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)
Q: Can you give us an update on Jim O'Brien's travel and Ambassador
Montgomery's travel?
BOUCHER: You'll be pleased to know that Ambassador Montgomery is in
Belgrade.
Q: (Inaudible) -- pretty good. I just wanted to apologize to Mr.
Holbrooke.
BOUCHER: He was only deleting. He wasn't wrong; he was just early.
Okay.
Ambassador Montgomery arrived today in Belgrade. He'll be setting up
appointments to meet with members of the new leadership and other
actors involved in the effort to set up a democratic society,
including nongovernmental organizations, members of the independent
media.
Jim O'Brien arrived in Sarajevo today. He is expected to travel to
Belgrade tomorrow, and then he and Ambassador Montgomery will meet
with President Kostunica together. Mr. O'Brien will then travel on
Friday to Montenegro and from there on to Kosovo.
Q: Is it correct that Montgomery is the first US diplomat to go to
Belgrade since the bombing? Or was it someone in between -- I don't
know -- in between the elections --
BOUCHER: I think -- a definitive yes, or a probable yes? Definitive
yes. Yes. Okay.
Q: This is still on Yugoslavia. We're sending somebody into Montenegro
--
BOUCHER: Yes. O'Brien expects to be there on Friday?
Q: That's what you said, yes.
BOUCHER: Yes.
Q: How has the whole sequencing in Belgrade impacted on Montenegro? Do
you have any thoughts on that?
BOUCHER: I'm not sure I have any new thoughts on that. Certainly our
support for Montenegro continues. We continue to work with the
international community, not only to look at what can be done to aid
Serbia in seeing the dividend of democratic change, but also to
continue working with all the neighbors and people in the region in
terms of continuing support for their efforts to build their
democracies and their economies.
We have kept in close touch with Montenegro all along. The Secretary
spoke by telephone with President Djukanovic over the weekend, if I
remember correctly. So we have stayed in touch, and Mr. O'Brien will
be there on Friday.
Q: Montenegro's president has refused to acknowledge Kostunica as
President. Have you heard that?
BOUCHER: I haven't heard that. That strikes me as contrary to other
reports I have seen. Let's put it that way.
Q: There have been wire reports and radio reports earlier this morning
that the Milosevic cronies that were heading various departments of
the government were now going to cooperate with Mr. Kostunica, and
especially the army. The army general had said no, so basically it
looks like Milosevic is trying to take back the victory. What does the
State Department say to that?
BOUCHER: Well, several things, most of which we said before. One, we
have never underestimated the difficulty of taking over and making
democratic rule effective in Serbia. For many years now, Milosevic has
ruled the country, put his people in key positions, taken over
enterprises, and really turned much of the state apparatus and some of
the business apparatus into a private fiefdom. So, there is a great
deal to do in order to restore democratic independence of the
judiciary, of the media, and the rule of law generally, which is what
President Kostunica was elected to do. There is much to be done, and I
think the international community is helpful, and clearly the will of
the Serbian people is behind it.
Second of all, I think you have to describe this as a continuous
retreat, though, on the part of Milosevic and the people that were
once close to him. Many have abandoned him already. He is ostracized,
marginalized, and out of -- clearly out of power, and I think one can
see the direction that it is heading for others that might have been
associated with him in these positions. So, we do have confidence that
the democratic forces are strong and that the new government will be
able to take over, but it is a difficult process that can take some
time.
Q: Is Milosevic acting illegally, he and his cronies, by this kind of
delaying action?
BOUCHER: I don't know. I'm not a Yugoslav judge. I don't know that I
can tell you that.
Q: Going back to Montgomery for a second -- and maybe this is obvious
and maybe it's not -- but does it follow with his return that he is
working out of the Embassy? Is it back? Can we describe it as back up
and running? Did he take other diplomats with him? Is there set to be
a continued US presence there?
BOUCHER: He does have a team of people with him but, unfortunately,
our embassy is not usable at this time because of security
considerations, so they have set up in another location, which we will
for the moment decline to specify.
We do expect that Ambassador Montgomery and officers from his section
of our Embassy in Budapest will be making frequent trips to Belgrade
but, at this time, no decision has been made about the permanent
staffing of the office, the US office in Belgrade.
Q: About Jim O'Brien's visit, the fact that he has gone to Sarajevo
first would tend to suggest that there are Dayton Accord issues going
on here. Is part of the purpose of his visit to try and arrange some
kind of meeting with M. Kostunica and officials in Sarajevo?
BOUCHER: I don't know whether that is a specific part of his agenda at
this stage or not. Clearly, the overriding agenda is to help with the
consolidation, to update President Kostunica and his government on
what we are doing or will be doing with sanctions and with potential
aid programs, and to discuss how we can continue to help with this
process of establishing democracy and rule of law firmly in
Yugoslavia.
The attention that we devote to neighbors and our continuing support
and concern for people in the region, I think, is self-evident and
stands on its own merits. And, frankly, I'm not sure how the itinerary
was decided, whether it was scheduling or substance that dictated this
order.
Q: Richard, again on this question of Milosevic hanging onto power, do
you have anything specifically to say to the refusal of the Serbian
Government to call new elections, which essentially leaves him in
power alongside Kostunica and the federal parliament for a good long
time? No?
BOUCHER: I have to say that I thought yesterday we had just talked
about their agreement to call new elections, the Serbian parliament,
so I'll have to double-check the facts before I make the comment.
Q: I'd like to confirm one thing about North Korea. Do you really
expect that the discussion will continue late into the evening, even
after the dinner?
BOUCHER: We'll have to see. There will be meetings and discussions
going on all afternoon, members of the delegation, and then over with
Secretary Cohen. They can talk at dinner, but I just don't know
whether it will extend beyond that or not. I don't have -- there is
nothing scheduled at this point beyond dinner.
Q: You said that maybe tomorrow morning there will be an announcement
or a joint statement. If so, the discussions will continue in the --
late at night?
BOUCHER: Not necessarily.
Q: Not necessarily?
BOUCHER: No, we might finish it and put it to bed.
Q: About this political crisis in Argentina, seeing as the resolution
--
BOUCHER: Can we stick with what we had? Did you want to stick with
Yugoslavia for a little -- let's finish up with Yugoslavia, and then
we can go on to miscellaneous things.
Q: Some Members of Congress have talked about maybe trying to
condition any aid to the new government in Belgrade to the extradition
of Milosevic to The Hague War Crimes Tribunal. What is the US position
on that at this point?
BOUCHER: We are working with our Congress as closely as possible.
We're consulting with people, talking to them about details of lifting
the sanctions as well as levels of proposed aid to Yugoslavia. There
is no conditionality to the aid at this stage. Obviously, with any
country, our future relationship with the Yugoslav Government will
depend on a wide range of issues, including this, and there are some
issues that need to be considered legally when it comes to
international lending. But, at this point, we think it is very
important to lift the sanctions, to get in there with support in terms
of an aid program that is not conditioned.
Q: Is the State Department, at this point, saying that there shouldn't
be any conditionality attached to the aid?
BOUCHER: That's what I just said.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:50 P.M.)
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