U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #126, 97-09-03
From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>
966
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
I N D E X
Wednesday, September 3, 1997
Briefer: James B. Foley
MIDDLE EAST
1 Dennis Ross meetings with Israeli delegation today, Palestinians
tomorrow
1-2 Netanyahu list of Hamas and Islamic Jihad suspects
2 Shooting of Israelis near Jerusalem, likely criminal
2 Secretary Albright's flow of information
UNITED KINGDOM
2 Secretary will not attend Princess Diana's funeral; First Lady &
Admiral Crowe attend
2 Secretary's flight arrangements
Northern Ireland: Visa for Gerry Adams; classification of IRA as
terrorist groups
TURKEY/ISRAEL
3 Trilateral Turkey-Israel-US military exercise in Mediterranean,
SAR exercises; effect on peace process
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
3-5 Republika Srpska agreement with SFOR re return of broadcasrt
transmitter to Pale Serb control; US scrutiny of specific
commitments; US' major role in the decision
4 Application of free speech principles
5-7 Russian reaction to SFOR operations in RS, commitment to Dayton
implementation
6 Municipal elections expected this month
6-7 Gelbard whereabouts, meetings
CAMBODIA
7-8 Amb Quinn meeting with King Sihanouk; status of Prince
Ranariddh, other exiles
9 No Americans found onboard Vietnamese plane crash
NORTH KOREA
8 DPRK messages to US re defectors, effect on dialogue; status of
four-party talks
9 Amb. Chang defection: no update on asylum request
14 US reaction to destruction caused by tidal wave; WFP assessment
of need
CYPRUS
9-11 Tom Miller upcoming travel 9/7-20/97 to Europe; purpose of trip;
timing of Cyprus resolution; Amb. Holbrooke activities; status
of UN-sponsored negotiations
11 Request for press briefing by Tom Miller
ARMS CONTROL
12 Russian missiles found by Turkey aboard Egyptian vessel; US
proliferation concerns
TURKEY
12 Arrests of Kurdish democracy advocates
MEXICO
14 President Zedillo remarks re development of democracy
ALGERIA
15 Recent wave of violence; US assessment of elections
15-16 US view of need for Algerian government dialogue with
opposition; UNSYG remarks
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB #126
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1997 12:40 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
MR. FOLEY: Greetings. I assume this is my water. This may be a week
old.
Okay. I have no announcements.
Barry?
QUESTION: I don't have any questions. Yes, what's taking so long with the
Israeli delegation? Have the talks been expanded or altered in any
way?
MR. FOLEY: No. As far as I know, the composition has not expanded. I
think we mentioned yesterday who was here on the Palestinian side.
QUESTION: Israeli.
MR. FOLEY: On the Israeli side. That's tomorrow. Thank you, Sid.
Mr. Naveh and Arad are here. But the meeting, apparently, is still going
on.
QUESTION: When will the Palestinians come and talk to Ross?
MR. FOLEY: Tomorrow.
QUESTION: In the morning?
MR. FOLEY: I don't have that. I can get it for you.
QUESTION: As of now, the Palestinians and the Israelis are not planning -
MR. FOLEY: No. There are no trilateral meetings or joint Palestinian-
Israeli meetings planned. The schedule is for the Israeli delegation to
come in today and the Palestinian delegation tomorrow.
QUESTION: I asked you yesterday if you'd seen a report that Prime
Minister Netanyahu had handed over a list of 1,500 alleged members of Hamas
and the Islamic Jihad, and you said you would be looking into it. Do you
have anything?
MR. FOLEY: I still haven't seen that report. I don't know if it was a
wire report or a press report.
QUESTION: It was a report at a military base in --
MR. FOLEY: We didn't have that. But in any case, I'm not going to go into
the details of those discussions within the security mechanism that has
been established. We're going to let those take place on their own.
QUESTION: Have you all fleshed out what happened in Israel this morning
with the shooting?
MR. FOLEY: Well, we haven't had an official report, for example, from our
embassy there. I've only seen the press reports and spoken to some of our
Middle East people who understand, at least on a preliminary basis, that it
was probably of a criminal nature and certainly not a political or
terrorist nature.
