, including Lithuania. They will give statements up in the Treaty Room and respond to your questions at a press conference at the beginning of the meeting at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow.

On Wednesday, April 9, as I mentioned the other day, the Secretary's going to be traveling over to northern Virginia to the Foreign Service Institute to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Foreign Service Institute. She'll be giving an address at 9:15 a.m. on "Diplomacy for the 21st Century." I encourage all of you who'd like to cover that event to go over to FSI and to cover it. From 10:30 to noon there's a panel led by Under Secretary for Global Affairs Tim Wirth. That panel is on foreign policy and domestic politics. It includes my good friend Richard Haass, who's, as you know, Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, as well as Sam Lewis, formally Policy Planning Director here at the State Department.

At 12:15, Bob Gallucci, another friend of ours, now Dean of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, will give luncheon remarks. The Press is invited to all of these events, and I'd encourage you to cover them. It's a very important anniversary, the 50th anniversary of our Foreign Service School, which, as you know, is in a brilliant, new headquarters, has been for a number of years.

Finally, my last announcement, George, has to do with the situation in Albania. Before we go to questions, I'd like to read a short statement. The United States is greatly concerned about the continued unrest and political polarization in Albania. Our Embassy in Tirana is in close contact with all parties, and we continue to work with our European friends in the OSCE to fashion a coordinated international response.

We are deeply disturbed by the actions on Saturday by armed individuals who blocked Prime Minister Fino from addressing a group in his own country. We call on all Albanians and all groups in Albania not to interfere in the process of re-integration and stabilization and to pursue their concerns through dialogue.

It is the responsibility of all Albanians to insure the success of the Government of National Reconciliation, which was formed with the agreement of all major Albanian political parties. That was done through OSCE mediation. The government enjoys broad international support that will not be affected by threats or unilateral withdrawals from the process by any of the individual political parties or groups inside Albania, and the United States remains committed to working with this government, as do, of course, all of the other countries that are working in Albania.

We also strongly support the activities of the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and its leader, Chancellor Franz Vranitzky. We understand that Chancellor Vranitzky will travel to Tirana in the near future, and that the troops from the OSCE group will be deployed, we hope, by the 14th of April.

I'm issuing a longer statement. I just wanted to give you the highlights of it on the situation in Albania, because we are very concerned about it this morning. George.

QUESTION: Somewhat to the southeast of Albania, do you have anything on the reports of increased threats to American interests in Bahrain?

MR. BURNS: I think, as you know, throughout the Gulf we are mindful of security challenges and mindful of the threat of terrorism. We'll be issuing a public advisory shortly on the situation in Bahrain, which will detail some of the concerns that we have there, which are of a general nature. I'm not pointing to any specific event or specific threat, but I know that American Government employees as well as American citizens in general are encouraged not to congregate in public places in Bahrain.

We have a lot of our service people, of course, in Bahrain or going through Bahrain because of our very close relationship with the government and our naval facility there, and we have a fair number of individuals who work for our Embassy there.

I know that Ambassador David Ransom has done everything he can to work with the Bahraini Government to make sure that the commitment to protect Americans exists, and it certainly does exist. But it's just good sense - good common sense -- it's prudent for American citizens and government employees to watch what they're doing; to be aware of their movements in public places and not to congregate in places that are well known for Westerners.

QUESTION: You can't get into more detail about the nature of the threats?

MR. BURNS: I cannot, no.

QUESTION: Shortly. You mean shortly today?

MR. BURNS: I think within the next hour or two we'll have a public statement from our Bureau of Consular Affairs. I know our Embassy in Bahrain has already talked to the press about some of this.

QUESTION: Nick, are they announcing that there have been threats?

MR. BURNS: No, I specifically said I'm not speaking to any specific threat. It's the general security environment in the Gulf, including some general information that we have. We think it's prudent to warn people. Of course, we never talk about threats, even if we have them, because we want to do our best to safeguard the security of all of our people there.

QUESTION: What's causing this advisory?

MR. BURNS: Excuse me?

QUESTION: Why are you issuing an advisory?

MR. BURNS: As I said, we're issuing this advisory because of our general sense about the security situation in the Gulf and Bahrain.

QUESTION: So you have a general sense now that's it's less safe for Americans in Bahrain than it was in the past.

MR. BURNS: As you know, Sid, there are a number of terrorist groups that operate in the Middle East and the Gulf. We've had two attacks on American forces in Saudi Arabia, with 19 people dead in Saudi Arabia. Any time you have a concern, through whatever medium, a concern about the security situation facing American citizens, we have an obligation to let American citizens know and to let our own government employees know. That's what we're doing today. So I'm not going to indicate any specific threat. I can't detail any threat, because that would be injurious to our efforts to counter the threat.

QUESTION: Has the State Department decided what it is going to recommend doing about Abu Marzook?

