30 December 2004
State Department Noon Briefing, December 30
Department/Asian Tsunami, Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan
State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed the press December 30.
Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Thursday, December 30, 2004
12:55 p.m. EST
Briefer: Richard Boucher, Spokesman
DEPARTMENT/ASIA
-- Secretary Powell's Signing of Condolence Books
-- Coordination Process Up and Running/Conference Call with Undersecretary Grossman and Australian - Japanese - Indian Counterparts
-- Secretary Powell Videoconference Call with Secretary General Annan
-- C-130 Deployment/Supplies Going into Madan and Aceh
-- U.S. Will Participate in Donor's Conference/Focus on Relief Efforts/January 12th Paris Club Meeting
-- Enormous Number of Calls Received/Attempt to Identify Individuals/Number of Americans Killed
-- No-Fee Passports/Embassy Sri Lanka Assistance
-- U.S. Assistance/Pattern of Assistance/Delivering of Supplies
-- Welcoming of Donors/Call for Donors
-- Fairfax County Search and Rescue Team Being Asked for Assistance
-- Orphaned Children
-- Possible Secretary Visit to the Area
-- Erroneous Earthquake Warning
-- State Department Coordination Efforts/Core Group/European Donor's Conference/U.S. Contribution to Increase/Other Countries' Contribution Increasing
-- Military Assets
-- Private Donors/Individual and Corporate Donors
-- Diplomatic and Assistance Taskforce/Consular Affairs Taskforce/Call Centers/Constant Coordination Efforts/Various Conference Calls
-- Possible Problems in Burma
-- Congressional - State Department Talks
MIDDLE EAST
-- Deputy Secretary Armitage Travel/Oman Stop/Relations with Syria/Syria Insurgency in Iraq/Relationship with Jordan and Turkey/Contribution to Progress in Iraq/Jordan Contribution to Peace Process/Turkey and Cross-Border Traffic
-- Amr Moussa Comments/President's Commitment to Peace in the Middle East
UKRAINE
-- Resolving of Election and Judicial Process
-- Chose of Ukrainians/Russian Acceptance of Outcome
-- Electoral Commission
SUDAN
-- Possible Comprehensive Peace Agreement/Intergovernmental Authority on Development Mediation
-- Secretary Powell's Conversation with Vice President Taha and Chairman Garang/U.S. Involvement in Process/Ambassador Mark Bellamy
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2004
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
12:55 p.m. EST
MR. BOUCHER: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon, pleasure to be here. I think you've all seen the Secretary this morning out. He was at several embassies signing condolence books, and I think he had occasion to make some remarks to the press about the state of affairs with regard to tsunami relief. So I will try not to repeat that for you, unless you want me to, and we'll have transcripts for you later.
What I would emphasize today is the coordination process is up and running and active. There was a conference call among the core group members last night. Under Secretary Grossman and his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia talked about 10 o'clock our time last night. It was very useful, very productive. It went on 40, 45 minutes, people reviewing what they had done, everybody emphasizing the need to avoid duplication or to use this mechanism to do that and to work closely with the United Nations.
This morning, at 11 o'clock, we had a videoconference, which the Secretary participated in, with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, and we had Jim Wolfensohn, head of the World Bank on the phone, as well. And that, again, was a chance to coordinate and to review the state of affairs with a very important leader in this process of the United Nations and the heads of the United Nations Development Program, the World Food Program, UNICEF, and one more UN agency, were all there -- (laughter) -- I'm sorry for -- I apologize right now for whoever I left off.
The coordination process will continue, but even more than that, the emphasis is on deliveries on the ground. We have C-130 aircraft, six of them going into Thailand today. We have a delivery of C-130, full of supplies. It's going into Madan, Indonesia, today, and a convoy of 31 trucks is on its way from Madan to Aceh. There will be more flights. There will be another convoy of 50 trucks that goes tomorrow from -- on that route to Aceh, and we're all with the other donors coordinating our efforts.
