State Department Noon Briefing

(Libya, Zimbabwe, Iran, Pakistan, Israel/Palestinian Authority, Yemen,
Russia/Moldovia/Kyrgystan/Ukraine, China, Serbia/Montenegro,
Madagascar) (5480)

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed.

Following is the State Department transcript:

(begin transcript)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Daily Press Briefing Index
Thursday, March 14, 2002

12:45 p.m.  EST

Briefer:  Richard Boucher, Spokesman

LIBYA
-- Reaction to Verdict by Appeals Court on Pan Am 103/Need for Libya
to Comply with Obligations Under Relevant UN Security Council
Requirements/Libyan Renunciation of Terrorism/US Sanctions

ZIMBABWE
-- Flawed Presidential Election/Neighboring Countries' Opinion of the
Vote/Practical Implications of Non-recognition of the Vote
-- Examination of Zanu-PF's Finances/Blocking Assets/Detainee Released
on Bail

IRAN
-- Senator Biden's Invitation to Iranian Members of Parliament to
Visit the United States Congress

PAKISTAN
-- Department of Justice Announcement of Omar Sheikh Indictment/Status
of Negotiations with Pakistanis

ISRAEL/PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
-- Israelis Announcing Redeployment of Their Forces Within
Ramallah/Expectations of Chairman Arafat/General Zinni's Mission
-- Observer Mission/Allowing Chairman Arafat to Attend Beirut Meeting
-- Creating an Environment for General Zinni's Mission to
Succeed/Directing Incursions Against Militia Wing of Fatah
Party/Criticism of Civilian Casualties/Palestinian Attack on Tank in
Gaza
-- Administration not Increasing Aid to Israel

DEPARTMENT
-- Secretary Powell's Telephone Calls to Foreign Leaders

YEMEN
-- Warden Message/Visit of Vice President Cheney

RUSSIA/MOLDOVIA/KYRGYSTAN/UKRAINE
-- Banning Imports of US Chicken/Steel Tariff/Meeting with Russian
Defense Minister

CHINA
-- North Koreans in Spanish Embassy in Beijing/ Political Asylum

SERBIA/MONTENEGRO
-- EU Claiming Victory in Saving Yugoslav Federation/Restructuring
Accord/US Aid

MADAGASCAR
-- Outbreak of Violence


U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

12:45 P.M. EST -- THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2002
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to
be here. I don't have any statements or announcements, so I would be
glad to take your questions.

QUESTION: Your reaction to the verdict by the appeals court on Pan Am
103, please?

MR. BOUCHER: The United States is pleased with the decision of the
Scottish appellate court which upheld the conviction of Libyan agent
al-Megrahi in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Once again we remember
with deepest sympathies the families of the victims who have waited so
long to see justice done in this case.

At this point, we remind everybody that Libya must comply with its
obligations under the relevant UN Security Council requirements
related to the Pan Am 103 bombing. Completion of the appeal does not
end UN sanctions against Libya, but it should spur Libya to take quick
action to fully comply with UN Security Council requirements.

QUESTION:  What is your understanding -- are you finished?

MR. BOUCHER:  Yes.

QUESTION: One of the requirements is a Libyan renunciation of
terrorism. Where does Libya stand on that one?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I am going to get into evaluating where
Libya stands in percentage terms or progress terms on each particular
point. The fact is they need to comply fully with all the
requirements: the renunciation of terrorism, the disclosure of
information, the payment of compensation, the acceptance of
responsibility. All these requirements need to be fulfilled.

QUESTION: New subject? Zimbabwe. Yesterday in your critical comments
about Mr. Mugabe's, President Mugabe's, reelection, you talked about
how you would like to talk with neighboring countries that might not
have the same opinion of the vote as you do. And now by my count,
which is probably not completely accurate, you've got Nigeria -- the
governments or leaders of Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia,
and the OAU observer group all coming out and saying that they believe
this election was legitimate.

What are you saying to these people?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know if -- what, are we counting -- are we
counting? -- the commonwealth as leaders in Nigeria? Are we counting
the SADC countries, which are all neighbors? Let's face it. There is
discussion that has to be held on this, and I don't have an instant
result today of a process that will have to go on. But there are many
voices about this election. We have made quite clear our views. Others
who had observers there have made clear their views. As I said, the
commonwealth as a group has made clear their view. SADC has made clear
their views. So while there are other opinions, we continue to see the
election in the same light.

