Gayle Smith, Senior Director for African Affairs and Susan Rice, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Press Briefing, Nicon Hilton, Abuja, Nigeria Released by the Office of the Press Secretary The White House, August 27, 2000 QUESTION: Do you have more details on what they discussed, on what President Obasanjo and President Clinton discussed about Sierra Leone and Liberia, on exactly what the concerns were that they shared in their session? ASSISTANT SECRETARY RICE: Well, as you know, the issue of Sierra Leone and how we can work with the Nigerian government and the West African subregion to bring lasting peace and stability has been a constant theme in our discussions over the last several months. Today, the focus was on two things. One, how to go about accelerating our shared efforts to beef up the U.N. force to our train and equip program, how to accelerate that and how to put it in place to provide a forceful military component to the larger strategy of assisting the government of Sierra Leone to regain control over all of its territory and all of its resources. Secondly, they talked about some of the actors that stand in the way of achieving that goal, players inside Sierra Leone and in the subregion, and affirmed their interest in working together with other constructive leaders in the region to bolster the peace in Sierra Leone and limit the influence of those who may wish to create more difficulties. QUESTION: (Inaudible) -- ASSISTANT SECRETARY RICE: Well, on Liberia, we have a shared concern about the role that Liberia has played in Sierra Leone in arms trafficking and diamond smuggling. And that's an issue about which we have been very vocal in recent weeks and months and it remains a very serious shared concern. QUESTION: What's your latest understanding of what the President's going to be witness to in Tanzania? Will there be any kind of agreement signed, or is it going to go past the deadline that Mandela has set? MS. SMITH: President Clinton is going to Arusha in support of President Mandela, as you all know. President Mandela is in Arusha now. For the last several days he has been meeting with the Burundian parties, and he is doing so in Arusha today and tomorrow. And obviously, he will take it as far as he believes that he can. We are very much looking at the stop in Arusha as a way to support the process and President Mandela's leadership of it, but also to, with him, consolidate the progress that has been achieved thus far. If you look at the overall agreement, which I think it's probably better to describe as a framework, there has been considerable agreement made over the last year, and prior to that by President Nyerere. There are outstanding issues, but there are people sitting in the same room talking today which a year ago they wouldn't have even thought of sitting in the same room and talking. So we hope that that agreement can be consolidated. If it can be move further, fine; but President Clinton's purpose in going vis a vis the Burundians is very much to send a message that they have made progress, we support that progress, that the violence needs to end, and that we recognize that this is a very, very long-term proposition. QUESTION: It is not yet known whether the agreement will be done by Monday? MS. SMITH: The level to which they will have full agreement will be the outcome of President Mandela's meetings. But I would underscore something here, which is that the progress that has been made thus far I think is, in our view, extremely positive. So if they're able to get further, great; if they maintain it where they are, again, if you look at where this has come from, the progress has been marked. But the other side is also true. This will not be fully resolved by next week, or next month, or even next year. It's a very complex conflict and it's going to take a great deal of time to unravel it. QUESTION: A question related to the peacekeeping training that is supposedly going to take place. There's a report today that some British soldiers were taken hostage in Sierra Leone. Do you think -- have you heard anything about that? Does that underscore the need for African countries to handle this? Does it underscore the danger that Western countries face in trying to handle these matters themselves? ASSISTANT SECRETARY RICE: The details we have are rather limited on the specific situation of the British soldiers. But it neither sends any particular message about Western involvement in Africa, nor does it call into question any of the significant steps that we've all decided to take together to strengthen the U.N. presence in Sierra Leone. On the contrary; it shows that that there are elements very active in Sierra Leone that are determined to perpetuate instability, and the British have led the way, along with the United Nations, with the support of many others, including the United States and the international community and, of course, Nigeria, to strengthen the international presence in Sierra Leone to diminish the capacity of those who wish to wreak violence and destabilize the situation. So that's an effort that we have to continue now more than ever. ###
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