MR. BURNS: Actually that's not a State Department issue at the moment. As the Attorney General said, I believe, on Thursday, this is an issue now that the INS - the Immigration and Naturalization Service - will have to consider, given the fact that the Government of Israel has suspended its request for the extradition of Mr. Abu Marzook. So it's a Justice Department issue.

There are a number of options available to the Justice Department, but they're legal options - they're complicated - and, when we have made a decision, when the government has made a decision, I'm sure Justice and we will let you know.

QUESTION: Yeah, but my question was, has the State Department decided on a recommendation to make to the INS or Justice?

MR. BURNS: I don't believe at this point the ball's in the State Department's court. I believe it's still over at Justice.

QUESTION: Can I ask you, there was a report over the weekend about a man named Ahmed Ibrahim Mughassil. The report said - it was in The Washington Post - said that Syria had refused to seize a Saudi suspect in the Khobar Towers bombing, and this was the name of the gentleman. What, if anything, can you tell us about this man? Is it true, as the story reports, that Syria declined to help apprehend him? I mean, is he thought to have been - is he thought by the Saudis - has he said, by anybody in the U.S., to have been the mastermind behind the bombing? And I have a follow-up.

MR. BURNS: I was afraid of that. That was a very interesting and well written report in the Post on Saturday. However, because there is an ongoing investigation into the bombing of the Al-Khobar barracks, I just can't touch that. I can't respond to any questions on it. I think you'll know why. We have tried to work with governments around the world to locate the people who masterminded and planned and executed the bombing of the Khobar barracks, and we're working closely with the Saudi Government, as you know.

But because there's an ongoing criminal investigation underway, in which we're participating - the FBI is involved - we've chosen not to say anything about the various leads that have surfaced in the press, and I'm going to have to hold to that today.

QUESTION: As you know, the Saudis are saying that they believe Iran had a role in this bombing. Are you confident that the Saudis have the right people; that their investigation is going in the right direction?

MR. BURNS: You've got three loaded questions there in one. The United States has not determined if any country - any foreign country was involved in the bombing of the Khobar barracks. We have not gotten to the end of the investigation. We are working closely with the Saudis on the investigation, but we do know one thing: The people who bombed Khobar barracks and the people who killed 19 Americans will be apprehended, and they will be brought to justice.

QUESTION: If a foreign nation's government was involved, what is the message to that government?

MR. BURNS: That would be a very serious matter, indeed, but obviously at this point it's hypothetical. Therefore, I can't predict what action the United States Government would take.

QUESTION: What makes you so confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice?

MR. BURNS: Because we're going to be tireless in pursuing them, and we're going to work as hard as we can and must, for however long it takes, to find them, to hunt them down and bring them to justice. Hopefully, the Saudis will be able to do that. We're working closely with the Saudis. But either way, the United States and Saudi Arabia--we'll combine our efforts, and we will get to the end of this, and we will bring these people to justice. They do not deserve to get off scott free, and they won't.

QUESTION: Has Syria cooperated with you on this matter?

MR. BURNS: I cannot address that question. That pertains to the investigation. We are working with a number of countries around the world, seeking their help, seeking their active assistance to help us in this investigation, and therefore it doesn't make sense for me to start giving grades to certain countries of how well they've done or how well they haven't done. We'll have to let history judge that, and perhaps at the end of this whole affair, when the people are caught, when they've been brought to justice, we'll be in a position to say more about who helped and who did not.

QUESTION: But I didn't really ask you to grade them. I just asked a sort of simple question. Has Syria cooperated?

MR. BURNS: Carol, at this point there's an investigation underway. I'm just not going to be able to address that particular question.

QUESTION: A related question, which is that the Mykonos bar trial is about to come to its conclusion. There are reports that this may change Germany's attitude towards Iran. Are German officials saying that to you as well - the U.S. Government?

MR. BURNS: The Mykonos trial is underway in Germany. It wouldn't be prudent for me to make a comment on that, since it's actively under judicial review now in Germany. I can say, however, that the United States does not need to be convinced about Iran's role in supporting terrorism internationally. We know that Iran supports Hizbollah and Hamas and other terrorist groups, and we know that Iran has bankrolled and financed and in some cases directed terrorist operations, not just against Americans but against European countries and other countries in the Middle East.

So we're convinced of Iran's perfidy on the issue of terrorism in general. But as for the Myknos case, I'm going to have to leave that to the German Government and German prosecutors for comment.

QUESTION: Can you give us a readout on the meeting in New York on Friday on Korea?

MR. BURNS: I'll be glad to. As you know, the United States meets regularly with the North Korean Mission to the U.N. up in New York. We did so on Friday. This time it was a three-way meeting: the United States, the Republic of Korea and the North Korean delegation. The purpose of the meeting was to explore further the United States and ROK proposal on the Four-Party Talks following up the joint briefing that we had on March 5th in New York.

