State Department Deputy Spokesman Phil Reeker briefed.

Following is the transcript:

(Begin transcript)

STATE DEPARTMENT REGULAR BRIEFING

INDEX

ANNOUNCEMENTS

IRAQ

SERBIA/MONTENGRO
Secretary Albright's Meeting with Montenegrin President Djukanovic/Discussion of Economic Assistance/Elections in Serbia/Opposition
New Election Law

SOUTH KOREA

MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

INDIA/PAKISTAN
Violence in Kashmir

COLOMBIA

SERBIA

MR. REEKER: Good afternoon. They keep it chilly here in the briefing room so that we can have a vigorous discussion. Just a couple of quick announcements. I'd like to welcome our intern, Omar Rahman, who is sitting in the briefing today. Omar has been with us this summer helping out in the Press Office, and a great help he has been indeed. So we're happy to have him around for another week or so.

Also I would just like to take this opportunity to point out and clarify what some people may have seen in the transcript of last week in regard to Spokesman Boucher's nomination to be Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. Indeed, that nomination was voted out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, and that was a unanimous vote, just to clarify any confusion there may have been over the numbers in that vote. He was voted out unanimously and is awaiting the vote of the full Senate when the Senate returns to session in September.

One other notice you should have seen yesterday. We put out a notice announcing a briefing tomorrow on the 10th anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. We'll have Assistant for International Organization Affairs David Welch and Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues David Scheffer here in the briefing room at 10 o'clock tomorrow. That is an on-camera, on-the-record briefing.

With that, we'll turn to Mr. Gedda and questions of the day.

QUESTION: On that anniversary, Scott Ritter is in Iraq. He arrived last weekend. Do you have any observations about that visit particularly or including the fact that it is occurring during the same week that the anniversary is being observed?

MR. REEKER: I don't have any particular comments on Mr. Ritter's activities. I think in regard to Iraq -- and certainly we'll discuss this in the briefing tomorrow -- we all know that Iraq must fulfill the disarmament-related conditions of the cease-fire that ended the Gulf War and were mandated by the United Nations Security Council under Resolution 687. Iraq must accept the Security Council Resolution 1284, which allows the return of inspectors to Iraq to complete the mission that the United Nations Security Council originally mandated.

As we know -- we've discussed here at great length many times -- Iraq has failed to comply with its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions, and that included failing to destroy, remove or render harmless under international supervision its weapons of mass destruction and long-range ballistic missiles. I think it is fairly obvious we don't agree with some of the assertions made by Mr. Ritter, and our own judgment about the continued dangers of Iraq's program of weapons of mass destruction has been formed certainly by years of experience with the United Nations Special Commission inspections, from our own information and our assessment of Saddam Hussein's past behavior and future intentions. We'll leave it at that for tomorrow.

QUESTION: You're saying there has been substantial Iraqi activity along these lines since the inspectors left in December of '98?

MR. REEKER: I think I'm indicating that our concerns about Saddam Hussein's desire to pursue a program developing weapons of mass destruction, those concerns remain. We need to have inspectors on the ground. That's what the UN Security Council resolutions call for and that's what we want to see happen. And obviously in tomorrow's briefing we'll be able to discuss that in more detail.

QUESTION:I suspect you are going to defer to the traveling party as you often do in these cases. Can you tell us whether the United States wants the Macedonian coalition parties to take part in the Yugoslav elections?

MR. REEKER: The Macedonian coalition parties are extraordinarily unlikely to take part in those elections. (Laughter).

QUESTION: Sorry. Montenegrin.

MR. REEKER: I will note that Secretary Albright met today in Rome, as you know, with Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic in a meeting to exchange views about what's happening in Montenegro, in the Balkans more broadly. They discussed economic assistance to Montenegro, the elections in Serbia, and how to strengthen and unify the opposition to Milosevic.

We have a transcript of remarks the Secretary made after that meeting. I'd be happy to get that for you but, as you'll see from that, the Secretary said that we believe it's very important to do everything we can to strengthen and unify the Serbian opposition. And we certainly support the approach of President Djukanovic in terms of the democratic development and the economic reforms he has pursued in Montenegro. So I'll be happy to get you that transcript. I'll give you that and you can see what the Secretary had to say on that today.