QUESTION: Yesterday the President said that the United States didn't
recognize the outcome of the election. Could you fill us in on the
practical implications of this non-recognition of the results?

MR. BOUCHER: It is the same thing as we said where we said Mr. Mugabe
can claim victory, but not legitimacy. We don't see him as a leader
who can claim to have been elected by a legitimate election like a
democratic leader in other parts of the world. We won't deal with him
on that basis.

QUESTION:  But you do see him as a leader?

MR. BOUCHER: We deal with governments -- sometimes, many times, we
deal with governments that we don't like, but we do deal with
governments who are not legitimately elected or democratically elected
differently than we deal with governments who can lay claim to the
mandate of their people.

QUESTION: Okay. But what practical effect does it have? In what sense
would you treat him differently now than you've treated him before?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know I can start talking about that at this
point. We already have started to treat him differently a month ago by
banning travel by him and others in his leadership to the United
States. We have also said yesterday that we are considering sanctions
and putting economic -- blocking of accounts and other steps. That's
differently than we would treat a leader who had been elected through
a legitimate democratic election.

QUESTION: Does that mean that there's any chance that you're going to
sort of de-recognize him, or that you will recognize him?

MR. BOUCHER: The issue is not de-recognizing, recognizing. Don't
confuse yourselves by using a formal term of diplomatic recognition of
states versus working with governments, versus sort of recognizing the
validity of an election. This is a political decision on our part
about how we deal with this, with this government. Certainly, if we
recognize this to have been a democratic election and this to be a
democratically elected leader, we would not be imposing sanctions and
considering sanctions on the leadership.

QUESTION: Before the election, Mr. Kansteiner said that there was an
examination of Zanu-PF's finances; it was not an investigation. When I
said "investigation" he drew a distinction there. How is that process
going? What is the status of it now?

MR. BOUCHER: As I said yesterday and again today, we are considering
what else we should do, including in the financial area. I don't have
anything new to announce today.

QUESTION: Given that you don't recognize the outcome of the elections,
what is preventing you from putting these sanctions in place
immediately -- the assets freeze? And surely there is -- is there any
sense of urgency, given that they can presumably move these funds at
any time, and probably have done already?

MR. BOUCHER: And? We said a month ago we're considering this. The
issue is that you have to do this properly, legally, appropriately,
because we are a nation of laws that respects the laws and follows
appropriate legal procedures if we are going to block somebody's
assets, even somebody who has stolen an election.

QUESTION: Have you gotten any response yet from them on the diplomats
and the detainees?

MR. BOUCHER: We have been able -- on the diplomats? The diplomats, no,
we don't have any response. On the detainees, one of them was released
on bail. Our consuls have been able to visit both of them, one in
jail, one out of jail. And at that point, I think I have to stop
because we don't have Privacy Act waivers.

QUESTION: Can you just say when? Was this yesterday or today that they
were able to get access?

MR. BOUCHER: The visits -- I think the release on bail was yesterday,
maybe the day -- yesterday. So that would have been yesterday.

QUESTION: Was that the first person? Was that the person who was
arrested on Friday, or the person who was arrested on Monday?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I'm able to go into that, just because of
the Privacy Act situation. I can't start saying things that would
identify the individuals.

QUESTION: Well, I'm not planning on identifying them. I don't know
even know their names anyway. But why can't you say which one it was?

MR. BOUCHER:  I'll check and see if I can.

QUESTION: Richard, I'd like to go back to Pan Am 103 just for a
minute, please. Even if the Libyans comply with the UN, with the
things that they have to do to get the UN sanctions lifted, there are
still US sanctions and things that they must do, correct?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes. As you know, we and the United Kingdom together have
met with the Libyans several times. We met twice in London, the last
time being on January 10th. The focus of these meetings was Libya's
compliance with UN Security Council requirements and our urging Libya
to comply with those requirements as soon as possible.

We have also told the Libyans that we can't even have a serious
discussion of the bilateral issues between the United States and
Libya, including the United States -- our sanctions on Libya, until
they have fully cleared this UN account, until they have fully
complied with the UN requirements.

QUESTION: Yesterday Senator Biden invited Iranian members of
parliament to visit the US in a kind of official visit to the
Congress. Is it an initiative that you approved?

MR. BOUCHER: I wasn't aware of it. I have to check and see. We have
always supported legislative exchanges, and certainly our interest in
the democratic process in Iran has been stated before.

