*EPF501 09/03/2004
Transcript: State Department Noon Briefing, September 3
(Russia, Iran, Lebanon, Sudan, South Africa, Taiwan) (3910)

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed reporters September 3.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Friday, September 3, 2004
12:40 p.m. EDT

BRIEFER: Richard Boucher, Spokesman

RUSSIA
-- Condemnation of the Violence in North Ossetia/Condolences to Families

IRAN
-- Secretary's Phone Conversations with European Foreign Ministers
-- Uranium Enrichment Activity/IAEA Report
-- Referral to UN Security Council

LEBANON
-- UN Security Council Resolution Passage
-- Syrian Interference in Lebanese Constitutional Processes
-- Urged Departure of Foreign Forces from Lebanon/Lebanese Sovereignty

SUDAN
-- Government's Failure to Meet Obligations Under UN Resolution 1556
-- Genocide Determination/Refugee Interviews/Pattern of Attacks
-- Further Steps That Can Be Taken/UN Resolution

SOUTH AFRICA
-- Actions Against A.Q. Khan Network

TAIWAN
-- Encounter with Taiwanese Foreign Minister

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 2004
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

12:40 p.m. EDT

MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I don't have any statements or announcements. I'd be glad to take your questions.

Sir.

QUESTION: The Russian situation. Is there -- can you tell you whatever involvement, if there is any on the U.S.'s part?

MR. BOUCHER: We're certainly following the news reports in North Ossetia, and our Embassy in Moscow has followed events reported to us -- events as they're being reported in Moscow.

I think our Embassy has also been out already to express to the Russia people our sympathies and condolences for the apparent loss of life. I want to make very clear we absolutely condemn the hostage taking. We deplore the senseless loss of life. This was a particularly barbaric act of terrorism that put at risk the lives of dozens of children as well as parents and teachers.

The blame for the tragedy lies squarely with the terrorists. There is no cause that can justify these kinds of terrorist acts. We do offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims. We grieve with Russia on this tragic day.

As I think I noted yesterday, the President spoke with President Putin. On Wednesday, the Secretary spoke with Foreign Minister Lavrov yesterday, and, as I said, our Embassy has been staying in touch and following events out in Moscow and making sure the Russian people and Government understand our sympathy and our solidarity as they face this very difficult and tragic situation.

QUESTION: I hate to ask the next question considering how many lives are at stake, but do you care to say anything about the way the Russians are willing to negotiate? Or, is that something for the Russians to figure out?

MR. BOUCHER: That's something for the Russians to address. We're not going to try to second-guess things from -- at this moment from out here.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, sir.

QUESTION: New subject. On Iran and the IAEA, has the Secretary made any additional calls other than to the EU-3 on this? And what's the status of your lobbying campaign in Vienna and elsewhere?

MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary spoke yesterday with the German, French and British Foreign Ministers on the subject of Iran and its nuclear developments. He has also -- we have also diplomatically kept in touch with other governments through our embassies and through our mission in Vienna. I don't really think there's anything new to report at this juncture. We have made very clear we think it's time to move the matter forward to the UN Security Council and we're going to see if we can't develop a consensus on that at this moment, given the continuing record of Iran's failures and the documented refusal of Iran to implement the recommendations and requirements of the Board of Governors.

QUESTION: On Lebanon, the Lebanese parliament is meeting on Friday, and I believe they're expected to vote to extend Lahud's term. Do you have anything fresh you want to say about that? And are you -- do you regret that you passed the resolution yesterday with only the barest of margins and that you had to soften it by excising references to Syria?

MR. BOUCHER: I think, first, it's important to note the Security Council has passed a resolution. This is a clear statement from the international community. It's very consistent with previous resolutions that the UN Security Council has passed, making clear that there needs to be -- Lebanon needs to be free of all foreign forces; they need to disband and disarm the Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias; and the Security Council is now clearly on record supporting a free and fair electoral process without foreign interference.

The vote count -- is passage. I think Danforth, Ambassador Danforth explained that given the pace of events in the region we had felt we had to go for a vote at this time. But we did get the resolution. It passed. It's a Security Council resolution that we expect all the parties to listen to, respect and comply with. And that's where I go back to the answering of the first half your question that we would hope the Lebanese parliament, the Lebanese cabinet, would take this into account.

But more importantly, we would hope that they would be free to make decisions that reflect the will of the Lebanese people without undue interference or influence from outside parties. It's clear the Lebanese parliamentarians have been pressured and even threatened by Syria and its agents to make them comply. This makes a mockery of democratic principles and we would hope that they would be allowed to make their decision openly and fairly and, in that way, to have a free and fair presidential election process.