QUESTION: There seems to be a growing wave of anti-American sentiment in South Korea, including threats to kidnap US servicemen, a murder of an army doctor recently, and just yesterday I believe a resolution of parliament calling for changes in the status of deployment of US troops there.

Two questions. Why, after so many years of US involvement in the area is this happening now, this kind of anti-US feeling? And, two, what changes in the US -South Korea relations can we expect from talks Wednesday between Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Smith and Korean officials?

MR. REEKER: Obviously on your first question, I'm not really in a position to answer that. You'd have to ask those people I believe to be a very small minority who have demonstrated a certain anti-Americanism in South Korea. But I would point to comments made and reported on today by President Kim cautioning against that type of attitude and influence in South Korea. I think the president spoke quite eloquently about the long-standing relationship between the United States and the Republic of Korea. The Secretary, as you know, was just recently there and had an opportunity to stress again the importance of our relationship and the talks we've had.

In terms of the meetings that will take place on the Status of Forces Agreement, we expect those to go ahead in terms of our commitment to working with our allies, the South Koreans, to address their concerns with respect to the Status of Forces, or SOFA, Agreement there. It's certainly in the interest of the strong US-South Korean relationship and military partnership that we resolve any issues pertaining to the status of US forces in South Korea in a very equitable manner. We certainly have agreed with President Kim that the two sides are going to work together to resolve the issues as soon as possible. They are certainly sometimes complex issues, but I think we can continue to have talks on this.

As you noted, a high-level US delegation will travel to Seoul August 2 and 3, for an opening round of these Status of Forces Agreement revision talks, and we expect some candid exchanges of information and views with the South Korean team. We'll listen to their concerns. So we'll establish a productive dialogue. That's the way we've always been able to deal with issues that arise between allies.

Obviously, at this point, I can't make any specific references since the talks haven't begun, but I think President Kim has demonstrated a lot of visionary leadership in his time as president of the Republic of Korea, and his engagement policy has led to some very positive developments on the Korean Peninsula which we've applauded, including particularly the historic North-South Inter-Korea summit last month. So we're going to go ahead with those talks and continue the strong and very positive relations we have with South Korea.

QUESTION: There is a report out that Yasser Arafat is going to Russia, I believe, next week. Do you expect the Russians to start taking a more active role in the Middle East peace process than they have before, and is this in the US interests? Are you encouraging that?

MR. REEKER: I haven't seen that particular report of Mr. Arafat's travel so I really can't comment on it. I'm not aware of any particular plan by the Russians to do that. Obviously, we have been encouraging a discussion of the important progress that was made during the Camp David summit all around. As you know, we have an Assistant Secretary traveling in the region in the Middle East to discuss with our allies there and our friends in the region our views on that and steps to move ahead. The Secretary was just in Rome and today met at the Vatican, but in terms of the specifics of that trip I just don't have any information.

QUESTION: Have they indicated any interest in becoming more involved?

MR. REEKER: I think obviously all countries in the world have an interest in seeing a peaceful resolution to the long-standing historic problems in the Middle East. I'm not aware of any particular new interest or any details of that, but certainly our views are well known on that and the need for a comprehensive peace agreement to settle those problems.

QUESTION: Can you tell us whether Walker made any progress in Cairo, and has he moved on to Saudi Arabia yet?

MR. REEKER: I do believe he has gone to Saudi Arabia. I don't have any particular readouts of his travels. Let me just see if they gave me anything lately.

As you noted and we discussed yesterday, Assistant Secretary Walker was in Egypt yesterday. He had good conversations with President Mubarak and with Foreign Minister Moussa. He is now in Saudi Arabia and his next stop is expected to be Jordan. Other than that, I don't have any particulars or specifics of the conversations he has held in Saudi Arabia today.

QUESTION: Do you have anything specific or particular on the Secretary's meeting at the Vatican today, any substance?