QUESTION: How will the Secretary - or will she hear about today's
meetings and tomorrow's meetings from Dennis Ross? Or will she catch up on
it later, or is she keeping in phone contact? Can you give us some sense of
how this information gets to her?
MR. FOLEY: Well, as you know, she's on a private visit, and she's on
vacation, a much deserved one. And she has been in some contact. I do know,
when Princess Diana passed away, that there was some contact with her, at
least with members of her traveling party. But I don't have any specific
information on that, Barry.
QUESTION: General thing. Rumors persist that she might be attending the
funeral, even though she's not part of the U.S. delegation. Do you have
anything you can say on that?
MR. FOLEY: No, I have nothing on that. The White House announced --
QUESTION: Can you tell us she's not going to be at the funeral?
MR. FOLEY: That's my understanding, yes.
QUESTION: Is there anybody else that you are aware of, besides the First
Lady, who will be attending from this country?
MR. FOLEY: I understand that Admiral Crowe, our ambassador, has been
invited also to attend.
QUESTION: Are they the only two?
MR. FOLEY: As far as I know.
QUESTION: How did the Secretary fly to Europe, commercial or government?
MR. FOLEY: I'd have to check on that. I believe it was commercial, but
I'd have to check for you.
QUESTION: Can you do that?
MR. FOLEY: Sure.
QUESTION: On the Middle East and about U.S., Israel and Turkish naval
exercise in the east part of the Mediterranean.
MR. FOLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: Do you agree with the Syrian and Egyptian foreign ministers
which are against this kind of exercise? They claim that this kind of
exercise is harmful for the Middle East peace process.
MR. FOLEY: Well, we don't agree with that characterization. The fact is
that these exercises are of a humanitarian nature; specifically, they
involve humanitarian search and rescue operations. So we don't see any
connection between these exercises and any sort of political developments
in the Middle East. They exist on their own merit.
QUESTION: Bosnia?
MR. FOLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: Yesterday you were saying that the track record of the Bosnian
Serbs isn't good, so you don't expect a whole lot from their promises of
late saying that they're going to give more free air time to the transmissions
that come out of Pale, et cetera.
That would lead some to believe that maybe SFOR - the only reason they
returned the transmission to the Bosnian Serbs is because they were out-
bullied by Karadzic's forces. How would you respond to that - that it was
nothing more than a conciliatory measure on the part of NATO troops because
they were afraid of a conflict?
MR. FOLEY: I wouldn't draw that conclusion at all. As I stated yesterday,
in the judgment of SFOR and the High Representative it was deemed useful to
give the Pale authorities an opportunity to comply with certain stipulations
that they agreed to.
As I said, we are not optimistic, based on their track record. But they
deemed it useful to give them a chance. And we're going to be watching
every day now to see whether they live up to their specific commitments.
It will not be terribly difficult to make such a judgment. They agreed to
stop spewing out hostile propaganda against the SFOR troops and against the
international presence. They agreed to give Madame Plavsic a platform. They
agreed to give the OHR a platform on the transmitter.
We will be able to determine very specifically whether they've met those
commitments or not.
QUESTION: The return of the transmission was in no way to avert a clash -
a possible outbreak?
MR. FOLEY: Well, you'd have to talk to SFOR about the tactical considerations
that went into their judgment. But SFOR remains in the vicinity. It's
maintaining a presence in the area of this broadcast tower. They're keeping
an eye on the situation. SFOR and the international community is indeed
monitoring how the Bosnian Serbs live up to these commitments. If they
don't live up to these commitments, I think you'll have to stay tuned.
Yes.
QUESTION: (Inaudible)
MR. FOLEY: I don't have a report today out of the theater. You might have
to check with SFOR on that. I don't have any reports that indicate they
haven't lived up to it.
Judd.
QUESTION: Does the U.S. Government worry about free speech issues here? I
mean, here we have the leading democracies of the world telling a radio
station what it can and can't put on the air.
MR. FOLEY: We of course believe in free speech. We practice what we
preach here and around the world.
However, the parties in Bosnia signed their names and made commitments at
Dayton, specific commitments that involved respect for the terms of the
Dayton agreement and involved commitments to respect SFOR's judgment and
SFOR's conditions. It's been clearly stipulated that the kind of hateful
propaganda that has been spewing forth from Bosnian Serb outlets is
unacceptable. It's in that context that those decisions were made.