QUESTION: Ashcroft is going to announce at 1 o'clock the indictment of
Omar Saeed Sheikh. What is the status of the talks between --

MR. BOUCHER: You mean you would like me to steal the news from him
three minutes before he gets a chance?

QUESTION: Well, this afternoon he's going to do that. What is the
status of the negotiations with the Pakistanis on that?

MR. BOUCHER: We have made clear that we want to see Omar Sheikh
brought to justice, that we have made clear that we are willing to do
that, prepared to do that, want to do that in the United States. We
recognize, at the same time, the Pakistanis want to see justice done,
the same way we do. They have charges against him. So we have been in
discussions, as we usually do when this situation arises. We have been
in discussions with the Pakistani Government about how to handle the
trials, sequence the trials, whatever else needs to be done after that
should there be conviction and sentencing.

So we have had these discussions with the Pakistanis. We haven't
finished that yet. We haven't finalized those discussions yet. But
these things will be worked out with the Government of Pakistan to
figure out how to make sure that he is indeed brought to justice since
that is our common goal, and then how to organize the process so that
the justice systems of our two countries can deal with the situation.

QUESTION: Is it possible that after they have their trial that he'll
be brought over here?

MR. BOUCHER: All those issues are under discussion. We'll see which
way it works.

QUESTION:  New subject?

MR. BOUCHER:  Please.

QUESTION: The Israelis have announced that they are redeploying their
forces within Ramallah. Is it your understanding that this is to be a
full withdrawal, and is this satisfactory as far as the US is
concerned?

MR. BOUCHER: I think some of their statements -- and I can't remember
if it was the official statement or officials, anonymous officials,
but they have talked about a full withdrawal. And that is what we want
to see. That is the kind of step that we have been urging them to take
is complete withdrawal. We have taken note of the statements that they
have made so far regarding redeployment of Israeli Defense Forces in
Ramallah. We do expect a complete withdrawal from
Palestinian-controlled areas, including Ramallah and the other areas
that the Israeli Defense Forces recently entered. Such a complete
withdrawal would greatly facilitate the work of General Zinni.

Let me make clear again we also have expectations of Chairman Arafat.
We want to see him do more to stop the groups that carry out violence,
carry out the shootings, the bombings and the other attacks that we've
been seeing recently. We remain very deeply concerned about the tragic
loss of life and escalating violence in the last days. Both sides, we
think, need to take immediate steps to create an environment in which
progress is possible. And that is where I will stop for the moment.

QUESTION: What would the measure of success be of General Zinni's
mission?

MR. BOUCHER: He is going out to try to get implementation of the Tenet
security steps, to get the parties to take the steps necessary to
establish a cease-fire and to make it work. So the proof of the
pudding is in whether the parties start taking the steps that are
needed to establish security.

QUESTION: Do you think he will stay out there until that happens?

MR. BOUCHER: As the Secretary said, he will stay out there as long as
he can report progress.

QUESTION: I know we've had this conversation before on similar items,
a similar topic, but when you say you expect to see a complete
withdrawal, is that because the Israelis have told you that they're
going to withdraw completely, or does that mean that you're telling
them that that's what you want to see?

MR. BOUCHER:  That means we want to see a full withdrawal.

QUESTION: There's no -- okay. So you haven't been told -- the US
hasn't been told that they are going to, and so you're not saying
expect as in I expect the sun to go down today at dusk?

MR. BOUCHER: We want it to go down too, but, no, it's not quite the
same term. As I noted, I've seen some wire service reports that
indicate the Israelis are talking about carrying out a full
withdrawal. That is what we want to see them do. A complete withdrawal
would facilitate the work of General Zinni, and we think it is
important that they do that in order to create the environment for the
Zinni mission to succeed.

QUESTION: In these contacts you've had with the Israelis and the
Palestinian, for that matter, over the last couple of days, has there
been any progress on the question of the observer mission?

MR. BOUCHER: Once again, we have made clear that we are prepared -- we
have always felt third-party monitoring has a role in facilitating the
implementation of Tenet and Mitchell. We have made clear that we are
prepared to participate in such a mechanism if both sides agree. But I
would have to say that they both accept receptivity to the idea, but
at this point there has not been agreement on how to proceed. So
General Zinni will be pursuing that with both sides.

QUESTION:  (Inaudible.)

MR. BOUCHER: As we work into implementation of the Tenet work plan, if
both parties want us to produce the monitors, we will do that. Get
final agreement.

QUESTION: Can you sort of talk generally about what sort of
involvement you see the US possibly doing? Does this mean people at
checkpoints monitoring crises, or more in providing communications,
vehicles, that kind of backup?

