U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
Briefer: Philip T. Reeker, Deputy Spokesman
TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2000 1:50 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
Q: New subject. Do you still consider Charles Taylor of Liberia to be
an impediment to the peace process in Sierra Leone? And, if so, what
are you doing about it?
MR. REEKER: I think we talked quite a bit, perhaps last week -- I tend
to lose track of time around here -- about some of the persistent and
reliable reports we've had of Liberian Government support for the
Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone and the complicity of some
Liberian senior leaders in the illicit diamond trade that fuels the
war in Sierra Leone, which has long been of concern to the United
States. We have raised those concerns repeatedly with President
Taylor, and of course you'll recall that Under Secretary of State
Pickering was there in Monrovia in July and met with Taylor and noted
that Liberia plays a significant role in Sierra Leone but that, to
date, that role has been largely negative and that there is continuing
strong evidence that Liberia has been the primary patron of the
Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone.
We have urged the Liberian Government to take steps to end support for
the RUF and to stop the illicit diamond trade immediately. We haven't
seen anything to suggest that the illegal trade in diamonds and arms
in support of the RUF has ceased. We've had some language coming from
Liberia and Burkina Faso where they have promised to cooperate with
investigations and asked for assistance to end the illegal trade in
diamonds and arms, and we certainly have welcomed those statements,
but we are looking for action and results. We're looking for a
concrete change in policy from both of those governments, in fact, and
feel strongly, as Under Secretary Pickering stated, that they need to
make a genuine commitment to regional peace and then act accordingly.
And we're going to obviously know when they have done so.
Q: You say they haven't, so what sticks -- if that's the word -- are
you going to use or are prepared to use? And, also, the Liberian press
is saying that there's been a plot by the US to assassinate him. MR.
REEKER: On the second point, I've seen some now US press reports on
those Liberian press reports, and all I can do is echo what our
Ambassador in Monrovia said that that's ridiculous.
In terms of looking at this, and if our expectations are not met,
Under Secretary Pickering very publicly warned President Taylor that
the US would impose sanctions on the Government of Liberia if Liberia
failed to cease the activities that are fueling conflict in Sierra
Leone. So we're watching very carefully to see what kind of a response
we have from there. As I said, there were some indications of
statements from both the Liberian Government and the Government of
Burkina Faso that they intended to try to be more responsible in this
regard, but we haven't seen the actions and we're going to continue to
watch for that and continue to study what the next steps might be in
terms of possible sanctions.
Q: Sierra Leone. Yesterday, the UN Security Council passed a US-led
resolution on setting up a war crimes tribunal and, today, Sierra
Leone says that Foday Sankoh is definitely going to be one of the
first guys in front of that. Any comments on that?
MR. REEKER: Yes. I think we discussed this -- or representatives of
the UN discussed it. We had talked about the resolution that we had
submitted to the Security Council, and the UN Security Council adopted
that resolution by unanimous consensus yesterday, the 14th. It's
Resolution Number 1315, which requests the Secretary General of the
United Nations to negotiate an agreement with the Government of Sierra
Leone to create this independent special court.
As I said, that was a resolution that we had introduced in order to
prosecute those persons most responsible for the serious violations of
international humanitarian law and relevant Sierra Leonean criminal
law committed within the territory of Sierra Leone. So it's a special
court that's designed to be independent and very sustainable and free
from any political or regional political pressures -- kind of a unique
court that will function outside of the UN system but financed by
voluntary contributions from UN members and working with relevant
aspects of Sierra Leonean criminal law as well as international
humanitarian law.
Q: Any comments on Sankoh, though?
MR. REEKER: I think obviously Foday Sankoh would be one of the prime
persons to be brought before that court. But right now, the resolution
has been passed and the Secretary General has, I believe, 30 days to
review this and come up with the appropriate details to move this
forward.
Q: Why did the US decide that it wanted to encourage this special
court rather than a war crimes tribunal?
MR. REEKER: Well, I think as we've talked about when we introduced the
resolution, first and foremost, we introduced that in order to be able
to prosecute those persons responsible for the violations of
international law, as well as Sierra Leonean criminal law, and to
create something that would be a court independent and sustainable,
free from any political pressure either in Sierra Leone or in the
region.
And that's why we designed a unique court that is functioning outside
of the UN and is focused obviously on Sierra Leone but operating under
some sort of international umbrella which will allow it to prosecute
crimes, as I indicated, both international in nature and those which
violated Sierra Leonean criminal law. And so we anticipate that there
will be international participation as well as Sierra Leonean
participation in it. I think we've discussed perhaps before some of
the other models that are different from this, like the Cambodian
court. This court, contrary to that, will not be a domestic court. It
invites international participation, but it's going to be an
autonomous court that's co-established with the UN and the Government
of Sierra Leone, and that's now what the Secretary General is charged
in negotiating.
Q: In terms of the way that the court is run, how is it different from
a war crimes tribunal?
MR. REEKER: Well, as I understand it, the resolution doesn't limit
jurisdiction of the court, but those are the things that will have to
be worked out as we proceed towards implementation. It's very much our
view that the court's jurisdiction should not be limited to just
post-Lome violations; it should focus on ensuring that individuals who
violated the Lome agreements may be made to answer for the totality of
their conduct, of their crimes in violating international laws and, as
I indicated, the relevant Sierra Leonean laws.
Obviously a number of procedural things need to be worked out. That's
what the Secretary General will be discussing with the Sierra Leoneans
as we move ahead in this. And as I said, I believe the Secretary
General has 30 days before we move on to the next step.
Q: Why couldn't a war crimes tribunal have taken up this case?
MR. REEKER: I think this was determined to be an appropriate way to
move forward. As we've certainly discussed before, we wanted to see
justice brought. That's one of our overriding goals for Sierra Leone,
and this was seen as a way to create a unique court that would be able
to function with aspects of international participation, as well as
key aspects of Sierra Leonean participation.
And so we worked very hard, along with others in the UN Security
Council, to draft this resolution. There were discussions on it at the
UN. And as we noted, the Security Council passed this unanimously and
will now move forward for the next steps in creating this and getting
down to work.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:10 P.M.)
(end transcript)
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