Sid.
QUESTION: Do you mean to leave the impression that the United States had
no role in this decision, in this deal?
MR. FOLEY: Well, there's a chain of command at SFOR and it goes through
SACEUR up to the North Atlantic Council. The North Atlantic Council met
over the weekend and took a decision, which I referred to yesterday, that
authorized SFOR to take necessary action in that regard.
The United States obviously participated in the Council decision.
QUESTION: So when you say - you keep, at least to me, giving the
impression that this was an SFOR operation from beginning to end. Actually,
the United States had a major voice in this decision.
MR. FOLEY: As a member of the North Atlantic Council, yes.
QUESTION: To what extent are the Russians involved what you're attempting
to do in Bosnia? Are they silent partners? Or have they been - I've lost
track. Gelbard was supposed to go to Moscow - did he go to --
MR. FOLEY: He did, yes.
QUESTION: To what extent are the Russians with the U.S. on this?
MR. FOLEY: Well, they certainly share our objectives. I think the
international community is united, and that's, I think, not to be
forgotten. There's a big change from where we were two years ago before
Dayton. SFOR embodies that unity of purpose.
We believe that the Russians remain committed to our overall goals of
Dayton implementation. We're currently in discussion with the Russians and
with our other partners in SFOR and at NATO about the upcoming elections
and the role of the international community in those elections.
I wouldn't want to comment beyond that because those discussions are
ongoing.
QUESTION: The U.S. has chosen sides between the two Bosnian Serb
factions. I wondered if the Russians made the same choice. You can tell me
to ask them, but --
MR. FOLEY: I wouldn't characterize it that way. We didn't choose sides.
We're there to implement Dayton, and one of the Bosnian Serbs sides -- who
happens to be the constitutionally-elected president - has decided that she
supports Dayton implementation.
QUESTION: Right. But you are - the U.S. is indeed --
MR. FOLEY: I would be surprised if anyone characterized the Russians, for
example, as supporting those who oppose Dayton, including the Pale
clique.
QUESTION: I understand. We all know the Russians are supposed to have
some special influence with the Serbs. I mean, I'm not questioning your
motives for choosing sides, and I'm not even accusing you of mission creep.
But the U.S. has come down in support of one Bosnian Serb leader who is
violently opposed by another Bosnian Serb leader. Whatever your reasons are
- they could be perfectly valid - but I wonder if the Russians were with
you on that?
MR. FOLEY: Well, I have no trouble accepting the characterization that we
have been supporting the constitutionally-elected president of the
Republika Srpska who supports Dayton implementation; and that we do oppose
a clique of people headed, behind the scenes, by an indicted war criminal.
So I won't apologize for your characterization.
QUESTION: If this gets ugly, the question - if it gets ugly, you'll want
to have as many friends as you can have. So do you have the Russians with
you?
MR. FOLEY: Your point that the Russians can play a role and do have
influence within the Serb communities there is one well taken. We have, I
think, over the last few years counted on Russian influence in a positive
sense.
Sid.
QUESTION: New subject?
QUESTION: One more --
MR. FOLEY: More on Bosnia?
QUESTION: Do you still expect or would you still like the municipal
elections to take place this month?
MR. FOLEY: Very much so, and we still hope and expect that they will take
place on time.
QUESTION: Any word from Gelbard?
MR. FOLEY: He's in Luxembourg, or has been today. He's flying, I believe,
to London this evening. He's meeting with Foreign Minister Cook tomorrow.
From there he goes on to Brussels. He's meeting with Secretary General
Solana. I don't know about other meetings in Brussels.
QUESTION: Who did he meet with today?
MR. FOLEY: I'm sorry?
QUESTION: Who did he meet with today?
MR. FOLEY: Luxembourg officials in their capacity as EU president. I
don't have the officials' names.
QUESTION: Can I just follow-up on what - something Barry said?
MR. FOLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: And to borrow from what Mr. Rubin has said from the podium,
would you say the Russians are on the right side of history in the Bosnian
matter?
MR. FOLEY: I'm not sure I understand the question.
QUESTION: The right side, meaning the side for the elected president and
getting matters done constitutionally, rather than by thuggish ways.
