State Department Noon Briefing, Sept. 29, 2000
STATE DEPARTMENT REGULAR BRIEFING
BRIEFER: RICHARD BOUCHER, DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN
STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING ROOM,
WASHINGTON, D.C. 1:00 P.M. EDT
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2000
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
Q: Yugoslavia -- the former Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panic is
very critical of insisting on Milosevic being brought to the The Hague
saying if the United States and Europe continue to insist this it's
going to lead to bloodshed and that he's writing a letter to President
Clinton and to President Putin asking that Panic -- or Milosevic be
given a plane to leave and that this would save the Serb people a lot
of, perhaps, bloodshed. He fears a civil war. Is there any thinking on
your part about this? If you see if this could lead to a lot of
bloodshed or worse in the Serbia, would you be willing to avert that
by taking another exit route?
MR. BOUCHER: I haven't seen the letter. But the answer is no. No deal.
Q: You want Milosevic out and people are taking to the streets now to
try to force him out, are you -- is there any apprehension that that
in itself could, you know, lead to violence and death? Or are you
happy to see them out in the street and thinking maybe that's the way
to get him out?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, how the opposition presses its case is up to them.
But at the same time, I would say you've got a government that's
refused to recognize the results of the first round. They've closed
off media outlets to the opposition. They've closed off public
commentary to a great extent because of their control of the media.
So, people are going to want to express themselves. And we can
understand the outrage.
The opposition has presented a persuasive case that they won on the
first round and that it's time for Mr. Milosevic to step down. The
results are available, credible and available for inspection -- the
ones the opposition counted. So really the issue is whether the
government is going to recognize the first round or try to get people
to forget it.
Q: But might this get out of hand? Or is there a risk here?
MR. BOUCHER: Nobody is encouraging violence -- not we, nor the
opposition. But on the other hand it's quite clear that people need to
find a way to press the issue because the issue is not what the
opposition is doing. The issue is, why doesn't the government
recognize the results of the first round.
Q: Richard, yesterday the Department sounded fairly optimistic -- I
think it's fair to say -- that the Serbian people would be able to
persuade Milosevic to go before the date comes round for a second
round of elections. Do you take comfort today from the fact that
protests do seem to be spreading, especially outside Belgrade? And do
you feel more confident today that this outcome is a real possibility?
MR. BOUCHER: Were we confident yesterday? Optimistic? I don't remember
us seeing those words in our briefing yesterday and I did read our
transcript.
Q: (Inaudible) - is the operative phrase.
MR. BOUCHER: It's clear what has happened. The reports of the vote
count that the opposition has put out are based on verified
information from the polling places. There are 10,000 reports from
polling places that are available for public inspection that have been
totaled by the opposition and that show an outcome that shows that
they won in the first round. That is a very persuasive case for
victory. So, the focus is really on verifying that first round
victory.
People who voted in that first round we would expect to want to see
their voices heard and not to be allowed to be drowned out by this
gambit of the government of Milosevic to try to hold a second round.
So, the issue is really, what happened to the first round and why
isn't it respected? And we would assume that people who voted in that
round would want to say, " I voted, hear me roar."
Q: Richard, what do you mean when you say the focus is on verifying
the first round? You began your statement by saying that the
opposition has presented a persuasive case. Does the US think that
there should be outside observers who come in to count the ballots or
something along those lines?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, the OSCE, I think, offered to do that, as well. We
think the results are quite clear, frankly. I mean, we have looked at
all the different ways the government tried to commit fraud. We have
looked at the basic vote counting procedures where the opposition
counts were done based on the results in each of the polling places
that are counted in the presence of the parties. They are signed off
by representatives of all the parties. The opposition took those
results that are given to each of the parties in each of the polling
places and as I said, there are 10,000 protocols from the different
polling places that are available for inspection by the press. And so
those results we think are quite clear.
We also know that the official process took place behind closed doors,
the official vote counting process. So it is really a matter of just
having the official process catch up with the opposition count, which
we think is much more credible.
Q: So, you don't feel or think that there's a need for any kind of
external review?
MR. BOUCHER: We think the results are quite clear so far. Obviously,
if outside observers have been let in to begin with, that would be
more clear right now.
Q: Is it the US view that the only option for Milosevic is to leave
Yugoslavia and end up in The Hague? Or is there some middle ground
that would be acceptable? And if so -- or in either case, what options
does the US have to get that done?
MR. BOUCHER: I repeated it 10 seconds ago and I'll repeat it again
now. No deals. The position is out of power, out of Yugoslavia and in
The Hague.
Q: Are there any plans for people in this building to go to the
Balkans in the next couple days to --
MR. BOUCHER: Not that I'm aware of.
Q: -- to continue the anti-Milosevic drive -- not that you're -- Jim
O'Brien is not -- he's not -- there's no one going to --
MR. BOUCHER: Not that I'm aware of, no.
Q: One more. Have you seen any sign that he wants to find a way out of
this? I know you don't want to make a deal. But do you see any
indications that he's trying to climb down or finesse this?
MR. BOUCHER: We haven't discussed this with him.
Q: I know you haven't, but there are reports out there that he has
been having contacts with the opposition to try to find a face-saving
way to call this whole thing off and find a solution. Do you see any
of that going on?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, again, I think there were reports a couple of days
ago from the opposition to say that they had been approached by
Milosevic or his people in kind of, let's negotiate the results, let's
forget about all this voting that just took place and try to pretend
the first round didn't happen and negotiate some outcome. The
opposition has rejected that, as far as I can tell.
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