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U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #105, 00-10-26U.S. State Department: Daily Press Briefings Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>948 U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing INDEX THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2000 Briefer: PHILIP REEKER, DEPUTY SPOKESMAN DEPARTMENT U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING DPB #105 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2000, 1:30 P.M. (ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED) MR. REEKER: Welcome back to the State Department on this fine Thursday, October 26th. I just have two quick announcements. The first is that the Secretary and her party are due back in Washington at about 2:30 this afternoon. We will be able to confirm with the Press Office when they have actually arrived. And the second announcement is that we want to keep this quick today so we can all make the pizza line before 2 o'clock. With that, I will turn to Barry Schweid. QUESTION: On the first one, she is report to the President. Do you know if she'll do it today? MR. REEKER: I don't have a readout on her plans this afternoon or the President's schedule, but we'll try to keep you posted on that. QUESTION: On the Ivory Coast, there are calls now for elections. Yesterday you said it was something to consider, but the US did not at that point endorse new elections. Any change in the US view today? Is the situation -- MR. REEKER: Let's definitely look at the Ivory Coast and just run through the situation as we see it. We have been in very close touch, obviously, with our Embassy in Abidjan, and the situation remains very fluid with some violence in Abidjan and other parts of the country. Laurent Gbagbo, the apparent victor in the flawed election from October 22nd, addressed the nation yesterday as its new president, but he said at that time that he will not take office until the national election commission validates his victory. Now, I understand from some press reports that the election commission has declared him the winner, but we don't have full details or confirmation of that yet. There are some reports that the leader of the opposition, Mr. Quattara, had his property invaded this morning by a violent crowd, and that he had fled. Mr. Quattara has called for new, inclusive elections. He, as you will recall, had been declared ineligible to run as a candidate in the presidential elections. There are reports of serious clashes between supporters of Gbagbo and Quattara throughout the country, including attacks on mosques and churches. So we strongly urge all parties in Cote d'Ivoire to refrain from violence. As I said yesterday, it is important to work to restore calm immediately and cooperate in returning Cote d'Ivoire to democracy and the rule of law. While Mr. Gbagbo appears to have the support of General Doue and the country's security forces, it is still not clear who is exercising authority. As I said, it does remain very fluid there and we are calling upon all the parties to reconcile and return to democracy. They all have a fundamental responsibility to control their supporters and ensure that the violence doesn't spread, and we are urging them to speak out -- all the leaders to speak out and urge their supporters to forsake violence. As we said, the election on October 22nd was failed and fundamentally flawed from the outset due to the exclusion of major party candidates and other machinations leading up to the election. It is going to be very important for the voices of the disenfranchised Ivorians to be heard, and in that sense the holding of free, fair and inclusive elections will be needed to fully restore the Government of Cote d'Ivoire's legitimacy and bring democracy back to Cote d'Ivoire. So we want to see the restoration of democracy as soon as possible, and we are urging all the parties to cooperate toward that end. QUESTION: So you're calling for new elections, admittedly in a chaotic situation, but that, I guess, you consider an improvement what happened until now? You are endorsing it? The Europeans have called for -- the US is calling for new elections? MR. REEKER: I think -- exactly -- we need to see some restoration of democracy, clearly, and the parties are all going to have to work together, in an absence of violence, and work out the process. But it is important that the voices of the disenfranchised are heard, as I indicated, and the holding of free, fair and inclusive elections will be needed to get back to democracy. QUESTION: There have been rumors in Yemen that the US is going to draw down on the number of Embassy people that are there, and that the Ambassador may be called back to Washington. Could you clarify that, please? MR. REEKER: I am not aware of those rumors and I don't have any particular information on the Embassy making any steps to draw down. The Embassy is not closed. We can talk about other embassy closures if you want to go through that, but I don't have anything specific to our Embassy in Yemen. QUESTION: And one more question. Can you say whether, at the time of the explosion of the Cole in the harbor in Aden, whether the US Embassy in Sanaa was on a heightened state of alert? MR. REEKER: I think, as we have