11 January 2005
State Department Briefing, January 11
Ukraine, Asia tsunami update, Israel/Palestinian Authority, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Guantanamo/detainees, Iran
State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed the press January 11.
Following is a transcript of the State Department briefing:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
1:45 p.m. EST
Briefer: Richard Boucher, Spokesman
UKRAINE
-- Status of Ukrainian Troop Deployment in Iraq
-- Certification of Viktor Yushchenko As Winner of December 26 Re-Vote
-- Prospects for Secretary Powell to Attend Inauguration
ASIA/DEPARTMENT
-- Status of American Citizens Affected by Tsunami/Number of Welfare and Whereabouts Inquiries
-- 18 American Citizens Killed and 17 American Citizens Presumed Dead
-- Thai and Sri Lanka Governments' Cooperation in Providing Records/Information
-- U.S. Consular Services Available to American Citizens/Assistance to Families
-- Implementation of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption
-- Issue of International Adoptions/Children Orphaned by the Tsunami
ISRAEL/PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
-- Palestinian Control of Security Situation in the Territories
-- Calls Between Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
-- President Bush's Call to Mahmoud Abbas
-- Secretary Powell's Calls to Israeli Foreign Minister Shalom and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Perez and Expected Call to Mahmoud Abbas
ZIMBABWE
-- U.S. Concern Regarding Zimbabwe's Media Law and Journalist Restrictions
IRAQ
-- Security and Iraqi Elections
-- Process for Voting in Elections
-- Deadline for Elections Set by Iraqi Election Commission
MISCELLANEOUS
-- One Australian and Four British Detainees to be Transferred from Guantanamo Facility to Australia and the United Kingdom
IRAN
-- Reported European Union Resumption of Trade Negotiations with Iran
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2005
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
1:45 p.m. EST
MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon to all of you. Thank you for waiting. And for those of you I haven't seen, Happy New Year.
I don't have any statements or announcements today. I'd be glad to take your questions.
Mr. Gedda.
QUESTION: What can you say about the Ukrainian plan to withdraw troops from Iraq?
MR. BOUCHER: I think we've watched this. We've looked at what's going on.
Apparently at President Kuchma's Security Council meeting yesterday, and the Rada -- there's a Rada resolution on Ukrainian troops in Iraq -- the Rada resolution is non-binding. President Kuchma has asked only that contingency plans be drawn up, so as far as we can tell, the Ukrainian leadership has not made a decision on withdrawal.
The Ukrainians have said the changes in Ukraine's contingent would be made in full consultation with the multinational forces and with the Iraqi Government, and that it would be done in a responsible and measured way. So we trust that Ukraine's new government, when it takes office, will look at this issue carefully and discuss it as appropriate with us and the Iraqis.
QUESTION: So what you're saying is, there have not been consultations; they have not let you know, which is why you think this is not a (inaudible) decision?
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, these are contingency planning or non-binding resolutions, not a decision by the government. That kind of decision would come out of the new government, and we trust that it would be done in full consultation with the rest of us. Ukraine has been a very important partner. It's taken its international responsibilities seriously. We are grateful for the substantial troop contributions that Ukraine has made in Iraq and we'll discuss matters with them if the new government chooses to take them up in that fashion.
QUESTION: But you don't have --
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.
QUESTION: Are you in a position to congratulate the new leader of Ukraine yet?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, we're watching those developments with regard to the election very closely. We welcome the certification by the Central Election Commission of Viktor Yushchenko as the winner of the December 26th re-vote. This is a momentous step in the Ukrainian people's struggle for democracy.
We understand the Ukrainian law now allows the challenger seven days to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court. We also understand from press reports that Prime Minister Yanukovych is saying that he will appeal to the Supreme Court. So we don't plan on congratulating a winner until all the legal challenges have been resolved and the Election Commission has published its final results.
I think most observers, both Ukrainian and international observers, have concluded there were no systemic violations and that any violations that did occur were -- did not affect the outcome of the December 26th vote. Ukrainian law does provide an avenue for challenges, and so we'll let that process play itself out. We certainly are confident that the Supreme Court will deal with the matter promptly, fairly and in a transparent manner.
