*EPF502 03/15/2002
Transcript: State Department Noon Briefing, March 15
(Larson briefing/Monterrey Conference, steel tariffs/public diplomacy, Iraq, Colombia, Yemen, India, Israel/Palestinian Authority, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Sudan, North Korea, South Asia, UN) (6800)

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed.

Following is the State Department transcript:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
March 15, 2002

12:40 p.m.

Briefer: Richard Boucher, Spokesman

DEPARTMENT
-- Briefing by U/S Alan Larson on Monterrey Conference
-- Public Diplomacy/U.S. Steel Tariff

IRAQ
-- Anniversary of Halabja Massacre on Iraq

COLOMBIA
-- Changes to legislation on U.S. assistance

YEMEN
-- Yemen Embassy Bombing

INDIA
-- U.S. War on Terrorism

ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
-- General Zinni's Mission/Israelis Redeployment near Ramallah

YUGOSLAVIA
-- Arrest in Belgrade of U.S. Embassy Official

EGYPT
-- Crash of EgyptAir Flight

SUDAN
-- Secretary's Meeting with John Garang/Status of U.S.-Sudan Peace Talks/Agreement between Garang and the Sudanese Government

NORTH KOREA
-- A/S Kelly's Meeting with North Korean Representative

SOUTH ASIA
-- A/S Rocca's Visit

UN
-- U.S. Candidacy for Human Rights Commission Seat


U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

12:40 P.M. EST -- FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2002
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

MR. BOUCHER: Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I'd like off the top to remind you first of all of the briefing this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Under Secretary of State for Economics, Business and Agriculture Affairs Alan Larson will be here to brief on the UN's International Conference on Financing for Development to be held in Monterrey, Mexico. And I'm sure you're all aware of the President's very important speech on the subject of financing for development yesterday. So Al will follow on and talk about what the President said and talk about what can be applied at this conference that's coming up next week. That will be in this room at 2:00 p.m.

I'd also like -- sorry.

QUESTION: I don't have a question on that.

MR. BOUCHER: Okay. I also want to address two topics off the top. One is the anniversary of the Halabja massacre in Iraq, and the second is Colombia.

Tomorrow marks the 14th anniversary of Saddam Hussein's heinous chemical weapons attack on Halabja, the predominantly Kurdish city in northeastern Iraq. On March 16th, 1988 the Iraqi military conducted an aerial bombardment of Halabja with mustard and other poison gases that killed roughly 5,000 civilians and injured another 10,000. Though unconscionable, Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons attack on Halabja was not an isolated incident.

It is policies and practices such as those that led President Bush to characterize Iraq as part of an axis of evil, Iraq arms to threaten the peace of the world, posing a grave and growing danger through its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq remains a threat because of the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, and the willingness of Iraq's leaders to use them.

As we remember Halabja, we want to reaffirm to ourselves and the international community that Saddam Hussein's regime must never be permitted to rebuild its weapons of mass destruction programs, or once again threaten its neighbors or its own people. There's a somewhat more complete statement on this that I'll give to you. We have done this, as you know, in previous years on the anniversary of this date, and I think it's an important time for people to remember what's happened and who in the world has indeed used chemical weapons in the past, and why we see this as a continuing threat.

And then, if I can, I'd like to go on to Colombia. I know everybody is writing stories about Colombia. I wish some of them would call us before they write stories. But just in case anybody is going to write some more wrongs, I thought I would take the opportunity to go through the question of authorities.

QUESTION: W-r-i-t-e.

MR. BOUCHER: He gets it.

QUESTION: We thought it was just for the laugh.

MR. BOUCHER: I know. President Pastrana's February 20th decision to end his longstanding efforts at a peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia has put a new focus on counterterrorism in Colombia. We have provided Colombia the $1.7 billion in assistance since year 2000 to help Colombia's democracy fight narcotics trafficking and terrorism, to strengthen governmental institutions, and to promote social and economic development.

We requested $570 million in the Fiscal Year 2003 budget to sustain these programs, which includes a new proposal for $98 million to enhance the Government of Colombia's capacity to defend a key oil pipeline from terrorist attacks.