QUESTION: Richard, when you say that it's clear that the members of the parliament have been intimidated, and, in some cases, threatened. What is your evidence of that?

MR. BOUCHER: I think Lebanese press reporting provides a lot of evidence of that. I'm sure our embassy out there is looking at it closely as well.

Sir.

QUESTION: Do you think, Richard, that the Lebanese parliament voting today is a defeat for the UN resolution?

MR. BOUCHER: We expect all parties to take into account the will of the United Nations Security Council when they pass resolutions. That is certainly what many people in the region have often called for. And as we have tried to implement resolutions in this region, it's important that people take them seriously. So this is a resolution in the UN Security Council. We would hope the Lebanese parliament would take it seriously.

But as I said, more important than that, those who are interfering in this process, Syria, its agents and others, should take it seriously and allow the Lebanese Parliament and Lebanese people to make these decisions in a fair and open atmosphere.

QUESTION: Do you have anything to add or take away from what Ambassador Danforth had to say yesterday in this dual between UN ambassadors over whether the central government is directly responsible for some 50,000 deaths, one million displaced persons?

MR. BOUCHER: I think -- let me add to what our Ambassador said yesterday because what we've seen is now even more facts and information coming in. Our Ambassador made clear yesterday that it's documented now from a variety of sources that the Government of Sudan and the Jingaweit militias have continued their attacks on civilians in Darfur.

The Government of Sudan has not fully complied with UN Security Council Resolution 1556, and it has failed to meet, fully, its obligations to ensure the protection of its own civilian population.

That is documented in the UN report that was submitted. It's also documented in the reports of the African Union Ceasefire Commission. That Ceasefire Commission has confirmed an attack on the village of Hashaba, in Darfur, by the Government of Sudan using attack helicopters on August 26th. Thirteen homes were confirmed burnt in that attack. The Commission has also confirmed the Government of Sudan's use of attack helicopters on the village of Gallab on August 26th. And the Commission has confirmed attacks on yet another village on August 25th.

On August 24th, the Ceasefire Commission confirmed that the village of Yassin was attacked. Ceasefire monitoring personnel reported finding five dead in a mass grave. The Ceasefire Commission has reported that the Jingaweit were responsible for this attack.

So all these attacks are documented. The Government of Sudan's responsibility is clear not only in the general sense that is discussed in the UN report, but also in some of these very specific ways. And all this information, I think, is being made available by the African Union.

QUESTION: Well, everybody is -- thank you, but everybody is stepping very gingerly around a racial angle. Are these people victims because they're black and because their tormentors, you know, are oppressing them because of their color, because of their religion, or what?

MR. BOUCHER: As you know, we've been looking at this question. The question fundamentally involves whether it's genocide.

QUESTION: Right.

MR. BOUCHER: We have done interviews during the month of August with over 1,100 refugees in a systematic way, asking about their experience. Their information, even on some of these more recent attacks, coincides with the pattern that we have seen that government forces, Jingaweit militias, Arab groups -- there's a pattern of attacks against non-Arab populations.

Exactly what that constitutes in terms of the crime of genocide and how that needs to be examined and looked at is something that we have to address, and the report of those interviews and the kind of conclusions we might draw are in the final stage of preparation.

I point out, as well; the Secretary of State has testimony on Sudan next week, on September 9th, and may be able to address some of these issues more fully by that time.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: Can I go back to Lebanon for a second?

QUESTION: Can I follow up on this, just one small thing?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: You said that the interviews -- the more than 1,100 interviews -- were done with refugees. Did you mean to imply that you didn't actually talk to any of the internally displaced people in Sudan, that you only talked to people who have fled into Chad?

MR. BOUCHER: Those particular interviews -- that particular set of interviews -- was done in Chad, in the refugee camps.

We have always made clear that that single -- that source of information being very important, but it's not the only source we have. We have, as I just said, from a variety of sources this kind of information. We do know what's going on inside Darfur. We've talked to a lot of people and there have been UN missions and others who have been out there. We know what the refugees can tell us. We know what we can learn on our own from various technical or national means. And we follow everything in this area very, very closely.

QUESTION: Still on Sudan?

MR. BOUCHER: Teri.

QUESTION: Can you explain why, in the past -- I guess the U.S., or at least the UN, altogether has been unwilling to impose an arms embargo on the Government of Sudan. Since these helicopters are government helicopters, it's obvious that they're being supplied. You wouldn't say yesterday whether that's one of the options being considered in the new resolution, but why isn't that something that -- I mean, putting an arms embargo on the Jingaweit when they just get all of their supplies from the government seems a bit useless. Why haven't you been willing to do that?