QUESTION: And given that it seems like there is only a few more days for this to play out and inauguration is on the horizon, if it falls when Secretary Powell is still in office, is it his intention to go to the inauguration?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't want to speculate at this point. We'll have to see what happens in Ukraine. It's certainly been a major -- a matter of great importance to the Secretary and to the President to see that the Ukrainian people got an opportunity for a fair and free election, that they got an opportunity to decide on their leaders; and we have supported that process -- that political and judicial process in Ukraine -- throughout. And I'm sure the United States in whatever appropriate fashion will continue to support the -- a government that's brought to power by a free vote of the Ukrainian people.
Tammy.
QUESTION: Can I ask about the tsunami victims? Any updates you have on American casualties, and if you can characterize the types of inquiries that you're now getting, if the list has whittled down to a point that you can better characterize them?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that I can characterize them any better. The numbers are dropping; continue to drop. We continue to hear from families and from Americans who have been in touch with their families. So we continue to identify people who were thought to be -- or just where it was not known where they were, and where it is now known where they were.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs, the Department Task Force, has continued to work around the clock to bring down the number of American citizens' whereabouts inquiries that we've received since December 26th. We've gotten a total of something like 30,000 calls. We now have 581 whereabouts inquiries that remain. So that's down again from yesterday's 750 or so, I think it was, and down considerably from where we stood last week.
We know 18 American citizens are confirmed dead; that's 10 in Thailand and eight in Sri Lanka. We now list 17 American citizens as presumed dead. That's one less than yesterday, where we were very happy to hear from one of the people who we thought had died.
Our offices here in Washington will continue to work with family members and our officials in Sri Lanka and Thailand. We'll work with them to provide all available assistance to family members of the American citizens whose whereabouts are not known, or to those who are presumed dead.
QUESTION: And at this point, do you have all of the records that you've been looking for from Sri Lanka and Thai -- Sri Lankan and Thai authorities, and --
MR. BOUCHER: We have tried to use all available information and continue to acquire information. I don't know if I could quite characterize it as all information necessary. I'm sure as these processes go, you might identify a particular record or a particular piece of information that relates to an individual or a group of individuals, and make subsequent requests. But I'm sure -- I think our cooperation with these governments has been very good, and that we have been able to get considerable amounts of information.
Teri.
QUESTION: Has it shaken your confidence at all in the Thai Government's promise that it did not put any foreigners in mass graves or burn the corpses -- the fact that they're now digging up people -- amidst accusations that there may have been foreigners there?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that there's any facts coming out of this exhumation quite yet, so no, I would not make any judgment on it at this point.
QUESTION: You still believe there were not Westerners or Americans?
MR. BOUCHER: I would not make any judgment on it at this point. I think we've had assurances from the Thai Government. And we've -- as you know, we've had a considerable number of forensics people on the ground. The Secretary talked to them when he was out there and we've worked closely, expert-to-expert, with the Thai Government on these matters as well as intervened politically when we wanted to make sure that Americans were not being put in mass graves.
QUESTION: But didn't you make a judgment on it when you said that you had been assured that they were not doing that? You made it sound like it was --
MR. BOUCHER: Yes. We had been assured that they were not doing that. I don't have anything to change that or to believe that they had done so.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.
QUESTION: Richard, just for the record, what are the services that are available to American citizens and their families in Thailand and Sri Lanka, in particular?
MR. BOUCHER: We have people in Bangkok at our consular sections and also down in Phuket at the sites. We have our American Citizens Services sections through our embassies, throughout the world, who are looking to get in touch, not just happy to hear from them but looking to get in touch with Americans who might be missing or looking to get in touch with families who might be concerned about the welfare of their loved ones. And so we take that information and we pass it on to the different groups who can track down the records, who can track down information on people. Certainly if there is a confirmed death in the family, we help the family; we assign an individual counselor or officer to work with the family on things like certificates of death and repatriation of remains and other matters that pertain when a loved one has died.
QUESTION: Are they there, also, to help in the -- you said the search -- but in particular, trying to help facilitate getting DNA or other dental records, perhaps, that family members may have to the Thai authorities or in Sri Lanka?
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, our consular teams can do that. Our forensic teams can help do that. There are a variety of ways those things take place.
QUESTION: What about Americans who have survived the tsunami but are victims or in hospitals and things like that? Are -- is the State Department or the Embassy trying to help the families of, you know, kind of, wounded or things like that?
