U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #105, 99-08-16
From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>
273
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
I N D E X
Monday, August 16, 1999
Briefer: James P. Rubin
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1 Under Secretary Pickering and Acting Assistant Secretary Romero
Briefing Today
1 Secretary Albright's Upcoming Trip to the Middle East, Vietnam and
New Zealand
IRAQ
1-2 UNICEF Report on Children in Iraq / Sanctions
2 Iraqi Official Reportedly in Austria for Medical Treatment
MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
2-4 Wye Agreement Implementation / Senior Palestinian Officials to Meet
with Secretary
2-3 President Clinton's Letter to Israeli Prime Minister Barak
CANADA
5 Erroneous Report Regarding Canada Listed as Major Source or Transit
Country for Narcotics
NORTH KOREA
5-6 Bilateral Discussions with North Korea / Possible Missile Test
SERBIA (KOSOVO)
6-7 Demilitarization Agreement with the Kosovar Liberation Army
RUSSIA
7 Update on Situation in Dagestan
PAKISTAN
7-8 Recent Travel Warning
MEXICO
8 Reported Investigation into Attempted Assassination of Mexico's
Drug Czar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB # 105
MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1999 12:40 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)_
MR. RUBIN: Nice to see all of you. Welcome to the State Department
briefing on "this here" Monday. We're very close to an on-time performance.
Let me start by telling you what our plan of action is going to be. Under
Secretary Pickering will be briefing today, probably about 1:00 p.m. What
I'm going to do is make one announcement; take a few of your questions - if
any of you have questions on the other subjects -- take a short filing
break; and then we can move to Under Secretary Pickering promptly around
1:00 p.m. Let me start with the following announcement: Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright will travel to the Middle East and Asia in September of
this year. She will depart for the Middle East on Wednesday, September 1.
While in the region, she will visit Morocco, Egypt, Israel, the West Bank
and Gaza, Syria and Jordan. She will have the purpose, in these stops in
the Middle East, of seeking to ascertain the views of the relevant
officials in these countries, as well as to promote progress on all tracks
of the peace process, and to consult with various leaders on issues of
bilateral concern. Following her visit to Jordan, Secretary Albright will
travel to Vietnam and New Zealand. She will arrive in Vietnam on September
5, where she have discussions with senior Vietnamese leaders on a broad
range of subjects, including the recently-reached agreement in principle on
trade and investment. In Vietnam the Secretary will also emphasize the
importance of further economic reform, as well as improvements in human
rights and close cooperation on the POW/MIA issue. She will stop in Hanoi
as well as visiting Ho Chi Minh City, where she will dedicate our new
consulate general on Tuesday, September 7. She will then travel from
Vietnam to New Zealand, arriving September 8 for the annual APEC meetings.
We have a statement that lays out, in somewhat greater detail, each of the
stops and who she will be visiting with on those stops. So pack a very
large suitcase. With that announcement, let me turn to your questions if
you have any before --
QUESTION: Well, in the sense we're going to have a
truncated briefing and since you've touched on the subject, let me just
give you the opportunity to see if you have anything new to say about the
UNICEF report with the children in Iraq - the UN report. It criticizes the
sanctions as contributing to the distress and the deaths. You did it last
week, but it's back in the papers and do you have anything to add?
MR. RUBIN: I can do it again, but that's number three.
QUESTION: I know. The British have reacted this morning, so--
MR. RUBIN: Let me say very
clearly I think our understanding of the reporting demonstrates quite
clearly that the responsibility for the problems in Iraq fall squarely on
the shoulders of Saddam Hussein. The very program that has provided funds
for purchasing food and medicine in the north has worked and decreased the
infant mortality rate in the north. So clearly, for those leaders who want
to feed their children, who want to provide medicine to their children --
such as those in the north in Iraq, who are also subject to sanctions -
these sanctions have not had that effect. So the blame for any risk to
children and others in Iraq is clearly Saddam Hussein's responsibility
because his officials are hoarding medicine, hoarding food and not
distributing it to the needy people there.
QUESTION: Also on Iraq, there's a senior Iraqi official in Austria for
medical treatment.
MR. RUBIN: I have nothing on an Iraqi official in Austria.
QUESTION: OK, if you might take it --
MR. RUBIN: I will take that question.
QUESTION: -- because there's some talk about extraditing him for war
crimes and so on.