MR. BOUCHER: As we have made clear, we are looking now at what further steps can be taken. Steps have been taken. We've called on the government to do certain things that they haven't done and we are looking at what further steps can be taken. We're preparing a further UN resolution and looking at what goes into that. We expect we'll be talking to other governments shortly about the elements that can go into a resolution. And I'm not in a position now to talk about the history or the future of any particular idea.

QUESTION: You can't say why that hasn't been done?

MR. BOUCHER: There have been steps taken in the past. Why that step wasn't taken at a particular moment, I guess, is not something I'm prepared to deal with at this point since it's really a question of -- that's premised on, shouldn't it be taken down?

QUESTION: Yeah, it is. (Laughter.)

MR. BOUCHER: So we'll deal with that issue once we have a chance, ourselves, to go through all of the various possible steps that can go in. But we are preparing now what we think ought to go into a resolution. We expect to be talking to foreign governments shortly.

QUESTION: Is somebody going to Khartoum?

MR. BOUCHER: Is somebody going to Khartoum?

QUESTION: You said we expect to be in touch with the Sudanese Government.

MR. BOUCHER: I did?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR. BOUCHER: Did I?

QUESTION: You did.

MR. BOUCHER: About what? (Laughter.)

QUESTION: All right, then.

MR. BOUCHER: No, we expect to be in touch with other governments --

QUESTION: Other governments.

MR. BOUCHER: -- meaning Security Council governments.

QUESTION: Yes.

MR. BOUCHER: -- about the resolution.

We are in touch with the Sudanese Government. We have just had Assistant Secretary Newman out there. We do talk to them regularly; make clear to them what we think they need to do; encourage them to take further steps on the humanitarian side; make clear what we think the requirements are on the security side.

We are pressing them, as well as the rebels, to make further progress in Abuja. And out in Abuja, in Nigeria, we're working with the Nigerians to support those negotiations. So we are in touch with the Sudanese Government in a variety of ways.

QUESTION: But you blushed, is somebody --

MR. BOUCHER: What?

QUESTION: You blushed. Is someone going?

MR. BOUCHER: Not that I know of, we just had somebody there.

QUESTION: Right, okay.

MR. BOUCHER: I was just surprised to find out I had said somebody was -- anyway, never mind.

QUESTION: I just wondered if I can back up for a second and try to get an answer to -- I missed it if you answered Arshad's -- the part of Arshad's question. Given your strong feelings on this subject, you're not at all disappointed at the rather tepid support you got for a tepid resolution?

MR. BOUCHER: No, first of all, the resolution is not tepid. It makes clear, I think, in very explicit terms what we think needs to be done by the parties and the people with influence in the area; second of all, it's a Security Council resolution that passed the Security Council with a sufficient number of votes; third, it was done on a timeline in order to try to make clear the views of the Security Council in advance of the events and votes that were likely to take place in Lebanon, and so, it would not -- didn't have the time that we might have had with other resolutions to collect votes. So we think it's important the Security Council has passed the vote, and we think it's important for people to heed the decision of the Security Council.

QUESTION: So in this case, you don't see any added value to having a unanimous resolution for it in place?

MR. BOUCHER: It's always nice to have a unanimous resolution, but we think in this case the most important thing was to get the views of the Security Council clearly on record before some of the events that are taking place now.

QUESTION: Are you disappointed that you weren't able to -- I mean, your language is extremely strong, not -- in the Security Council, the resolution's language isn't. I missed it if it says that what's going on makes a mockery of the democratic process. That's not in the resolution, is it?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think the word "mockery" has ever been in a UN resolution, if I would posit a guess.

QUESTION: Well, there isn't anything close to that the resolution.

MR. BOUCHER: But I think the point is that this resolution, without being rhetorical, is very, very clear. The Security Council reaffirmed its call for the strict respect of sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity, political independence of Lebanon. It called on all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon. It called for the disbanding, disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias. It supported the extension of control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory and declared support for a free and fair electoral process without foreign influence or interference. Those are very clear requirements, mandates and views of the Security Council.

QUESTION: So when you say that what's going on makes a mockery of the democratic process when you're speaking for the U.S. Government, that's just plain -- that's just rhetoric?

MR. BOUCHER: That's an observation of the situation in the region and --

QUESTION: It is not an exercise of rhetorical diplomacy?

MR. BOUCHER: It's an observation and a description of what's going on.

QUESTION: I wanted just to follow up on this. The fact that you ended up having to excise explicit references to Syria has allowed the Syrian Foreign Minister today to crow that you had to weaken your resolution and to state that the resolution that was passed does not call for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. If you had managed to keep the references to Syria in, it would have been a little harder for them to make that claim.

