U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing, 01-04-17

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From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>

Richard Boucher, Spokesman

Washington, DC

April 17, 2001

INDEX:

STATEMENT
1         From Secretary Powell on the Situation in the Middle East
MIDDLE EAST
1-2,4,7   US Current Activity, Role, and Participation in Security Talks
2-3       Israeli Withdrawal From Gaza
2         Security Meeting at Martin Indyk’s Home
2,4       Ned Walker Trip / Objectives
3-4       US Facilitation in Bilateral Security Dialogue
4-5       Egyptian-Jordanian Plan / Cooperation
6         Forewarning of Attack on Gaza
CHINA
6         Admission of Dissident Zhang Hongbao
8-9       April 18 Meeting with China / Return of EP-3
9-10      Foreign Support for Human Rights Resolution
BENIN
10-11     Nigerian Slave Ship Situation
11        US Anti-Trafficking Efforts
CHILE
11-12     Free Trade Area of the Americas
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
12        Secretary Powell’s Meeting with Secretary General Gaviria of OAS
HAITI
13        Participation in the Summit of the Americas
TURKEY
13        Economic Situation / US Assistance/Support
SRI LANKA
14        Injured US Journalist

MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. If I can, I would like to start off by reading a statement from the Secretary of State on the situation in the Middle East, and then I would be glad to take your questions about that or about any other topics you're interested in.

"The United States is deeply concerned about the events of the last four days in the Middle East, including the Hezbollah attack on Israeli forces at Sheba'a Farms, the Israeli retaliatory attack directed at Syrian positions in Lebanon, the ongoing Palestinian mortar attacks into Israel, and last night's Israeli retaliation into Gaza. The situation is threatening to escalate further, posing a risk of broader conflict. We have called upon all sides to exercise maximum restraint, to reduce tensions, and to take steps to end the violence immediately.

"The hostilities last night in Gaza were precipitated by the provocative Palestinian mortar attacks on Israel. The Israeli response was excessive and disproportionate. We call upon both sides to respect the agreements that they've signed. For the Palestinians, this includes the implementation of their commitment to renounce terrorism and violence, to exercise control over all elements of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, and to discipline violators. For the Israelis, this includes respecting their commitment to withdraw from Gaza according to the terms of the agreement signed by Israel and the Palestinians. There can be no military solution to this conflict. We continue to strongly believe the resumption of bilateral security cooperation is essential to reduce and eventually to end the violence. We are continuing to work with the parties so that they can resume as soon as possible those security discussions that they began two weeks ago.

"The United States remains prepared to assist the parties in taking steps to reduce the violence, seeking ways to restore trust and confidence, and to assist them in resolving their differences through negotiation."

I would be glad to take your questions on this or any other topics.

QUESTION: Two fairly obvious things. Any more phone calls? And "assist the parties." Does that mean the US is inviting itself or is offering itself to be a participant in the security talks?

MR. BOUCHER: I think we're offering to facilitate, as we have in the past. We are encouraging the parties to engage each other bilaterally and offering to do whatever we can to facilitate those talks.

In terms of US activity, our senior diplomats in Beirut, in Damascus, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, have been meeting at very high levels to encourage maximum restraint and to encourage the parties to restrain from further actions that could exacerbate the situation.

QUESTION: Richard, at this point, would you say that any of the parties are exercising the restraint that you would like to see them use?

MR. BOUCHER: I think the facts, as outlined in our statement, would indicate the contrary.

QUESTION: Richard, are you specifically asking the Israelis to withdraw from Gaza?

MR. BOUCHER: We are asking them to respect their commitment to withdraw from Gaza according to terms of agreements that they have signed with the Palestinians.

QUESTION: Was the security meeting at Martin Indyk's home canceled last night?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not aware of a security meeting last night at Martin Indyk's home.