Relief supplies also expected flying into Sri Lanka tomorrow, as well, with the help of U.S. air assets, C-130s, that we've deployed to the region. The ships, the planes, the helicopters are a very, very important part of the relief effort, along with the supplies that they bring and the people that they bring, and that is going forward on the ground very actively.
With that kind of opening review, let me turn to your questions.
Barry.
QUESTION: There seem to be reports, several would-be organizers of international conferences. The Europeans, I understand, are talking about January 7th. The UN is talking about it, and maybe even this building is talking about. Could you sort all of that out and tell us the prospects of the U.S. participating soon in an international donors conference?
MR. BOUCHER: I think the United States will participate at a senior level in whatever donors conference is held. The Europeans have talked about organizing donors conference in early January. The United States would certainly welcome that and look forward to participating in a senior level. That's about as far as I can go. I'm not sure the project has gelled at this point.
Our emphasis right now is getting the teams on the ground, getting the assessments done, but more important even than that, is getting the relief supplies in to people. And as that process unfolds, particularly with the teams on the ground, we'll all get a clear idea of what the needs are, and as donors, be able to come together and identify immediate needs and then start working on the longer term things as well.
QUESTION: And I apologize --
MR. BOUCHER: I'd say there is one other, I think, point to note. We were being asked about debt relief, and I think yesterday --
QUESTION: Oh, yeah.
MR. BOUCHER: -- in a footnote, we noted that --
QUESTION: Right.
MR. BOUCHER: -- the Paris Club has a regular meeting on January 12th. We understand the issue of a possible -- what to do about the debt for these countries -- will be probably discussed by the Paris Club at that meeting, January 12th --
QUESTION: With U.S. interests --
MR. BOUCHER: And the U.S. will be participating as well, and we've said that's something we need to look at.
QUESTION: I'm sorry to ask the same questions everyday, and it may go on for days and days and days.
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.
QUESTION: Is the death toll for Americans still at 12? Hundreds were missing, hundreds have been found, but hundreds have been added to the list. How is that fluctuating, please?
MR. BOUCHER: The 24-hour task force that we have working on the cases of American citizens is getting an enormous number of calls. I think we've had 6,000 inquiries there since December 26th. Not all of the inquiries represent an individual. Many are general nature. "Is Bali okay? " "Yes, Bali was not affected by this." And so, if you know people in Bali, they're okay -- questions like that that we're happy to answer for folks.
And then often we get duplicate calls on individuals. So we have been working very hard, I think, here to help identify individuals who are known to be missing versus those who just haven't been heard from yet. And more important, that that our embassies, were there are teams on the ground, the team down in Phuket, the team at Bangkok Airport, the people at the -- from our Embassy in Sri Lanka, who have gone to the affected areas, and the same in Indonesia. They are trying to go to hospitals, go to hotels, go to morgues, go to any places of congregation, identify Americans and identify the Americans who might not have been heard from.
You know, the way this process works is we care about people who might not have been heard from, maybe 12 hours later, or a day or two later, we'll hear from the family, "Yes, he checked in," or she checked in. So I'm told that, you know, in the past day or so, we've taken 600 people off the list of those that we didn't know the whereabouts of. At the same time, we've gotten more calls, so more have been added. So we're still in the range of several thousand people at any given moment that we are working on and trying to help sort out where they are and how they're doing.
QUESTION: And the death toll?
QUESTION: Richard --
MR. BOUCHER: Oh, I'm sorry. We now know of fourteen Americans who have died. There are seven in Thailand. There are seven in Sri Lanka. I asked the general question that you asked me yesterday about who were these people. I'm just -- I don't have a lot of individual information. They're a mixture of residents and tourists.
QUESTION: Do you happen to have an estimate of the American injury total?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't. No real numbers on Americans who might be injured.
The one other number I'll give you is we've issued -- I think I've told you in Thailand we're issuing no-fee passports. We've issued 115 no-fee passports at the -- in Bangkok in the last few days, since Sunday. So that's an example of the kind of thing we're doing for Americans.
