07 May 2001

Transcript of State Department Noon Briefing
Link to discussion of missile defense

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed.

Following is the State Department transcript:

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
Monday, May 7, 2001
Briefer: Richard Boucher, Spokesman

Mr. Boucher: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I hope everybody had a nice weekend. There are two statements that we will put out after the briefing. One is condemning the assassination by ETA of a senior Spanish politician over the weekend. That is a sad thing that we're commenting on. And the second is a statement about Belarus, about the fact that General Yury Zakharenko, former Belarusian Minister of Internal Affairs, disappeared two years ago and there seems to be no information and no serious attempt to investigate the disappearance.

So I have statements in writing on those two things. I'll be glad to take your questions about those or other matters.

Q: Any changes, any additions, any new words you'd like to say about the various officials fanning out to various parts of the world to explain or consult on missile defense?

Mr. Boucher: On missile defense? I don't think there are any new words. I think you are all quite familiar with the purpose of this. The President described that in his speech. And there is a bit more on the issue of just the travel plans, if you want to go through that.

The team to Europe is going to be led by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, include Deputy National Security Advisor Steve Hadley, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman. They will consult with our allies tomorrow morning in Brussels, and then they'll travel to London tomorrow afternoon. That evening, they split into two teams which, for convenience sake we're going to call Team Wolfowitz and Team Grossman.

The Wolfowitz-Hadley team will consult in Paris and Berlin on Wednesday, and the Grossman Team will be in The Hague and Copenhagen on Wednesday. On Thursday, Team Wolfowitz and Hadley will be in Berlin and then continue on to Warsaw, while the Grossman Team will have meetings in Rome.

Then Friday Team Wolfowitz and Hadley will go to Moscow and then return to the United States. The Grossman Team will hold consultations in Ankara before returning to the United States on May 12th. No specific details of those things at that time.

I think the Armitage-Kelly consultations in Asia are pretty much just the way we described them before.

Q: Thank you.

Q: Do you have any comment on the remarks about Jews, Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mohammed led by President Bashar on Syria on Saturday, I believe it was?

Mr. Boucher: Yes, I do. Our view is that these comments are as regrettable as they are unacceptable. There is no place from anyone or from any side for statements that inflame religious passions and hatred. We hold with the Pope's call for reconciliation. That is really the only way forward, especially in these difficult times, and the only way to achieve the peace that all parties profess to want.

Q: Have you made any representations to the Syrian Government in connection with this?

Mr. Boucher: I'm not sure we've had an opportunity at this point.

Q: But you would plan to?

Mr. Boucher: I'll have to check.

Q: Have you heard anything about an intercepted shipment of rockets by the Israelis? They were apparently intended for Palestinians?

Mr. Boucher: Only questions from the press.

Q: No answers?

Mr. Boucher: No, nothing.

Q: Richard, I understand the Swedish delegation is in town. They were in North Korea last week for the EU consultations. Do you have anything?

Mr. Boucher: I don't have anything at this point. We described last week, I think, the fact that we have been in touch with the European Union, with the Swedes, for some time about their contacts with North Korea. We certainly support their efforts, as we do the efforts of the South Koreans.

This team is in town and we are meeting with them today, but at this point I don't have a readout. I expect it will up to them, frankly, to give their own readout. But last week I think I mentioned they would be coming to town and talking to us, and that that will be taking place today.

Q: Who are they meeting with?

Mr. Boucher: They will be meeting with leadership and experts in the East Asia Bureau, basically our North Korean teams.

Q: (Inaudible) Armenian territories, the recent Russian troops movement. Did you check? Do you know? They are establishing some air force base in the Armenian territory nearby the Turkish border and establishing a new missile, S-300 missile base, nearby the border. Last week I asked.

Mr. Boucher: Last week you asked, I think, about how these various pieces of equipment were covered or not covered under the treaty. The S-300 is not covered under the treaty, and therefore it doesn't fall within the reportable requirements.

I think that answer was given to you though, wasn't it?

Q: No.

Mr. Boucher: Oh, well, let me double-check and see if I have the full answer here, then.

We do monitor the equipment that Russia has at bases in Armenia, including equipment covered by the multilateral agreement limiting conventional forces in the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe. MIG fighters at the Russian base have been reported, as is required under the treaty. The S-300 system is not covered by the treaty and therefore is not subject to reporting requirements.