QUESTION: Was there something scheduled for Monday night between -- a bilateral with US hosting or facilitating, or was there --

MR. BOUCHER: I will have to double-check. I'm not aware of a meeting that was canceled.

QUESTION: Will Ned Walker be adding Israel or Lebanon to his trip?

MR. BOUCHER: At this point, there is no change in the itinerary, but I think we talked about the possibility. It's just not decided.

QUESTION: Did he leave last night as planned?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

QUESTION: Richard, you're asking them to respect their commitment to withdraw according to the agreements. Are you saying that Israel is now in violation of agreements that it has signed?

MR. BOUCHER: I am saying that they should fully withdraw, that they should respect their previous commitments to withdraw.

QUESTION: But that means that they are obviously now --

MR. BOUCHER: I'm saying what I'm saying. You can say what --

QUESTION: Richard, they have said that they might stay there for weeks or even months, according to one general. Are you asking them to make an immediate withdrawal? Because they say it is only a temporary measure. Are you saying that even a temporary reoccupation is unacceptable to the United States?

MR. BOUCHER: I think we have always said that all these steps need to be taken as soon as possible, that the parties need to act in order to reduce the level of violence. I have outlined today for you a series of steps that the different parties should be taking and we think should take immediately.

QUESTION: Is the Secretary's position, do you know, that the Israel's withdrawal cannot be conditioned on Palestinian activity? Is it --

MR. BOUCHER: As I have said, we have always maintained that there are a series of steps that we felt the parties should be taking to reduce the violence and to get back on a path of calm and order, and today I am expanding on that. I am describing some other steps, given the statements, given the events over the last few days, but our position has always been that the parties should be taking reciprocal and parallel steps, as you know.

QUESTION: Right.

MR. BOUCHER: And to that regard, I would say that the need to respect agreements that have been made and to withdraw from Gaza is one of the steps we would expect to see as soon as possible.

QUESTION: Apparently, the Israeli Government considers Oslo is dead. Do you consider Oslo is dead? If you are offering to intervene, on what basis? Per Oslo, or --

MR. BOUCHER: First of all, I would suggest that you go and check the position of the Israeli Government. But our position is that they should respect agreements that they have signed with the Palestinians.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) the direction of the agreement?

MR. BOUCHER: Our position is that they should respect agreements that they have signed with the Palestinians.

QUESTION: Richard, you said that the United States was willing to facilitate renewed security cooperation talks. Have you gone any further than that? Are you actually trying to arrange any such talks at the moment? Have there been any proposals put out there for a meeting?

MR. BOUCHER: The way I would put it is that we have been encouraging both sides to have this bilateral security dialogue. We have made quite clear to them repeatedly that we are prepared to do whatever we can to facilitate that dialogue. So we are actively working with them to try to see that dialogue resume. But in terms of specific US proposals, I don't really have anything for you.

QUESTION: Can I ask a very technical question? Is that statement out on paper right now, or is it just -- is it being photocopied as we speak?

MR. REEKER: Probably, as you just said.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: New subject?

MR. BOUCHER: Probably, as you just said. Either/or.

QUESTION: Is Mr. Walker concerned at all that this may complicate his effort to gain agreement for a new policy or for a new approach to Iraq; for example, in Syria and some of the stops?

MR. BOUCHER: I would say that those are sort of two things. One, we are aware that different issues play throughout the region in different ways, and therefore there is some relationship between them. We don't see a direct linkage. Adapting, modifying, designing the right policy towards Iraq to keep Iraq from threatening its neighbors is an issue that is of great importance to the countries of the region. They are the ones that are threatened. And you know avoiding harm to Iraqi people is an issue that we know is of concern to them as well. So I don't see why it necessarily would hamper his efforts out there.

Clearly, during the course of his visit, this is going to be another subject of discussion, particularly in places like Damascus which are directly involved, but I don't see why the one would hamper the other.

QUESTION: With the exception of some of these strong statements from this podium and other US officials, what kinds of steps or what kinds of leverage is the US taking at this point to see that both sides honor their agreements?

