22 October 2003
Powell Confident of December Sudanese Peace Agreement
Says he welcomes Iran's acceptance of additional IAEA regulations
Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed his confidence that the Sudanese government and rebel forces will sign a peace deal to end the country's 20-year civil war by the end of December 2003.
Powell, speaking to the press October 22 in Naivasha, Kenya, said difficult issues, such as the future status of three conflict areas between the northern and southern halves of the country, remain to be solved. However, he added that "there are ways of solving these problems and I sense from both sides confidence that the problems can be solved and a commitment to solve them."
The two sides, he said, have made "considerable progress" on an agreement concerning how to allocate the country's revenues, and are also working on agreements for monetary and fiscal policy and for banking arrangements.
Powell said that although the two sides have been negotiating for 10 years, much progress has been made over the past few months.
"[T]here is a momentum here that suggests seriousness of purpose and an understanding that this can't be won on the field of battle, it has to be won on the field of peace," he said. He also said President Bush has invited government and rebel leaders to meet with him in Washington as soon as the peace agreement was signed.
Asked about Iran's agreement to accept the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) "additional protocol" which would allow the agency more access to Iran's nuclear research sites, Powell said the United States welcomes the development and is waiting to "see exactly what the Iranians are prepared to do."
As part of the agreement, Iran also promised to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. Powell said he expects them to follow through and indicated that "we just want to see some performance before we make any judgments about how to proceed. But I think it's a welcome development."
Following is the transcript of Powell's remarks:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt)
October 22, 2003
Remarks to the Press By Secretary Of State Colin L. Powell
Following Multilateral Press Availability
October 22, 2003
Simba Lodge
Naivasha, Kenya
QUESTION: Can I ask on Iran, it is a little unclear given the Administration's reaction so far, how to interpret the development yesterday? Is it welcomed?
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes, we do welcome the development. I spoke to Secretary Straw yesterday afternoon after the announcements were made and as he was leaving Tehran he called me, and we had a good conversation. We welcome this development, but as I said to Mr. Straw and as he knows, and as do Foreign Minister Fischer and Foreign Minister De Villepin, performance is what counts. And so we'll have to see exactly what the Iranians are prepared to do and what they're prepared to make available to the IAEA, but I appreciate the work of my three colleagues in Europe and it shows that we are all united in making sure that Iran does not have any nuclear capability that will develop, be able to develop a weapon. So, we welcome this development.
QUESTION: Does this mean then that the issue won't go to the United Nations Security Council for the time being?
SECRETARY POWELL: I wouldn't go that far. We want to see what kind of performance we get. Because within hours Iranian officials were saying, were making other statements with respect to what suspension means and for how long. A suspension is just that: a suspension. And its for an interim period and we just want to see some performance before we make any judgments about how to proceed. But I think it's a welcomed development.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, there has been a lot of Middle East violence. Have you spoken to anybody in the Middle East?
SECRETARY POWELL: Not during the last several days, no. I spoke to, as you know, Foreign Minister Abu All'a last week and Foreign Minister Shalom. But, not in the last several days.
QUESTION: On what you've just been doing, how confident are you that we'll actually be able to meet this end of December deadline?
SECRETARY POWELL: I'm pretty confident. They, in our private meetings, accepted the end of December date. And it was as much their date as it was a desire on my part to push for the date. There are some difficult issues ahead, but they have made considerable progress on the wealth sharing agreement, having to do with the allocation of revenues and some issues with respect to monetary fiscal policy and banking arrangements. I think that's close to being consummated, that agreement. The difficult one will be the three conflict areas and Abyei will be the most difficult one there. Because there is a question as to, does it belong in the North, does it belong in the South, or belong with the North and South. But I think there are ways of solving these problems and I sense from both sides confidence that the problems can be solved and a commitment to solve them. Am so I'm pleased to report to President Bush that his invitation was welcomed for them to come to the White House as soon as a comprehensive agreement has been signed.
QUESTION: What makes you confident that if, and when, an agreement is reached that all this really means is a six-year pause in a long-running civil war? What makes this different than previous efforts?
SECRETARY POWELL: One, we will have a comprehensive agreement. I think it will be something that will be endorsed by the international community, the entire international community. And what I said in the plenary session is that we can't fail the Sudanese people. They are the ones that count right now. They are the ones who have suffered the longest: two million dead, three to four million displaced. And now is the time to make those difficult, not just negotiating decisions, but political decisions that would bring this conflict to an end. Negotiations have been going on for 10 years in this current round, and really we have seen quite a bit of progress in the last few months. So there is a momentum here that suggests seriousness of purpose and an understanding that this can't be won on the field of battle, it has to be won on the field of peace.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, did you suggest the December deadline of did they come up with the idea of a deadline?
SECRETARY POWELL: We were anxious to get a commitment to a time deadline so this didn't drift away. And with Ramadan coming up, sometime in December seemed appropriate to us. And so it was their suggestion that not later than the end of December was enough time to get done. And I think it is important that they came up with that date. They have a pretty good idea of the difficulty of the issues that are remaining and so they have an understanding of how much time it is going to take to solve these. With the period of Ramadan reducing the intensity of some of the negotiations, but there will still be some negotiations continuing through Ramadan. Okay.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=October&x=20031022170741namfuaks0.7177088&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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