I've talked to our Ambassador in Sri Lanka this morning. He tells me people are coming in to our consular offers basically with only their bathing suits, everything else was lost, and we're taking care of them. We're getting them places to stay, money to buy clothes, new passports, putting them in touch with their relatives. So we are out there taking care of people on an ongoing basis. It's a constant process.
Okay.
QUESTION: You know, it may or may not be fair, but the talk persists around town that there was some procrastination in the President's response and the amount of aid that the U.S. has given, has given half that of Spain. That's one that was a missed opportunity to reach out to the Muslim world. That's one.
Second, is why can't the U.S. lean on their allies in the Middle East, like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that have such tremendous windfall of all revenues in the last six months to be forward with aid?
MR. BOUCHER: On the first question --
QUESTION: To their Muslim brothers.
MR. BOUCHER: Let me make absolutely clear that we don't accept those kind of criticisms. Any implications that the United States is not being generous, is not forthcoming, is not active, is not, in fact, leading the way, is just plain wrong and doesn't reflect what's going on in this crisis and doesn't reflect what's going on in previous crises.
At the same time, I have to say we've come to expect this. I would invite you to go back and read the reports that were written five days after the hurricanes in the Caribbean and you'll see the same pattern. People realize the extent of the damage, the extent of the hardship, and we all realize much, much more needs to be done. And our effort to help those people is strong and it's active and we feel the difficulty of getting them the kind of immediate help. But the help is being delivered. We have airplanes flying, search and rescue patrols now. We have P-3s out of Thailand. We have airplanes delivering supplies. We have truck convoys that are going to places. We have vessels that are steaming forward. We're working with donors on the immediate questions.
Once you get supplies in to the region, you need to get them to the people you need them. That's going to be the next thing that people are going to focus on, that we are focused on, that once you get supplies into main airports you have to get them to the people at the coast who need them. That's really the question that we're most focused on today and that donors phone -- the core group's phone call yesterday, people focused a lot on the helicopter assets, the air assets. We're going to have C-130s that can get into some places, including Aceh, but there are going to be places we have to reach by helicopter. India has sent helicopters down to Sri Lanka. Australia is sending helicopters towards -- to Indonesia. Our ships are going into the region and have helicopters. Talk about avoiding duplication, one of the first things we're going to do is sort out amongst us how to get those helicopter assets where they're needed. So the immediate response to this is massive and it will become even bigger.
As far as other donors, I think we'd welcome donors from everywhere. And I think certainly as we head towards issues not just of immediate relief but of rebuilding and reconstruction and rehabilitating the economies, that all nations will be called upon to contribute and that mechanisms such as the donors conference the Europeans are talking about, or the United Nations in its coordinating role, can be very important in getting contributions from all over the world.
Teri.
QUESTION: This morning, Secretary Powell said at the Thai Embassy that the Fairfax search and rescue team would be sent, as they often have in other disasters. But we talked to them and they said that they haven't received any such order yet and they're expecting to hear from USAID. Do you know if this is in the works and expected?
MR. BOUCHER: I am told by USAID it's definitely in the works, that they have the money, they're paying for it, they're moving people. I don't know exactly who's called whom at this point or how that contact is made, but I'm told it's definitely in the works. Yeah, Fairfax and L.A.
QUESTION: Right.
MR. BOUCHER: Who we have -- we pay for their expenses when they go do something like this for us. And that's where we --
QUESTION: Any idea how soon they'd be heading out?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have exact plans. I'll see if I can get you anything on it.
QUESTION: Thank you very much.
MR. BOUCHER: Okay, back there, ma'am.
QUESTION: Are you getting any inquiries from Americans who are willing to take in children who have been orphaned by this? And if not or if so, what would the procedure be?
MR. BOUCHER: I think the question has come up. That's not necessarily one of the immediate responses in the case of this kind of disaster. The first thing one wants to do is to find the children and take care of them, feed them, make sure they're looked after, get them reunited with family members and parents who may also be lost. A lot of times in this kind of crisis people get separated.
The general process of adoption is actually a private process. The U.S. Government facilitates it through the issuance of visas and helping the parents. There's a lot of information on our website about adoptions. But there is no, at this point, I don't think there's no particular response required or designed for this particular crisis.