Colombia is not part of the global war on terrorism, but terrorist attacks are a serious threat to Colombia's democratic institutions. The FARC, the National Liberation Army, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, are Foreign Terrorist Organizations under U.S. law. They are responsible for a conflict which has claimed 40,000 lives over the past decade. They have kidnapped 50 U.S. citizens and killed ten since 1992, and they are heavily involved in narcotics trafficking.

Following President Pastrana's decision to end the FARC peace process, the U.S. responded to Colombia's request for help by increasing intelligence support and expediting the delivery of Colombian-purchased spare parts for aircraft.

We have been consulting with Congress to discuss the new situation in Colombia and our desire to respond more fully to Colombian requests for support in defending democracy. Members in these consultations, Members of Congress, expressed support for the administration's goals, but asked that we not stretch current counter-narcotics legislation to support new missions.

Therefore, we determined to seek new and more explicit legal authorities for State and Defense Department assistance to Colombia, to support the Government of Colombia's unified campaign against narcotics trafficking, terrorist activities and other threats to its national security. If we get these authorities, that will put us in a position to consider some of the additional requests from Colombia, such as using existing U.S. equipment or U.S.-trained brigades in a joint role against counter-narcotics and terrorism.

I want to make absolutely clear -- and this is one point not picked up in some of the articles -- we will continue to observe the requirements of the Byrd and the Leahy amendments to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. These concern limits on U.S. civilian and military personnel in Colombia, and, second of all, in the Leahy amendment, ensuring that U.S. assistance is not provided to military units whose members violate human rights.

We will review carefully any additional requests from the Government of Colombia for counterterrorism support, and we'll consult with our Congress as we address these issues.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) U.S. brigades, you say? Well, I haven't written it yet so it can't be wrong.

MR. BOUCHER: That's the absolute thing -- no, no, that's the absolute thing.

QUESTION: Well, because you said that State has just assured Congress there's no change in the U.S. --

MR. BOUCHER: Barry, I'm sorry. I just spent five minutes reading something and it had nothing about U.S. troops being used in combat in Colombia.

QUESTION: You said brigades, if I'm not mistaken.

MR. BOUCHER: U.S.-trained brigades.

QUESTION: Oh, U.S.-trained brigades.

MR. BOUCHER: We have equipped and trained Colombian brigades, Colombian military people, whose job it has been to protect counter-narcotics operations. And if we get this authority, we would be able to consider allowing them to be used in other roles.

QUESTION: And you think you'll have this ready next week, to include --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I have a specific target for when we'll go forward with this, but it should be soon.

QUESTION: The Post story said that you want to end restrictions on --

MR. BOUCHER: Which is not correct.

QUESTION: -- restrictions on use only for counter-narcotics, and conditionality vis-?vis human rights -- that whole paragraph was wrong?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes. We intend to continue to abide, to respect not to change the Byrd and the Leahy amendments. The Byrd amendment says that in support of Plan Colombia, the United States can send a maximum of 400 military and 400 civilian personnel to Colombia at any given moment. We intend to abide by that. The Leahy amendment says that U.S. assistance can't be given to brigades or to military elements that contain human rights violators. We also intend to abide by that. Both of these are aspects of the program that are I think an important part of what the United States wants to accomplish down there, which is to help train Colombian military to act professionally in fighting counter-narcotics, and we'll be able to consider requests for them to be used in counterterrorism as well.

QUESTION: I'm very interested in Colombia, but could you tell us -- could you address the bombing in Yemen, please?

MR. BOUCHER: Let's finish Colombia.

QUESTION: Was there anything in the Post story that was correct?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, if you read far enough.

QUESTION: I just have two quick questions. Under the changes you'd like to see in the law, will you still be making human rights certifications for the Colombian military, which is separate than whether or not the brigades that you give money to have ties to the paramilitaries? Will you still be doing this checklist?

MR. BOUCHER: Let me check with the lawyers on that one. I'm not exactly sure what the tie-in would be.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. BOUCHER: Whether there is any at all, frankly. Whether this would effect it one way or the other.