MR. BOUCHER: As I would say, we have had our diplomats go in on behalf of the Secretary to make clear our views of the situation. The Secretary is following the events closely and he remains fully engaged regarding these events in the region. He has in the past made phone calls. I don't know if he will make any on this subject today or tomorrow, but we'll see. But we have our activity at a senior diplomatic level with high levels of government in all the capitals affected, with all the people affected and the parties involved. So we'll continue to do that, continue to press the parties to take the actions that are necessary to restore calm and hopefully to get back on a more productive path.

QUESTION: Richard, you mentioned yesterday the Egyptian-Jordanian plan. Do you have any comment on that? Is the United States working together with Egypt and Jordan along the same lines? And does the United States think it's realistic to expect security cooperation talks to resume seriously and be productive when the Israelis are not offering any kind of political -- any kind of -- any negotiations on a political outcome?

MR. BOUCHER: We think, first and foremost, that both parties and the people of both the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the people, the Israelis and Palestinians who live there, have an enormous and a very significant interest in security and in peace. None of them want to have to live their lives this way. All of them want to be able to go to the market without fear and go to school without fear and carry on a normal life. And that has been our goal all along is to restore a sense of normal life for people, including the security situation, including steps to ease the economic situation and restore a sense of a bit of trust and confidence between the sides so that they could get on with the political process.

So I think if you look at what the United States has been doing, our approach to this all along has been based on that premise that both Palestinians and Israelis deserve a sense of normal life and that they have as strong an interest in restoring that themselves as anybody from outside should.

QUESTION: And the Egyptian-Jordanian --

MR. BOUCHER: The Egyptian-Jordanian ideas -- we have certainly welcomed the role, the constructive role in the region, that Jordan and Egypt have played. They have been tireless advocates for peace in the region. We welcome their ongoing efforts to help the parties halt the violence, restore trust and confidence, and create environments for peace.

I am not going to get into any specific issues. I know when the Secretary talked with Prime Minister Sharon this weekend, they talked about the situation in the region. They didn't discuss the Egyptian-Jordanian peace plan.

QUESTION: Can you at least characterize how you feel about this plan? Do you think that this -- without going into what the measures are?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I don’t want to try to focus on any particular plan, document, proposal or ideas. I think at this stage our emphasis has been on restoring a sense of order and security and normality to the region, and then we will get on to the political process when that basis is established.

QUESTION: Richard, one of the initial aspects of the Egyptian-Jordanian plan is to return to the verbal understandings reached at Sharm el Sheikh. Is that something the United States would endorse at least?

MR. BOUCHER: Once again, if I'm not going to make a comment about the whole plan, I'm not going to start picking it apart in little pieces. Certainly we have encouraged the parties to respect agreements that they have made with each other. That has been quite clearly our position all along. I will stick to that now.

QUESTION: I'm just curious as to why the Secretary didn't come down here and read his statement himself, and why you are doing it? Is this a kind of a graduated kind of thing, so if it gets worse, maybe we will see the Secretary himself come down here and read it? Was there a scheduling problem?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, I mean, he is busy. I actually forgot -- I never really considered the question. We never discussed whether he should do it or I should do it.

QUESTION: Because sometimes things are done --

MR. BOUCHER: Sometimes we do it that way. Most of the time we do it this way.

QUESTION: No, no, no. I mean, sometimes the decisions are made on this kind of thing because of the impression --

MR. BOUCHER: This is not done on purpose. We just sort of did it this way. I'll do it with malice aforethought next time.

QUESTION: Can I ask you a technical question? I think yesterday it was said that Israel did not notify the United States before retaliating by attacking the Syrian-manned radar station. In this case, did Israel -- can you tell us whether Israel advised the US what it was going to do on Gaza as a retaliation?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not aware of any prior advice. As a matter of fact, I think you will remember this was starting in some ways, even as we were talking here yesterday, and I was uninformed on the subject at the moment.