talked about previously, we had no specific information in advance of the attack on the Cole. At all of our embassies, particularly our embassies in the region, security personnel continually review and adjust the security posture. But I think as we have discussed before, certainly since the tragic bombings of the embassies in East Africa in August of 1998, we have been significantly ramped up in terms of our security posture around the world, and certainly in those areas where we are aware of threats. But again, there was no specific information in advance of the attack on the Cole, and our security personnel at all of our embassies, including our Embassy in Sanaa, continuously review and adjust the security posture accordingly. QUESTION: Can you talk a little bit about whether or not there are any other changes, like the ones that Betsy talked about, as far as closing down an embassy or drawing down personnel in that part of the world, due to these threats? MR. REEKER: Right. As I promised -- we always promise -- I tried to review completely today missions closed, and let me just run through what we have. Obviously, based on the situation in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, they are providing emergency services only at the Embassy, while our staff are clearly working, reporting to us on the situation there. Contrary to a reference made yesterday, our Consulate in Adana, Turkey, is not closed. Our Consulate in Krakow, Poland, did close today for a day, and in Vienna our Embassy is closed for a local holiday. In Jakarta, as we discussed earlier and announced, the Embassy is closed today and tomorrow, following yesterday's Indonesian holiday there. And shifting completely to another hemisphere, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Georgetown, Guinea, are both closed for local holidays. But to the information I was able to gather up to this moment, there are no embassies or missions, US missions, closed in the Middle East region at this time. QUESTION: Why Krakow? MR. REEKER: I don't have any details on that, Barry, just that they closed the Consulate today only. Today, Thursday, the Consulate in Krakow was closed. QUESTION: I want to go back on Jakarta, which I know was closed Wednesday because of a holiday, and I know you -- we've been told that it would be closed Thursday and Friday as well. But is the closure Thursday and Friday related -- would you tell me why it was also closed Thursday and Friday? MR. REEKER: As we announced I guess a couple days ago and in response to credible information of a threat to the Embassy compound, Ambassador Gelbard and the team out there at Embassy Jakarta decided to close the Embassy's public services for the remainder of the week following the Wednesday holiday, when obviously they would have been closed anyway. Operations of a public nature are suspended for today and tomorrow there, and a message to the American community, what we call a "warden message," was sent out informing local Americans of that development. QUESTION: Are you tying this threat to the Embassy compound to events in the Middle East, or is it something related to Indonesia specifically? MR. REEKER: No, I think if you look at the Worldwide Caution that we have had in place since October the 12th, that suggests that US Government facilities have and will continue to temporarily close or suspend public services or certain public services as necessary. And that is what the Embassy in Jakarta cited. They had some credible threats there to the Embassy compound. I am not making any particular ties to anything else, but that does fall under the Worldwide Caution, and as we said, there may be facilities that do determine to suspend certain operations or close. QUESTION: Earlier this week, when Doha was closed for three days and opened on Tuesday, you said it was open, despite the fact that public services were not taking place. But now that you say that Jakarta is closed, and it's just that public services aren't taking place, is there any difference between those two? MR. REEKER: Well, let me qualify it. They have closed the Embassy's public services. Embassy Jakarta is an open Embassy, but they determined to close the public services, so there are no public services. It gets into, I guess, a semantic difference on what's closed or open. For the purposes of the public, the Embassy is closed these days. There may be some of our officials, some of our diplomats, conducting work there. That is all determined by the Chief of Mission. QUESTION: How is that different from Doha on Tuesday, then, because you said that that was open but no public services? MR. REEKER: I think that's probably very similar, then, to that, and Doha at that point chose to suspend public services. It is just very difficult to try to splice each mission's specific determination of what they will or will not offer on a given day, as they adjust security posture or make judgments on how open they should be or what activities they will conduct. QUESTION: I was just trying to clarify for consistency's sake what we call open and what we call closed. MR. REEKER: I think, broadly, an Embassy is open that is functioning and exists in a place. We'll try to get our nomenclature more precise to refer to closures or suspension of certain public