MR. FOLEY: I don't know of any member of SFOR --
QUESTION: I guess that would be the right side of history.
MR. FOLEY: -- or the international community that does not support the
elected president of Republika Srpska.
QUESTION: Would you say Russia's on the right side of history with the
United States in this matter?
MR. FOLEY: Well, those are your words.
Sid.
QUESTION: New subject?
MR. FOLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: Cambodia. Can you tell us anything about Matt Quinn's meeting
yesterday with the King - Ambassador Quinn's meeting yesterday with the
King?
MR. FOLEY: I don't have a read-out of the meeting.
QUESTION: Ken Quinn, sorry.
MR. FOLEY: Ken Quinn, yes, Ambassador Ken Quinn. I have a general sense
of the meeting, but not a specific read-out. I understand it went well. I
think the King was very appreciative of U.S. efforts on behalf of Cambodian
democracy, which has suffered so grievously in the last two months. He was
encouraging the United States to continue in that role.
Ambassador Quinn, on his part, applauded the king's efforts to promote
national reconciliation. We support the King's call for Hun Sen and Prince
Ranariddh to join him in mediation in efforts to promote restoration of the
democratic process in Cambodia, leading to free and fair elections next
year. So that was the general nature of the meeting.
QUESTION: Did he express - did the king express an opinion to the
ambassador about the wisdom of his son returning to Cambodia?
MR. FOLEY: I'm not sure, because, as I said, I didn't have a detailed
read-out of that meeting.
Our position is clear, though, that all the exiled politicians ought to be
able to return now and return freely and be able to operate freely in the
political process in Cambodia.
QUESTION: Are the North Koreans - if I can switch --
MR. FOLEY: Are we finished with Cambodia?
QUESTION: I can't touch any usual bases. Are the North Koreans telling
the Americans in any diplomatic way what they are saying publicly -- that
the acceptance, the haven to these defectors creates hurdles in the path of
the preliminary peace talks that are apparently still scheduled for
September 15?
MR. FOLEY: The week of the 15th, yes.
QUESTION: Or the week of the 15th.
MR. FOLEY: Well, we have been in some contact. You know we had a meeting
with them in New York on August 27. We haven't had a meeting since then,
although that's not to be excluded. But we've been in at least telephonic
contact with them. Without getting into specifics, though, what you've seen
publicly has been reflected. But we've seen no indication, to this point,
of a change of plans in regard to the four-party talks, which we
still hope will take place the week of September 15. So we have nothing --
QUESTION: But no word from them.
MR. FOLEY: No word from them on that, no.
QUESTION: But no word that they are coming, either?
MR. FOLEY: No.
QUESTION: There's nothing new about rescheduling?
MR. FOLEY: No. North Korea still? Yes.
QUESTION: The investigation of Ambassador Chang, I know, is going on.
When do I have the expectation that, officially, the State Department will
announce his defection - his political asylum is accepted; specifically,
what his defection motive is? Some kind of official announcement, can I
expect that?
MR. FOLEY: No.
QUESTION: Do you mean, if he's granted asylum, we won't know it, unless
he shows up in the briefing room?
MR. FOLEY: Well, if we have something to announce of that nature, we
will. We will announce it. But I have nothing new to add to what Mr. Rubin
had to say on the subject last week.
QUESTION: What he said, of course, it was premature to have said
asylum.
MR. FOLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: The process is in train.
MR. FOLEY: If we have something to announce of that nature, we will.
QUESTION: I can't recall if you announce asylums.
MR. FOLEY: Well, you'll know it when you see it.
QUESTION: Or don't.
MR. FOLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: Jim, do you have any -- were there any Americans on board the
Vietnamese plane that crashed in Cambodia?
MR. FOLEY: Just one moment. I have some information on the crash, if I
can find it. As you know, I'm getting used to my book up here. Can't find
it. But our embassy in Ho Chi Minh City, our representatives in Vietnam
have been following this very closely. They've not been able to determine
on the manifest that there were any American citizens on board. But we're
continuing, obviously, to keep close contact with the authorities in
Cambodia and Vietnam to monitor this.
To answer your question, we don't have any reports at this time that any of
the passengers were American citizens.