MR. BOUCHER: I suppose people can say what they want. But if all remaining foreign forces are to withdraw from Lebanon, one has to ask, "Who are the remaining foreign forces in Lebanon?" And it doesn't take more than half a second to get the right answer to that one; and they're Syrian.

QUESTION: Well, you have had problems with interpretation of other resolutions in the past.

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that there's any way to interpret this otherwise than to say that the --

QUESTION: Well, that's what you said about -- and now everyone understood what "serious consequences" meant for Iraq, but apparently everyone didn't understand what that meant, right?

MR. BOUCHER: No, everybody understood what it meant. Some people weren't prepared to act on it.

QUESTION: Lebanon and Syria have refused the UN Security Council and the foreign -- Lebanon -- Lebanese Foreign Minister said today that Lebanon will not accept any plan, which does not address the Israeli occupation; this resolution is misplaced since it goes against the principles of noninterference in internal affairs by UN member-states.

Do you have any comment on that?

MR. BOUCHER: First of all, the UN itself has certified that Israeli forces have withdrawn from Lebanon, so that's not an issue at this stage, on the first point.

And on the second point, it's, I think, been a matter of concern to the international community since the Taif Accords, since the repeated resolutions on Lebanon, that Lebanon be allowed to emerge from its past and regain its own sovereignty and independence without interference from foreign forces or foreign influences. That has been a matter that international community has taken up before and that's the matter that it's taken up in this resolution.

QUESTION: Thanks.

MR. BOUCHER: Sure.

QUESTION: Just one more on this. Going back to your initial comments when you talked about how you want people to respect the Council's voice and respect what the resolution says. And you said that people have been calling there for that with resolutions regarding this region for a long time. Can you just say that you mean that you reiterate calls for Israel to meet demands of the UN Security Council?

MR. BOUCHER: We've always worked to implement UN Security Council resolutions in this region.

QUESTION: In this region, meaning -- and including resolutions that deal with Israel?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Can you say that please?

MR. BOUCHER: Including resolutions that deal with Israel -- please.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Richard, what can you say, if anything, about the arrest in South Africa with a supposedly terrorist associated with the Libyan nuke program?

MR. BOUCHER: I can't -- I'm sorry -- of who? A terrorist with?

QUESTION: Well, a liaison putting together the Libyan nuke program. They've finally arrested him.

MR. BOUCHER: I think the reports are that they have arrested somebody connected to the AQ Khan network. And without trying to provide any detail because the detail really needs to be provided by the South Africans, to the extent and whenever they're prepared to do so. I would say that we do congratulate South Africa for its efforts to act against the AQ Khan network.

We think that the activities that they have undertaken are an important contribution to international efforts to shut down this network. It sends the right message to proliferators everywhere that the rule of law will be applied. And we support efforts to ensure the proliferators are punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Sir.

QUESTION: In a similar vein, Iran has acknowledged that it's processed roughly 40 tons of enriched uranium and saying that both Washington, I assume Secretary Powell, on his comments coming back from Panama on the plane, is sensationalizing the matter. Any thoughts?

MR. BOUCHER: The International Atomic Energy Agency's report confirms that Iran plans to reprocess another 37 metric tons, about 40 American tons of yellowcake to produce uranium hexafluoride. The report also indicates that Iran has informed the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency that they intend to resume their centrifuge activities.

These things put together indicates that Iran is not abiding by the requirements of the previous resolutions to suspend all its enrichment activity, nor is it abiding by its own commitments and promises made to the Europeans that it would do so. That brings us to another critical juncture where we think it's very important to look at the question of referral to the Security Council. And that is what the United States is going to be -- is already talking to other governments about doing at the upcoming meeting in September.

QUESTION: During my question to you yesterday about Taiwan, I think I foolishly asked the wrong question, or maybe not. Did the Secretary have an opportunity while he was in Panama to meet with any senior Taiwanese officials other than President Chen?

QUESTION: Not did he have an opportunity, did he meet with any other than --

QUESTION: Well, did he run into them? There are reports that he did.

MR. BOUCHER: Meet and run in mean different things.

QUESTION: But he did speak with the Taiwanese Foreign Minister?

QUESTION: Encounter.

MR. BOUCHER: There was, I think, a pass-by encounter of some sort with the Foreign Minister, as they were going out of the hall. There was no exchange of any sort, really.

QUESTION: No -- so what does that --

QUESTION: Greetings?

QUESTION: Didn't even say hello?

MR. BOUCHER: I think there were greetings that were acknowledged. That's about as far as we go.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, you understand -- I mean, it's kind of a sensitive issue and it --

MR. BOUCHER: I know. It was not a significant event.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Thank you.

(The briefing ended at 1:10 p.m.)

(end transcript)

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