QUESTION: Richard, the Secretary was also asked about whether a firsthand look would be helpful. Is there any discussion about sending him or someone high up to the region at some convenient point?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything on that at this point.
QUESTION: Richard, this morning there's been an aftershock in India of about 6.32 on the Richter scale --
MR. BOUCHER: I think they actually corrected that and said that that was not -- that was an erroneous warning.
QUESTION: Okay. Aside from that, a smaller earthquake in Colombia. When you have this meeting that you indicated in early January, there seemed to be a broad mix of both our American Government, military type contractors, Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, those style type groups, as well as a French group called Doctors Without Borders that have expertise in what they do.
Is there some plan to coordinate the various groups so that they can be focused --
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that your listing is exactly right. Within the U.S. Government, the State Department is coordinating our effort and the President indicated yesterday in his statement Under Secretary Marc Grossman would do that for us, as well as represent us on the core group. The core group is an attempt to bring together some of the countries with assets in the region who are already active and make sure that we work together, we don't duplicate and that we target what real needs are. So that's an initial coordination mechanism. Others will be added to that group. The conference call, the videoconference today with the United Nations and the World Bank, is an immediate indicator of how we can work on an international scale not only with members of the core group but with others, including the United Nations, which kind of does assume over these kind of crisis a sort of umbrella role. A European donors conference, if -- when it's organized, will be different. It will be largely a governmental donors conference.
I think one of the interesting things to note is the kind of response you have to this crisis. I described it as massive. And it's not just massive from individual nations. The tally that we heard this morning in the conference call from Jan Egeland -- I think he was the one I left out of my list of the UN people who were there - the head of humanitarian relief, was that there's about 250 million of cash pledged by governments at this stage. That number will certainly go way up. We know the U.S. contribution will go up as needs are identified and we act to meet them.
There's about an equal amount, about $250 million, from the World Bank now that they've said they'll make available. There is then -- that makes about a $500 million pot of money been pledged. Egeland's numbers indicate that there is probably about the same amount in private donations that is being generated. And in addition, there's a similar amount -- again, not tallied -- in the kind of military assets that countries are putting out. And all this effort that we're making with helicopters and C-130s and military teams and military supplies and ships at sea is obviously very expensive but it's not a cash contribution. But it's that kind of response is, for the United States, a major portion of our response.
QUESTION: Did you get any figures on that? We asked yesterday if anybody --
MR. BOUCHER: I have asked again and, no, it's not simple to turn that into a dollar number. So all I can tell you is there's an awful lot being done with military assets.
QUESTION: Same amount, in the range of 500?
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, similar -- that was Egeland's guesstimate of the overall of military assets, not just from the U.S., but people like Australia and India and others.
QUESTION: Richard, a follow-up to my question.
MR. BOUCHER: Yes.
QUESTION: If you heard, or have you contacted any of the heavy equipment manufacturers, such as John Deere, Caterpillar, and I believe, the South Koreans also make heavy lift equipment and construction gear.
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know what they have done. I think we have seen, I think, if you've watched the private company announcements, Jan Egeland talked about the -- how forthcoming private donors have been -- foundations, but also corporate donors and individual donors matching, perhaps, you know, on an equivalent scale, to the amounts that governments have come up with. Where you've seen a lot of companies, including -- what was the drug company? I think it was Pfizer.
MR. COOPER: And Johnson and Johnson.
QUESTION: And Johnson and Johnson.
MR. BOUCHER: Not only, you know, talking about making medicine available, but giving cash because cash is what's readily used and what can stimulate economies on the ground, as well as help people in need. There has been quite an outpouring, and I'm sure the heavy equipment companies are probably among it -- among that. I just don't know what specifically those companies might have done.
Okay. Let's move on to others.