QUESTION: Could you -- I understand that from this podium you don't discuss intelligence matters, but will there be expanded levels of how you can share intelligence? Can you say anything about the kinds of information you can give to the Colombian militaries now?

MR. BOUCHER: I can't say anything about the kinds of information that we might give, but this is one of those few instances where I've used the word "intelligence" to say that we have expanded information-sharing, intelligence information-sharing with the Colombians, at their request.

QUESTION: Will this allow all of the array of anti-narcotics equipment, helicopters -- all of that stuff, will that now be possible to use against the FARC?

MR. BOUCHER: As I just mentioned for the third time, that having this new authority will put us in a position to consider a request like that from the Colombian Government. But until we have the authority, we can't really tell you yes or no.

QUESTION: Now Yemen?

QUESTION: Could you please -- now, we've heard now that no one's been injured, but we'd like you to go through everything we know about the Yemen bombing.

MR. BOUCHER: Everything we know about the explosions near our Embassy in Yemen is, first, caveated by we're getting the initial reports. I'm sure we don't have complete information yet. But here's what we know so far, that a person was outside one of the perimeter walls of our compound at the Embassy in Yemen, threw two objects, which appeared to have bounced off the walls and exploded. There was no damage. There was no injury in these explosions. That person is currently in custody of Yemeni authorities. They responded very quickly. They and our Embassy have obviously enhanced security at our Embassy, and they'll be investigating the incident.

QUESTION: This embassy -- you know, we just had testimony on various states of improvement, and I think the Secretary said -- I think -- by the end of the year, he hoped 50 percent could have at least minimal -- meet the minimal standards. Was this embassy a particularly secure embassy? Is it one of the newly secured embassies, or is it in the process of being --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. I'll check for you.

QUESTION: I just wondered.

MR. BOUCHER: No, it's a good question. I'll have to check.

QUESTION: But you did refer to perimeter walls in a plural sense. I don't know if that means a sequence that's harder to get at the embassy?

MR. BOUCHER: I haven't been there. I can't describe it for you. I'm told it's an outside wall of the compound of the embassy.

QUESTION: Did the hurler say anything, shout anything, leave any notes, "Down with Cheney," anything?

MR. BOUCHER: Not that I've heard of.

QUESTION: Did you say guerrilla?

QUESTION: Hurler.

QUESTION: Hurler. It's a baseball phrase.

QUESTION: I realize it's early, but have you determined yet if this is in any way related to the threat that the embassy warned of recently?

MR. BOUCHER: Don't know.

QUESTION: Can you say whether the hurler was -- can you say anything about the hurler?

MR. BOUCHER: It was a person --

QUESTION: Male? Yemeni?

MR. BOUCHER: A young male.

QUESTION: A young male.

QUESTION: Can you say whether the hurler was hurling concussion grenades?

MR. BOUCHER: That is one supposition, given the bounce and the blow and the explosion, but I don't think I can say that definitely.

QUESTION: They exploded outside the embassy compound?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, they appear to have sort of bounced off a wall. They didn't get over the wall.

QUESTION: Can you confirm the nationality of the hurler?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't think I can at this point. The individual.

QUESTION: Is that everything?

MR. BOUCHER: That's everything I -- that's more than I know.

QUESTION: Another area. I have just returned from the Indian subcontinent, and I was there on a short trip. I just want you to know that the Secretary should know that he's not very much popular in India. He may be popular in Pakistan, but that there are signs in the windows that, "Mr. Secretary, fulfill your promises and pledges you made to fight against terrorism." That means what they are saying really, that he should forcefully fight terrorism against India also as well, because of this reporters that also very popular that how brutally he was killed, and there was an ISI hand.

So what I'm asking is what the signs and the people are saying, when Secretary will take concrete steps to fight terrorism against India or in India?

MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary has been fighting terrorism wherever it occurs, against whomever it occurs, and I don't think we need to do any more to justify what we've been doing in this situation. And as far as the rest of the commentary, suppositions and fictional facts, I'll leave those alone for the moment.

