19 November 1997
TEXT: JAMES RUBIN REMARKS NOV. 19 RE DIPLOMATIC ACTION ON IRAQ
(SecState leaving New Delhi Nov. 19 for Geneva meeting) (1150) New Delhi -- State Department Spokesman James P. Rubin told reporters in New Delhi November 19 that Secretary of State Albright will "cut short her trip to India" and "fly to Geneva" in late afternoon where she will meet very early on November 20 with French Foreign Minister Vedrine, British Foreign Minister Cook and Russian Foreign Minister Primakov. "We expect the meeting to be around the middle of the night in Geneva -- something like 2:00," Rubin said. "And at that time the United States will be looking to see whether the diplomacy that we encouraged by the Russians and others has yielded fruit, and the fruit obviously is that Iraq has agreed -- whether, excuse me, whether Iraq has agreed to allow UNSCOM to continue its work pursuant to UNSCOM's terms and to allow the inspectors to return so that the UN can get on with its all important job of finding and destroying possible weapons of mass destruction the Iraqi regime has. That's been our objective all along, and we will have to see whether the Iraqis have agreed to that." Pressed by a reporter for details, Rubin said, "This is a very complex issue, which has been going on for a long time. We are not in a position to characterize one way or another what the Iraqis have agreed to do or not agreed to do. "As you know," the State Department spokesman said, "we had sought Russian and other involvement in order to pursue a diplomatic track that would put pressure on the Iraqi government to reverse course as an alternative -- as the best way out of this crisis. And whether that has occurred, we won't know until we arrive in Geneva and we have a chance to study what Foreign Minister Primakov brings with him." Following is the State Department transcript: (begin transcript) REMARKS BY JAMES P. RUBIN, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN, ON DIPLOMATIC ACTION ON IRAQ Maurya Sheraton Hotel New Delhi, India November 19, 1997 SPOKESMAN: Secretary Albright has had a series of telephone conversations with Foreign Minister Primakov (Russia), Foreign Secretary Cook (Britain), and Foreign Minister Vedrine of France last night during the course of the night and this morning. As a result of those conversations, she will be cutting short her trip to India. She has gone to meet with the Prime Minister now, will continue her meetings, but cut the day short, and will get on the plane and fly to Geneva where she will be meeting with Foreign Minister Vedrine, Foreign Minister Cook and Foreign Minister Primakov. We expect the meeting to be around the middle of the night in Geneva -- something like 2:00. And at that time the United States will be looking to see whether the diplomacy that we encouraged by the Russians and others has yielded fruit, and the fruit obviously is that Iraq has agreed -- whether, excuse me, whether Iraq has agreed to allow UNSCOM to continue its work pursuant to UNSCOM's terms and to allow the inspectors to return so that the UN can get on with its all important job of finding and destroying possible weapons of mass destruction the Iraqi regime has. That's been our objective all along, and we will have to see whether the Iraqis have agreed to that. Q: Why has it taken so -- what's been the nature of the negotiations on the meeting itself? SPOKESMAN: Well, each of the Foreign Ministers has their own travel schedules. This is occurring in real time. Foreign Minister Primakov is going to be leaving from Geneva to go on a long-scheduled trip to Latin America. And, as you know, Secretary Albright wanted to be here to show the importance we feel about our relationship with India and the importance of India to the United States. So we had to adjust schedules so that all of the Foreign Ministers could be at the same place, same time, but that together they could assess whether the conditions of the resolution passed by the Security Council -- mainly unconditional return of UNSCOM to Baghdad -- had been agreed to. And we don't know whether that has yet been agreed to. There have been some preliminary discussions, but we won't know whether that's true until we get to the meeting and they have a full opportunity to discuss whatever it is that Foreign Minister Primakov and President Yeltsin were able to achieve. As you know, we had sought Russian and other involvement in order to pursue a diplomatic track that would put pressure on the Iraqi government to reverse course as an alternative -- as the best way out of this crisis. And whether that has occurred, we won't know until we arrive in Geneva and we have a chance to study what Foreign Minister Primakov brings with him. Q: How long are you going to be on the ground (inaudible)? SPOKESMAN: That's impossible to say. Q: (Inaudible) SPOKESMAN: We are not in a position to characterize in one way or another Iraq's views because we want to wait to see them in detail, as presented by Foreign Minister Primakov. If, indeed, they meet the resolutions requirements, namely that the inspectors are able to return and do their work, and do their work under their timetable -- excuse me, under their mandate, their terms -- then, we will have achieved our objectives. But you won't know that until we get to Geneva and Foreign Minister Primakov then presents what it is that he has been able to obtain from Iraq, and then we will be able to assess whether it meets our requirements. You guys are a little late (to entering reporters). I can repeat myself -- we're leaving as soon as possible, but she is going to continue meeting with the Foreign Minister and have the lunch with the Prime Minister. I think we are just going to do the Parliamentarians, somewhere in the 3:00-4:00 area. Then we're flying straight to Geneva. We expect to have a meeting with Foreign Minister Primakov, Foreign Minister Vedrine, and Foreign Minister Cook at something like 2:00 am in Geneva to discuss and assess whether, indeed, Iraq has agreed to return the inspectors and allow them to do their job without interference. Q: (Inaudible) SPOKESMAN: We don't know -- as you know, this is a very complex issue, which has been going on for a long time. We are not in a position to characterize one way or another what the Iraqis have agreed to do or not agreed to do. Q: But do you know Primakov (inaudible)? SPOKESMAN: We certainly know that Primakov did something and we are now meeting because we think it merits a full examination by the Foreign Minister. (end transcript)
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