QUESTION: Richard, several Asian countries are scaling back or canceling their official New Year's celebrations, in light of the tragedy. Is Secretary Powell going to discuss this tomorrow in New York, do you know, the tsunami?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm sure the tragedy will be on everybody's mind, as we -- as he travels to New York tomorrow. Whether he has occasion or not to have meetings on this subject or specific discussions while he's in New York is still an open question and I don't know the answer to.
Yeah. Steve.
QUESTION: Could you tell us a little bit about the sorts of meetings that the Secretary or Marc Grossman participates in during the course of the day. I mean, it's a little -- there seems to be a rolling series of meetings the State Department is in charge. Is there a kind of a task force that reviews the status of things during the day? Can you walk us a little bit through the process as you see it here?
MR. BOUCHER: Sure. I think the first thing to remember is we have two task forces going, and those task forces have subgroups. But let me stick with the main groups. One is on the crisis, as a whole, the diplomatic coordination, the assistance coordination. And that's the primary task force. It's a 24-hour a day operation, staffed up in our operations center. Consular Affairs has its own task force and then it has call centers and other people working on the welfare and whereabouts of American citizens.
So those are the two main task forces: one on the crisis, as a whole; and one specifically looking after American citizens. They report on a regular basis to the Secretary and other senior leaders of the Department, including Marc Grossman. I would have to say that particularly Under Secretary Grossman's meeting, but he -- Under Secretary Grossman's time -- but to a great extent, that of the Secretary of State is also involved in the sort of constant coordination process with other members of the government and with foreign governments.
So it's not just a matter of meetings. It's, you know, picking up the phone and talking to the Secretary General, as the Secretary did yesterday, its foreign minister calls, talking to the Indian Foreign Minister yesterday, talked to the Spanish Foreign Minister yesterday, you know, about these issues, talked to the Canadian National Defense Minister today. So that's part of what the Secretary is doing, and also getting regular updates from Under Secretary Grossman.
Then you have, you know, the 8 o'clock meeting, the 8:30 meeting, the 11 o'clock videoconference, the 1 o'clock videoconference, and the 4:30 meeting, as well as the phone calls that go back and forth throughout this building and throughout this government all day long.
All of those efforts -- well, some of them -- the 11 o'clock this morning was a core group meeting with the Secretary -- by video with the Secretary General and head of the World Bank, but the rest of those meetings are either Marc Grossman's meetings or the Secretary's meetings with U.S. Government personnel to -- where this is a primary subject of discussion. The Secretary's regular 8:30 staff meeting these days is an update on the tsunami question and so I know tasking is what happens next.
QUESTION: And is the 10 p.m. --
MR. BOUCHER: Oh, I forgot the 10 p.m.
QUESTION: -- core group meeting, is that a regular fixture now, or is that --
MR. BOUCHER: That will probably be a regular thing, at leas for a while, that last night's 10 p.m. phone call among core group members, Under Secretary Grossman had will be repeated tonight. I would expect that will continue as well.
QUESTION: And also, the 11 a.m. meeting today --
MR. BOUCHER: With the UN. I don't know that that will necessarily continue. I think we have a lot of other ways of coordinating with the UN. Jan Egeland, the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator, is joining the 10 p.m. core group phone call tonight. So we'll be in regular -- I think, Under Secretary Grossman has talked to him a couple of times already and he'll be part of that phone call tonight, so that enhances our coordination with the United Nations.
QUESTION: I'm sorry. The 4:30 meeting, that's the usual Secretary's meeting where he reviews the --
MR. BOUCHER: No, no, the 8 o'clock and the 4:30 and the -- the 8 o'clock, the 1 o'clock and the 4:30 are Marc Grossman's meetings with other people in the U.S. Government, either State Department people or broader interagency teams. The 8:30 is the Secretary's senior staff meeting with his senior staff, where he gets updated by Grossman and they discuss these things. The 11 o'clock this morning was a video with the UN; 10 o'clock is a core group meeting -- a core group conference call that, as I said, the UN now will be joining.
I should also note that this morning's videoconference with the Secretary and the Secretary General and the World Bank had -- Jim Wolfensohn participated. The Indian Ambassador, the chargés from the Australian Embassy and the Japanese Embassy were all here in the conference room with the Secretary, so they participated from this end of the video.