QUESTION: Do you have an update on the Zinni mission and on the Middle East?

MR. BOUCHER: General Zinni arrived in the region yesterday to work with both sides to implement the Tenet security work plan as a means to reduce the violence, improve the security situation, as a first step towards the full implementation of the Mitchell Committee report and the resumption of a political process. General Zinni met with Prime Minister Sharon and Israeli security officials yesterday. He is meeting with Chairman Arafat around now, and Palestinian security officials as well with him, with Chairman Arafat. He will continue his meetings with security officials from both sides throughout the weekend.

We view as a positive step the Israeli withdrawals over the last 24 hours from the Palestinian-controlled areas into which they entered over the past two weeks. We continue to expect a complete withdrawal from all remaining Palestinian-controlled areas that the Israeli Defense Force recently entered. Such a complete withdrawal will greatly facilitate the work of General Zinni.

In addition, Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority must act now to confront those responsible for terror and violence. Terrorist attacks such as those that have occurred over the past week can only harm the interests of the Palestinian people, and harm progress towards the future of peace and security. Chairman Arafat has a responsibility to bring down the level of violence, especially in those areas from which Israel has withdrawn.

Both sides and all regional parties should continue to take immediate steps to create an environment in which progress is possible. This means ending violence and terror, considering the consequences of their actions, avoiding escalation, ending provocation and incitement, and ceasing immediately actions that harm civilians, including the demolition of homes, damage to civilian infrastructure such as access to water and electricity.

The focus of both sides must remain on ending this senseless violence and bloodshed, and restoring hope to the Israelis, Palestinians and the region as a whole.

QUESTION: Can you say whether in the last week or two weeks that Arafat has made any progress in this -- in your call for him to arrest those who -- confront and arrest those who were responsible for terror, and in terms of taking responsibility for his side in bringing down the violence? Have you seen any progress?

MR. BOUCHER: As you know, on no particular week do we answer that question. We don't do a week-by-week scorecard. We are not going to start now. Zinni is in the middle of this mission. We have always pointed in the direction of things that people still need to do. It's quite clear that there is more that Chairman Arafat needs to do, and we pointed out some of those things today.

QUESTION: Well, just to follow up, the reason I ask is that if -- I know you're not keeping score, but clearly there's been a shift away from the pro-Israeli position in this administration, obviously in the last eight days. So I -- can you point to anything that you've seen in terms of progress -- I mean, from the Palestinians? I'm not asking you to keep score.

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I don't accept the premise, so I'm not trying to justify it, either.

QUESTION: You don't accept the premise that General Zinni is --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't accept the premise, so I'm not trying to justify it, either. I'll leave it at that.

QUESTION: As a result of his meeting with the Israelis, can you say any more about where we stand on the observer mission?

MR. BOUCHER: No, nothing new on that. I'm not going to try to do this meeting by meeting. We'll try to update you on Zinni's meetings and his progress as it goes, but only in a general sense. I don't want to try to game his meetings from one to the next to the next.

QUESTION: Well, you could --

MR. BOUCHER: To the extent that he wants to talk about individual meetings, I'll leave it to him to do that out there.

QUESTION: Does he find the Israelis receptive to the idea of --

MR. BOUCHER: To the extent he wants to talk about individual meetings, I'll leave it to him out there.

QUESTION: There's a report that Mr. Powell called Mr. Sharon and virtually insisted that he pull his tanks out of Ramallah and some of the other cities; can you confirm that?

MR. BOUCHER: I would just say what we have said, both publicly and privately. Secretary Powell, as you know, has been in touch with Prime Minister Sharon and Chairman Arafat. We have had our Ambassador and our Consul General communicating with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. We have made clear, both in public and in private, that we are looking for them to take immediate steps that would facilitate General Zinni's mission. We are looking for them to take steps that would create a more positive environment for General Zinni to work in. And I'll leave it at that.