MR. RUBIN: I haven't heard anything about that, but I will check.
QUESTION: It looks like there's another crisis on the Wye agreement over
the weekend. The Palestinians are now having harsh words again, and
appealing to the United States for help. Have there been any contacts; and
are you planning to do anything before the Secretary goes to the area?
MR. RUBIN: Yes. First of all, let me say that we do stay in regular
touch with the parties. We still expect senior Palestinian officials to
be visiting the United States to meet with Secretary Albright, prior to
her trip to the region. We don't have dates for you yet, but that is
something we still expect to see happen, at which time we can discuss many
of these issues in greater detail. But there is often a lot of
misinformation in that region, and in that regard let me say that there
are some reports that the President's letter to Prime Minister Barak was
designed to pressure Israel to implement the Wye agreement immediately
without change. These characterizations from this letter are inaccurate,
and whoever provided those characterizations to the honorable reporters
who reported it must not have read the letter or understood American
policy. Our position has been that Wye should be implemented. The Prime
Minister himself has been -- also -- very consistent. He has made it
clear that he intends to fulfill Israel's commitments, and that he will
implement the Wye River Memorandum.
He has ideas about the best ways and means of implementing Wye, and he is
quite appropriately engaging the Palestinians directly on the best ways and
means of implementing that agreement. The fact is that Israelis and
Palestinians are now negotiating directly, seriously, in good faith, and
without any pressure from either side. That is the kind of procedural
approach that we've been looking for, for some time. So what was portrayed
as an American attempt to come down on the Prime Minister, through this
letter, is a false report and it is not accurate.
QUESTION: Can you tell us what the President did say in his letter,
then? And secondly, it seems that it's all very well for the Israelis to
keep saying that they want to discuss how to implement it, but the
Palestinians have told them endlessly that they just want them to go ahead
and do it. How long are you prepared to wait for the Israelis to just --
MR. RUBIN: Right - I think there is often a difference between what the
leaders say privately and what they say publicly. What we understand is
going on is: The Israeli Government is laying out some of its ideas for
how to not only implement the Wye agreement, but do so in a way that
increases the chances for a successful permanent status agreement. That
is something that we have no problem with. We have no problem with it
because the Israelis, at the same time, have assured us and others that
they intend to implement Wye, one way or another, in full. So these are
discussions that were envisaged by Wye.
There are numerous committees for implementation. We're aware of the
Palestinian position. We've worked very hard to try to make clear that we
do want both parties to implement Wye fully - the Palestinians and the
Israelis. The fact that negotiations are going on, that discussions are
going on, on a daily basis, directly between the parties, is precisely what
we've been looking for, and we have no problem with that. What we've said
is that if the - the Prime Minister has said that if agreement is not
achieved on some minor or significant modification of Wye, then he will go
ahead and implement it as is. So that assurance was made by the Prime
Minister, publicly, in a statement last week. As you know, the Secretary
offered to postpone her trip at his request at the same time.
QUESTION: You didn't say what Clinton said in his letter.
MR. RUBIN: Right, it is not my practice to reveal the contents of
presidential letters from this podium.
QUESTION: Jamie, today's squabble seems to be over the Israeli
intention to, sort of, stretch out the phases and fold the final phase into
the final status talks. Does the US - I know the position of the US: that
there can be minor changes if both sides agree. With that in mind, does
the US have any problem with this? If you can't get into the letter - I
know about these reports and I've been told that they're wrong. But still,
the President is showing a close interest. They talked on the phone twice
in a week, exchanged letters. So he can't just be saying hello, how are
you. He must be engaged in some way, if even a supportive way, if not in a
pressure way. So the way I can come out of it, I guess, is to ask if the
US has any problem with the way the Israelis are approaching the withdrawal.
MR. RUBIN: We have no problem with the idea that the Israelis can propose
minor modifications; that those discussions can go on; and that if those
modifications are not mutually agreed, that the Israelis will implement Wye,
as written, in full. We have no problem with that.
QUESTION: Well, thank you, but you also almost answered it before. I'm
just trying to see if your remark before applies to a stretch-out. You
said that the Israelis are committed to implementing Wye. So if you feel
that way, the inference is --
MR. RUBIN: I don't understand; I'm not getting this at all.
Usually I know exactly where you're going.
QUESTION: No, no, you'll get it real quick.