QUESTION: Indian and Australia and who?
MR. BOUCHER: Japanese. Yeah. That's the core group -- us, the Indians, Australians, Japanese -- were all in the conference room here. The Secretary General and his team were in New York, and Wolfensohn was on the phone line.
QUESTION: Can we change the subject?
MR. BOUCHER: Sure.
QUESTION: Richard, could you give us an update on Deputy Armitage's trip to Damascus? Is he giving the President of Syria a laundry list of what to do, or (inaudible)?
MR. BOUCHER: The Deputy Secretary has left. That's as far as I've tracked his travels. I don't know that he's arrived.
QUESTION: (Laughter.) Okay, we know that.
MR. BOUCHER: He was headed to Oman, I think, first. He's -- I think everybody knows the state of affairs in our relations with Syria, that we have felt it's very, very important for Syria to continue to take further action on issues of infiltration or insurgents, or support for insurgents in Iraq. That's where we think some of that activity is emanating and supported from Syria. That will be a primary focus, as well as many of the other issues that we have with Syria. But we have been quite straightforward and frank in our discussions with the Syrians over time, and I'm sure Deputy Secretary will continue those conversations in that vain.
We have recognized the things that Syria has done, where we have seen some progress in some of these areas, and we have always been very frank about the areas that we still needed to see progress. And that's the way the Deputy Secretary will approach these issues when he goes to Syria.
QUESTION: So there is no element for urgency, so to speak, in this trip?
MR. BOUCHER: These are very important issues. Support for the insurgency is an urgent issue for the United States, for the Iraqis, especially for the Iraqi Government and the Iraqi people, who have raised these issues again and again with a great degree of insistence with the Syrian Government and we continue to do that, as well.
Sir.
QUESTION: Where else did he go?
MR. BOUCHER: He's going to Jordan, to Syria, and to Turkey, and if he goes anywhere else, we'll tell you.
QUESTION: Can you give a little rundown on what he will bring up in the other two stops?
MR. BOUCHER: Jordan and -- I think Jordan and Turkey, the fundamental issue of coordination of our relationship, how they support and contribute to progress in Iraq, how they support and contribute to the holding of a peaceful and successful election in Iraq. Jordan has, as you know, a significant role in that regard and has a significant economic relationship with Iraq to deal with.
At the same time, Jordan is a key player in the peace process, one of our major issues, looking for the opportunities. I'm sure the Deputy Secretary will want to talk to Jordanian leaders about the opportunities in the peace process, as well as some of the very important things going on in U.S.-Jordan bilateral relations, like the free trade agreement.
In Turkey, we have the same issues with regard to Iraq, particular concerns of Turkey with regard to truck drivers, with regard to terrorism. I'm sure we'll want to go through those, discuss those with the Turks, Turkish Government, as well as discuss some of these other regional issues and Turkey's future in Europe, where we've seen some very positive and significant developments in the last few weeks.
QUESTION: The reference to truck drivers, meaning cross-border traffic into Iraq?
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, yeah, where Turkey has had a lot of concerns about the Turkish truck drivers who have been trading or taking supplies into Iraq.
Yeah, sir.
QUESTION: Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, for the second day yesterday, he's been launching a real strong criticism at the United States policy toward the Iraq, toward the Middle East peace and effectiveness and the lack of sincerity that he is alluded -- alluding to, and trying to really employ the real efforts of the United States in order to bring peace to the Middle East, and that the United States is actually blaming or pointing fingers at other countries in order to block any blame or to escape from what is happening in Iraq, blaming it on others.
The foreign minister -- the Secretary of State Christopher, today, in the New York Times, seems to almost second or thought -- think, you know, thought about the need for a real effective policy, United States policy, toward, you know, the Middle East and the efforts to bring peace to the Middle East that foreign policy -- telephone calls and just secondary kind of actions would not actually bring peace, that he is hoping that Dr. Condoleezza Rice would actually pursue a real more serious efforts in the future. And that depends on the past techniques of bringing peace to the Middle East.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. BOUCHER: All right. That was a speech. Is there a question?