QUESTION: Have there been any more calls like that, or is that really Zinni's -- is that -- the point of contact is now Zinni?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, General Zinni is in direct touch with the parties. The Secretary, I don't think, has made any calls out to that region for a day or two.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: Richard, can you discuss an incident, apparently an American diplomat arrested (inaudible) yesterday and detained, and what were the circumstances?

MR. BOUCHER: Last night, March 14th. An American Embassy official in Belgrade who was meeting with Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Momcilo Perisic -- let me start over. An American Embassy official in Belgrade, meeting with Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Momcilo Perisic in a public restaurant last night, was arbitrarily arrested, physically assaulted, and held incommunicado for 15 hours by military officers. He has now been released to the Embassy. Let me point out he did not need medical treatment, so he's not in the hospital.

The United States is outraged by this unwarranted detention of a U.S. diplomat. We are forcefully protesting these actions by the Yugoslav military to the Yugoslav civilian authorities, including the President's Office. We've already delivered our message to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and we are now in contact with the President's Office.

In addition to our concerns about our diplomat, we are also concerned about this apparent move against an elected Serbian civilian official. Those who detained him were later identified as military police of the Yugoslav army. They were not wearing uniforms. They presented no identification, and they proceeded to interrogate our diplomat.

QUESTION: The reports have it that there was some sort of transfer of documents between them concerning possibly war crimes information and Milosevic. Do you have anything on that?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know who is putting out such reports, but this kind of detention of a diplomat, in whatever circumstances, we view as an outrage and should not be allowed to occur.

QUESTION: They also said they've also arrested Perisic following that, and it's because he founded a movement for a democratic Serbia and may be putting pressure on him in that regard.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm sure they'll come up with all kinds of reasons for doing these things. We think, first of all, the arrest and interrogation of a diplomat is an outrage, and, second of all, that this kind of assault on an elected civilian official is also something that we view with serious concern.

QUESTION: Richard, first of all, can you say -- if you can't say what this guy's name is, can you say what position he held at the Embassy?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know his name. I think he was a First Secretary at the Embassy.

QUESTION: Okay. And can you say -- has there been any response to your protest? Has there been any explanation from the military about why the detention happened?

MR. BOUCHER: Not that I know of at this point, but this is a rapidly moving thing that we're handling out in Belgrade.

QUESTION: When you say physically assaulted, Richard, can you say -- can you be more precise about what these military police did to him?

MR. BOUCHER: No, not at this point.

QUESTION: Can I ask about the EgyptAir crash? Egypt has said all along that it was a mechanical failure --

QUESTION: I'm sorry, can we stay on this for one second?

QUESTION: Yeah, sure. I thought you were done.

QUESTION: You said he didn't require hospitalization, but was he injured?

MR. BOUCHER: We found no need for medical treatment. I don't know what standards of injury we would use in these cases, but he was physically assaulted but, luckily, not injured to the point where he would require treatment.

QUESTION: Okay. And he was meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister for what, just a routine kind of --

MR. BOUCHER: They were meeting in a restaurant.

QUESTION: No, but, I mean, was there any particular reason for it other than dinner? Are they friends?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. Our embassies, as you know, keep in touch with elected civilian officials and governments throughout the world, and that's a normal diplomatic practice.

QUESTION: Can you describe this as a routine meeting over dinner?

MR. BOUCHER: Sure.

QUESTION: Okay, thank you.

QUESTION: You said you've identified the people who arrested him. Is that by name? Do you know the names of these people?

MR. BOUCHER: Not at this point. We know they were military police of the Yugoslav army.

QUESTION: I'm going to try, and it may be a little early to ask this, but the finding now that the co-pilot evidently brought the plan down, suicide. Egypt all along has said it was a mechanical failure, which sort of defied what most speculation had suggested, that it didn't just fall apart.

Is the U.S. going to be in touch now with the Egyptian Government? Is there anything to take up with them based on this latest government finding?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know if there is, Barry. I'll try to check on that for you. As you know, this is the finalization of a process that has gone on for a long time. We have worked very closely with Egypt throughout this investigation, and they have been quite aware of the information, the evidence, and we've talked about this many times with them in the past. We've tried to work very cooperatively in this matter, and indeed we have.