Q: Richard, on the day we lost our seat on the UN Human Rights Commission, we lost our seat on the International Narcotics Control Board. Can you tell us -- and I gather we had the same kind of assurances that we would be reelected. Can you tell us a little bit about it, offer some guidance? Is this a serious blow?

Mr. Boucher: A little bit about it. It's the same group that votes. We did not have as many assurances in that case, but we did have a number of them. This is a slightly different situation in that nations put forward nominate candidates to the International Narcotics Control Board. Our candidate was Herbert S. Okun, former Ambassador, and I think very well known in UN circles. But he was not reelected to the Board. That we find very regrettable.

We intend to continue our engagement on the international narcotics issues. We will continue our cooperation with and strong support for the UN international drug control program, as well as with the International Narcotics Control Board. At this point, I can't really speculate on why this campaign for Ambassador Okun was not successful.

Q: But when taken together, doesn't that send some kind of signal? Can it give us more meat for the argument that there is something happening out there?

Mr. Boucher: Well, there is something happening out there. I'm not sure I want to give too much meat to the various arguments that have been advanced for what it is. We talked on Friday in the context of the UN Human Rights Commission vote again with the same 54 members -- a subset of the UN membership, not the entire one -- of the Economic and Social Council.

And clearly I think it's fair to speculate there may be issues related to how we handled ourselves, to how we pushed very hard for human rights. There may be some who have mentioned -- we have seen some who have mentioned issues of financial support for the United Nations. But I've seen other speculation out there that, as I said on Friday, kind of throws in the kitchen sink, and I'm not sure how far one should go in that kind of speculation from the actual issues that are involved here.

Q: What, do you think they're the same issues at the Human Rights Commission?

Mr. Boucher: I can't say. I just think this one is harder to speculate on, frankly.

Q: Was the vote identical?

Mr. Boucher: No, I think we got fewer votes in this than we did before.

Q: Where was Okun the ambassador to?

Mr. Boucher: He was one of our ambassadors at the UN mission. I ought to have his personal history. Phil asked me and said, you know. I'll look it up for you, but he was at one point one of our senior people at the UN mission, I remember.

Q: Richard, these 44 assurances that you got for the vote on the Human Rights Commission, weren't some of those assurances based on the fact that Sweden might not run? Were those assurances given if Sweden doesn't run?

Mr. Boucher: I think there were 43, first of all. And second of all, I don't know. But clearly it's easier when the number of members from any particular grouping matches the number of seats available. Then that is adopted more or less by consensus. So that would have made it easier, but at the same time I think this particular group, Western European and Others, frequently had more candidates than there were seats allocated to the group.

Q: New subject? Has Secretary Powell been in touch with President Trajkovski at all, and how seriously do you take tomorrow's vote on a declaration of war?

Mr. Boucher: Well, we don't take it very seriously now because it seems like the government has withdrawn the proposal, and frankly we think that is a wise course.

The focus, we believe, should be on pressing forward with a political track, even as the government carries out its obligation, which it has and which we support to reestablish a security situation. Certainly, the situation overall, I would say, remains serious. We understand the Government of Macedonia is under pressure because of the continued resort to violence by the extremists. And we condemn this violence, we condemn in the strongest terms the unprovoked acts of terrorist violence taken by the so-called National Liberation Army, and we would call on the extremists first and foremost to stop their acts of violence. There is no justification for this violence, nor for the use of civilians as hostages and shields.

At the same time, we think the focus overall should be on pressing forward with the political track. We support the rapid conclusion to talks that under way to broaden the government coalition, as well as the continued interethnic dialogue under President Trajkovski's offices. President Bush told President Trajkovski last week that it is critical to break the cycle of violence through political means. And that to us remains the essence of the situation.

So, we would look for party leaders in Macedonia, from all the parties, to continue the dialogue and to pursue a political solution to the concerns of the ethnic Albanian community.

Q: Are you satisfied with the pace of that political dialogue as it stands right now, or would you like to encourage the government to quicken it?

Mr. Boucher: I think we have encouraged them to move as quickly as possible, and certainly would be pleased to see this moving forward as fast as possible.