The North Koreans indicated that they will be prepared soon to give the United States and the Republic of Korea a formal response to our joint briefing. Our hope, of course, is that the North Koreans will agree very soon to the Four-Party Proposal themselves, and that those talks can be begun. That's our hope. We'll see if that works out that way.

QUESTION: Nick - go ahead.

QUESTION: Did they define "soon"? Are we talking this week, or is it "soon" -

MR. BURNS: "Soon" is "soon." In diplomatic parlance, "soon" means "soon." (Laughter)

QUESTION: Was there a -

MR. BURNS: Sometimes "soon" is a couple of hours; sometimes it's a couple of days. It's very seldom more than a couple of weeks. I would think between several hours and several weeks. That's "soon." That's a very broad definition of "soon."

QUESTION: Was there more discussion about their food situation?

MR. BURNS: I'll have to check. I know that - I'll have to check on that. As you know, the World Food Program is looking again at the food situation in North Korea to see if it is now going to be necessary to have more international food aid arrive. There's been a lot of speculation, but I don't believe there's been a formal World Food Program announcement. I could be mistaken on that. Maybe I am mistaken on that. I'll check into that.

In any case, we have made a commitment for $10 million, and we certainly are in a position to listen to the World Food Program. But I know on Friday we did not make any additional commitments of food aid. I just don't know how big an issue that was and how it was discussed.

QUESTION: Does the U.S. remain confident that the food does, in fact, get to the people who need it and it doesn't -

MR. BURNS: Absolutely, we do. Because the food is not distributed through the North Korean Government or the North Korean military. It is distributed through the World Food Program which has an excellent record. We can verify where the food goes.

In this case, the appeal by the WFP is for food aid to young kids below the age of six because they're the hardest hit in the current wave of malnutrition of food shortages. We think it's appropriate to focus on kids. That's where we want our food to go, and it will go in that direction.

QUESTION: Is there any other aspect of the meeting on Friday that you can talk about?

MR. BURNS: I can tell you that Mark Minton, our Office Director of Korean Affairs, represented the United States along with Jack Pritchard of the National Security Council. The lead participants from the South Koreans were from the South Korean Embassy; and the North Korean Mission to the U.N. was represented by Minister Counselor Han Song Ryol. Those were the major participants in the meeting.

I expect we'll continue these meetings, these U.S.-North Korean meetings, and from time to time involve the South Koreans in the meetings as well.

QUESTION: There's a story out of South Korea that the North Koreans requested another briefing. Was that part of the talks?

MR. BURNS: This may have been the briefing you're talking about. This is a general discussion on the Four Party talks. I don't know if the request that you're referring to was subsequent to the Friday meeting.

QUESTION: I thought it came out of that meeting they asked for?

MR. BURNS: We've had a lot of briefings. We're willing to have another, I guess, but we'd really like the North Koreans to accept the proposal - to accept the proposal. We hope we can make progress with them in that regard.

Yes, David.

QUESTION: Is Secretary Albright and/or Dennis Ross meeting with the Palestinian delegation tomorrow? Is there anything scheduled on that?

MR. BURNS: I hope I'll be in a position to say something about that maybe in a couple of hours. I know you've seen reports in the papers that Hanan Ashrawi is going to meet with the Secretary. She's not on the Secretary's schedule today. I don't know if Hanan is in Washington. She is in Washington? I don't believe she has met with anybody in the U.S. Government.

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

MR. BURNS: There are - excuse me? Excuse me?

QUESTION: She's going to be on CNN at 2:30.

MR. BURNS: Oh, then, she's definitely in Washington if she's going to be on CNN. I don't believe she met anybody in our government this morning. In fact, I'm quite sure about that.

There may be some other Palestinian officials visiting. When I can confirm it, I will. But, obviously, we'll want to be in touch with the Palestinians as closely as we can. Chairman Arafat is in Delhi, so it's harder to be in touch with him. We'll look forward to an occasion to bring the Palestinians up to date on what happened today in the meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

In the Middle East. Why don't we stay in the Middle East for a while. Howard.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) phone calls to Arafat?

MR. BURNS: The Secretary spoke twice yesterday to King Hussein in Minnesota. I think once before his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and once after where His Majesty, the King, briefed her on the meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister. I'm not aware that the Secretary called Chairman Arafat over the weekend. I can check to be sure, but I don't believe so.

Carol.

QUESTION: These EU-Mideast experts were meeting in Brussels today and were working on proposals to cooperate with Washington. I wonder if you have any ideas about whether the Europeans can play a role at this point?