QUESTION: New subject? What can you tell us about the Secretary's meeting with Colonel John Garang this morning? How did that go?

MR. BOUCHER: It was a good meeting, interesting discussion. The Secretary made clear that President Bush is particularly concerned about the plight of the Sudanese people and the ongoing civil war. The Secretary discussed these concerns and conveyed to Mr. Garang this administration's commitment to finding a peaceful and just solution to the civil war. Both the Secretary and Mr. Garang noted the momentum that seems to be starting up in the process of resolving the issues in Sudan. So they discussed those issues. They discussed how to continue and further the process.

They talked about the status of various peace efforts that were under way, but also discussed the issue of development in southern Sudan. And Mr. Garang thanked us for the assistance the United States has been giving, particularly in the area of education, which he described as one of the keys to the future of the people of Sudan, and said he needed further assistance. And we said we continue to support that area.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, if the momentum appears to be building up, isn't it perhaps time that somebody started arranging some direct peace talks between the two parties? Where do we stand on that?

MR. BOUCHER: I would take the suggestion on board. I'm sure somebody might have thought of it already. But I have to say that there are a number of fora that have been involved with trying to promote the peace process, and we kind of at this moment updated each other on the status of those various discussions. But I don't have anything new to announce either on our behalf or anybody else's at this point.

QUESTION: With regards to the agreement that Mr. Garang and the Sudanese Government signed last week on not targeting civilians, does the State Department understand that to mean that Garang cannot continue his very public campaign of targeting Sudanese oil fields? Is that a civilian target? Would that be covered in this agreement not to target civilians?

MR. BOUCHER: I'd have to check. I'm sure all those things were discussed in Switzerland and elsewhere as this was worked out. I'll see if we can give you any more detail.

QUESTION: Yesterday Assistant Secretary Kelly made some news when he announced that the U.S. and North Korea had begun -- or at least had another meeting in New York. Do you have anything more to add to what he said yesterday about this?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think so. He was supposed to be using the same piece of paper that I had in front of me. But just in case he didn't use the whole thing, I'll tell you everything I know.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. BOUCHER: Our Special Envoy Charles Pritchard met with the North Korean Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York on March 13th. We found the meeting useful. Both sides agreed to continue their discussions at this level from time to time, and we remain willing to explore North Korea's receptivity to accepting our proposal for a dialogue.

QUESTION: That proposal was discussed?

MR. BOUCHER: That's always a subject of discussion. As you know, we have said we are ready to sit down for a serious dialogue any time, any place.

QUESTION: And you don't care to characterize the North Korean response? Well, this official first.

MR. BOUCHER: No, I would say that we felt the meeting was useful, and both sides agree to continue this kind of discussion.

QUESTION: At that level?

MR. BOUCHER: At this level.

QUESTION: Is this different from what you've been doing before? You've always had these kind -- you've always had contacts, maybe not as high as Pritchard. But what's changed?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, Pritchard has been up there to meet with them as well.

QUESTION: Well, so what's changed? What's new?

MR. BOUCHER: I didn't claim any breakthroughs or any particular news.

QUESTION: You guys have been talking about talking for months.

MR. BOUCHER: We have meetings from time to time. We have made clear from our side we are ready for a serious dialogue any time, any place. You know, we felt this particular meeting was useful. You asked us about it, and we're happy to tell you.

QUESTION: Richard, when was the last one?

MR. BOUCHER: Do you remember? We talked about the last one too, if I can remember correctly. A month or so.

QUESTION: Two months or so?

MR. BOUCHER: A month, two months, ago.

QUESTION: There has been one since the State of the Union?

MR. BOUCHER: I'll double-check. How long ago was the State of the Union? That's a hard question, too.

QUESTION: This also is fairly new. The report -- I guess I have to use the word "intelligence," which may preclude an answer -- but a long report, 60 pages, by Italian intelligence that terrorist cells may be more active against the United States in Italy. I don't even know that I've seen any alert or caution. Is there anything you want to contribute to that?

MR. BOUCHER: You want me to not only talk about intelligence, but talk about some other country's intelligence?