MR. REEKER: As I mentioned, the Secretary stopped in Rome to meet with the Vatican's Foreign Minister Archbishop Tauran, and among the issues they discussed obviously were the Camp David talks and the Vatican's position on Jerusalem. I don't have any details on that. I haven't gotten a readout from the party, and that's where I would expect that to be. As I noted yesterday, the Secretary planned to go there to exchange views. She had talked to Foreign Minister Tauran during the Camp David process and wanted to bring him up to date certainly on our views and listen to their views.

QUESTION: Same subject. Arafat told Saudi newspapers, I guess it was published today, that he would move forward with declaring a state on September 13th. Do you have any reaction to that considering Mrs. Albright's statements on unilateral actions after the summit?

MR. REEKER: Well, not just Secretary Albright. Secretary Albright certainly has made those statements but President Clinton has also made statements and, as we have said before, we oppose unilateral actions and that includes any unilateral declaration on an independent Palestinian state. I think I don't have much more to add than what the President said. If this were to occur, our entire relationship with the Palestinians would be under review, and the President made this very clear in his comments on Friday.

QUESTION: A small bit on the landing of the Secretary's plane in Rome. I understand that one landing was aborted at one airport and they had to land at another airport. Do you have any information on that?

MR. REEKER: That's not my understanding. I believe they landed at the airport they were expected to land on, and they are in Rome and coming back tomorrow.

QUESTION: Okay. So you're not aware of any --

MR. REEKER: No, I'm not. I read the press report on that. I'm not aware of anything terribly out of the ordinary in the travel of the Secretary.

QUESTION: I don't know if you have anything on this because I hadn't brought it up. There have been various developments in Kashmir between -- on cease-fires and possible negotiations between the militant groups and the Indian Government. It's been going back and forth pretty much the last week or so with demands and counter-demands and conditions and so on.

Do you have any -- do you take any position on this?

MR. REEKER: We did talk about it a bit last week, in the sense that our position I think is very well known. It was highlighted by the President when he visited the region in March. Our position very much advocates restraint; that is, mutual restraint in regard to Kashmir; respect for the line of control; and renewal, a resumption, of dialogue, which is obviously the most important way forward; and a rejection of violence. We have always called for a stand against violence and a reduction of tension by rejecting violence. So our position remains pretty much the same. I don't have anything to add for you.

QUESTION: On that same subject, there are reports today of an attack in a marketplace in Kashmir, the first one since the cease-fire that was declared by the Hizbul group. Do you have any comment on how this might affect the peace process or how this might affect negotiations?

MR. REEKER: I don't. I think as I indicated, our position has been very much stated. I just repeated it again here. That would include a calling for restraint and a respect for the line of control, and certainly a rejection of violence.

QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to this report specifically?

MR. REEKER: We certainly continue to call for rejection of violence. I haven't seen that specific report on that, but our position is quite clear.

QUESTION: Yes, on Colombia. Yesterday, 30 NGOs in a letter to President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged them not to certify that Colombia may receive military assistance because, in their words, they haven't complied with the conditions that were included in the bill that gave birth to Plan Colombia. They also warn against the use of a waiver to avoid the certification process and decided yesterday to cancel a meeting that they had scheduled today with Peter Romero where they were going to discuss precisely the current situation on human rights in Colombia.

Do you have any comments on that?

MR. REEKER: I think everybody will recall that on July 13th legislation which appropriated about $1.3 billion for Plan Colombia was signed into law by President Clinton, and that law does require that the Administration submit to Congress a number of notifications and reports and certifications. One of those certifications requires that the Secretary of State certify to the appropriate congressional committees and authorities that the Government of Colombia is undertaking certain actions to improve human rights and drug crop eradication to areas that we have highlighted annually in our narcotics report and our human rights report.

The law on Plan Colombia also contains a waiver provision, as you noted, which would enable assistance to be provided for Colombia without regard to the various requirements if the President made a certification that this would be in the national security interest to do so. Right now, the Department of State is working with other agencies in the government to discuss implementing that law and the certification and reporting requirements under that law and how that will go about. So I don't have any specific things for you on that process at this point.

We have held discussions and consultations with human rights groups, certainly over a long period of time, about the situation in Colombia. As I noted, every year we have our human rights report which is based in part on conversations that we hold with groups that monitor human rights in Colombia. The Plan, Plan Colombia, as I said, the law requires that there be some specific consultations with human rights groups on a variety of issues, and in order to meet the requirement we do want to begin to have a regular process of meetings with these groups beyond the periodic meetings that we've had for many years, which I described.