MR. BURNS: I'm not aware of the meeting specifically. We do have, from time to time, talks with the Europeans in the Middle East. Obviously, whatever can be done to encourage the Israelis and Palestinians to move forward, we would welcome. But I think it's obvious that the United States has the lead role to play internationally. We are the critical intermediary. We understand that responsibility; we accept it, and we're going to exercise that responsibility.

Still in the Middle East? Anymore on the Middle East? North Korea. Yes.

QUESTION: There are a couple of reports that the U.S. and North Korea are going to resume missile talks sometime this month. Do you have anything on that, or do you have any date on them?

MR. BURNS: I cannot confirm talks on missile developments; no. I'll let you know when that happens.

Laura.

QUESTION: Is there anything you can tell us about the American official who is under investigation for selling visas out of the consulate in Hong Kong?

MR. BURNS: All I can say, Laura, is that that's an issue of great interest to us. This is the case of Mr. James DeBates who is the assistant officer in charge of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Hong Kong.

He is the subject of a pending inquiry by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. We have to direct you to the INS for further comment, but that's a very serious matter, indeed.

QUESTION: How do you spell his last name.

QUESTION: Is he still there, Nick.

MR. BURNS: D-e-B-a-t-e-s.

QUESTION: What is the inquiry into?

MR. BURNS: It's an inquiry into some very serious allegations against him, which you've read all about in the newspapers. I can't comment further because this is an inquiry underway, and we don't comment on government inquiries into the conduct of our own employees until the inquiries are completed.

Mr. Lambros.

QUESTION: Since we have some Greek and Turkish Cypriots today with us, do you have anything on Cyprus? Any progress to report?

MR. BURNS: We have Cypriots, right?

QUESTION: Excuse me?

MR. BURNS: We have Cypriots here?

QUESTION: That's exactly -

MR. BURNS: Right.

QUESTION: I agree with you 100 percent, but keep your promise - Cypriots! That's the right statement.

MR. BURNS: We recognize the government on Cyprus - the government of President Clerides. Anyway, Mr. Lambros, delighted to have you with us. Is there a question?

QUESTION: Do you have anything on Cyprus today? Any progress to report since we have them here?

MR. BURNS: I don't have anything on Cyprus on today, Mr. Lambros. No, nothing particular; no.

QUESTION: Your Ambassador to Greece, Thomas Niles, in an interview yesterday, published in Athens, stated that in case of a conflict between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean, the U.S. is going to intervene. Could you please comment and clarify - militarily, politically, or both?

MR. BURNS: The United States is going to work to make sure that there isn't a conflict between Greece and Turkey. Greece and Turkey are valued NATO allies. As you know, we've often volunteered our good offices to try to help them sort out their problems, which are numerous. But we're confident that with the proper attention by both of them - by the Turkish and Greek leaderships - there won't be a conflict. They'll continue to have disagreements, but that's far short of a conflict.

QUESTION: If you find your Ambassador Thomas Niles filed a demarche with the Greek Government against the music festival organized in Imia on May 25th by the magazine, Nemesis?

MR. BURNS: I missed the verb. What did he -

QUESTION: He filed the demarche -

MR. BURNS: Excuse me?

QUESTION: Demarche. Protest.

MR. BURNS: A protest. Okay. Did Ambassador Niles file a protest?

QUESTION: Yes.

MR. BURNS: I'll have to check. I'm not aware.

QUESTION: You promised the last time that you're going to check into -

MR. BURNS: I have to continue to check on this one, Mr. Lambros.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. BURNS: I'll check on it very hard.

QUESTION: The magazine Naval (inaudible) Proceedings of the U.S. Navy, in its last issue, an article written actually by a former senior State Department official proposes for the Aegean Sea, in case of conflict, the following separation of the forces by a green line, deployment of a multinational force under U.N. auspices, creation of a new strategy (inaudible) by the international conference, and, finally, the partition of the Aegean via the Imia judicial process.

Since it's a U.S. Government publication, do you have any comment on this?

MR. BURNS: Before I answer that, I still want an answer to my question, which is, how many musicians can you fit on Imia/Kardak? (Laughter) That's the key question. How many musicians? How many rock groups at one time and how many spectators -

QUESTION: The island is big enough to have a concert, something like that.

MR. BURNS: I'll take your word for it. But I am still interested in an authoritative view on that question.

Mr. Lambros, on the second question, I'm just not going to speculate on a question like that, as you know. We have a long-standing position of what we want to have happen. We want to have Greece and Turkey get together to resolve their own problems. I don't think public advice at this point will be helpful.

QUESTION: Could you give us a readout on the current maritime negotiations that are going on with the Japanese "For Peace" stevedore?

MR. BURNS: Yes, I can tell you. As you know, when Secretary Albright was in Tokyo, she had a conversation - a couple of conversations - about this, as did the Vice President. The United States seeks a comprehensive solution to the problems in Japanese ports.