QUESTION: Are you aware of this Chinese dissident, Zhang Hongbao, coming to the United States from Guam? Apparently attorneys in L.A. are saying that he has now been admitted to the continental US after escaping China on trumped-up charges. Apparently he was part of the Falun Gong leadership. His name is Zhang Hongbao.

MR. BOUCHER: I think we have talked about this in the past, we have seen reports of this in the past. I will have to get an update of it for you.

QUESTION: We've seen reports of him, you mean?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

QUESTION: He is apparently coming to Washington.

MR. BOUCHER: I will have to check and see if there is any update. I don't have any new news on it.

QUESTION: Just another question. Besides trying to manage this crisis unsuccessfully -- back on the Middle East, of course -- does the United States have any specific plan --

MR. BOUCHER: Of course.

QUESTION: I mean, you've been trying to do this for a long time with no results. Are you going to try something else, another visit, another invitation?

MR. BOUCHER: I would go back to sort of the fundamental premise of all this. The parties need to make peace with each other. The leaders need to make decisions for each other. The parties need to reestablish trust and confidence for each other. The parties need to live together in a place where they live. And so in the end, the role of the United States or any other outside party is going to be to try to help them along the path, try to encourage them along the path, try to offer assistance along that path.

I would say the United States has been very heavily engaged. The President has had a number of meetings on this subject. The Secretary has been in regular touch with the people in the region, either by telephone or through his first trip there. Our diplomats have been very active. Our ambassadors in the region, our chargés, our Consulate General in Jerusalem, all have been very, very active in working with the parties to try to encourage them to take this path, to take the path of peace, to take the path of restoring a sense of confidence.

But in the end, it depends on the parties. The parties have to make the decisions. And we have been quite specific all along on the kinds of decisions we felt the parties should be making and the kinds of things we felt they should do to start along that path with each other.

QUESTION: When your ambassadors and whoever else are going around there, are they getting a response back from the people that they are meeting that they are interested in pursuing peace, that they are trying to counsel maximum restraint, or are they getting the message that, no, this isn't working and --

MR. BOUCHER: I haven't seen any set of cables responding back to the latest series of discussions that would have been held overnight or this morning.

I would say, in general, we hear a commitment to peace. In general, we hear explanations of why I did this because he did that. But in the end, what we are looking for is not the responses, the verbal responses we get; we are looking for the kind of actions that are necessary to really stop the violence. And those are things I think that I have stated quite clearly.

QUESTION: Well, do you believe that they actually are being honest when they say they have a commitment to peace? I mean, it certainly doesn't look that way at this point, does it?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to expand this beyond where I have gone so far.

QUESTION: Okay. What do you think about a Chinese preview tomorrow that says they are not ready to discuss the return of the plane, which is obviously high on the US agenda?

MR. BOUCHER: I would say that we are going there to discuss the issues that were outlined in Ambassador Prueher's letter to Foreign Minister Tang. Those issues were listed quite clearly, and that is what will be on our agenda.

At the same time, I think we have made quite clear we are also looking for an indication of Chinese seriousness in addressing these issues of the Chinese intentions to work in this relationship, to address this relationship in a serious and productive manner. So we will see what they are prepared to address, and draw I think our own conclusions about how they intend to proceed with this relationship.

QUESTION: Is it unacceptable to the United States that they would not discuss this at tomorrow's meeting?

MR. BOUCHER: I think we have an understanding to discuss the issues that were in Ambassador Prueher's letter, and I will leave it at that.

QUESTION: But have they agreed to that, or is that just what we are going there with one-sided expectations about?

MR. BOUCHER: As you know, that letter was discussed in great detail with the Chinese, and understandings were reached about it, and so those are the topics for discussion.

QUESTION: So because they followed through on their verbal agreement with the Ambassador to release the crew, you are expecting them to follow through on their verbal agreement to discuss everything that is in the letter, yes?

