*EPF501 04/05/2002
Transcript: State Department Briefing, April 5, 2002
(Afghanistan, Middle East, Pakistan/Daniel Pearl trial, Taiwan) (4230)

Deputy State Department Spokesman Philip Reeker briefed reporters April 5 in the State Department briefing room.

Following is the State Department transcript:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Office of the Spokesman
April 5, 2002

REMARKS TO THE PRESS BY DEPUTY SPOKESMAN PHILIP T. REEKER

April 5, 2002
Washington, D.C.

(2:35 p.m. EST)

QUESTION: Is there going to be a transcript of this?

MR. REEKER: Sure, yes. We'll do a transcript. That means you can be lazy. You don't even have to get out your pens. Okay, a few things to go over, then I'll see what I can tell you on the issue I know most have.

First, we'll put out a statement directly after this on welcoming and strongly supporting the Afghan Interim Authority's plan to implement its ban on poppy. We're going to look forward to working closely with the Afghan Interim Authority to make it successful. As you know, in January, the Afghan Interim Authority issued a decree banning the cultivation, processing and trafficking of opiates; and, subsequently, on April 4th, the Interim Authority announced that they will implement, with international community funding, a compensation program that offers cultivators approximately $1,200 per hectare of eradicated opium. We will support this partial compensation program with short-term cash for work projects for laborers in poppy areas, and we will continue efforts to interdict the flow of opium into international markets by strengthening the law enforcement and judicial capacities of Afghanistan's neighbors.

Questions on that? I think the White House put out a similar statement.

George, I can hold on till afterwards. I've got the information on Angola you were interested in about aid and de-mining programs. We can do that afterwards.

I think the Middle East, of course, is the thing that you're all most interested in. I don't have lots of details for you, but I can announce that the Secretary of State will depart for the region on Sunday, April the 7th. And we just don't have his exact itinerary squared away yet, but we'll let you know as soon as we do.

The Secretary does expect to be in Madrid for the previously scheduled meetings with the US-EU ministerial, as well as his meeting with Foreign Minister Ivanov, so that will be in Madrid beginning on Wednesday, meetings on Wednesday. And then we'll get other details of the travel to you when we have them.

QUESTION: Is he trying to arrange a meeting with Yasser Arafat?

MR. REEKER: I will let you know with whom and where he's having meetings when we get there. He's doing exactly what the President charged him to do: to go out to the region to discuss with regional leaders the importance of their role in this, and moving forward on what the President described in his speech yesterday.

QUESTION: Is there a possibility he would not see Arafat?

MR. REEKER: I'll give you information on meetings when we actually have information on meetings. There's a lot of people in the region that play an important role. He'll be seeing the Foreign Minister of Jordan just a little later this afternoon, and will be speaking to you after that. And I think the senior administration official who briefed at the White House yesterday indicated some of the other people that we've been talking to that are important to this effort.

And we've certainly been through the phone calls that the Secretary has made. If you wanted to get an update on those, I think most of you got the rest of yesterday's calls. Today, the Secretary spoke with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Tang --

QUESTION: Do you have anything on calls after you briefed?

MR. REEKER: Yes. Do you want to just clean up all the Thursday calls?

QUESTION: The Arafat call.

MR. REEKER: The Arafat call was the one that was of most interest to people. The Secretary did speak to him at around 6 o'clock. Kofi Annan -- no, last night -- that would be Thursday -- Arafat. Kofi Annan I mentioned. I think during the briefing yesterday we talked about calls to the Norwegian Foreign Minister, as well as the Netherlands Foreign Minister. He also spoke with German Foreign Minister Fischer, Spanish Foreign Minister Pique, and, on other matters, the Mexican Foreign Minister, Mr. Castaneda.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) called Arafat?

MR. REEKER: No.

QUESTION: Those were all yesterday?

MR. REEKER: Those were all yesterday's calls.

QUESTION: No calls since --

MR. REEKER: I was half way through those when --

QUESTION: When I rudely interrupted.

MR. REEKER: So, go back now to -- or come forward now to today's calls, that is, Friday, April 5th. He spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang; the Angolan Minister for External Relations, Mr. Miranda; and Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov. And as you know, as I said, he is meeting with the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Mr. Muasher, in just a short while.