MR. BOUCHER: I can't talk in any detail about that at this point
because those are the kinds of things that need to be worked out with
the parties. We have always made clear that third-party monitors can
be useful in helping them implement the steps. First and foremost, the
parties need to take these immediate steps to establish an environment
in which General Zinni can succeed in his mission, then they need to
start taking the steps in the Tenet security work plan. And as part of
that process, we are willing to provide monitors, but the final
agreement on the monitors and the functions of the monitors and how
the system can best work is something that General Zinni will be
discussing out there.

QUESTION: The Middle East. Will Zinni pressure Sharon to allow Arafat
to attend the Arab League meeting in Beirut on the 27th?

MR. BOUCHER: As the Secretary said the other day, it is something we
believe Prime Minister Sharon should consider carefully whether it is
in his interest to allow Chairman Arafat to go there. That is where we
stand right now. We continue to believe that to be the case.

QUESTION:  In the region yesterday --

QUESTION:  You said, "We continue to believe that to be the case"?

MR. BOUCHER:  Yes.

QUESTION:  That it is in his interest to --

MR. BOUCHER:  That he should consider whether it's in his interest.

QUESTION:  Not that it is in his interest?

MR. BOUCHER: I said it the way the Secretary said it, and that's where
we are.

QUESTION: Yesterday your Embassy in Yemen issued a Warden message
talking about a new threat, or a threat to US interests that would
begin in the time frame of last weekend. I'm wondering if you can tell
us a little bit about that, if you can, and also if it was in any way
-- if you think it was in any related to the visit there today, albeit
extremely brief, of the Vice President?

MR. BOUCHER: On the first part, I actually haven't seen the Warden
message so I would have to check on it and get you more details from
it. On the second part of your question, no.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) the peace process. Recognizing that you have
said that Yasser Arafat has steps that he needs to take, would the US
acknowledge that under the circumstances, so long as Israeli troops
remain within the occupied territories, that it's unreasonable to
expect the Palestinians to take certain steps?

MR. BOUCHER: We have made clear that the obligations of the parties to
take whatever steps they can to make 100 percent effort is necessary,
and that both sides need to take steps to try to create an environment
where the Zinni mission can succeed. We have also said that some of
the Israeli actions, particularly the attacks on security forces or
administrative offices of the Palestinian Authority, make it more
difficult for them to carry out those actions.

But at the same time, that doesn't absolve the parties from taking the
actions that they can and should take. The efforts that need to be
made to dismantle groups that carry out terrorism, to stop these
patterns of suicide bombings and shootings, are efforts that could be
made on the telephone, that can be made through instructions, that can
be made through people. And we would expect to see those efforts made.

QUESTION: Israeli officials have said that the recent incursions are
primarily directed against the militia wing of the Fatah party known
as the Tanzim, and they believe that these are legitimate terrorist
targets. Does the State Department share that view?

MR. BOUCHER: We have not criticized Israel's right to self-defense. We
have not -- we have said we recognize that Israel has to take action
against people that are armed and taking action against it. We have
criticized -- we've criticized some of the Israeli actions,
particularly things like attacks on humanitarian workers, ambulances,
difficulties in allowing ambulances and sick people getting through
checkpoints. We have criticized the civilian casualties that are
caused by using heavy equipment, heavy military equipment in heavily
populated areas.

So I think if you look at what the United States has said, that we
have made quite clear Israel does have a right to protect itself
against people that are trying to attack it.

QUESTION: If I could follow up, though, do you believe that this
organization known as Tanzim are responsible for terrorist attacks
against Israeli civilians and are therefore legitimate targets in
Sharon's actions in self-defense, as you say?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not trying to re-categorize an organization. There
are individuals who have been described as Tanzim who have carried out
attacks against Israel. And that is quite clear, and that's why I said
we do recognize that Israel has a right to defend itself against those
kinds of attacks.

QUESTION: Do you have any particular comment on the Palestinian attack
on the tank in Gaza today, for example?

MR. BOUCHER:  No.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) on the point you made, this report about -- what
was that report about?

QUESTION:  The town?

QUESTION:  No, the aid.

QUESTION:  The aid, yes.

QUESTION: Of the Administration deciding not to increase aid to
Israel.

QUESTION:  The extra aid.

MR. BOUCHER: I would refer you to the Office of Management and Budget
for any inquiries regarding specific elements of the budget.