services. But that's why each day I'm happy to try to go through what is happening in different places. I mean, I referred, for instance, to Krakow being closed. Obviously, they haven't closed that post -- our Consulate General in Krakow, Poland -- but it was closed, as you might say, the "Open" sign was not on the door today. QUESTION: Staying in the region, is it true, as reported in Ha'aretz, that the United States is proposing Warren Christopher as its person on the fact-finding commission? MR. REEKER: As the President said yesterday, and I think we discussed at length, and according to the agreements reached at Sharm, the United States is working to develop with the parties -- that is, with Israel and the Palestinian Authority, in consultation with the United Nations Secretary General -- a fact-finding committee on the events of the recent crisis in the region, and how to prevent the recurrence of such events. So we are working actively to put this committee together. I know names have been suggested. There is a vetting procedure. When we have a committee or specific names for that committee to announce, we'll certainly let you know. But I don't have any names to confirm or not at this point. QUESTION: Back on Yemen for a minute. The report of a threat against the hotel where some of the FBI investigators have been staying -- is it still the case that the Government feels that the Yemeni authorities are cooperating as fully as they can in this investigation? MR. REEKER: I think the investigation -- and you may be able to get some more details from my colleagues at the Pentagon, who will be briefing shortly -- the investigation into the USS Cole explosion is continuing, and as you know, while it's under way, we are all not commenting on any particular reports or speculating on responsibility or details. We have had cooperation from the Yemenis. We have talked about that. We have had very good cooperation from Yemen. President Salih pledged to President Clinton and to Secretary Albright -- I think we discussed that in the past weeks -- and to other US officials that Yemen would offer all needed cooperation, and they have done that. So we expect the government to continue to abide by President Salih's pledge because, as we have said, Yemeni cooperation is critical to seeing this investigation through to its successful conclusion there. Anything more on -- then we can go to my friend from Europe. QUESTION: The Washington Post today, with an unusual article, attacks -- namely the Greek Minister of Defense, Apostolos Tsokhatzopoulos, characterizing him as a hardliner against the Greek-Turkish rapprochement, and praising in the meantime the Greek Foreign Minister Yeoryios Papandreou. Do you agree with this characterization of the hardliner, and could you please clarify your position? MR. REEKER: Let me just talk a little bit about some of the things that came up yesterday in terms of the NATO exercise, called Destined Glory. As I think we may have discussed, Greece announced October 22nd that it had canceled its participation in an exercise, Destined Glory 2000. That was a NATO exercise. They had previously temporarily grounded some of the participating aircraft earlier in the exercise. We think it is regrettable that Greece felt compelled to withdraw from the exercise. Overall, this was a successful exercise, including active participation by Greek units on Turkish soil. It was very much a good counterpart to the earlier exercise, Dynamic Mix, which took place earlier in the summer that involved Turkish troops on Greek soil, you will recall. I think NATO released a statement yesterday that had a similar assessment to that. This participation in NATO exercises is one of the issues of the Turkish-Greek dialogue bilaterally and under the NATO auspices that will work towards sort of resolving. I think NATO headquarters is a better place to discuss some of the specifics on that. The incident obviously shows, I think, the reasons that we strongly encourage both countries to continue the very fruitful rapprochement that they had taken over the past year. I think we saw some very important historical steps that were taken. I do want to note in terms of Greek and Turkish relations that yesterday both Prime Minister Simitis and Prime Minister Ecevit underscored the importance of bilateral dialogue when they met in Skopje for the Balkan leaders meeting. So I think that was a very important step. We believe very much that improved Greek-Turkish relations, as well as ongoing UN-led efforts to reach the comprehensive settlement for Cyprus, are strongly in the interest of all the parties, and we will continue to do all we can to support both processes. QUESTION: Based on your statement, you said that you felt regrettable because the Greek forces withdrew from the exercise. But the point, as you know as the US Government is, that the Turkish Government agrees in advance to follow the NATO standards as far as for Limnos Island and Ikaria Island, to be used as a part of the exercise. MR. REEKER: I would refer you to NATO for those details. QUESTION: But already you opened the subject. That's why I would like you to comment on the specific issue besides with regrettable you express as far as for the Greek position. MR. REEKER: I don't have anything further