Ben, other questions?

QUESTION: Does the State Department believe that Israel should begin to pull back its forces by the time Mr. Powell arrives?

MR. REEKER: I'll just point you back to what the President talked about yesterday. The President expects results. He made that quite clear in his speech. He talked about implementing the UN Security Council Resolutions 1397, 1402 and 1403, which was passed last night, which embraced President Bush's initiative. And that's exactly what the Secretary expects to focus on in his discussions with regional leaders.

Again, the President wants to see results, and that includes withdrawal as soon as possible.

QUESTION: Have you had phone contact with Sharon since yesterday? Did I miss that? He hasn't at all --

MR. REEKER: Yesterday's phone call with Sharon was the last --

QUESTION: At what time?

MR. REEKER: I don't have the time. It was early; we briefed that yesterday.

QUESTION: But since the speech, since the President's speech, he hasn't? It didn't sound like he did.

MR. REEKER: Not to my knowledge, no.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. REEKER: No.

QUESTION: Are you satisfied with the Israeli reaction to the call for a withdrawal?

MR. REEKER: I'm not quite sure what you mean, "Israeli reaction." I've read lots of different reactions, in terms of things out there. There were -- an official Palestinian Authority statement that said they are unconditionally committed to the declaration of President Bush. The President said, you know, he expects the Palestinian Authority and all governments in the region to do everything in their power to stop terrorism.

I think I've seen a variety of Israeli reactions. The Foreign Ministry statement referred to noting with satisfaction President Bush's words on the necessity to put an end to terror. So there's lots of reactions out there, and the Secretary is going out there to talk about this, and to move forward on what the President talked about.

QUESTION: Can I just follow up on that? So you're saying that from the Israelis -- it doesn't sound like you've heard a reaction from Israel to the call for a pullback.

MR. REEKER: Then I've -- as I said, there have been lots of reactions to the President's speech. In fact, I think if you just look at the editorial reaction, we have --

QUESTION: I've already done that.

MR. REEKER: And there have been a variety of government reactions. We'll let them react, and the Secretary will go out to talk to regional leaders about this. He's been on the phone talking to a variety of leaders about this, about implementing what the President called for and seeing results from that.

QUESTION: Can I just -- one last attempt to do this question, okay? The Deputy Foreign Minister yesterday said that Israel will not stop its operation until it's completed. Does that satisfy the United States?

MR. REEKER: The President said what he wants to see done. And that's implementation of the Security Council resolutions; he described that, exactly what he wants to see done. That includes withdrawal as soon as possible.

QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to the Israeli helicopter gunship attack on a Palestinian house today, in which six people were allegedly killed?

MR. REEKER: I am not aware of that specific attack. I haven't seen it on the wires, and I don't --

QUESTION: Well, it happened hours ago, and it was a helicopter gunship attack in the West Bank.

MR. REEKER: Elaine, I haven't read about it, I don't know. I'm sorry, I can't react to something I don't know about.

QUESTION: Yesterday, the President said two things. He said that he wanted to see Israel to stop the incursions, and to start or to begin a withdrawal. Does it mean that you want an immediate cessation of the incursions, and then a withdrawal?

MR. REEKER: What the President said was he expects to see results. And that includes withdrawal as soon as possible. He referred specifically -- you have his remarks as much as I do -- to implementing the UN Security Council Resolution 1402, and exactly what that calls for. That's what Secretary Powell is going to be working on: an immediate and meaningful cease-fire, an end to terror and violence and incitement, withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah, implementation of the already agreed-upon Tenet and Mitchell plans, which will lead to a political settlement.

QUESTION: I understand that you can't tell us what his schedule is, or whether he plans to see Arafat -- although I have to assume that since he's doing mediation, he'll try and talk to the Palestinians. Can you maybe tell us even just on background, so that we can understand better what this mission is about? Is he going out there to do shuttle diplomacy? Is he going out there to stop off at each capital and just consult, and then talk to the Israelis and the Palestinians and try to get an immediate cease-fire for a short term? Is he going to stay out there until there's a cease-fire? Can you give us some kind of weighted --

QUESTION: Is he going to jump-start political negotiating --

MR. REEKER: I think that the senior administration official who briefed yesterday from the White House gave you a picture of what Secretary Powell is planning to do, directly in line with what the President said quite clearly he's charging him to do. You know, sending Secretary Powell to the region to seek broad international support; it's time for everybody to take on and live up to the responsibilities they have as leaders. That includes regional leaders.