QUESTION: No, I mean, what do you -- what is your reaction to Mr. Moussa's --
MR. BOUCHER: Well, let me say two things. Let me say, first of all, that it is my great pleasure not to have seen what Amr Moussa might have said on this subject. On the general topic, I can assure you the President is sincere. The President has been personally involved in the search for peace in the Middle East. The President personally went to Sharm el-Sheikh and Aqaba last year and brought together the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and tried with is personal intervention to get the kind of kickstart to the process that we were looking for at that time.
It didn't happen. But the President continues to be very personally involved and has stated in recent weeks, at the press conference with Tony Blair and other occasions, that this is a major priority for him as we go forward, that the opportunities that are presented to us all now of moving forward with new leadership or elected leadership in the Palestinian community -- January 9th they have their election -- of moving forward with the Gaza withdrawal is an opportunity to move forward on the roadmap, not only withdrawal from Gaza, but parts of the West Bank, and linked into the longer process, and that the President is personally committed to taking every advantage of these opportunities and looks to others to play their part as well.
QUESTION: Change of subject.
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.
QUESTION: Germany has already invited Viktor Yuschenko, already welcomed him as new President of the Ukraine, and invited him to make a state visit. Do you think this is undermining the verification process that's still going on, especially with the U.S. withholding its congratulations until the vote is final?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any comment on Germany's announcement. I, again, didn't see that one either. But I think, as far as we're concerned, we do look to the Ukrainians to resolve these matters swiftly. We note the -- I think the Election Commission has made some decisions today. There is still a judicial possibility or a judicial process that needs to be resolved but we would hope that those things would be resolved in the spirit of fairness and quickly so that Ukrainians can get on with their lives.
We have, I think, noted that the election was substantially free and fair and that the -- whatever irregularities might have occurred would not have affected the outcome. So I think we're confident that Ukrainian authorities can conduct a prompt, fair, transparent and legal review that results in an outcome that reflects the will of the people of Ukraine, and that's what we'd look to happen.
QUESTION: Thanks.
QUESTION: I'm not sure if anything is available, but the Kenyans are saying that there will be a signing ceremony between -- to end the *north-south war in Sudan tomorrow in Kenya. Do you know anything about that?
MR. BOUCHER: The parties, as you know, made a commitment to try to resolve their issues by December 31st, and indeed we're, at this point, fairly optimistic that that can happen. They are talking about concluding a comprehensive peace agreement, as they pledged to do for the UN -- to the UN Security Council. We would certainly welcome that, as a tremendous and a historic achievement. We have senior people who are out there working with them and we continue to follow these matters very, very closely.
We're pleased with the efforts the parties have been making. We're pleased with the effort the Intergovernmental Authority on Development has put into mediating the peace talks. Our troika partner, as Norway and the UK, have worked with us in bringing the parties together and keeping them engaged in what has been an often difficult process.
I would note that the Secretary called yesterday afternoon to Vice President Taha of Sudan and Chairman Garang of the SPLM, and talked to them about the issues and expressed his hope that they could resolve them, and they both said that they were going to make very intensive efforts today in order to try to do that. So at this point, we would hope that they can conclude tomorrow and that the signing ceremony that's being discussed can be held.
QUESTION: Yeah, but to the degree that there is a celebratory -- a mood here about all of this hinges on Darfur, right?
MR. BOUCHER: Darfur is a very important element of what's going on in Sudan now, and the tragedy of Darfur is not forgotten in the celebration or the pleasure that we might express about seeing the north-south agreement concluded. We have tried for a long time now, throughout this Administration, to resolve these problems of Sudan, beginning with Senator Danforth's first trip out there, on behalf of the President and the Secretary, to see whether it was possible.
You know, the Secretary has been involved in this. The President has been involved in this throughout. We have felt, and I think the Sudanese parties have felt, that resolving the north-south issues, resolving some of the governmental issues and power-sharing issues involved in that agreement can only help resolve the Darfur issues. And therefore, we think it is very important to proceed with the north-south agreement and not to forget about Darfur, but rather to use that to contribute further to resolving the terrible problems faced by the people in Darfur.