The Government of Japan needs to take prompt action to reform the prior consultative system and to open to foreign firms the licensing of stevedores and terminal operations in Japan's ports.

Reform in these areas would ultimately benefit the Japanese people because they would be very much in line with the position that the Government of Japan has taken recently on other matters of deregulation.

Costs in Japanese ports are among the highest anywhere in the world. They directly drive up the price of both Japan's exports and Japan's imports. So it's in the interest of the Japanese consumer, of the Japanese population, as well as the United States and other countries to see reform in Japan's port system. Right now, there isn't fair play.

American firms, other foreign firms, do not have access to the bidding on contracts that they should have.

Absent a comprehensive solution that we are seeking, the United States Federal Maritime Commission will impose fees of $100,000 per voyage on Japanese liner carriers calling at U.S. ports.

We hope it doesn't come to that. We are ready and willing to talk through this problem with Japanese representatives. I can tell you that we have such meetings underway right now. They began on April 2; they are continuing today. When they're completed, perhaps we'll be in a position to say if we've made progress.

We're not targeting any specific individuals here in the Japanese Government, but we are targeting practices. Japan needs to open up its economy in many ways, and here's a very good example where Japan needs to get in line with international standards and allow foreign firms the ability to compete fairly for contracts.

QUESTION: Is it correct that these sanctions are scheduled to go into effect on the 14th of this month?

MR. BURNS: We have talks underway right now. We hope very much it won't be necessary to impose these fees - these very costly fees - on Japanese carriers, liner carriers. But absent progress, the United States will not have no alternative but to impose these fees.

QUESTION: Have you given them a date or a deadline?

MR. BURNS: We are talking now to the Japanese today in this building and throughout Washington. They will continue those talks, and we hope Japan has heard our message.

Bill, welcome back. We missed you. We missed you.

QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you very much.

MR. BURNS: Mr. Lambros, we missed Bill, didn't we? We did.

Bill. Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Were you in Rome?

QUESTION: No, no. But close. I was in Mexico City. Nick, the reports from Mexico - one of the very disturbing reports - in the past several weeks, the Catholic Church - heads of the Catholic church - have come out strongly in support of Mr. Zedillo government's reform, especially their fight against narco-terrorism, narco-subversion. When they did so - and I believe this was associated with the General Gutierrez scanda - the government severely repressed the church, silenced the church.

The church since has come out, the Archbishop, the head of the church there, has come out and said, "We need true freedom of religion in Mexico. The church is crying out to the government for this.

Nick, my first question - I think the primary issue is, in fact, when a government is aided by the church and rejects that aid, sir, is that government, in fact, a moral government? Is that government fighting the cartels?

MR. BURNS: We miss you, Bill, but was that a question or a statement?

QUESTION: Well, let me ask if this government sees that as disappointing insofar as the performance of Zedillo's government?

MR. BURNS: Bill, we don't comment on church-state relations in Mexico. I can't remember ever doing that in more than two years here. I'm not going to start today.

The Mexican Government has a narcotics problem and it's dealing with that problem as best as it can, and we're working closely with it. I have nothing to say on these allegations. It's the first I've heard of these allegations.

QUESTION: Let me follow up. The church came back out and said, "We need true freedom of religion in Mexico." Is that an issue that concerns this government, or is that also off limits?

MR. BURNS: We are concerned with freedom of religion worldwide. From time to time, when there are gross violations of religious rights such as the case of China, for instance, then we speak up. But I don't believe that's the case here. There may be some issues between the church and the state in Mexico, but it's not appropriate for the United States to comment upon those.

QUESTION: Finally, do we still have full confidence in the Zedillo government as fighting against the cartels?

MR. BURNS: Yes, we do. We should give a place to Carol because she's been on vacation. She's back and she's probably - excellent suntan. She had a great time. We won't say where she was.

Actually, given the prior question, perhaps you would like to comment on that.

QUESTION: I didn't do any politics in Mexico.

MR. BURNS: Carol was in Mexico. Sorry.

QUESTION: Now you've thrown me off. I wanted to ask about the Haiti election there this weekend. I'd be interested in your assessment of it. It sounds like it wasn't really a ringing endorsement of democracy? The turnout was very low.

MR. BURNS: That sometimes happens in the United States as well for local elections, town elections, municipal elections.

Yesterday's peaceful elections were for nine Senate seats, two Chamber of Deputy seats, 133 town delegates, 564 territorial assembly representatives. We believe the elections - notwithstanding Carol Giacomo's comments - we believe these elections were an important step in the process of consolidating democracy in Haiti.

These were the fifth elections since democracy was restored in 1994. They, we hope, will continue to decentralization of political power in Haiti by bringing democratic rule to the local level for the very first time. This is in accordance with the 1987 Haitian constitution.