MR. RUBIN: I don't know where you're going, sorry.
QUESTION: You're crediting the Israelis with a commitment to implement
Wye. The Israelis say, yes, we want to implement Wye, and here's our
approach to the phases. Now, all I have to do is complete the circle.
Then that means, it would seem, that the Israeli approach to implementation
is agreeable to the United States.
MR. RUBIN: I don't see how point two gets to point three.
QUESTION: You give them credit and then they say
they're doing it this way. So I'm just asking if the US credits their way
of doing it.
MR. RUBIN: We don't have to have an opinion on every proposed
modification.
QUESTION: OK, so you don't have an opinion on the stretch-out.
MR. RUBIN: We don't have to have an opinion on every proposed
modification.
QUESTION: The statement that you talked about is going to
give exact dates for each of these stops?
MR. RUBIN: Yes.
QUESTION: OK, can I change the subject? There was a report over the
weekend that the US was going to add Canada to the dreaded drug list. Do
you have anything to say about that?
MR. RUBIN: Erroneous: short answer. There was an
erroneous report in the Canadian press this weekend that Canada would be
listed as a major source or transit country. The US Government has not
completed its annual review, which won't be released until November.
However, Canada has never been on the majors list, nor do we expect it to
be included. The US and Canada enjoy an extremely close and cooperative
relationship in combating narcotics trafficking. We have the highest
regard for Canadian law enforcement and are fully convinced of the
government of Canada's commitment to combating international scourge of
illicit drugs. I only smile because I'm often amused by how an erroneous
press report forces an erroneous press report to be read here in the United
States, which forces a dutiful reporter to ask me about an erroneous press
report, at which time I can declare it erroneous.
QUESTION: Can I follow up on that? Being on the list of majors is no
shame in itself; it's just a question of how the government deals with the
--
MR. RUBIN: There's no reason to expect they'll be on the majors.
QUESTION: Yes, but is this decision not to include them, is that taken
on the basis of US-Canadian relations, or is it based on --
MR. RUBIN: Objective criteria. Any decision for the drug issue is based
on objective criteria.
QUESTION: So are you saying it's not a major source of drugs to the
United States?
MR. RUBIN: It's based on the various factors that play into the decision of
who's on the majors, and then whether they're cooperating. I would be
delighted to provide you the rationales for each of the decisions in the
past, as to who goes on the majors list, and if they are on the majors list,
whether they're certified as cooperating or not cooperating. I don't have
that information in front of me, but I would be happy to provide it for
your extensive perusal.
QUESTION: North Korea: The North Korean
Secretary of the Workers' Party, -- Kim Yong Son - in an interview today
with CNN has indicated a willingness to defuse the crisis on the Korean
Peninsula. I'm just wondering if the words that he has spoken today now
publicly gibes with what the State Department has been hearing privately
with regards to indications that North Korea might test a missile later
this month.
MR. RUBIN: Let me say that we, obviously, have been engaged
in a number of intensive bilateral discussions with North Korea. We have
indicated on several occasions - most recently, Secretary Albright
indicated this in Singapore - that we look forward to a positive opportunity
to move forward on improved relations with North Korea. In other words, we
are prepared to seize an opportunity to improve relations. There is a
window of opportunity to improve relations. But now, we're aware of this
report,. We certainly hope that this statement indicates that North Korea
is prepared to seize the opportunity for improved relations with the United
States. But we will have to continue our bilateral discussions.
QUESTION: Does the State Department believe that these words are an
encouraging sign that North Korea may not test a missile? MR. RUBIN:
Well, let me say that we hope this statement does mean that. We do
certainly hope that the North Koreans choose the benefits that would
accrue to their people, their country and their relations with the United
States, from forgoing such testing and working with us through the missile
talks that we hope to schedule later this year. So it is certainly our
view that statements such as this offer that hope, but what the answer
will be is something I'm not prepared to speculate on at this time.
QUESTION: In the interest of
fairness, there was an article over the weekend in The New York Times that
credited you as negotiating a somehow faulty agreement with the KLA. It
didn't appear to give you an opportunity to comment. If you would care to
comment now?