QUESTION: No, no, no. I want to ask you if the United States is suddenly under more danger --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any sweeping judgments like that for you now. I'm not going to talk about somebody else's report, either.

QUESTION: The report is about American installations.

MR. BOUCHER: Sorry.

QUESTION: Can I ask you about the reward program for Usama bin Laden? Apparently there is a new system where, instead of multimillions of dollar reward, they are offering sheep herds and wells so that the Afghans can relate to this reward better.

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have the exchange rate between $25 million and sheep.

QUESTION: But there is this new program --

MR. BOUCHER: I'll check on it for you. I'm afraid I'm just not aware of it.

QUESTION: There have been some reports -- I believe Al Jazeera reported that the Taliban have taken American POWs and that they are in contact with U.S. officials on that. I don't know if there is any credence to any of it. Do you have any comment?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't have any comment. I haven't heard anything like that, but you can check at the Pentagon if you feel like it.

QUESTION: Assistant Secretary Rocca is in Sri Lanka, went up to Jaffnaeither yesterday or today. She is, I guess -- she or the embassy or someone, some U.S. official has already spoken about this there, so if you don't have anything to add to that, you don't -- I don't need it. But if you do, it would be nice.

MR. BOUCHER: No, I just basically have the itinerary. This is actually her first visit to Sri Lanka as Assistant Secretary. She's on a two-week visit to South Asia as part of her regular responsibilities as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs. She'll be meeting with senior officials and the host government's business and nongovernmental organizations, consulting with colleagues in our embassies and consulates.

She has already stopped in Bangladesh and Maldives, is currently in Sri Lanka, and will be traveling to India, the last country she'll visit in the region tomorrow.

QUESTION: She's not going to Pakistan or Afghanistan?

MR. BOUCHER: She was in Pakistan in January. She'll go back again when her responsibilities require. She's been out there recently so she didn't do it on this trip.

QUESTION: And Afghanistan? That's in the South Asia Bureau, right?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, it sure is.

QUESTION: She's not going there?

MR. BOUCHER: Not this trip, no.

QUESTION: Just to follow up, this is her first visit actually as Assistant Secretary in the region.

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: He just said she went to Pakistan.

MR. BOUCHER: She's been there by herself at least once before, maybe more than that.

QUESTION: First visit as Assistant Secretary.

MR. BOUCHER: First visit as Assistant Secretary. Yes, I know that. But she's been to the region before by herself, she's been with the Secretary of State to the region, and obviously she has very close contacts and ties out there.

QUESTION: The visit comes after very high-level visits in the region. Now, is she carrying any special messages from the Secretary or President?

MR. BOUCHER: This is part of her regular responsibilities to go out and talk to people, consult with them, understand the situation, discuss current developments. And I'm sure that's what she'll be doing out there.

QUESTION: Okay, change of subject. The House International Relations Committee says -- and I believe it introduced it already -- the Freedom Promotion Act of 2002, and says that this will change the public diplomacy efforts at the State Department. Is this something that's been worked up in consultation with the Department or something that, if it passes, would be imposed on the Department? Is it a positive thing? What can you tell us?

MR. BOUCHER: As you know, we have had various discussions, testimonies, about public diplomacy. The Secretary himself has made it an important issue when he has been up on the Hill, and described a lot of the efforts that we are making, have made and will make, not only to carry the argument forward but also to extend our exchanges, extend our contacts, and extend the discussion and dialogue about values with various parts of the world. So in those terms, we and Congress, I think, are thinking along the same lines.

As far as the specific legislation, we're taking a look at it. We'll get comments back up to the Hill, but at this point we haven't done that yet.

QUESTION: It's not a hostile imposition of legislation at this point?

MR. BOUCHER: I would say that we and the Congress, as you can see from the hearings, as you can see from the discussion we've had with some of these same people on the Hill, we are all thinking in the same direction. We are indeed expanding our efforts. We are indeed present in markets and areas where we had not been for quite a while and we are expanding the fundamentals -- the exchange programs, the discussions, the dialogues, the visitors, TV productions, all kinds of things like that.

