State Department Noon Briefing, Wednesday, October 11, 2000
U.S. Department of State
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2000 -- 12:50 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We are going to be
putting out a travel advisory on Liberia.
QUESTION: We did already.
BOUCHER: We already did? Good for us. We're fast. As you know,
yesterday we issued a set of -- imposed a set of visa sanctions on
Government of Liberia officials and their family members. This may
generate anti-American sentiment in Liberia, and we have moved to
order departure from Liberia of US Embassy personnel in non-emergency
positions. So we want the general public to know about that, and to
take into account.
Q: The statement doesn't say why you decided to bar Liberian officials
and their family members from coming to the country, though.
BOUCHER: Well, I think --
Q: The question is --
BOUCHER: That's true. That is not necessarily in the travel advisory
itself. I think you all know that in the statement by the President on
the visa restrictions, they explained why we were taking those steps,
particularly because of Liberia's trafficking in weapons and illicit
diamonds that helps fuel the war in Sierra Leone.
Q: You said they were imposed yesterday, but the White House statement
came out this morning, so when were they imposed -- yesterday or
today?
BOUCHER: This morning it came out, right?
Q: So, today?
BOUCHER: Yes, today. That's right.
Q: Do you know how many people the ordered departure affects and how
many Americans are registered as living in Liberia?
BOUCHER: Do they have those numbers? We don't discuss specific numbers
in most of these cases. Our mission there is under 40 people. People
will leave in the coming days. As far as number of Americans
registered in Liberia, I don't think we have a number on that either.
Q: There's a phrase there, "non-emergency," "all but non-emergency
people." I mean, I've heard of non-essential. What's non-emergency?
BOUCHER: I know, but people don't like to be called non-essential.
Q: Oh, yeah.
(Laughter.)
Q: Well, would they rather stay and be called "emergency people" and
risk their lives?
BOUCHER: Yes, I mean, what you're talking -- we wouldn't have these
people overseas unless they were essential to our national interests
in one way or the other, but in an emergency situation you can't do --
there are a lot of things that you can't necessarily do. There are
things that need to be done in emergencies, and a lot of normal
routine business that you can't do. So I think "non-emergency" is
probably a better phrase. I'm not sure if we're using it consistently,
but it certainly is better.
Q: Can I just get -- under 40 people in the embassy total?
BOUCHER: Yes.
Q: So we're talking about a dozen or so that would have to leave?
BOUCHER: Some portion of that. But, again, we try not to get into
specific numbers because of security.
Q: Okay. Well -- and is there only an embassy in Monrovia? I assume
there are no consulates outside of --
BOUCHER: Not that I'm aware of.
Q: Do you have the list drawn up of the people who are subject to this
visa ban, apart from Charles Taylor?
BOUCHER: Again, I'm not sure. Does that go out go out with this?
Q: I mean, at some stage the Embassy needs to specify who.
BOUCHER: At some stage we do. I'll have to check on that one for you.
All right.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:50 P.M.)
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