to say, Mr. Lambros. I did say that it is regrettable that Greece felt that they were compelled to withdraw from the exercise. I would refer you to the NATO statement for specifics on that, or NATO headquarters to talk about the dynamic. QUESTION: Can you comment on my previous questions about the characterization by Washington Post -- MR. REEKER: I have no comments on characterizations in newspaper articles. QUESTION: According to Washington Post, your Air Force General Joseph Ralston succeeded a political agreement of truce between Greece and Turkey for Greek planes not to fly over the Greek islands of Limnos and Ikaria. May we have your comment on this unusual truce? MR. REEKER: I would you to General Ralston's office, then. QUESTION: But this is a political agreement. It's not -- MR. REEKER: I would refer you to General Ralston's office for that. I don't have anything further to tell you. I think I made our points very clear. QUESTION: This truce agreement is a political one; it pertains to the Department of State and not to the Department of Defense? MR. REEKER: Mr. Lambros -- QUESTION: Yes. MR. REEKER: -- I have told you everything I can tell you on this situation. If you want more details, I would refer you to the Pentagon or the Joint Chiefs of Staff or General Ralston's office specifically, or to NATO if you want more details on that. I think I have said everything that I can say about that today, so why don't we move on. QUESTION: In the same article, Washington Post predicts another Greek-Turkish crisis, even in Cyprus, with the new Russian anti-aircraft missiles, TOR-M1, purchased by the Cypriot Government. What is your position on this? Since in the previous S-300 missile crisis, the US Government started a campaign not to be deployed in the soil of the Republic of Cyprus. MR. REEKER: I think I made our points about Cyprus very well, too, that we felt that improved Greek-Turkish relations, as well as the UN-led efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement on Cyprus, are strongly in the interests of all the parties and that the United States will continue to do all that we can to support that process. QUESTION: What about the missiles? MR. REEKER: I don't have anything for you on that. QUESTION: And the last one, the Prime Minister-to-be, Yeoryios Papandreou, will be tomorrow here in Washington, D.C., for talks with US officials on an open agenda, as I was told. Could you please name those US officials? Who is going to talk? MR. REEKER: I believe it is the Foreign Minister of Greece is Yeoryios Papandreou, not the Prime Minister, and I don't have any -- QUESTION: But in the Greek and the Turkish (inaudible) as the Prime Minister-to-be, so it's the Foreign Minister. But, anyway, may we have the -- could you please name those -- MR. REEKER: I do not have any details. I would be happy to look into that for you to find out what the schedule is. I don't have any schedule. You might check with the European Bureau. QUESTION: On your "regrettable" remark, do you happen to know if the State Department's view is that (a) it's regrettable the two sides couldn't agree, or are you faulting Greece for withdrawing irrespective of its reasons? MR. REEKER: I think my remark is fairly straightforward that we find it regrettable -- QUESTION: Is the situation regrettable or is Greece's decision -- ? MR. REEKER: -- that Greece felt compelled to do that. They obviously felt compelled to do that, and we feel that that's regrettable. They withdrew from an exercise that was successful overall, and I think I can just refer you back to everything I said already in terms of our feelings about the Greece-Turkey rapprochement. There were important steps there and we think the dialogue is very important to continue. QUESTION: I take that as the State Department regrets that the situation was such that Greece withdrew, not that you regret Greece's decision. MR. REEKER: I would take it as exactly what we said: It is regrettable that Greece felt compelled to withdraw from the exercise. QUESTION: They could felt compelled for good reason, or bad reason. MR. REEKER: That's for them to make a determination, and for you to decide. QUESTION: Change of subject? MR. REEKER: Change of subject? Okay, please. QUESTION: North Korea today is quite critical of the US and South Korean joint exercise, and one official goes so far as to say that it is as good as spoiling the good atmosphere created with Secretary Albright's visit. Any comments? MR. REEKER: I think, first, to point out that the ongoing exercises in South Korea are part of regularly scheduled annual exercises and have no connection, obviously, with the Secretary's trip to North Korea. They are intended to maintain the readiness of our forces in South Korea. I would have to refer you to the Pentagon for specifics on that exercise. Certainly the exercise should have absolutely no impact on the progress made during the Secretary's trip and the spirit of working together that we are pursuing with North Korea. QUESTION: But North Korea feels that it does. That's still going to be a problem. MR. REEKER: I've seen some statements. I have nothing to indicate that those statements reflect any change in the statements that they made with the Secretary when she was there with the Chairman. And