MR. BOUCHER: We would expect to discuss the issues in the letter. I mean, if there is any question about it, we want our airplane back, and we are going to make that point, and we would expect to get a response.

QUESTION: The word "commitment" has been in the air in the last half-hour or so. Do you have a commitment -- isn't the letter a commitment from the Chinese to discuss a plan to return the airplane? I mean, you would like them to, but haven't they promised to?

MR. BOUCHER: The letter itself is a letter from the United States.

QUESTION: But they accepted it?

MR. BOUCHER: But the Chinese accepted it, and there are understandings with the Chinese about how this should proceed, and these understandings were discussed in considerable detail over a considerable period of time, as you know.

QUESTION: Have you discovered what the venue is for --

MR. BOUCHER: No, I can't confirm an exact venue or a startup time in Beijing. We expect the meetings to start tomorrow morning, but I don't know the exact location yet.

QUESTION: Is that something that you would be wiling to say, or is it something that you are trying to keep secret? I mean, it's not going to be secret at all once the --

MR. BOUCHER: Oh, I doubt if it will be secret very long.

QUESTION: Exactly, so --

MR. BOUCHER: So if we have a confirmed venue, I'll try to tell you. I'm not sure I will until it happens.

QUESTION: Are you still saying maybe a few days, or what?

MR. BOUCHER: We expect it to go a day or two. That's a little more precise than a few days.

QUESTION: You were asked yesterday about President Chavez's decision to vote against the US resolution condemning China for its violation of human rights and so forth, but you did not give any concrete answer to that. I wonder, was that an evasion or something that you wish to comment on?

And in that same regard, are there other Latin American nations that have been -- that you've been working with? You referred to Powell's phone calls to several African nations, and someone said that the EU had declined to co- sponsor the resolution. Where does this thing stand, really?

MR. BOUCHER: We're working actively. We're working actively in Geneva with the EU and with others who might sponsor the resolution on Cuba, who might work with us on that. We are working actively with other governments on the China resolution, Iran resolutions and other things that are up for a vote in coming days in Geneva.

We have also been making a lot of phone calls. The Secretary has made a few phone calls. The Deputy Secretary has made some. The Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, have been making phone calls. Messages have been delivered on behalf of the Secretary and others to try to gain support for these resolutions.

As far as the position of any particular government, I think I would only say that any government that actually cares about human rights should vote with us on the Cuba resolution.

QUESTION: Do you know who else besides the leaders of DR Congo and Mauritius have received a personal lobbying effort from the Secretary?

MR. BOUCHER: At this point, I think I'll just leave it at the ones that we've mentioned so far. There have been written messages, there have been oral messages by ambassadors, there have been phone calls, and I don't want to try to differentiate between different countries in the world. Obviously all these votes are important to us. We are working each of them in the way we can.

And as you know, over a period of weeks now the Secretary has been raising these issues in his meetings. He talked with the Europeans during their visit about some of these resolutions. He has talked to individual countries that are represented on the committee. He has talked about it with countries during his travels. So many people have heard from the Secretary in the past month or so, or even longer, and they may not be getting a phone call this weekend. So I don't want to try to differentiate. He has been working very actively on this.

QUESTION: But are you pretty sure you've been in touch with someone -- the Secretary -- not with all 52 other members on the Human Rights Commission? Or are there some people you've just given up hope on?

(Laughter.)

MR. BOUCHER: And could I provide you a list?

QUESTION: Yes, exactly.

MR. BOUCHER: I think if you count the work that our mission in Geneva is doing and the work that our embassies are doing, I would say that we have been in touch with everybody on the committee.

QUESTION: New subject? Can you tell us what you have on this "slave ship"?

MR. BOUCHER: A bit of information that probably amounts to not much more than you all have. The Nigerian-flagged vessel "Etireno," which was believed to be carrying a number of trafficked children destined to be sold as domestic servants or field hands, arrived early on Tuesday morning, April 17th, in Benin's main port of Cotonou.

