U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING Briefer: Philip T. Reeker, Deputy Spokesman THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2000, 1:43 P.M. (ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED) QUESTION: This is on Colombia. MR. REEKER: Colombia. QUESTION: This is exactly on the killings of the children. There's a lot of reports saying that the military had something to do, and it was not a mistake. I don't know if you have some comments on that? MR. REEKER: Well, we put out a statement yesterday in which we said how appalled we were by the event, and sadly noting that the true victims of the ongoing civil strife in Colombia are innocent civilians. In terms of the most recent news and reports on that tragedy, I do understand that President Pastrana has personally said he will oversee the investigation into allegations that the army was responsible for the deaths of those children. We certainly hope that the investigation will get to the bottom of the tragedy, and those responsible will be punished. But as we have done in the past, we're going to continue to call for all sides in the conflict to obey international humanitarian law and move to reduce the impact of this conflict on innocent civilians, including children. They should immediately abandon attacks in areas where civilians may be killed or injured, and that's what we will continue to call for. QUESTION: But as of today, you don't have any facts on who might be responsible? Was the military - Colombian military really involved in that, because - MR. REEKER: Again, as I just indicated, we understand that President Pastrana has said he's going to lead an investigation into it. We don't have any facts. Those will be facts that will have to come from Colombia. But we want to reiterate our distress and how appalled we are at the incident yesterday, which resulted in the deaths of students. Six children were killed; five additional ones were injured. They were strolling through the countryside during a school trip in there. That is truly appalling. So we will hope this investigation can get to the bottom of that, and we will wait for the investigation, certainly. But the bottom line is that, as we've said for a long time, all sides of the conflict should obey international humanitarian law, and immediately abandon attacks in areas where civilians can get in the way. QUESTION: Do you think this case will be a problem for the certification process that the government has to do in, like, two or three days in human rights for Colombia? MR. REEKER: Well, I think I indicated everything we know about this case. There will be an investigation into the specifics of the case; it's a tragedy. It was a terrible thing that happened, and we certainly condemned it. But I'm just unable to make any broader observations until we know what it is. QUESTION: No. But see, there are talks going on right now with NGOs and at the State Department. MR. REEKER: That's right. QUESTION: Would this be a point against processing of the -- MR. REEKER: As I was telling your colleague, we don't know. There are no hard facts on this. The hard facts are that children died. And we condemn that. So we have to wait for an investigation before we can talk about exactly what happened in that case. So I can't speculate on any of that. I think the views, in terms of certification and our human rights concerns, and the fact that Plan Colombia is a comprehensive plan that includes a lot of work on human rights and economic aspects, and improving the lives of Colombian citizens, is very important, as well as our goal of wiping out the narco-trafficking that is so dangerous and causes so much destruction. So, in terms of the specifics of the incident, we just don't know. We have to wait for facts and investigation. Thanks. (The briefing concluded at 2:08 p.m.)
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