MR. BOUCHER: Pretty much so. I don't think we've had that many families go out there. And certainly, when we were in Phuket, I think there was only one American in the hospital there at that time. Some of them have been moved to other places, some of them have been able to leave Thailand and go either home or go home -- go to other medical care.
So we take each one of these cases individually, try to help the family, try to the individual with whatever they need. And that's what our consular officers are doing every day. As you know, in the initial stages, when there were a lot of Americans coming out of this area on free flights, they would show up at Bangkok Airport without any money, without any passports, and we were able to give them passports on the spot, check the records, verify their identity, give them passports right away, get them money to buy clothes, to stay some place for the night if that was necessary, to help get them back home. So we've provided a lot of assistance to a lot of Americans in this -- in these circumstances and will continue to do so until everybody is taken care of.
Yeah.
QUESTION: I have more on the tsunami.
MR. BOUCHER: Okay.
QUESTION: This is on the issue of adoptions. I mean, a lot of children were orphaned by the tsunami and the rules governing adoptions in this -- international adoptions in this country seem to be a little unclear. Has the State Department issued final, kind of, guidelines or regulations on the Hague Treaty on International Adoptions, and if so -- if not, why not?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, I think you have to separate the two. The final guidelines on the Hague Treaty on International Adoptions are still a work in progress. We put out proposed rules, I think, in December or so? And we have received, subsequently, something like 1,800 individual comments on those rules from a variety of different organizations and state licensing authorities.
The groups and the individuals who submitted comments on those rules have asked to see the comments received, reviewed and reflected in new guidelines, which, again, will be published as proposed rules in the Federal Register, so everybody gets another look at them before they're made final. And we will continue to move that forward as expeditiously as possible in order to put out a clear set of guidelines on the Hague Convention and how we're going to implement it.
In this tsunami-related disaster, though, I think we have shared the concerns for the children that have been affected by this tragedy. We have applauded the desire of the American people to try to assist the children who have been caught in this terrible disaster. But we don't think it's possible for people to adopt these children for a variety of reasons.
Several countries have taken measures, which we have characterized as responsible measures, to suspend adoptions and safeguard against trafficking of tsunami orphans or children that are displaced due to tsunamis. The international standard in a crisis like this is to keep children as close to their surviving parents and family members as possible. It could be extremely difficult to determine whether children whose parents are missing are truly orphans, while efforts to locate missing persons are still underway.
I think that's especially true in this current situation, as many children have been separated from one or both of their parents. Indeed, even when children are orphaned, they're often taken in by other relatives; and that remains a preferable route.
So we believe it may take many months before the situation in these countries stabilizes to the point where it will be possible to identify children who are truly orphaned, who are legitimate orphans, and in need of inter-country adoption. And so it would be only when those countries decide that these children are truly orphans that they could be made available for American citizens or other foreigners to adopt.
QUESTION: And when that does occur later down the line, are you working on helping to facilitate that?
MR. BOUCHER: When it does occur, we always facilitate adoptions by American parents overseas. That's one of our major jobs.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Can you tell us more of the circumstances around the American citizen who turned up, who was on the presumed dead list?
MR. BOUCHER: No. As we've done with all these cases, we haven't tried to provide individual circumstances, out of respect for the privacy of the individuals.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Can we change subject?
MR. BOUCHER: Sure.
QUESTION: The Palestinian Authority today unveiled a plan to reform its security apparatus, with, I understand, the reduction of the -- the number of security agencies. How do you see this plan? Do you have any comments?
MR. BOUCHER: I have not seen the plan. I don't think we've had a chance to go through it in any detail. We certainly welcome progress being made by the Palestinians to take control of the security services, because that's, as we see it, an essential element to their curbing the violence and getting on with the process of building the institutions of a Palestinian state and making progress on the roadmap, so certainly, we welcome any progress that's made in that direction.
We've also seen the phone calls back and forth between Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Sharon and Minister Abbas. The President, as you know, called Mr. Abbas yesterday to congratulate him. The Secretary has talked already today with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, with Foreign Minister Shalom, and expects to talk to Mr. Abbas this afternoon.
So we will continue, ourselves, to encourage progress between the two parties. We will continue to encourage progress by the Palestinians in controlling the security situation in the territories; and we'll continue to look for every opportunity to work with the parties to move forward.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. BOUCHER: Said.
