Albright Press Briefing En Route Washington October 5
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT:
It's apparently amazing. The pictures on TV are the most amazing
pictures since the fall of the Wall. The Parliament is on fire, they
have taken over the TV stations. It's now free Studio B. The
opposition controls all the media at this point. And they are all out
in the streets. Milosevic is apparently not in Belgrade. This is what
I just heard from Washington so some of this is very sketchy. But what
is not sketchy is that we are missing some amazing pictures on
television. Jim O'Brien just said that these are the most dramatic
pictures that anybody has seen in a long time. But the Parliament is
on fire.
I think that the important point now is for Kostunica to be recognized
as President. The people are out in the streets and it's a very
important time. I just talked to Joschka Fischer and we are talking to
various of the Foreign Ministers and as of this moment it is unclear
about what this traveling band is going to do.
Q: Will the Contact Group meet?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I don't know. We're trying to see whether that is
a useful thing to do, whether it's useful to have phone conversations,
what we can do to make sure this proceeds in a way with actually the
minimum violence. I think it's important for the people to be heard
without the violence. This came about as you all know primarily
because of this court decision that in effect basically was going to
take the whole thing out of the hands of the people and delay the vote
until 2001 and as I said in Sharm that the people's wishes will not be
delayed until 2001. They are the ones that voted. They went out, they
worked for this. They have been suppressed by Milosevic. They have now
shown what a free people wants. They want Belgrade to be Kostunica's
and we support Kostunica's victory.
Q: How does this rank among moments in your term in office?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I don't want to see the violence but I think it is
the most important thing that has happened because we have worked very
hard for the people of Yugoslavia to be able to have the government
they want and for the Balkans to be integrated into Europe. Now I have
to tell you something very interesting. The Czechoslovak Embassy is a
block and a half from the Parliament so I know the street and I walked
by there when I was eight years old. So this is something very
personal to me. I have always felt strongly that the Serbian people
were terrific. They had gotten a lousy deal by being ruled by
Milosevic. And I hope very much that this turns out for them as it has
for the rest of Central and Eastern Europe who were able to free
themselves of communism.
Q: Have you spoken with the Russians about all this?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I'm about to do it. The Russians have also been in
the air. Putin and his group are on their way from India. We've all
been traveling. I'm about to talk to Ivanov and we'll see from there.
Q: (regarding the whereabouts of Milosevic)
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: People don't know. The important thing is that
this is Kostunica's time and everybody has to support Kostunica. At
the moment people don't know. At least I don't know from what I heard
from Washington as to where he is. People think he is somehow outside
of Belgrade.
Q: How about the army. Is anybody still loyal?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I'm trying to find out and we'll have more.
Q: Who is it that has told you that Milosevic is out of Belgrade?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Some of the people in Washington are in touch with
people in Belgrade. It's just spotty information. I did have a great
talk with Fischer who has been very, very involved in this. This is a
fork in the road as to whether it will go in a peaceful way or not. I
think the people of Yugoslavia deserve a peaceful exit to a horrible
two decades.
(end State Depar
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