QUESTION:  We're going to be (inaudible).

QUESTION: Right. That's interesting because the White House has
referred all questions about that to the State Department.

MR. BOUCHER:  Maybe we're in between.

QUESTION: Is this a little -- you know, this has become increasingly
the case in this Administration is to refer you to -- refer people to
other agencies. Does the buck stop with the OMB on this?

QUESTION:  The buck's not going anywhere right now.

QUESTION: I want to know when I call the OMB that they're not going to
tell me that I have to call the State Department or I have to call the
White House.

MR. BOUCHER: They might tell you that they are not ready to talk about
the elements of future supplemental funding. The Administration, when
we are ready to put forward any supplemental request to the Hill, will
answer at that time any questions about whether these requests include
or don't include money for any particular purpose or country. So at
this point the general proposition is the OMB is the one that puts
forward those requests to the Congress, and when they are ready to do
that I am sure we will be in a position to explain to you what's in
it.

QUESTION: Okay. The OMB -- they have a bureau that deals with Near
East affairs and goes in and decides what is appropriate for the
Israelis and the Palestinians to receive in the way of supplemental
funding?

MR. BOUCHER: They have people that look at all our accounts. And we
work with them and the White House works with them and everybody --

QUESTION: Because I was under the impression that OMB was mainly
accountants and that kind of thing.

MR. BOUCHER:  That's where the money comes from, Matt.

QUESTION:  Right, but don't they --

MR. BOUCHER: It's the Willie Sutton rule. That's where the money is.

QUESTION: Right, but don't they act on the -- on instructions from the
White House and the State Department in matters of the foreign -- of
the 150 budget?

MR. BOUCHER: All these matters are discussed very carefully with us
and, yes, certainly they always follow our lead -- sometimes.

QUESTION:  I'm sure they'll be happy to hear that.

MR. BOUCHER: Sometimes. Don't forget the sometimes. But, as usual, it
is a matter of we have these discussions between agencies. We make the
decisions jointly. We decide what is in the best interest of the
United States of America and we put forward our proposals to the
Congress together. The OMB happens to be the final point along that
process where these proposals are put together, analyzed, the money
comes together, at least the requests for money come together, and
then we send it up to the Congress. When we do that, we will be very
happy to explain to you what is and is not in that proposal.

QUESTION: In the same vein, have you made a recommendation on how much
extra money the Afghan government should get for security and military
needs and for budgetary support?

MR. BOUCHER: The same kind of question. The Secretary has made clear
that we do intend to go forward with a supplemental, but as far as
what goes in there for any particular use or any particular country,
we will tell you when we put forward the proposal.

QUESTION: The Secretary talked to Arafat yesterday afternoon. Did he
also talk to Sharon, and has he talked to anyone in that part of the
world today?

MR. BOUCHER: That part of the world? He didn't talk to Prime Minister
Sharon yesterday. We have, as you know, been in very close touch with
the Israelis and Palestinians also through Ambassador Kurtzer and
Consul General Schlicher. So we have been communicating in a variety
of ways with the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Let me double-check my notes on who he has been on the phone with.
Yesterday he talked to the Norwegian Foreign Minister Petersen. They
always talk about the Middle East. He talked to Jack Straw today.
Petersen was yesterday. Kofi Annan was yesterday. Arafat was
yesterday. And he talked to Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary of Britain,
today. They always talk about the Middle East as well.

QUESTION:  Did they talk about Zimbabwe at all?

MR. BOUCHER:  I think so.

QUESTION:  Did he talk to Kofi Annan about Iraq?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know every topic he talked to Kofi Annan about. I
think it was principally the Middle East, but he may have talked about
other things.

QUESTION: Richard, yesterday the President waded into the chicken war
with Russia, and the Secretary last night pledged that he was going to
fight this battle with the same intensity as he fought the Cold War in
uniform 12 years ago. I don't know if it's direct cause and effect,
but this morning the Moldovans announced that they were banning
imports of US chicken. The Kyrgyzstan Government did the same thing.
I'm sure you know that Ukraine has had a ban on US poultry imports
since January.

What do you make of the new -- the expansion of the lack of access for
US fowl to the former Soviet Union?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, we need to make clear again and again -- and it's
easy to make light of throwing chickens back and forth, but these are
serious matters to many Americans, to many American poultry farmers.
It is much better that we are arguing about chickens rather than
throwing nuclear war at each other. Thank God the Cold War is over in
that respect, so we can have these disputes over chickens.