QUESTION: Just to follow up very quickly -- I know time is short and the Secretary is going to call Mr. Abbas this afternoon, but are there any plans to meet with him by the Secretary?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that they'll have an opportunity in the next -- in the coming days or weeks.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Richard.
MR. BOUCHER: Sir.
QUESTION: What's your reaction to the comment that President Carter made yesterday on CNN that he agreed with Brent Scowcroft that at this juncture, there needs to be an American-imposed plan, essentially?
MR. BOUCHER: American-imposed plan?
QUESTION: On the Palestinian-Israeli conflict settlement.
MR. BOUCHER: I didn't -- I really didn't see the comment. I don't have any particular comment on it. I think everybody in the region has said that they want to make progress on the roadmap. The United States and the Quartet were instrumental in coming up with the roadmap. We've all looked at it objectively and carefully and defined those are the elements to move forward.
In addition, there's the opportunity of the Gaza withdrawal, which, if worked together, can create an opportunity as well because it involves Palestinians being able to exercise real authority over the land of Gaza and to see the Israelis, for the first time, actually turn back territory and settlements not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank.
We see these as opportunities coming up -- movement on the roadmap, Gaza withdrawal. And those -- that is the direction we think the parties can go in if they should choose to get -- to do so, and particularly if the Palestinians are able to fulfill their obligations to control the violence. Both sides have obligations and we will try to help them meet that and make progress on these lines.
QUESTION: I think in the past the policy has always been, it needs to come from the parties themselves. Is that still the idea?
MR. BOUCHER: It's never been -- I mean, if you look at it over the years, the United States has always played a very important role in offering guidance, direction and suggestions, but the parties themselves have to take the responsibility to carry out many of these steps. And that's where, you know, as with the roadmap, which the United States and the Quartet helped come up with, it's based on an analysis of what the parties themselves have to do -- sometimes things they wanted to do, sometimes things they didn't want to do right away. But it puts together the elements, we think, of making progress.
You add to that some of the ideas the parties themselves have come up with, like the withdrawal from Gaza and some of the West Bank settlements, and you get a number of opportunities to move forward now. And that's what we want to do, and that's what we will be working with the parties to do.
David.
QUESTION: The President of Zimbabwe, I think it was last Friday, signed a media law that I think you had publicly urged him not to sign, having to do with imposing penalties on journalists who don't register with the government's media organization. Just a recap?
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah. We are quite concerned about this law, about the tightening of restrictions on journalists and the amended media law that they have passed. Zimbabwe's media law has often been used to close down the country's independent daily newspapers, and we think that the new amendments to this law can only make matters worse.
The steps raise serious doubts about whether the government is committed to holding free and fair parliamentary elections in March. Stifling free discussion of political viewpoints through this law is inconsistent with the election guidelines that were adopted by the South African Development Community in August of 2004. And so we'll repeat our view that the government should allow independent daily newspapers to reopen and should lift licensing restrictions on journalists.
QUESTION: No, I had a question --
MR. BOUCHER: You had a question.
QUESTION: On Iraq.
MR. BOUCHER: Okay, go ahead.
QUESTION: Allawi is saying that there are pockets of areas where he thinks it's too unsafe to have a poll. Is that something that you -- that the United States -- the conclusion the United States has also reached, that there will be some areas where you just can't have the election?
MR. BOUCHER: I leave it to our people on the ground, really, to specify which areas are what. We know that there is insecurity in some part of Iraq, and there may be various locations where it's difficult for people to vote.
But I think our -- the goal of the Iraqis, the goal of the Iraqi Election Commission, is to afford all Iraqis an opportunity to express their choices; afford all Iraqis an opportunity to vote. And they will try to do that as best they can. There are something like -- approaching 6,000 different polling places in Iraq that are being set up. There's 14, almost 15 million voters who are registered. So there is ample opportunity, I think, for everybody in Iraq to try to express their viewpoint.
QUESTION: Yeah, but not in the Sunni areas.
MR. BOUCHER: In various Sunni areas, yes. And not every -- not every area or town will have a polling place right down the street.
QUESTION: But Richard, are you confident that you're going to get enough of the Sunni population to vote that it'll make it a representative election?
MR. BOUCHER: We certainly hope so, and we think that the Iraqi Election Commission and the coalition forces and the Iraqi security officials, Iraqi Government are making every step possible to permit Iraqis from throughout the country to express their view.