The elections were observed by a delegation from the Organization of American States, and U.S. Embassy officials from Port-au-Prince participated in this as well as organizations from around the world. Available reports to us, including from our Embassy, indicate that the elections were free and fair and were open.

There were scattered reports of outside interference in the electoral process which election authorities and the Haitian National Police were able to resolve in each instance.

The Haitian National Police, by the way, implemented a thorough election security plan which helped to assure that the elections would take place in a peaceful and orderly manner. This follows the Haitian National Police's recent success in arresting several major gang leaders in Cite Soleil and deploying prominently throughout Port-au-Prince, and that, we believe, was a strong deterrent to criminal activity before and during the elections.

So we think the Haitian National Police, in contrast to a network report on Friday evening - in strong contrast to that network report - we think the Haitian National Police record before and during the elections was actually quite good.

Voter turnout, as expected, was low in urban areas; somewhat heavier in rural areas. The Electoral Council has stated that official results will be published in about 10 days. The turnout was low in urban areas and throughout the country, I guess, if you look at, say, the last elections they held - the last national elections that were held. That's sometimes true in the United States as well, but it is a democracy, and these are the fifth elections that they've had.

The important thing is that the dictators never allowed people to vote and now they can, and people are responsible for their own democracy. So we think the elections were a positive development, and we look forward to working with the Haitian Government to further the evolution of Haitian democracy in the future. We are disturbed by some of these network reports that found the Haitian National Police somehow wanting in their performance before these elections. We actually thought the performance was quite strong.

Still on Haiti? Charlie, any follow-ups on Haiti? No. Sid.

QUESTION: Is the Clinton Administration or the United States investigating the American business affairs of Tansu Ciller? And, also, are you satisfied that the Turkish Government's investigation into that whole sordid episode was done in an impartial, penetrating way?

MR. BURNS: I'm not aware that anybody in the United States Government is investigating anybody in the Turkish Government, nor should we.

The second question, Sid, that you refer you to is clearly an internal matter for the Turkish politicians and the Turkish Government to sort out. It's not for the United States to make a statement on that.

QUESTION: You put a lot of stock into Mrs. Ciller. There's some rather, I would think, serious allegations against her that no one is really investigating, including some business schemes here in the United States; potential offshore money laundering? That's nothing the United States is interested in?

MR. BURNS: Sid, there have been many allegations made against Mrs. Ciller in Turkey by Turkish politicians; mainly, the opposition party, so I'd refer you to them. We're going to leave this to the Turkish political system to sort out.

I see no reason why the United States should initiate any kind of investigation whatsoever because we're not aware that anything untoward has occurred in our own country.

QUESTION: You're not turning over any rocks regarding Mrs. Ciller because without her you would lose any influence whatsoever you have over Turkey?

MR. BURNS: I reject that, Sid. I don't think that's accurate, and that is not an accurate picture of the state of play in our relationship with Turkey. The fact is, we have an alliance relationship with Turkey. We continue to work closely with President Demirel and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ciller. They're good allies. We'll work with them very closely on NATO issues, European security issues, Bosnia, the Middle East. Turkey just signed an important economic agreement with Israel today, which we applaud.

There's no crisis in U.S.-Turkish relations despite what you may read in the press. There are some problems, and we will work through those problems, but I want to be very clear about the first question you asked. There is no inclination on the part of anybody in our government to look into the activities of Mrs. Ciller or her family here in the United States. That kind of thing is generally left up to local authorities here in the United States, when it does occur, and there is no reason for us to get into that right now.

QUESTION: You said the Administration works with President Demirel and Deputy Prime Minister Ciller. Does the Administration work with Prime Minister Erbakan as well?

MR. BURNS: Yes, when we can, we work with him. Obviously, when we can meet him, and we do meet him - that hasn't happened many times over the course of the last eight or nine months - of course, we work with Prime Minister Erbankan.

I mentioned Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ciller because she has tended to take the lead on relations with the United States. She and Secretary Albright saw each other at NATO just a month or so ago. I know she's in contact with our Embassy. Of course, President Demirel is the head of state. Of course, we'll work with Prime Minister Erbakan.

Of course, it's important, obviously, that the United States work from a foundation. The foundation that we have is that Turkey is a secular democracy and that those secular traditions are very important to continue. There are a big part of the relationship with the United States.

QUESTION: Last weekend, one of the prominent Turkish opposition political party leaders died. Do you have any reaction -

MR. BURNS: Was here?

QUESTION: No, in Turkey.

MR. BURNS: One of the prominent . . .

QUESTION: Turkish political party leader.

MR. BURNS: Was in Turkey?

QUESTION: Nationalist Party leader Mr. Turkes died this weekend.

QUESTION: He died.

MR. BURNS: I'm sorry, I didn't get the word. I didn't understand the question.