But this is a very important industry to Americans, to Russian
consumers and others, and we need to settle these on a scientific
basis. We do have our teams out in Moscow now. They have been having
meetings. We've been trying to discuss and reach some understandings
with the Russians about the scientific basis about the prevalence of
salmonella in Russia and elsewhere. And so all these issues are under
very intense discussion out there.

As far as others taking these steps, once again we would remind people
that under international trading rules and the rules of the WTO, to
which many of these places aspire or may be members already, it is
very important that any restrictions be made on purely scientific and
phytosanitary grounds, and not be used as an instrument of restricting
trade.

QUESTION: Are you yet ready to say whether you think this is related
to the steel tariff?

MR. BOUCHER: That would have to be for others who have taken these
actions to explain their actions.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) meeting with of the Secretary, apparently just
concluded, with the Russian Defense Minister?

MR. BOUCHER:  No, I've been down here with you.

QUESTION:  Well, not for the first 45 minutes, anyway.  New subject?

MR. BOUCHER:  New subject.

QUESTION: This is unrelated to the US, but you might notice that about
two dozen North Koreans escaped into the Spanish Embassy in Beijing,
and they are desperate and say they'll be executed if they go back to
-- are forced back to North Korea. Do you have any comment?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, as you mentioned, the United States is not directly
involved in this. We think it is a matter for the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, the Spanish Government, the Chinese Government, to
resolve, and indeed they are working together to try to resolve the
case. We want to see it proceed according to established procedures
that are practiced worldwide, and that also appears to be the
situation with regard to these people.

QUESTION: Well, would the Spanish procedures call for their bring
granted political asylum, as you see it?

MR. BOUCHER: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees will make that
determination. We have always felt that North Koreans should not be
returned to North Korea because they would face persecution there.

QUESTION: Richard, the EU seems to have -- or at least they're
claiming victory in saving the Yugoslav Federation. I'm wondering if
you see it the same way and what you make of the new name. Or perhaps
you have another suggestion of what they might call themselves?

MR. BOUCHER: We, first of all, commend the leaders of Serbia and
Montenegro in reaching a negotiated agreement on the future of the
Yugoslav Federation. The agreement is in line with our longstanding
view that there can be, should be, a democratic Montenegro within a
democratic Yugoslavia.

We believe that the agreement signed today will help Serbia and
Montenegro best achieve their aspirations to fully integrate with
Europe, and will promote stability within Yugoslavia and the region.
Much work remains to be done. We look to the political leaders in
Serbia and Montenegro to work constructively to fully realize this
agreement.

We commend also European efforts to resolve this issue and appreciate
the instrumental role that European foreign policy chief Javier Solana
has played in brokering this historic agreement. This was one of the
subjects that he and the Secretary of State discussed ten days ago or
so, last week, when they met. And the Secretary encouraged him in his
efforts, and we're glad to see it come to fruition.

QUESTION: On this issue, I don't know if this has been already
addressed, but will the US aid that used to be directly for
Montenegro, that was sort of administered in (inaudible), will that
now, now that his has been resolved, be done totally out of Belgrade?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, first of all, there is a process of ratification
that has to be gone through. There is a new system being set up. It is
a substantially decentralized system. So I don't think I can predict
any particular changes at this moment.

QUESTION:  What do you make of the name?

MR. BOUCHER: We'll adopt the name when they've gone through their
procedures.

QUESTION: New subject? Do you have anything to say about the outbreak
of violence in Madagascar?

MR. BOUCHER: We have been following that situation very closely. I
think the first thing to note is that at this point it appears to have
-- the capital appears to have returned to near normal in many ways.
People are back at work. The demonstrations have been greatly reduced
compared to those of a few weeks ago. Radio and television are back on
the air, with limited programming schedules, however. Some schools
have reopened. Traffic has increased despite an increase in the price
of fuel and the fuel shortage as a result of the blockade.

The United States is supporting the efforts of the Organization of
African Unity to bring about a peaceful solution to the crisis in
Madagascar. We urge President Ratsiraka and Mayor Ravalomanana to
accept the proposal of the Organization of African Unity.
Unfortunately, there has been some violence today. Mr. Ravalomanana's
supporters had built barricades in much of the town. The provincial
governor and regional prefect ordered their destruction. Security
forces did move in after midnight, tore down barricades. There has
been some fighting at noon in which at least two people died.

As I said, in general terms, much of the life is back to normal.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:22 p.m.)

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)