01 July 2003
Bush "Determined" to Help Liberia Find Peace
(White House Report, July 1: Liberia, Africa trip, ICC, North Korea,
Palestinian Authority) (1180)
President Bush "is determined to help the people of Liberia to find a
path to peace," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told
reporters. "The exact steps that could be taken are still under
review."
In a speech to the Corporate Council on Africa's United States-Africa
Business Summit in Washington, D.C. June 26, the president called for
Liberian President Charles Taylor to step down as Taylor had recently
announced he would do.
Fleischer said the United States would play a role with the
international community in helping to bring peace to Liberia, which
was founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century.
"The president wants to work with the international community, and we
will play a role in that to try to bring stability to a post-Taylor
government in Liberia," Fleischer said. "The United States is actively
discussing (with regional governments) what the next steps should be
to help the parties to meet their obligations to cooperate with the
Joint Verification Team that is in place (a result of the June 17
Liberia cease-fire) to ensure that the cease-fire holds."
Hundreds of civilians were killed in June in Liberia's capital,
Monrovia, in fighting between Taylor's forces and rebels trying to
oust him. Fleischer said the work of the United States and the
international community has produced progress.
"The situation in Liberia has been eased, and there is quiet and calm
on the streets of Monrovia recently as a result of the international
community coming together to work toward the cease-fire," Fleischer
said.
BUSH'S TRIP TO AFRICA TO FOCUS ON DEMOCRACY, TRADE, AIDS
President Bush will travel to Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda
and Nigeria July 7-12 to promote democracy, highlight success of the
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and focus on the $15,000
million U.S. initiative to fight HIV/AIDS, according to Fleischer.
"The trip is going to focus on promoting democracy in Africa,"
Fleischer said. "In his first stop, he's going to visit with the
leaders of many of the African democracies who will be gathered in
Senegal and Goree Island."
Goree Island, a small island off the coast of Senegal, was a
slave-holding site where millions of Africans were held until they
were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean. Fleischer said it is
"important" for Bush "from a moral point of view to go to Goree Island
to talk about slavery, to talk about freedom and to talk about
democracy."
AGOA, which offers tangible incentives for African countries to
continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets,
will be brought up in the president's discussions about trade,
Fleischer said.
"Certainly the African Growth and Opportunity Act is now starting to
bring tangible benefits to the people of Africa as trade in many
African nations is actually surging," he told reporters.
Fleischer also said Bush will focus on the $15,000 million U.S.
Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003 that
he signed into law on May 27. The initiative focuses on 12 African and
two Caribbean countries where HIV/AIDS is heavily concentrated.
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and top White House aides
will travel with the president to Africa, the Press Secretary said.
EXEMPTION FROM ICC CALLED "PRESSING MATTER"
"There should be no misunderstanding that the issue of protecting U.S.
persons from the International Criminal Court (ICC) will be a
significant and pressing matter in our relations with every state,"
Fleischer said.
During the briefing, a reporter suggested the war on drugs in Colombia
could be negatively affected because the U.S. assistance to Colombia
would be withheld because Colombia has not signed Article 98, which
commits signing states to protect U.S. personnel from seizure by the
ICC.
"Well, current programs will continue under the law until the
termination date of current programs is reached," Fleischer said. "And
so, that which is in the pipeline will continue through the pipeline.
But you have stated it correctly -- this is a reflection of the United
States' priorities to protect the men and women in our military, men
and women who serve. These are the people who are able to deliver
assistance to the various states around the world, and if delivering
aid to those states endangers America's servicemen and servicewomen,
the president's first priority is with the servicemen and
servicewomen."
Fleischer said the president is following the law when it comes to the
ICC.
"This is a law that Congress passed, that the president signed,
dealing with what's called Article 98 actions that would make certain
that American military personnel and other personnel who are stationed
abroad would not be subject to a court who has international
sovereignty that's in dispute that would be able to reach out to these
countries and take Americans and put them on trial before an entity
that the United States does not recognize," Fleischer said.
NORTH KOREA'S WMD PROGRAM CALLED "REGIONAL PROBLEM"
"We can say it's well-known that North Korea is working hard on its
WMD (weapons of mass destruction) program as well as on the means to
deliver those programs," Fleischer said. "The president thinks that
this is a regional problem."
Fleischer said the United States and the countries in the region
around North Korea are affected by North Korea's withdrawal from the
Nonproliferation Treaty. He said that multilateral diplomacy is best
in this instance, "so that the region can have a voice at the table,
and that's something that you hear from Japan, from South Korea, from
China and also, on some levels, from Russia."
"It [North Korea withdrawal from the Nonproliferation Treaty] remains
a issue of great concern, and that's why it's being pursued through
the multilateral channels that it has been," Fleischer said.
U.S. TO TALK TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY ABOUT DIRECT AID
Fleischer said that since there has been a change in leadership in the
Palestinian Authority, "the United States is going to talk to the
Palestinian Authority about direct aid."
"We have not made any decisions yet about this matter, but this is
part of the perspective of good developments taking place in the
Middle East vis-à-vis Israel and the Palestinian Authority," Fleischer
said.
"Well, previously, the Palestinian Authority, when it was headed by
Yasser Arafat and had a different finance minister, was widely
criticized by the Palestinian people themselves for being corrupt,"
Fleischer said. "And there was a real reluctance from many quarters,
particularly here in the United States, to provide direct funding to
the Palestinian Authority, because it would have gone to corruption.
There's been a change in leadership in the Palestinian Authority. They
have a new finance minister who is dedicated to openness and to
transparency and to honesty. Certainly, Prime Minister [Mahmoud] Abbas
is dedicated to the same."
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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