Upon docking, the ship was met by Beninese authorities, by UN officials, by Benin Red Cross, and by the US Ambassador to Benin, Pamela Bridgewater. I think it was about 1:00 a.m. local time when the ship docked.

They were able to board the ship. Our Ambassador was with them, joined the other officials in boarding the ship, and the various officials of the UN agencies who care for children, who know how to look for these signs, who care for trafficked people, went on board as well. And there were really -- there doesn't appear to have been any unaccompanied children on board the ship, and none of the passengers appeared to need medical or other attention.

It is really not clear at this point in time why the children that had been reported to be on board were not there. There were at least 23 children on board the ship, but all of them were accompanied. We are urging the Government of Benin, in close cooperation with its neighbors and with the international organizations, to fully investigate this case and to help determine what exactly has occurred.

I would point out once again, the United States condemns trafficking in all its forms, and we are very active in this region, as well as around the world, in trying to deal with this very serious problem of trafficking in West Africa. We have promoted efforts on child labor. We have promoted efforts to eliminate child labor and child trafficking through technical assistance programs. We have tried to help countries identify and monitor trafficking activity. We were signatories to UN protocol on trafficking, and we passed a trafficking law which, among other things, imposes sanctions on countries that engage in trafficking.

Our strategy against trafficking has been to develop economic alternatives for families, and programs to encourage students to stay in school. We have also encouraged nations to develop protection and assistance for victims, including medical and psychological assistance. This crime is increasingly linked to transnational organized crimes, so we have supported efforts to criminalize trafficking, investigate and prosecute traffickers.

In Benin itself, our bilateral assistant program there has placed considerable emphasis on primary education, particularly by trying to keep children in school -- that was $5.7 million in fiscal year 2001 -- and also on improving family health care to reduce the burden of childrearing on families. That was $4.4 million in this fiscal year 2001.

So this is an area we have been very, very active in overall, but what exactly happened in the situation of this ship I think needs to be investigated.

QUESTION: There were indications that the ship had recently been painted?

MR. BOUCHER: There is a lot of different pieces of information, none of which quite fits together at this point, frankly. And figuring out exactly what happened is something that needs to be investigated on the scene.

QUESTION: And supposition that there may have been another ship?

MR. BOUCHER: There have been a lot of suppositions. I think it is time to investigate and to get the facts.

QUESTION: More on the trade situation, the Free Trade Area of the Americas. President Lagos of Chile was here -- is here, I guess -- and said yesterday they really wanted to get into NAFTA or something like that, and he was meeting with Bush today.

Is there any inclination on your part to proceed, in the case of Chile or with such other nations as may wish to join up in a free commerce accord, one by one, or instead of waiting for this 2005? The Andino countries are meeting now, today or tomorrow, and they have announced that they are going to ask to wait until 2010. So that whole thing seems to be getting --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know where you are getting your information, but I would invite you to check the record. We have talked frequently about free trade with Chile. We have discussions that are under way. We have talked about the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, and of course we are looking to the OAS Quebec summit to reenergize that process. So I think we are out on the record a lot on those things.

QUESTION: But my question is, will there be any tendency to proceed with Chile?

MR. BOUCHER: We are proceeding with Chile. We are in discussions with Chile. If you look at the record, you will see all our discussions in public.

QUESTION: But short of a final hemisphere-wide treaty?

MR. BOUCHER: Check the record, you will get the facts. That is true. There was a full briefing at the White House yesterday, I am told. I'm sure there will be more. But that's what is going on.

QUESTION: Speaking of the OAS, could you talk about Secretary Powell's meeting this morning with the Secretary General of OAS?