Q: Same area? Well, moving over to Bosnia and --

Q: Can we stay on Macedonia? Actually, in terms of you've been urging the Macedonian Government to use restraint in a measured response, would you say that they are still using a measure response, and are you concerned that they are increasing it towards a disproportionate use of force on their defense?

Mr. Boucher: At this point, we have supported their use of appropriate and proportionate measures, and that is still the path they appear to be on. But once again, we have said all along that the political solution needs to come politically.

Q: If in fact they had gone to this vote tomorrow, would -- does the US think that wouldn't -- that would have been a bad idea to put something like that --

Mr. Boucher: We thought it was a good idea not to press for a vote.

Q: How about the situation in Banja Luka, where a UN rep who is an American citizen was held? It looks like the hostages are now safe, but can you give us the details?

Mr. Boucher: Yes. Our latest reports, right before I came out to brief -- and we were talking to our people on the ground and even some people inside the building -- our latest report is that everybody has been released, that they have been released safely. And we are glad to see that resolution.

Frankly, we are very concerned about the violence there; we are very concerned about the occasion of the violence since this was the laying of the cornerstone for the reconstruction of two mosques that were destroyed in the war. Assaults on officials, on the Bosnians who were attending the ceremony, on members of the international community -- this is all unacceptable.

The ceremonies were supposed to be symbols of peace and reconciliation, and unfortunately the actions of the demonstrators really set back the cost of interethnic tolerance. So, we really are very concerned about that. We think the authorities need to gain control of this kind of lawlessness and make sure that perpetrators of violence like this are brought to justice.

Q: Richard, do you know if the people who were trapped inside were ever threatened, or did it appear to be an escalating situation, or just something to get attention?

Mr. Boucher: I don't know. The descriptions that we got during the course of the morning were sort of a growing mob of people that didn't want to let them out. Let's leave it that way. And I think the authorities were negotiating for their release.

So, we are glad it is resolved safely, and frankly sad that this turned out instead of being a symbol of tolerance became a symbol of intolerance, and think the authorities need to do all they can to prevent this and to gain control over this kind of lawlessness.

Q: The Mitchell Commission has published some recommendations. Do you have anything to say about them and whether you would consider them --

Mr. Boucher: I don't think "published" is exactly the right word. Others have published the recommendations of the Mitchell Committee. At this point, the report is not final. It is out for comment by the parties, and the parties each have a chance to put their commentary into the report. We are not one of those parties that are commenting. We are not providing input at this stage.

So it's out there, and when it's finalized we may have something to say, but not until then.

Q: Two things. Could you comment on the latest clashes, I guess over the weekend, in the West Bank and Gaza? And specifically, could you comment on what I guess the Defense Minister -- the Israeli Defense Minister is saying now, that the troops are going to have Israeli -- the IDF will have, I guess, their -- be able to make decisions whether to enter Area A without it going to a political decision.

Mr. Boucher: Well, let me start out with what you asked for and sort of comment on what is going on.

There was a bombing in Petah Tikvah yesterday. That is the terrorist activity that we strongly condemn. There was a terrible tragedy in Khan Younis -- a four-month-old child that was killed. We think that too many children have suffered as a result of the ongoing violence. People need to take a hold of the situation, stop the violence, stop the cycle of violence in order to prevent more tragedies.

In that regard, I would say we have repeatedly called on both sides to step back from this current cycle of confrontation and to implement the agreements that they have signed. Repeated Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas represent an escalation of the situation on the ground. This perpetuates the cycle of violence; it directly undermines the efforts to diffuse the situation. And continuation of these kinds of actions makes it increasingly difficult to bring the violence to an end.

We made clear, though, that the Palestinians also have their responsibility to immediately end provocative acts of violence emanating from areas under their control, including the shootings and bombings and mortar attacks. These attacks also undermine the efforts to diffuse the situation and to bring an end to the violence and escalation.

So, we really do strongly urge both sides to exercise maximum restraint and to end the violence. There can be no military solution to the conflict, as you all know.

Q: If I can ask my second part of the question again, the Israeli Defense Minister has now said that the troops will be able to, and I quote, "In principle, I have approved any entry to Area A if that is necessary to guarantee our security." This seems to represent a --

Mr. Boucher: I think in response to that I said that first of all we have repeatedly called on both sides to step back from the violence, and I made clear today that the repeated Israeli incursions into the Palestinian-controlled areas are a serious escalation that raises concerns, that make it harder to resolve this and harder to break the cycle.