It is unfortunate that the meeting scheduled for today was canceled, since most of the organizations had decided not to participate, but we will issue a new invitation and try to reschedule something in the next several days.

QUESTION: This rescheduling of the meeting would help the process and, as I understand, there is a lot of urgency for the funds to get to Colombia because most of the anti-narcotics programs are almost run out of funds. Do you have any time frame of when this meeting is going to take place?

MR. REEKER: I don't have any specific time frame. As I said, we regretted that the meeting that had been scheduled for today with a number of human rights groups was canceled. We're looking into issuing a new invitation in the next several days. I don't have a specific time table or calendar for that. And as I said, we're also continuing the discussions on implementing the various aspects of the law in terms of the certifications and reporting requirements that are necessary and how we'll go about doing that.

QUESTION: Let me just ask on the subject of the Vatican having a say-so, having a stake in the discussions of the Mideast peace discussions, having some influence on the Palestinians, can you say, Phil, if in fact we consult the Vatican to receive their input into the matter, or what can you say about it?

MR. REEKER: Well, as I think I indicated, Bill, we have had a series of discussions over a long period of time hearing the Vatican's views and telling them our views, updating them on the situation. The Secretary spoke with the Vatican Foreign Minister during the course of the Camp David summit and, as we just discussed, she has traveled to Rome to meet with him personally and exchange views and information. We find that very helpful. That's the basis of diplomacy and that's very much what the Secretary undertook today.

QUESTION: Given the view of the Vatican as to internationalization of Jerusalem, I take it really has -- or does it? -- is it viewed as helpful, as something that the United States can work with?

MR. REEKER: We have viewed as very good our exchange of information and discussions with the Vatican. That's why the Secretary traveled to Rome to meet with the Vatican Foreign Minister today. That's why she has continued to keep in touch with him and why they've kept in touch with us, and we'll continue to do that.

Anything else?

QUESTION: A brief one. Back in Belgrade, the arrest of four Dutch alleged mercenaries -- I don't know how to call those people -- and connecting their activities with the reward program that State Department put out on Milosevic.

MR. REEKER: I saw those reports, and all I can say is that one needs to carefully consider the source of those reports. I think in the past we've seen that Yugoslav so-called Information Minister Goran Matic is notoriously inventive in some of his so-called information. I don't have any information on these reported arrests or activities of individuals as reported in the press to be Dutch citizens. You would need to check with the Dutch Government for any information on that. Certainly his allegations appear to be quite ridiculous and I would suggest that, as many of them I know do, Yugoslavs would wonder what is going on inside the head of Mr. Matic.

QUESTION: Have you received Senate confirmation?

MR. REEKER: (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Since we're back on Belgrade, I remember you were pretty harshly critical of the new election laws that Mr. Milosevic put into place. What's the argument, then, for saying the opposition should take part. How do you square that circle?

MR. REEKER: Well, I think we saw quite clearly what Milosevic tried to do in terms of manipulating the constitution, and those were some of the concerns that President Djukanovic has had, President Djukanovic of Montenegro, in terms of Milosevic subverting what was left of a constitutional order to make it possible for him to run again. And so we have challenged him to run free and fair elections, called for I believe September 24th. Certainly there is cause to question whether that will be possible. We've challenged him to allow the free and independent media to resume reliable coverage without the statements of such people as Information Minister Matic to cloud the facts in that election process.

So it remains to be seen what will happen in terms of how the Milosevic regime proceeds with those elections, and I think our concerns are ones that we'll continue to have and we'll watch this. We've also challenged Milosevic to allow domestic and international monitors per standard procedure to observe the election process and be able to make a determination of whether this is free and fair.

It's very important for the Serb opposition to unite, to work together. The Serb people deserve much better than Milosevic and what his regime of crooks has brought to their country in the past decade, and I know that that's what the people would like to see is a change and a return to democracy and a return to some of the constitutional norms that the people of Yugoslavia held very dear to them.

Anything else? Thanks.

(The briefing was concluded at 2:00 P.M.)

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. )