QUESTION: Jim, are you ready to announce that Mr. Miller is going to
Cyprus this weekend?
MR. FOLEY: Mr. Miller?
QUESTION: The other Miller, Tom Miller.
MR. FOLEY: Yes. Thank you for clarifying that. Tom Miller, yes, the new
Special Cyprus Coordinator, is going to be going out to quite a number of
capitals. I think his visit will take almost two weeks. I believe the dates
are September 7 through 20. He will be going to Ankara, to Athens, to
Nicosia and to a number of European capitals as well.
QUESTION: With the goal of...?
MR. FOLEY: Well, it's obviously his first visit in this capacity, so it's
an initial visit. I wouldn't characterize it as an orientation tour because
Mr. Miller is very well briefed and up to speed on all of the issues. But
he'll certainly be taking the temperature in the different capitals and
then reporting back, meeting with Department officials, meeting with
Ambassador Holbrooke and then discussing with him where we go from
there.
QUESTION: It doesn't sound like the kind of accelerated schedule that the
Secretary has advised Israel and the Palestinians to get on. It seems like
a rather relaxed two-week tour - no, I don't mean that he'd be loafing, but
I say -- when do you foresee a settlement - perhaps the Turkish troops
going home? When might all this happen?
MR. FOLEY: Well, as you know, there's a UN-sponsored process underway
which we support.
QUESTION: When you announced Holbrooke it gave a - and of course, even
when Sandy Berger did a speech at CSIS several months ago on Cyprus. It was
way up there on the agenda.
MR. FOLEY: Well, as you know, Barry, in the conduct of diplomacy, the
element of timing is critical. I know you've heard this about other regions
of the world. Ambassador Holbrooke, of course, met with President Clerides,
with Mr. Denktash in New York not too long ago. He's keeping a close eye on
the situation. He's going to meet with Tom Miller on his return. Then
they're going to decide what steps the U.S. Government may take.
I can't really forecast for you what those are going to be.
QUESTION: Is the UN process still, though, the mode that's out there?
MR. FOLEY: Well, it's an important process. I'm not aware that they've
scheduled a next round of talks after their last Switzerland talks. But
it's certainly been the prime forum and venue for negotiations.
QUESTION: Well, some optimism was expressed after that. And following up
from Barry, it seems things have sort of plateaued.
MR. FOLEY: Well, I don't have any new information to give you on that.
You might have to check with the UN to see where they are on it.
QUESTION: Well, but what I was actually driving at was, when does
Holbrooke go full bore?
MR. FOLEY: Well, as I said, timing is critical. He and Mr. Miller are
going to get together on Mr. Miller's return. When we have something to
announce, we'll do so. I don't think that, for example, a date for a
possible Holbrooke visit has been set. But he will undoubtedly be going out
to the region.
Mr. Lambros.
QUESTION: Why the time is so critical?
MR. FOLEY: I'm sorry?
QUESTION: Why the time is so critical in this particular --
MR. FOLEY: Critical for what?
QUESTION: You said earlier that the time is critical for the Cyprus
issue. And I am wondering why.
MR. FOLEY: I don't think I --
QUESTION: Could you arrange a briefing with Mr. --
MR. FOLEY: Okay, yes, thank you. I said timing is critical. In other
words, determining the moment when --
QUESTION: Could you arrange a briefing with Mr. Miller, since he will be
very active on the Cyprus issue?
MR. FOLEY: With special journalists.
QUESTION: Special journalists.
MR. FOLEY: I'd be happy to look into it for you.
QUESTION: Already, as far as for interview, I was told, officially, from
the above, that Mr. Miller is available only on a selective basis, so I'm
wondering why?
MR. FOLEY: I've not heard that. I'd have to look into it for you.
Yes.
QUESTION: Yesterday evening, the Turkish foreign minister announced that
they found some Russian missiles on Egyptian cargo ships, which before they
denied, you know. They didn't make any announcement.
MR. FOLEY: Who denied?
QUESTION: Both the Egypt and Turkish officials. But yesterday, officially,
they announced that they found some missiles on the ship. Egypt claimed
that those missiles belong to them. Even if those missiles belong to Egypt,
do you have any concern on the arms race on the eastern side of the
Mediterranean?