QUESTION: If there is a signing ceremony, who will represent the U.S. Government?
MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to see on that. If it occurs, we'll tell you that.
Sir.
QUESTION: Can we go back to Ukraine?
MR. BOUCHER: Hang on.
QUESTION: About Taiwan. There was a newspaper report in Taiwan that the United States has sent an envoy over, quite a high level, before Christmas, to discuss the issues over Cross-Strait relationship. Can you think of anybody who visited Taiwan at that time?
MR. BOUCHER: I haven't really been tracking the visits or the travels of my friends in the East Asia region, so I'd have to check with them and see if we have anybody that one would describe that way, or any visit that one would have to describe that way. Okay?
Sir.
QUESTION: You mentioned that you have senior officials working on the agreement, the north-south. Who are they?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, Ambassador Mark Bellamy is out there. We also have Mike Ranneberger, who's committed to this. He's in Washington but following these things very closely, and obviously, all of the people in the Africa Bureau are working very intensely on this.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. BOUCHER: Said.
QUESTION: Back to Ukraine, Richard. I wonder if (inaudible) how Russian Government, or Putin particular, is feeling towards this whole thing, or will Russia likely, as it feels more isolated, slip back into Cold War mode? Are you doing anything like that?
MR. BOUCHER: Are we assessing the feelings?
QUESTION: No, I mean, not the feeling. What I'm saying, policy -- I mean, not only feeling because that's --
MR. BOUCHER: I'm sorry. We're from Mars. We don't --
QUESTION: Are you talking to the Russian Government about --
MR. BOUCHER: I think it's important for us and for everybody not to see this contest in the Ukraine as anything other than an election for the people of Ukraine to choose their own leadership. It's not a contest between East and West. It's not a contest between Russia and the United States. And whatever statements were made and media reports that have occurred, I think you find us all at this point of saying that we look forward to the outcome of the Ukrainian process. That's what the Russians have said. That's what President Putin ahs made clear, that they look forward to accepting the outcome of the Ukrainian political, electoral and judicial process. And that's where we all should be. Perhaps that's where some of us started out and where others have gotten to, but that's where we all should be.
Joel.
QUESTION: Some recent news prior to press conference. Apparently, the Ukraine supreme court has thrown out the four opposition complaints, so I guess Mr. Yushchenko can effectively take office.
MR. BOUCHER: I think it was the electoral commission that rejected the complaints and there still is a possibility of legal challenge. That's my understanding of the news of the day, but we want to see that process played out, as I said, in a prompt, swift and transparent manner.
QUESTION: Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry.
MR. BOUCHER: One more, or is that it?
QUESTION: If you'd take one more -- I'm sorry -- back to the tsunami. The country of Burma -- or Myanmar, if you like -- exile groups here, as they all want to do, are accusing the government there of hiding or covering up what might be a huge death toll. I think their own death toll has been reported at around 30 but they do have quite a bit of coastal exposure down there in Phuket. Does the United States have any word on the situation down in southern Burma?
MR. BOUCHER: I'd have to check and see if we or the United Nations or somebody has an independent estimate of what might be the problems in Burma. But I think everybody agrees that the primary areas that are affected -- Indonesia, Sri Lanka especially, Thailand to a great extent, but also Thailand perhaps has more resources to deal with it by themselves -- but those are the ones that I think where the concentration is and then there are certainly other areas that need to be looked at and help, assistance that we're going to provide in places like Maldives.
QUESTION: Would the Grossman group be the one that advises Congress on how much money might be needed when they return next week?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, that will be an administration process. We will certainly be talking to Congress and I'm sure the Secretary and the Administration will be talking to the leadership in Congress about what the needs might be as the assessments come in. As we start to identify more needs and start identifying the money to meet them, that will be an Administration process and, as usual, I think the Secretary and Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary Grossman will all be involved.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:40 p.m.)
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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