obviously she is on her way back. She had six hours of serious and constructive talks with Chairman Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang. She had in-depth discussions concerning missile restraint, security issues and diplomatic relations. She met with Vice Marshall Jo, who had previously been here in Washington, and discussed a range of issues from our nonproliferation concerns to terrorism and global issues. I think, as you saw from the briefings that were held, the press conferences that were held, there was important progress made in terms of discussing this range of issues. The Secretary was then in Seoul where she met with President Kim Dae Jung and briefed the South Korean and Japanese Foreign Ministers on her productive trip to North Korea and the productive discussion she had there in Seoul. So I don't think we see these exercises as having any impact on her trip. QUESTION: I didn't say the US side felt so, but if the North Korean Foreign Minister is making statements like that, it indicates the obvious -- there is still a long way to go. MR. REEKER: Well, I just don't have anything to add for you on that. The Secretary is going to return. She has talked about her trip and the talks that she had there. These exercises in question are long-planned annual exercises, which means that they happen every year, and were certainly something that everybody was aware of. QUESTION: New subject? Has the United States sought reassurances from Saudi Arabia regarding oil exports in the light of Iraq's consideration of suspending exports if they don't start paying for them in Euros? MR. REEKER: I'm not sure if specific discussions with the Saudis in the light of that -- that threat or comments from the Iraqis. It is an issue that is still under discussion. We are reviewing some information provided by the UN Secretariat, and I believe there is a UN staff report from the Secretariat that is expected to be issued shortly. This was a report the Secretariat made to the Sanctions Committee. And the Sanctions Committee is scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss this Euro proposal in detail, and we are obviously still studying that issue. So I just don't have any further details. I think we have discussed before our continuing dialogue with countries like Saudi Arabia about oil. QUESTION: Is there a date and a place for the next round of missile talks? MR. REEKER: There is not yet, and perhaps waiting for the Secretary and her party to come back. I don't think we would have something this afternoon, but we can certainly check for tomorrow. QUESTION: Phil, can I ask you maybe a somewhat side question? MR. REEKER: Sure. QUESTION: Leon Fuerth, who works for Vice President Gore, was the speaker at the Open Forum. Do you know if there are any plans to have someone who works for Governor Bush speak to the Open Forum before the election? MR. REEKER: I would have to refer you to the Open Forum itself. QUESTION: Is it (inaudible) - MR. REEKER: Yes, it exists to explore a variety of views across the political spectrum, certainly. They have a speakers program, which has featured experts and opinion leaders in government, academia, private industry, and certainly from the NGO community that come to speak at their events. I know in the past they have had Senator Lugar, Lee Hamilton; members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff come to mind. So I just have to refer you to them for their schedule of speakers. QUESTION: A question on Peru? MR. REEKER: Yes. QUESTION: Congress approved a bill conditioning US aid to Peru yesterday that seems to condition aid to democratic events. How does the Administration like that plan, and is there any contrast available with the OAS, which seems to have a different view? MR. REEKER: I haven't had a chance to review specifically all the details of the aid bill, but let me say in terms of Peru, there was a significant breakthrough there yesterday in the talks that are sponsored by the OAS. The Government of Peru agreed to move forward on new elections and reforms to electoral institutions, and to take up discussion on the proposed amnesty for government officials at a later date. So this has paved the way now for elections to take place April 8th of next year, and that will be both presidential and congressional elections. And I believe the Peruvian congress will have a final vote on November 2nd to consider the package of constitutional amendments necessary to move forward and enable those early elections to be formally called. So we are commending all the parties to the talks for their cooperation and congratulate them on this important step towards democratic reform. As we discussed yesterday, OAS Secretary General Gaviria has been in Lima. He met yesterday with Peruvian Government officials, with the political opposition, with the US Ambassador, our Ambassador in Lima, John Hamilton, and he chaired part of the dialogue later that day. So his visit, I think, was extremely helpful in reinvigorating that process and reinforcing certainly the hemisphere's support for democracy in Peru, which is definitely reflected in what we have been talking about for a number of months now. So I think we will have to see how that evolves, but there is definitely good news there in terms of moving