MR. FOLEY: Well, I'm glad you asked the question, because I owed Sid
Balman an answer on that yesterday. Apparently, there were some erroneous
press reports on that. What I can say today is that we've seen the press
reports that Turkey stopped and inspected a vessel transporting missile
parts in Turkish waters. We have no indication that these parts were
destined for Cyprus. In fact, the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Ecevit,
made a statement acknowledging that the missile parts are not destined for
Cyprus.
QUESTION: All right. Let's take it apart. There were missile parts on an
Egyptian ship; is that right?
MR. FOLEY: That's my understanding.
QUESTION: Are they North Korean missile parts destined for Egypt?
MR. FOLEY: I don't have -
QUESTION: Are you alarmed at all by missile parts in the area, which is a
tinder box: Arab-Israeli, Turkish-Greek? You've got lots of problems there.
State won't have any -- can you clarify, while you're denying that these
are to land in Cyprus, where were the missile parts going?
MR. FOLEY: Well, Barry, I'd be happy to look into the matter for you.
We're dealing with press reports at this point. We're not dealing with
verifiable information or diplomatic information. So, to the extent that I
am able, I'll get back to you on it.
QUESTION: All right. So what do we have? Has the U.S. Government asked
Egypt about this yet?
MR. FOLEY: No. As I said, we've seen the press reports that indicate
clearly that the wire report, or whatever was referred to yesterday was
erroneous, that claimed that, apparently, Turkish authorities had alleged
that they were destined for Cyprus. Those reports were incorrect.
QUESTION: Turkish authorities have made no such claim?
MR. FOLEY: No.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. FOLEY: So I can't give you more information now, but if I'm able to,
as we follow this --
QUESTION: There are missile parts afloat someplace and where they're
bound for, it would be interesting.
MR. FOLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: Well, the State Department is curious; right?
MR. FOLEY: Certainly.
QUESTION: Well, because North Korea and Egypt have a missile arrangement,
for one thing.
MR. FOLEY: No, the question was raised, are we concerned about an arms
race and weapons deliveries in the region? And the answer is, of course,
yes, and we're going to look into this. I don't have specific information I
can give you today.
Yes.
QUESTION: On Turkey.
MR. FOLEY: One more on Turkey.
QUESTION: On Turkey, go on.
MR. FOLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: Have you seen a report that Turkish police arrested scores or
dozens of Kurdish democracy advocates who were meeting in Turkey?
MR. FOLEY: I saw a headline of a ticker coming in, but I didn't read the
article, and I don't have any information on it.
QUESTION: Could you look into that, please? It appears that they were
there as part of a democracy convention and were arrested in their
hotel.
MR. FOLEY: Well, I'd suggest you check with your colleagues in Turkey, as
well. If we have information, I'd be glad to look into it for you.
QUESTION: Does this department have any comment or, for that matter,
condolences on this North Korean tidal wave of the 21st of August that
apparently took out a lot of their corn crop and displaced about 28,000
people? Can you confirm and possibly comment on that, Jim?
MR. FOLEY: Well, clearly the people of North Korea have been much plagued
by calamity over the years and certainly in recent years.
We, as you know, have an ongoing program and commitment through the World
Food Program to help address some of their most pressing food needs and
humanitarian needs. So in that context, we would be willing to look at any
additional requests that the World Food Program might bring our way.
Yes.
QUESTION: At this stage, it's interesting now because there's the tension
with North Korea. The U.S. view has always been that food deliveries are
treated separately from political issues. You announced two big deliveries,
and the second one wasn't too long ago. But is there a third? Is there
something afoot or being put together?
MR. FOLEY: This is not a very precise answer, but I had seen before I was
away, a week ago, just press reports indicating that the World Food Program
was doing a new assessment and might be coming forward with additional
appeals. I don't think that's materialized yet. But we have an excellent
track record.
QUESTION: Would the U.S. be willing to consider further food shipments,
even though talks in one area have been broken off and are threatened in
another area?
MR. FOLEY: Well, it's a hypothetical question, but answering just on a
hypothetical basis, we have not failed to meet appeals for humanitarian
assistance. We made, I think, an important policy decision not to link
political considerations with the plight of the North Korean people and
what we feel is a responsibility that is shared by the American people to
help people in need. That hasn't changed.