QUESTION: Today there is an EU meeting in Barcelona, and one of the problems that they are relating to is the steel tariff. And the EU wants to fight back, and they're also attempting to link, along with South Korea and Japan, any comments on this, as well as the talks last week with the Russian Government.

MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't have any particular comment on this. The President made quite clear we felt that the action was necessary and justified, that we will defend trade laws and implement our trade laws fully and fairly. And obviously people have talked about WTO action and other things, and they have a right to do that, but we think the action is justified and we'll defend it.

QUESTION: Anything more on the chicken war front?

MR. BOUCHER: No updates on chickens. It remains a subject of high-level concern, a subject that we continue to deal with in Moscow. Our experts are still out there trying to work out a common scientific understanding and resolve it on that basis.

QUESTION: Next week the UN Human Rights Commission opens its annual meeting. I seem to remember that last year you guys had a bit of a problem over there. What are you doing this year to make sure that you don't get snubbed or that you get reelected to the commission?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, there's two aspects to that. One is what's been happening in, I think largely in New York. Let me update you on that and then I'll tell you about our role at this year's commission.

The U.S. will be a candidate for election to the UN Human Rights Commission in 2002. The Western European and Others Group, the regional grouping in which the United States participates at the UN, now has an uncontested or clean slate of four candidates, including the United States, for the four seats to be filled by that group at the 2002 election. These four seats are for three-year terms beginning in 2003. So these elections take place. We will be on the slate of four candidates from the Western European and Others Group, but these elections actually take place after this year's initial sessions that are coming up this month.

QUESTION: Four openings, and there are only four candidates?

MR. BOUCHER: Four openings, four candidates.

QUESTION: Now, how did that happen?

MR. BOUCHER: The group itself had a lot of discussions about this and worked it out so that there were four candidates and four openings.

QUESTION: Who are the other three?

MR. BOUCHER: The other three -- Ireland, Australia and the other one -- I'm sorry, whoever that is. But I'll get you the list.

QUESTION: And this is the Western European and Others?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, Western European and Others.

QUESTION: On the same subject --

MR. BOUCHER: Well, can I finish the second part? Because he asked about two things. Now, this year's session, which happens before this election, will be held in Geneva from March 18th to April 26th, 2002. This is the 58th session in Geneva of the UN Commission on Human Rights. As you know, the United States was not elected to membership in the Commission for 2002, but we will participate as an observer. Our delegation will be headed by Ambassador Kevin Moley, our Permanent Representative in Geneva.

As an observer, we can't sponsor resolutions alone at the Commission, but we are in very close touch with friends and allies on the Commission. We look forward to other democracies playing an important role at this session, and we hope that the Commission will take positive actions on the range of human rights issues.

QUESTION: What resolutions are you planning on assisting in?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm sure we'll try to help with any kind of work that goes on at the Commission out there.

QUESTION: Well, is there any specific -- are there any countries that you specifically would like to see or that you --

MR. BOUCHER: We continue to have a very strong interest in human rights in Cuba. We have a strong interest in human rights in China. We'll watch that carefully, that situation.

So we'll be, I think, paying close attention to what happens in the Commission, what other countries propose and do on issues that have traditionally been of significant concern to us.

QUESTION: Can I ask one question about what's going on in north Iraq? There's a report in the Christian Science Monitor this morning that the Islamic radical group, just like Taliban and the al-Qaida, are growing in the north Iraqi region, and they are burning the houses or the schools, and they are killing the women who reject the burqa, and these kinds of things. Do you have -- are you aware of this kind of situation?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any information like that. I would have to check if there is any.

QUESTION: Can you make a comment on the indictment in connection with the reporter Daniel's indictment?

MR. BOUCHER: No, not any more than I did yesterday.

QUESTION: If the U.S. officially ever asked the Pakistani authorities for the extradition of Omar or others in connection with the murder --

MR. BOUCHER: As I said, I don't have anything more on that than what I said yesterday.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:20 p.m. EST.)

(end State Department transcript)

(end transcript)

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

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