And the Secretary will work to implement the UN Security Council resolution, 1402, which was reiterated in 1403 yesterday. And that Security Council resolution lays out a number of things. Those are all things the Secretary will be focused on seeing happen.

So he will leave Sunday for the region, and he will be able to see regional leaders -- as well as Europeans, when he visits Madrid as planned, including the Russian Foreign Minister. And I think that's really -- it's been sort of covered.

QUESTION: That high-level official who briefed at the White House yesterday was not sure that Powell would be able to see Arafat; thought the meeting between Arafat and Zinni would go a long way to determining whether they would meet --

MR. REEKER: Before you came in, I was saying I don't have a readout of the meetings, the schedule for the Secretary's trip, other than to say that he's leaving Sunday -- which should make you happy -- and will be going to the region, and then expects to have his meetings in Madrid as scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday. So we'll get to you as soon as we can with more details of the where and the who.

QUESTION: Thank you; that last point covers it, I guess. But as of -- has the situation changed, so far as an Arafat meeting, from yesterday, where there was some uncertainty, but --

MR. REEKER: Barry, we haven't announced any meetings. So -- other than the meetings that we expect, the previously scheduled meetings in Europe. So, when we have meetings to announce -- the Secretary is going out to meet leaders from the region.

General Zinni, as you said, as planned, met with Chairman Arafat in Ramallah earlier today. He emphasized to Chairman Arafat that the President had given a clear message on the need for decisive action now to end the violence, and the importance of implementing 1397, 1402, and 1403.

QUESTION: What is the current thinking on where he will go from Madrid?

MR. REEKER: Again, I don't have any more --

QUESTION: I mean, is he going to come back here or go back to the region?

MR. REEKER: I don't have any more on scheduling for you. He is leaving Sunday to the region. He'll include his Madrid meetings as planned. And then we'll let you know as soon as we have more scheduled.

QUESTION: He could be, then, going back to the region after Madrid, in other words?

MR. REEKER: Right. I don't think I indicated otherwise.

QUESTION: Just checking.

QUESTION: Last night, the Security Council resolution included the words "without delay," that an Israeli withdrawal should begin "without delay." So, since the State Department is part of -- you know, has representatives at the United Nations, why can't you say also "withdrawal without delay"?

MR. REEKER: I will be happy to say "withdrawal without delay," if that's what it says here. Let's read the Security Council resolution together. "Demands implementation of 1402 without delay." And that's what it says, not what you said. So let's just stick to what it says.

QUESTION: Ah, there's the wiggle room.

QUESTION: Yeah, okay.

MR. REEKER: I told you, the President expects to see results, and that includes withdrawal as soon as possible.

QUESTION: Can I change the subject?

QUESTION: Wait, wait --

MR. REEKER: No. Let Elaine do one more.

QUESTION: When the President talks about Secretary Powell going there to try and create this vision of peace, does he have in mind an actual peace proposal that the Secretary will try to --

MR. REEKER: He has in mind implementing 1402, which is what the President said --

QUESTION: So there's no peace proposal? He's not bringing a peace proposal with him?

MR. REEKER: He has in mind implementing 1402, whatever may be done to do those steps. That is what the Secretary is going there to do, and to seek the broad international support for what the President has talked about.

QUESTION: What I'm getting at --

MR. REEKER: Elaine, I don't have anything more for you. Okay?

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: This is on the --

MR. REEKER: I'm sorry. One more Middle East. That's okay.

QUESTION: Yesterday after the Powell meeting was -- sorry, the Powell trip was announced, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades came out with a statement that said that they would kill any Palestinian who met with Powell. What is your reaction to that?