QUESTION: He was died last weekend. Do you have any reaction about Mr. Turkes.

MR. BURNS: Obviously, the United States would like to pass on its condolences to the family, but I don't think we have any further statement to make from Washington. But I'll have to check and see if our Embassy in Ankara has made a statement.

Betsy.

QUESTION: Nick, could you tell us, please, what the state of play is in Zaire? Have the international organizations gotten access to the Hutu refugees, and what is the situation in Kinshasa?

MR. BURNS: We're looking at two aspects of the situation in Zaire. First, we're pleased to say that over the weekend Mr. Kabila did agree to give to the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees access to the estimated 80,000 Rwandan refugees, who are in makeshift camps along the Kisangani-Ubundu railroad, 16 and 25 kilometers south of the city. This is very good news. We welcome Mr. Kabila's cooperation.

This means that UNHCR will be able to transport the most vulnerable of the refugees to Kinsangani airport and airlift them either to Goma or directly to Kigali. This is made possible by the grant by the United States a week ago today of $3 million to finance the airlift operation. The healthier refugees will be transported and repatriated overland by truck.

We think the airlift might be able to begin later this week, and we hope that the truck convoy could proceed sooner than that. So we have the money from the United States to finance this, and we certainly have the need, because continued reports estimate that as many as 120 refugees are dying per day. That trend has continued throughout the weekend, and we think that there are an estimated 20,000 vulnerable unaccompanied children, sick and elderly refugees who ought to be airlifted out first.

This is a very dramatic situation. I think here we have to thank the leadership of the United Nations, and frankly we have to thank the political influence of the United States and the European Union who convinced Mr. Kabila to make this plan work.

On the talks in South Africa, all I can say is that they opened over the weekend. The United States has not been directly involved in the talks, but we are exercising our influence from the sidelines, particularly with Mr. Kabila and others, and we wish the U.N. envoy Mohamad Sahnoun well. The situation in Zaire continues to deteriorate, with further fighting over the weekend, particularly in and around Lubumbashi, the second largest city in the country. There is reason to be very concerned about that particular fight, and we continue to call upon Mr. Kabila and the Zairian Government to cease firing and to engage in political talks to sort out their problems.

Anything else on Zaire?

QUESTION: Is the situation in Kinshasa - I mean, is the U.S. considering getting these people - getting U.S. citizens out by boat or are you still calling for -

MR. BURNS: We are watching the situation very carefully, because we have the security of our employees and citizens in mind. However, we have not, as far as I know - unless this piece of paper tells me anything differently - changed the orders to our Embassy. Right now we have voluntary departure for dependents of our Embassy employees. We have not decided to evacuate our Embassy personnel, but we'll keep that under review.

The United States military is present in Libreville, Brazzaville, and the USS Nassau is off the coast of West Africa and is available to assist in any evacuation.

Mr. Kabila said over the weekend that the presence of American military forces was a threat to the territorial integrity of Zaire. This is not so. It's simply not so. The presence of the American military in Gabon, in Congo, and on the seas is to be available for any kind of evacuation that should be necessary of American citizens and American Government employees.

The United States has no intention - zero - of intervening militarily in Zaire to affect the course of the fighting. We support the territorial integrity of Zaire. We think that foreign forces ought to stay out, and we've warned, of course, the governments in Central Africa as well as the Government of Angola to keep foreign forces out, not with much success, because we think that there's been very worrisome developments, both on the Angolan-Zairian border and with the border with Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.

But that's the intention of our military. There is no political reason here for Mr. Kabila or anyone else to be worried about the activities of our military.

QUESTION: You don't have any numbers, do you, on Angolans who might have been sent to Zaire -

MR. BURNS: I don't have any numbers, just to say that we've made it clear to Angola as well as to other countries, the ones that I've mentioned in Central Africa, that they ought not to interfere in the ongoing crisis in Zaire. The situation is complicated enough without them getting involved.

QUESTION: Nick, the U.S. Embassy in Colombia announced over the weekend that it had stripped 257 Colombians of their U.S. visas because of involvement with drug trafficking. The first question is, will the U.S. continue with this practice in the future? And the second question would be, the Embassy also said that it would not subject some of these people who might live in the United States at this point to deportation. Why is that?

MR. BURNS: What I'd like to do is take your question and get you a good answer by the end of the day. I think we owe you that, because it was in the news over the weekend.

Yes, sir, Bob.

QUESTION: A few weeks ago there was an internal inquiry going on concerning Ambassador Wyche Fowler and some of his correspondence out of Saudi Arabia. Has that inquiry been completed?

MR. BURNS: I don't know if I'd call it an inquiry. I think questions were raised at the time. What I'd like to do is check on that, because I have not, frankly, heard anything about it in a couple of weeks, and I'll get back to you.