Yes.
QUESTION: On Mexico, two days ago President Zedillo delivered his address
to the nation for the first time in a congress dominated by the opposition
parties. And it was the first time that the Mexicans had the real taste of
democracy. Do you have any comment on that?
MR. FOLEY: Well, as you know, we welcomed the evidence of thriving
democracy and political pluralism in Mexico at the time of the elections.
And with the assembly convening, we see evidence that pluralism is at work.
It's not always the prettiest way to do business. We have a lot of
experience - over 200 years of it - ourselves, here in this country. We
wish them well.
We think it's a positive, healthy sign of democratic health and vitality in
Mexico.
Yes.
QUESTION: Do you have anything on the recent escalation of terrorist
violence in Algeria?
MR. FOLEY: Well, we were horrified by the massacres that occurred over
the last week. They really seem to have reached yet another astonishing
threshold of barbarity. We condemn them unreservedly. We hope very much
that somehow the Algerian people can work their way back towards some
modicum of civility and of peace, and that the political system can begin
to generate peaceful channels for dissent and to allow the Algerian people
to overcome this nightmare.
There were parliamentary elections in June, and local elections are
scheduled this Fall. So we are hopeful hat those elections again will offer
Algerians an opportunity for meaningful participation in their country's
political process.
QUESTION: There was a big --
MR. FOLEY: I'm sorry?
QUESTION: There was a big "but" in those elections - but not everybody
participated.
MR. FOLEY: Well, we did not, I believe - and I'd have to check the record,
I need to be careful characterizing them as necessarily completely free and
fair, but we noted that they did take place. There was rather wide
participation. The results, I think, generally, were deemed to have
reflected the will of those who voted, and we regarded the elections as a
hopeful step towards restoring dialogue and, hopefully, a predicate for
ending the violence. Now that has not happened, and clearly there
are groups in Algeria who have no interest in the political process,
in any kind of election, and that is a horrible problem that they are
having to deal with over there.
Yes.
QUESTION: Is it now time for the government of Algeria to open up a
dialogue with the militants?
MR. FOLEY: Well, we understand that, with the new parliament, there is
broader representation and that the political processes offer now some
greater opportunities for the airing of different points of view. Of course,
there was a recent release of one of the Islamic leaders from prison. I
have seen reports that he may have been re-subjected to house arrest, but
perhaps there was a nascent dialogue.
We're not opposed to dialogue, and we would support anything that can help
bring Algeria back from the brink. These events of the last week, as I said,
it's hard to match in words the horror that they inspire. They were truly
stupefying.
Yes, Talal.
QUESTION: This Islamic leader, his name is Abassi Madani. He wrote a
letter yesterday to Kofi Annan, asking him for the United Nations to
interfere in Algeria. And today, the leader of the Socialist Party wrote
another letter to Kofi Annan, asking that the international community take
part and try to solve - Abassi Madani is accusing the government of
carrying out some of these atrocities. Now, would the United States support
the involvement of the United Nations to solve the problems?
MR. FOLEY: I think, really, that's a matter between the United Nations,
the Secretary General, and the Algerian authorities. I wouldn't take a
position on it. I think we would support the Secretary General in his own
efforts.
Yes.
QUESTION: Can you say something about the IRA? Gerry Adams is here on, I
guess, a four-city tour of the States. For a while he was having trouble
getting a visa or he was sort of advised he would not get a visa. As I
understand it, the State Department has been still deciding what groups
will be classified as terrorist groups under Congress' anti-terrorism
legislation. Is this a sign that the IRA will definitely not be classified
as a terrorist group?
MR. FOLEY: I wouldn't want to prejudge the outcome of those deliberations,
so I really couldn't answer that question. As to the issue of the visa for
Mr. Adams, he had been issued a visa previously during periods of cease-
fire. We have a cease fire-now underway. The Sinn Fein has agreed to
participate; it will participate in the negotiations. The British
Government has determined that the IRA cease-fire is now holding. On that
basis, they will go forward with negotiations, including Sinn Fein, in
September, and we support that.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. FOLEY: Thank you.
(The briefing concluded at 1:15 P.M.)
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