MR. REEKER: We know that the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade is a terrorist organization. We designated them that under our law. That describes the type of terrorist behavior that the President has talked about and which we will not stand for. And people in the region shouldn't stand for it either, because these people are terrorists who are seeking to undermine any effort at peace. Their whole reasoning is against peace, and so --

QUESTION: The kind of terrorist behavior, was the word? Terrorist behavior that --

MR. REEKER: Well, that type of statement --

QUESTION: Right. No, I'm just trying to write down just exactly what you said.

MR. REEKER: Is exactly what -- I don't know what I said, either. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: That we won't stand -- (laughter). That we won't stand for, and the people should not -- and the people in the region shouldn't stand for. Does that sound right?

MR. REEKER: That sounds close enough.

QUESTION: Okay, good.

MR. REEKER: You can check the transcript.

QUESTION: Can I ask one more on the trip? For the benefit of my masters, would you explain the snub to Germany, getting it off the itinerary?

MR. REEKER: I wouldn't call it a snub at all. I think Secretary Powell has been in touch, very close touch, with the Germans. You know, he had planned to go to Germany, to Berlin, where he was going to talk more about Europe, part of our continuing consultations with European leaders, and efforts to reach out to European publics as well. Obviously that will have to be postponed for another time because of the press of the mission that the President talked about yesterday. But he will be seeing Europeans in Madrid and so he --

QUESTION: I assume he informed Fischer about skipping Berlin when he spoke to him yesterday.

MR. REEKER: Oh, I think he talked about it long before that. If you -- as he indicated in his wire roundtable on --

QUESTION: Well, he said then it might be a possibility, but I mean now it's definite.

MR. REEKER: Yes, he had indicated that. So they've been in close touch all --

QUESTION: As of yesterday, your people were saying it was still --

MR. REEKER: As of yesterday, what we were saying was we didn't -- actually, as of yesterday, I was saying there was no Berlin stop. But we didn't have details, even as few as we have now.

QUESTION: You said that the President expects results, including withdrawal, as soon as possible. As soon as possible for the Israelis?

MR. REEKER: Ben, I'm not going to play word games with you.

QUESTION: You don't want to explain what that means?

MR. REEKER: I'm not going to play word games with you.

QUESTION: Okay, I didn't think so.

QUESTION: This is on the --

MR. REEKER: Oh, I'm sorry, I was asking the -- oh, you were -- I'm sorry, I did -- we got so messed up here. Everybody looks so grumpy. Geez. (Laughter.) Go ahead, Elise.

QUESTION: This is on the second American Taliban. There have been reports --

MR. REEKER: That's not a State Department question.

QUESTION: Oh, no, I understand. But there are reports that he is of Saudi descent, and I was just wondering if there were any discussions or consultations with the Saudis --

MR. REEKER: Not that I'm aware.

QUESTION: -- that you've been --

MR. REEKER: Not that I'm aware.

QUESTION: Okay. Could you take that?

MR. REEKER: No.

QUESTION: Why not?

MR. REEKER: He's not part of our issue at all. If there's anything about him -- you know, of Saudi descent, if he's -- Justice Department will determine his citizenship. He is in the military's custody, so you can talk to DOD. And we usually don't focus on a person's descent in terms of --

QUESTION: No, I understand, but if they are a national of a country that they --

MR. REEKER: Are you asking about a dual citizenship question?

QUESTION: Yeah. That -- wouldn't the consultations with the government in terms of notifying other countries be done through the State Department?

MR. REEKER: And as we said, we have done that. We have been in touch with countries whose nationals may be at Guantanamo, and talked to them about that. But I'm not going to have any detail; that's why I'm not going to take a question on it, because I'm not going to have anything for you on it.

QUESTION: Do you have any comment on the commencement of the Pearl trial and its closing to the media?

MR. REEKER: Yes, I can -- obviously we're looking at every --

QUESTION: And if there's any concern about the possible transparency problems?

MR. REEKER: We're looking at that very closely, and we have officers from our consulate in Karachi attending. It opened -- that is, the trial of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheik and three other defendants accused in the kidnapping and murder case of Daniel Pearl. It had a short session and was adjourned today until April 12th.