QUESTION: The United Nations has released its new appeal for food aid. Do you have any indication what the U.S. will be?

MR. BURNS: The World Food Program?

QUESTION: No, it's an interagency appeal.

MR. BURNS: Interagency of the U.N. agencies.

QUESTION: Yes.

MR. BURNS: I know that we intended to talk to them once the report was issued - once the official appeal was issued. Let me try to go back and see if I can give you a more comprehensive answer to that question. That's a fair question.

QUESTION: One more on human rights, but this is China -- China and Denmark, specifically. Nick, the Chinese are fighting the U.N. resolution of censure on human rights that the United States is involved with Denmark about. Denmark is being threatened financially, politically, being leaned on heavily by the PRC. Do you have any reaction to these attempts by the Chinese to, I take it, just eliminate this resolution?

MR. BURNS: First of all, the United States will co-sponsor a resolution tabled by Denmark on the human rights situation in China at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva. We welcome the decision of Denmark to sponsor the resolution. This reflects a commitment to the universality of human rights practices. Secretary Albright did have a phone conversation with Foreign Minister Petersen a couple of days ago once Denmark had made its decision.

We'll be working with the Danes, with the governments around the world, to coordinate our efforts in anticipation of a likely no-action motion that would prevent the issue from coming to the floor. This motion would surely be brought by China or one of China's allies that don't want to see human rights debated in the only forum the United Nations has to debate human rights. We'll try to defeat that motion, and we'll try to bring this to a vote, hopefully, in a week or two. I think the vote is currently scheduled for April 15, although sometimes those things change.

In answer to the larger question of Chinese criticism of Denmark for having decided to sponsor the resolution, as the Danish Foreign Ministry said, the U.N. Human Rights Commission is not a tribunal. It is a forum where United Nations members discuss the issue of human rights around the world. To deny the discussion, to try to prevent a discussion from even occurring, denies the very principles for that organization's existence.

If you can't discuss human rights in Geneva at the UNHRC, where can you discuss it. We think it's the premiere multilateral forum for the discussion of human rights, and we believe that there ought to be open, international discussion about very serious problems in China pertaining to human rights abuses.

So we very much support the Danish Government and the other governments that will be co-sponsoring. You know the position of the United States all along has been this. We hoped it wouldn't come to this. We hoped there would be actions by the Chinese Government that would make it unnecessary for the United States, Denmark and other countries to go to Geneva. But, frankly, we haven't seen any actions by the Chinese Government that would indicate a change of heart, a change of practice, a revision in their policies in the way they treat their own people.

It's going to be necessary for us to proceed to Geneva, absent last-minute Chinese action, which probably will not be forthcoming.

QUESTION: Are you saying that this action by the PRC confirms the repression in China?

MR. BURNS: I'm saying that to protest, as the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman did today - to protest Denmark's tabling of a resolution seems to deny the very reason for the existence of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, which is a forum for talk. It's not a tribunal, but it is a place where problems can be presented internationally, and there are clearly problems in China that deserve to be debated internationally. That's why the United States intends to co-sponsor this particular resolution.

QUESTION: Nick, what's the United States doing to make sure that you can defeat the Chinese effort to have no action taken on this. China has warned before, and there are human rights advocates who think the United States is getting involved in this effort too late in a direct way this year to really have an impact. So my question is, what are you doing to try to keep China honest?

MR. BURNS: We will work with the other members of the U.N. Human Rights Commission through Ambassador Nancy Rubin in Geneva - our Ambassador there - to try to convince them that the issue of human rights in China ought to be on the international agenda, and at the very least ought to be brought to a vote.

This notion that somehow you use a parliamentary procedure to deny a resolution even from reaching the floor seems to us to defeat the very purposes of the Commission itself, when you're talking about such a prominent issue of human rights practices, such as what we've seen in China.

QUESTION: So you haven't started this lobbying effort yet.

MR. BURNS: We've been very active behind the scenes for quite some time.

QUESTION: The Italian Government expressed today great concerns about the unpredictability of the military mission in Albania because the country is controlled by rebel groups and criminal gangster. Are you aware of those concerns, and are you planning to deploy forces, too, in the near future to control the situation over there?

MR. BURNS: Mr. Lambros, that's why one of the first things I did almost an hour ago in this briefing was to read a statement of concern about the activities of the organized thugs in Albania, which have made it difficult for Prime Minister Fino and the others to organize an effective government. We very much support the efforts of Italy and Greece and other European countries to organize -- Greece and Turkey and Italy - Greece and Turkey working together - to try to stabilize the situation in Albania.

QUESTION: Are you planning to deploy forces in the near future? This is my question.

MR. BURNS: No, we're not.

QUESTION: Why?

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BURNS: Thank you.

(The briefing concluded at 2:08 p.m.)

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