MR. BOUCHER: He met this morning with Secretary General Gaviria of the OAS. The first topic of discussion was how -- I think Secretary General Gaviria said that this was the first time that a US President had come down from the White House, a couple blocks away, to speak directly to the OAS Permanent Council, and that this was a major event in terms of US cooperation with the OAS. He felt it was a very good sign, and a sign of the importance that we would attach to working with the OAS.

They then discussed in some detail the various efforts of the OAS in different areas, including the work they have done in Peru, the work they have done in Haiti, the general work they have done on building and supporting democracy in the hemisphere, and other work that they can do in terms of civilian control of the military and things like that. They talked a bit about the budget and the need for the financial resources to support the OAS. The United States contributes 60 percent of the budget, and of course continuing US support is very important to them.

So it was, I think, a productive and useful discussion for them to have, but the main event for the OAS today is the first ever visit by a US President to the Permanent Council in its working sessions.

QUESTION: Do you have anything to say about the anniversary of the Bay of Pigs?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: It was a mistake.

(Laughter.)

MR. BOUCHER: Matt has something to say about it. He'll be doing a briefing afterwards.

QUESTION: On the OAS and the Summit of the Americas, there have been problems with Haiti, and I know that there was a big emphasis made this year -- well, all the time -- on how the summit in Quebec was going to be all democracies.

The US believes that Haiti meets that qualification right now?

MR. BOUCHER: We see the leaders who are tending as democratically elected leaders. Obviously there are problems that we have had with the situation in Haiti, and we have looked for changes to be made in some of the prior elections and some of the ways that things are going on. So all democracies, if albeit somewhat imperfect in certain cases. And one of the issues of discussion out there is how we can support each other and help each other and encourage the fulfillment of a democratic commitment that these leaders all hold.

QUESTION: The new economic program has been in progress in Turkey. The price of problems keep going up. There are many demonstrations and protests in Turkey. So my question is does the United States have any worries about the current situation; and secondly, when and how the US is going to help Turkey?

MR. BOUCHER: I think we have been working very closely with Turkey, obviously working very closely with the IMF as it works with Turkey. We have noted the demonstrations. The demonstrations over the weekend, I think, we mostly peaceful and we are actually encouraged by the fact that the vast majority of the demonstrators were peaceful and that there was professionalism and restraint on behalf of the police.

On Saturday, there was the announcement of the main elements of the strong new economic reform plan. This program contains important steps to stabilize Turkey's economy and establish sustainable public finances. The US Government, the Treasury Department and the International Monetary Fund have all indicated their support for this program. We welcome the announcement. We look forward to the implementation of these and other necessary measures.

We understand the Turkish Government is also working on a legislative package to institute significant positive economic reforms. We do assist Turkey. This year, we gave Turkey a total of $2.8 million for international military education and training and family planning assistance, so there is some assistance that is ongoing. But obviously our support for this program has been indicated, and that is pretty much where we are now.

QUESTION: Sri Lanka? First, if there is any kind of a rundown you can give us on the status of the American reporter who was injured there. And second, on her, what do you make of what the -- the criticism that has been leveled at her for -- by the Sri Lankan Government?

MR. BOUCHER: Our interest, I think, is in taking care of her. This is an American journalist named Marie Colvin who was injured yesterday in or near Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam-controlled territory in northern Sri Lanka. She is now in Colombo where she is receiving emergency medical attention. Our Embassy in Colombo has been assisting Ms. Colvin in getting all the necessary medical care. Our Consular Affairs people here in Washington have been in touch with family members in the United States.

At this point, we don't have any information about how the clash came about. I think our political views on the situation, looking for a negotiated settlement and supporting the efforts of Norway, are quite well known.

She sustained injuries to the chest, shoulder and eye. She is being treated in a hospital in Colombo, as I said. Our Ambassador and Public Affairs Officers have visited her in the hospital as well. So that's pretty much the update on things going on. I don't think it's for me now at this point to start talking about particular activities. As I said, we don't really have confirmed details of how the clash came about.

[end] [End]

Released on April 17, 2001

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