forward on these reforms and the ability for them to have an election next April. QUESTION: As far as the congressional -- the bill that passed yesterday, you haven't looked at it closely enough to say whether -- MR. REEKER: I haven't looked at that closely in terms of reading the fine print on any aid to Peru, but I will be happy to check into that. I'm sure we'll be having sort of more detailed information on the bill after everybody gets through reading the whole thing. QUESTION: What would the best outcome be for Mr. Montesinos -- for him to be found in Peru, or to be found somewhere else? MR. REEKER: Well, obviously, that's a judgment for perhaps the Peruvian authorities to make. President Fujimori, as you know, is personally leading a special operations team to locate the ex-intelligence advisor, Mr. Montesinos, and I understand that yesterday they searched several locations and have said they are going to continue operations until they find him. President Fujimori has indicated publicly that Montesinos would be turned over to judicial authorities once he is located, but I haven't seen any further comments on that. I realize also that President Fujimori has ordered the reassignment and detention of a number of senior and mid-level military officers who may have been considered supportive of Mr. Montesinos. So he is moving decisively -- that is, President Fujimori is moving decisively to end the political crisis in Peru, going in hand with the dialogue that we just discussed in terms of moving the reform process ahead. I think President Fujimori is demonstrating that Mr. Montesinos is no longer -- enjoys any official status there or influence within the government, and this has certainly gone a long way to easing the political tensions in Peru that had been created by the return of Mr. Montesinos. And obviously easing the tensions increases even further the progress towards new elections and the reforms that we and all of our friends in the hemisphere have been calling for. So we believe that President Fujimori has the support of the Peruvian military command, and they have accompanied him on a number of visits to military bases in past days. And we will continue to watch that situation closely. QUESTION: Was confining soldiers to the barracks a demonstration of how much they support him? MR. REEKER: We did see the reports that the military had been ordered confined to barracks, but I will note also that some military units were involved in the special operations with President Fujimori to try to locate Mr. Montesinos. So our feeling is that President Fujimori has the support of the Peruvian military command, and he is moving decisively to ease the tensions and defuse the political crisis in Peru. QUESTION: On legislation, does the State Department have any position on the Israeli Solidarity Act passed yesterday by the House, and do you think that a motion that was so overwhelmingly passed will affect the State Department and the Administration's role as an honest broker? MR. REEKER: I think that the resolution that was passed by the House obviously reflects the Sense of Congress, and therefore sort of speaks for itself. I guess, for the record, I can repeat our view, which is that the focus should be on calming tensions in the Middle East, in the region, and bringing an end to the violence and getting the parties back to the negotiating table. I don't think we find that resolution helpful in that. The Sharm el Sheikh agreements aimed to do just that, to calm tensions, to end the violence, and create a situation so that the parties can get back to the negotiating table. QUESTION: I don't know if you're going to have anything on this, but -- MR. REEKER: Give it a shot. QUESTION: I'll give it a shot. On the trial of two Salvadoran generals being sued -- the civil trial being sued in court -- on the execution of four churchwomen in 1980? Are you familiar with the case? MR. REEKER: We had something on that going back awhile. It may have been that on an ongoing court trial we declined to comment, but I'll have to go back and look into that for you. We'll check and then also see if there is an update. QUESTION: I'm just curious as to why, given the allegations that they did execute these churchwomen, why they were allowed in the US and given visas, and in one case I think one of them was given political asylum? MR. REEKER: Let's look into that. I just don't have any details at hand here. QUESTION: Okay. Thank you. QUESTION: This Administration has been not too happy with Mr. Mugabe recently, so I wondered if you thought it would be a good idea, as the opposition seems to be suggesting, to impeach him. MR. REEKER: As you indicated, yesterday the opposition, Movement for Democratic Change, in Zimbabwe, tabled a motion in parliament regarding the possible impeachment of President Mugabe. Obviously, it is up to the people of Zimbabwe to decide who serves as their president. For our part, we urge all parties in Zimbabwe to respect democratic principles and the provisions of the Zimbabwean constitution. So that is something that they will have to deal with through their structures. QUESTION: Would you say then that if he were impeached, that there would be a greater chance of Zimbabwe respecting democratic principles? MR. REEKER: That's