MR. RUBIN: Wow. Let me say that those accounts continue to
be put in that newspaper without offering me any opportunity to comment,
and it's a matter of continuing frustration to those who believe in
fairness in the media. With respect to the specific claim, the report is
inaccurate on its face. I was sent to Kosovo on behalf of Secretary
Albright to try to assist certain British generals who were working on a
demilitarization agreement with the Kosovar Liberation Army. That
agreement was approved by NATO; all 19 members of NATO approved the
agreement that resulted from my work in Kosovo. So there was no American
agreement or British agreement. There was an agreement that NATO approved
in the North Atlantic Council and in the military committee of NATO. So
those officials and reporters who continue to write as if there were some
American agreement are seriously misinformed. Secondly, I would point out
that it's rather rare in the history of modern rebellions to have the
rebellious side agree to demilitarize in such a dramatic way so quickly
after such a conflict -- a process that has been proceeding largely,
according to KFOR, successfully. The fact that the agreement, which was an
undertaking by which the Kosovar Liberation Army indicated what its
aspirations were, and the international community signaled its willingness
to consider those aspirations, is what was in the undertaking. People are
tending to overstate, in their effort to point fingers at what the problems
here are. The problem is that we always expected there to be difficulties
in the aftermath of NATO's successful victory in this war by expelling the
Serbs and establishing security conditions in Kosovo, and dealing with a
situation where 95 percent of the population had been oppressed for ten
years and now wanted to regain what it had lost. So there are problems.
Kosovo is not Switzerland, and it's not likely to be Switzerland overnight.
But it is a far, far better place than it was when the people of Kosovo
were suffering at the hands of those who have been indicted for war crimes.
Maybe some of those people who comment, write about or make points about
this ought to bear in mind what Kosovo was like before.
QUESTION: Any comment on the conflict in Dagestan?
MR. RUBIN: Yes, on Dagestan, let me
say that the US Government continues to follow this situation very closely.
We continue to monitor the fighting. Russian troops continue to use air
strikes and heavy artillery in an effort to dislodge guerrillas. It is our
view that the action by armed groups from Chechnya against lawful authority
and innocent civilians are condemnable. We have also underscored the need
and importance for all concerned to act responsibly and to refrain from
indiscriminate or disproportionate use of force, which could harm
civilians. Let's just take a couple more, so we can take a short break and
turn to Tom Pickering, who probably can answer most of the questions from
the South American region.
QUESTION: A follow-up on Dagestan, please.
The Russian chief, Mr. Kvashnin, has said that Russia is vowing to
eliminate the rebels completely, not simply push them back from Dagestan.
Chechnya has declared a state of emergency, fearing Russian incursion.
There has been bombing by the Russians in Chechnya, I understand. Is there
a chance --
MR. RUBIN: Thank you for a situation update. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: OK, but is there the possibility in your mind, Jamie, that the
treaty between Russia and Chechnya could go by the boards here in this
fighting?
MR. RUBIN: Well, we remain concerned about the situation in
Dagestan and we remain very vigilant in watching it unfold, and trying to
be helpful where we can. Our views are quite simple: We oppose the action
by armed groups against lawful authority, and we urge all sides from taking
action that could involve indiscriminate or disproportionate use against
civilians.
QUESTION: Jamie, according to the published reports in
Pakistan and India and also reporting here in the US and elsewhere abroad
that a major Pakistan party had claimed that Nawaz Sharif is playing a
double game with the US, where at the same time he is promising President
Clinton he will get bin Laden arrested and at the same time, he has taken
close to $500,000 from bin Laden for elections. Why this double-crossing
or double game or double agent? Any comment on this?
MR. RUBIN: Well, I'm not a daily reader of those particular press
reports, but having had them brought to my attention, we will urge our
bureau to take a look at them and see whether we have any appropriate
responses.
QUESTION: And also, on your issued travel warning to Pakistan, are these
warnings against Americans or American diplomats in Pakistan comes from
the -- (inaudible) - from bin Laden?
MR. RUBIN: Right, I don't normally associate a specific
warning to specific groups. Let's do the last question over here.
QUESTION: On Mexico, do you have any comments regarding the attempted
assassination of the Mexican drug czar? Does Mexico have any cooperation
with the United States Government in this investigation?
MR. RUBIN: I think I'm not sure I have a comment on that, but during the
time when Tom Pickering is briefing you on Colombia and Venezuela, we'll
see if we can have something for you. Let's take a brief filing break and
then move to Tom Pickering.
(The briefing concluded at 1:00 P.M.) _
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