Q: Is this something that the US-facilitated security talks are addressing at this point?

Mr. Boucher: The security talks that take place address all aspects of the situation. I'm not able to focus on any particular one.

Q: Can we go back to the Mitchell Report for a moment? Are you supporting --

Q: Can we just stay on this for one second? Did the Secretary talk to any leaders, Palestinian or Israeli, over the weekend about this?

Mr. Boucher: No, not Palestinian nor Israeli.

Q: Any others? (Laughter.) The Mozambicans, I mean, anything?

Mr. Boucher: He talked to Solana over the weekend. He talked to Solana on Saturday before Solana went down to Macedonia. They talked primarily about Macedonia, and obviously we are very supportive of the efforts that Solana is making there on behalf of the European Union and all of us, and Lord Robertson is down there for NATO as well. So people are down there working with the government of Macedonia.

Q: On the Mitchell Report, are you supporting Palestinian calls for a new summit to discuss the Mitchell Report?

Mr. Boucher: I can't -- no, I don't have anything particular to say about that at this point. We will have to see what people comment on the report, what they say about the report, and then we will answer questions about it and about things that might be attached to it by any of the parties.

Q: A question about the International Criminal Court. Is the Administration still reviewing it? Is the review about to come to an end, and would the review at all be affected by the vote last week on the UN Human Rights Commission?

Mr. Boucher: I'll check, I'll check, and I'll check. I don't think I have the easy answers to those things.

Q: The Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica is in New York today and tomorrow to receive an award. Do you know if he is coming to Washington and will he have meetings with American officials?

Mr. Boucher: We expect him to come to Washington in the middle of this week. We are looking to set up a meeting with the Secretary of State, but it is not scheduled yet, so I don't have any date or time for you.

Q: Who was that?

Mr. Boucher: President Kostunica of Yugoslavia.

Q: On the same subject, the Secretary meets with Carla del Ponte this afternoon --

Mr. Boucher: That had to be changed because of scheduling, so I think that meeting is now tomorrow afternoon. But, yes, he will be meeting with her.

Q: Do we know whether -- have you tried to consult the end of talks between her and President Kostunica?

Mr. Boucher: I'm not aware of anything that would overlap, but I'll double-check just to make sure.

Q: Do you have any comments on -- I guess over the weekend Turkey reopened a railroad with Iraq, I guess culminating a series of diplomatic gestures? That railroad was closed, I guess, since 1988.

Mr. Boucher: I don't have anything on that. Let me double-check and see if there is something to say about it, if it relates to the Iraq sanctions implementation or not.

Q: Richard, do you have an update on the interagency fact-finding committee that's off in Peru? Have they finished their fact-finding? Are they on their way back?

Mr. Boucher: Somewhat to my surprise, they are back. The senior team, led by Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Rand Beers returned to the United States on Saturday. They decided to all come back.

They will continue to work with their Peruvian counterparts in a joint investigation. Cooperation has been excellent with the Peruvians. At present, there are a number of issues that remain to be reviewed. Several of the interviews have not been completed. There is no deadline to the investigation, but as soon as it is complete and we have the answers that we need, we will share our findings with the public.

Q: Did they go to the site?

Mr. Boucher: I don't know. I think I promised to check on that on Friday, and I didn't. I will check.

Q: Is a Peruvian team coming here at some point?

Mr. Boucher: Again, I don't know for sure at this point. We continue to do these things together. I would expect that just as we had people down in Peru that the Peruvians will have people up here as we do the work.

Q: The United States has resumed surveillance flights again near China. Have we heard from the Chinese?

Mr. Boucher: I don't have anything to say on those flights. They're matters of flying in international airspace that the Defense Department handles.

Q: But have China's diplomats said anything or sent a message to the United States today?

Mr. Boucher: Not that I'm aware of, but you can ask the Chinese if you want.

Q: What's the status of the ambassadorial designee for China? Have the Chinese responded yet?

Mr. Boucher: That's not a question I answer at the State Department. Those matters are handled at the White House.

Q: Thank you.

Mr. Boucher: Thank you.