We will be following the trial closely. We expect there will be due transparency and due process to the proceedings, in spite of quite understandable security concerns. As I mentioned, we have observers from our consulate in Karachi. And I think we have discussed before that US law enforcement officials will assist Pakistani prosecutors, as appropriate. As you know, we agree with the Pakistanis that justice must be done in this case, and we have been working together all along to assure that this objective is achieved. And we have had excellent cooperation with Pakistan on this.

QUESTION: So there's no sense that anybody's being kept out except the media, right?

MR. REEKER: Yes. I mean, our people have been there observing from the consulate in Karachi.

QUESTION: Right.

MR. REEKER: And I'm not even sure of the media arrangements for it. I would have to refer you to them on that.

QUESTION: Also on Pakistan --

MR. REEKER: The gentleman back here was first, and then can we come back to it, George? Or do you want to do Pakistan and then we will -- yes?

QUESTION: Also on Pakistan, did you ever respond to President Musharraf's decision to hold a referendum?

MR. REEKER: I think he only formally announced that today. And similar to what we had said before based on the reports of that -- there were a number of reports and rumors of that -- we think that restoration of democratic, civilian rule is critical to Pakistan's political and economic development. We have said that for a long time. And we think it is important that Pakistan follows constitutional procedures as it pursues this process, with legality of any particular action such as a referendum to be decided by the courts, if that is required.

And so we support steps toward the return of civilian rule in Pakistan, in particular, the holding of free and fair provincial and national parliamentary elections in October, which they had also announced previously.

QUESTION: (Inaudible)?

MR. REEKER: If they don't do --?

QUESTION: If Pakistan, if they don't follow the procedures you just outlined for return to civilian rule?

MR. REEKER: I guess that would be sort of hypothetical. You simply asked what our reaction was to this statement by President Musharraf. That's what we think it should be. We think that is important for Pakistan's future.

We have applauded President Musharraf's speech, where he outlined his own vision for Pakistan's future back in January. So we will keep in close touch on that.

Now, this gentleman. Sorry.

QUESTION: Sorry. If I may return to the Middle East, I'm unclear about the position on settlements -- if the US would like to see a halt to construction on existing settlements, and if you could clarify that?

MR. REEKER: The President's speech talked about the importance for Israel of distinguishing between terrorists and ordinary people, first of all, in their approach to security -- distinguishing between terrorists and ordinary people carrying on their daily lives. And he also reiterated our commitment to the implementation of all of the Mitchell committee's recommendations, including a stop to settlement activity. That is something that has been in the Mitchell framework, obviously, for a long time. It is something we have talked about for a long time. And that is exactly what the President said. We think that is important.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) existing settlements?

MR. REEKER: A stop to settlement activity, yes. I don't know if I made myself some more notes on that. I was just looking back at what we had said in the past.

Yes, it was the Mitchell plan. According to Mitchell, an end to settlement activity means no new settlements and no expansion of existing settlements. That is in the Mitchell Report. Obviously, the fate of existing settlements we have always regarded as a final status issue that should be negotiated, that should be resolved by negotiation.

QUESTION: Can you comment on Sudan apparently stopping World Food Program flights?

MR. REEKER: Hadn't heard that, hadn't seen that report.

QUESTION: When the Secretary spoke to the Angolan Foreign Minister, (inaudible) congratulations?

MR. REEKER: No, I think he reiterated the type of thing we said publicly in my statement yesterday.

QUESTION: There is a story in today's Washington Post regarding a secret fund set up by Taiwan's former President, Lee Teng-hui, which also involves some State Department officials like John Bolton and Jim Kelly. Do you have any comments on that?

MR. REEKER: No, I don't think I read the story, and I don't think we would comment on things that involve people prior to their work at the State Department, their official capacity. So that is just not something we would have anything on.

QUESTION: By the way, the President just said in yesterday's speech calling Taiwan as the "Republic of Taiwan," which is not Taiwan's name actually. I'm just wondering if the State Department has any comment on that?

MR. REEKER: Other than just to assure you there is no change in longstanding US policy on that.

QUESTION: So the name is still --

MR. REEKER: We refer to Taiwan, and the people on Taiwan -- and as you know, our relations are conducted in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act and the three communiqu��.

Anything else for today?

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. REEKER: Okay. See you all.

(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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