sort of an "if" question. As I said, it is up to the people of Zimbabwe to decide who serves as their president. We certainly will continue to advocate for democracy and democratic principles and adherence to their constitution there. QUESTION: I was told by senior US officials, on condition of anonymity, that in the framework of another resolution to the Greek-Turkish differences, from the Aegean to Cyprus on a package deal process, the US Government is in favor now to give to the Ecumenical Patriarch Head in Constantinople Major-Minor a kind of Vatican status, as a tip to Mr. Papandreou's services on the Greek rapprochement. Do you know what this is all about? MR. REEKER: I don't know what it's all about, I don't know said-anonymous official, and I just don't have anything for you on that. QUESTION: Could you please take this question to check with -- MR. REEKER: I don't think I would because generally we don't take questions on the record that were attributed to anonymous sources. So -- QUESTION: As an information? MR. REEKER: Sorry? QUESTION: As an information? I have been told, and it is something which is from a reliable source. I would like to know if it is true, yes or not? MR. REEKER: I will be happy to look into it for you, but I can't guarantee I'll have anything for you. QUESTION: We haven't heard very much about Mr. Kostunica and how he is doing at establishing his government. Is there any problem with Milosevic and his people getting --wanting to share power or getting in the way of the new government? What has been going on? MR. REEKER: Okay, why don't we just run through what I've got. I don't really want to try to stand here and recite all of the voluminous press reporting that there has been on developments in Yugoslavia. As you may have seen, and the President released a statement yesterday welcoming Yugoslavia's admittance to the Stability Pact. As I said, the White House released a statement on that last night. We would be happy to get you copies of that, if you'd like. But the President applauded the decision by members of the Stability Pact to welcome the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a new member, noting that last month the people of Yugoslavia had spoken clearly in support of democratic change and that this response from the international community is just as clear. I think President Kostunica has been, as you have seen, no doubt, from press reports, and we discussed it a bit yesterday, he has been in Skopje, Macedonia, where he met with regional leaders. I think that is going to be very important for consolidating the democracy in Serbia -- working with his neighbors. We very much hope that he will be able to establish cordial and cooperative relations with all his neighbors and cooperate with international legal norms. His presence and his statements in Skopje, I think, show that he is on that path. Let me mention just a little about -- since we did talk about the aid package in terms of assistance that was approved in the Foreign Operations Bill by Congress yesterday. I did look into the part on Serbia on some of our support for that region, which demonstrates strong US support for the continuing stability and development in Southeast Europe, and consolidating the process that all the countries in that region have made in recent years. This of course complements substantial aid -- in fact, the lion's share of assistance from the European Union and other donors. They have really provided the bulk of assistance to the region, and we expect that to continue. This package -- our assistance package includes substantial programs for regional development and for supporting the Stability Pact. We certainly especially welcome congressional approval of funds for Serbia, which we believe will significantly contribute to the ongoing development of democracy there and support the consolidation of the democratic gains there. There are some conditions that Congress has attached to the aid package. They have provided a five-month waiting period before those conditions take effect, and that will allow for the continuing consolidation of the new democratic government under President Kostunica in Belgrade, and will allow us, as I said, to support the changes that are taking place there. So we are going to continue to work very closely with Congress on this. Obviously the Stability Pact and the neighboring countries play a big role, as well as our European allies, who are also supporting this in terms of keeping the positive changes going in Belgrade. QUESTION: Any word specifically about the disposition of Milosevic, and has he moved out and said, you know, let's implement the election? Or is he still even in Serbia? MR. REEKER: Bill, I think we've got to get you some of the transcripts of discussions we have had in the past couple of weeks. I think Milosevic acknowledged that President Kostunica is in fact the president of Yugoslavia quite a while ago. I am not aware of his specific whereabouts, but my understanding is that he is still in Belgrade. QUESTION: Thank you. (The briefing was concluded at 2:10 P.M.) [end of document] This is an for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. government links does not imply endorsement of contents.
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