Adi.
QUESTION: If you're in an unsafe area in Iraqi, for example, and you're an Iraqi and you decide not to go to your designated polling place, can you go to one a hundred miles away if you think that's safer?
MR. BOUCHER: I, frankly, don't know. You'll have to check with the Iraqi Election Commission on how that's going to operate and where the nearest polling places are going to be in various locations.
QUESTION: Richard, do you know of any contingency plans to have some sort of rolling elections to observe as many Sunni votes as possible? In other words, if they can vote --
MR. BOUCHER: Again, those kinds of questions have to go to the Iraqi Election Commission. As far as I understand the transitional law, Transitional Administrative Law, the election date is specified. So I wouldn't -- I haven't seen any real planning for that. But if they're able to consider it, you'd have to check with them.
QUESTION: But concerning that, you know, former State Department official, James Dobbins, came up with the idea that you should keep it open after -- I mean, you don't have --
MR. BOUCHER: Former State Department officials come up with all kinds of ideas. (Laughter.) That's as far as I'm going to go on that one. I think you'd have to check the Transitional Administrative Law and check with the Iraqi Election Commission, who are in charge of this process. The President, as the White House has said, talked to Prime Minister Allawi today, and they agreed on the importance of meeting this deadline that the Iraqi Election Commission has set to have elections of January 30th. And that's our -- that's what we're supporting; that's what the Iraqi Government is supporting, and above all, that's what the Iraqi people are planning through their Election Commission.
QUESTION: But don't you guys think, and -- just the point that this would give it a flexibility, I mean, to some sort of --
MR. BOUCHER: I think we are in a position of seeing the Iraqis set a mechanism to have an open and fair election to afford Iraqis the chance to choose their own government. We think that's a very important development. We're going to support that development. We're going to support the Iraqi Government in reaching its goals to achieve that. And that's where we are.
QUESTION: Richard.
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.
QUESTION: Considering the fact that it appears at this stage that 4 out of 18 of the Iraqi provinces are too unstable for election workers to actually go and set up polling stations, what percentage of a turnout would there have to be among the different ethnic groups in order for this to be a legitimate election?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think one can make some decree or standard like that in advance. One has to afford all the Iraqi citizens an opportunity to vote insofar as possible. And that's what the Iraqi Election Commission is doing, that's what the Iraqi Government is doing, and that's what we're trying to help them do.
QUESTION: But if polling stations aren't -- don't exist in certain areas --
MR. BOUCHER: I -- no. You're starting questions with "if." Let's wait till after January 30th and I'm sure we'll be happy to answer questions on turnout and on how representative a group of Iraqis voted.
QUESTION: Okay. So is the expectation then that election workers are going to try to set up polling facilities in those provinces?
MR. BOUCHER: The expectation is that, in a variety of ways, the Iraqi Election Commission is going to make it possible for Iraqis to expect to choose their government, to choose their leadership, to choose their Transitional Assembly, and that we will support them in doing that.
QUESTION: The British Government announced that the remaining prisoners in Guantanamo will be set free shortly. Do you have anything on that?
MR. BOUCHER: And I think you've also seen an announcement from the Government of Australia as well. We have reached an understanding with the Governments of Britain and the Government of Australia that four remaining British nationals and one of the two Australian nationals at Guantanamo will be transferred to the United Kingdom and to Australia, respectively.
Our view is that these are two nations, who are important allies in the war on terrorism, that they understand the importance of maintaining the security of our nations, and that they will act responsibly. They have given us assurances that they will do -- take all appropriate legal steps to prevent a security threat emanating from these individuals after their release.
To date, we have transferred or released over 200 detainees from Guantanamo. We have transferred detainees to France, Spain, Russia, Saudi Arabia, a number of other countries. We hope to transfer additional individuals. Whether or not any individual detainee can be transferred depends on the facts of his particular case.
The timing of the detainees' return to their countries is a matter that remains under discussion with their governments, so I don't have any predictions on that.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. BOUCHER: Sir.
QUESTION: Tomorrow, Iran and the European Union will resume trade negotiations. This is a kind of reward for Iran suspending its uranium enrichment. But I know the U.S. has consistently been skeptical about how long that suspension would last. Do you think this is too early for the Europeans to be negotiating?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any particular comment on it at this point.
QUESTION: Thank you.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:12 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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