11 November 2001

Powell Holds Talks at UN on Mideast Peace, Afghanistan

Secretary of State Colin Powell met leaders from the Middle East and elsewhere at the United Nations headquarters in New York November 11 and found strong support for the Mitchell recommendations for Middle East peace, and for a broad-based government in Afghanistan, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Briefing reporters in New York November 11, Boucher said Powell consulted with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Boucher said a common theme that emerged from the consultations is a rejection of Usama bin Laden's claims to speak for the Palestinians.

"The Palestinians were quite clear hat they don't want to see their cause hijacked," Boucher said.

Following are excerpts from the transcript of Boucher's briefing dealing with the Middle East and Afghanistan:

Mr. Boucher: This was an important opportunity to consult with a lot of people from the Middle East, people interested in the Middle East peace process, as well as the campaign against terrorism. On the peace process, it basically renewed the commitment to move from violence and get back to the peace process. We found a very strong commitment behind implementing the Mitchell recommendations to end the violence, as well as the Tenet plan to get that started, and then go on to the resumed negotiations on the basis of UN Resolutions 242 and 338 and what's called land for peace. The goal remains to try to achieve progress on all tracks.

This morning, the Secretary had discussions with Foreign Minister Peres of Israel. These were positive discussions about how to get the process back on track. This afternoon with Chairman Arafat, they discussed the Tenet-Mitchell process. Chairman Arafat reaffirmed his commitment to moving down that road. We made very clear the importance of taking decisive action against violence and terror and making a maximum effort towards that end. With Foreign Minister Shara of Syria, the Secretary reviewed the international campaign against terrorism and our commitment to the peace process. We welcomed Syrian comments about the events of September 11th, but we are also looking for results in terms of the kind of action that the President was calling for yesterday.

We took advantage of the opportunity of a number of people being in New York to consult with Secretary General Kofi Annan, the European Union's High Representative Solana, and Foreign Minister Ivanov of Russia on the Middle East situation. It was an informal discussion, but I think as the Secretary General has already said, everyone is committed to Mitchell or recommitted to the Mitchell process and working in close coordination.

With the Gulf Cooperation Council, they reviewed cooperation against terrorism on all fronts, financial, diplomatic and other areas, as well as the peace process. They were very positive about the President's speech yesterday at the UN General Assembly, as was Chairman Arafat and others. People noted the President's comments on the Middle East, and we will be talking about that as we go into the future of the Middle East peace process.

A few common themes that came out of our discussions with people like Chairman Arafat, Foreign Minister Shara and the Gulf Cooperation Council ministers. First, that it's nonsense, the claim that bin Laden makes that he speaks for Palestinians. The Palestinians were quite clear that they don't want to see their cause hijacked. There was a lot of praise, as I said, for the President's speech, comments on the Middle East. Everybody is looking for active American leadership and welcomed it on the campaign against terrorism. Everybody agrees on the basic track of ending the violence and resuming the political process. And then when it came to discussing Afghanistan, where we discussed it, I think there is a very strong consensus in favor of a broad-based successor government in Afghanistan. And, of course, we will have an opportunity to discuss that topic tomorrow with the United Nations Security Council members and the Six-Plus-Two.

....

Question: A follow-on to that Kabul question, does the United States want to see some sort of international presence in Mazar-e Sharif, whether it be observers, a peacekeeping force, anything to sort of stabilize the situation? And might that include the Turkish --

Mr. Boucher: I don't think I can -- well, here is what I would say. One of the most important things about the situation around Mazar-e Sharif, once it stabilizes, is the opportunity to provide humanitarian assistance. A lot of the needy people, I think something like 40 percent -- you might check the USAID web site and see if it's in the literature, but a large number of the needy people of Afghanistan are in that region and areas around there. And particularly the opportunity to provide things more directly into that area is really an opportunity to take care of a lot of needy people in Afghanistan, to get the food that we have been trying to get in, and the blankets and with the supplies. There was a meeting today that the Uzbeks would be having, to go down to the area to their side of the border down there and look at how they would start arranging river barge transport for food into the north of Afghanistan. And that would be a major supplement to the efforts, and that is a direct result of the change in the security situation.