State Department Noon Briefing, October 30, 2000
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
Q: If I could get to Iraq. There are reports today that Baghdad has
reopened, I guess, flights to the no-fly zone areas, and I was
wondering if there was any comment on this internally - these
flights?
MR. BOUCHER: Internal flights?
Q: Commercial flights to areas that fall in the southern-northern
no-fly zone.
MR. BOUCHER: I'll check on that, but you might actually check with the
Pentagon since they are more involved in the enforcement of the no-fly
zones. But I'll check and see if we have anything to say on that.
Q: If I could follow up, there was a letter that was sent on Friday
from Senator Helms and Representative Gilman asking exactly what the
State Department was doing about what they say is the collapsing
sanctions regime. Do you have any response to that at this point?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not aware of that particular letter, but I do want to
say that we think the sanctions continue to be effective. While we
have these disagreements over flights with some of the other countries
involved, we do know that many, many of the flights that have taken
place recently have been submitted to the Sanctions Committee and
approved by the Sanctions Committee and that, overall, the sanctions,
we think, remain effective and continue to be applied by everyone.
Even the governments with whom we have disagreements over specifics of
particular flights recognize that the only way for Iraq to get out of
the box is by implementing Security Council Resolution 1284. That has
been the view we have expressed; that has been the view we have heard
from them; and that remains the view we continue to hear from them.
Q: Are you currently working in the United Nations Sanctions Committee
to try to change the rules regarding those flights so that there would
be less confusion in the future?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not sure I'd go quite that far. Certainly, these
flights do get discussed in the Sanctions Committee, and the different
views on them get raised. We have had flights from Russia, Ukraine,
Switzerland, Bahrain, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Algeria, United Arab
Emirates, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Yemen that were all submitted
and approved by the Sanctions Committee. There were Sudanese, Egyptian
and Syrian flights that didn't have the approval, and a few others
before that. So there are still a lot of people complying regarding
flights.
But I think the overall characterization that we can make is that
sanctions remain effective. There is strong support for controls that
limit Iraq's ability to threaten other countries in the region to
develop weapons of mass destruction or harm its own people. The UN
controls all but a very small amount of Iraq's oil exports, and recent
flights don't change that fact.
Q: But do you have any response to the fact that on many of these
flights government officials and business executives are also
accompanying the humanitarian aid? I mean, is that maybe not violating
the letter but possibly the spirit of the sanctions?
MR. BOUCHER: Once again, I'll tell you that many of the flights were
submitted and approved to the Sanctions Committee, and that I think
the long list of countries who are doing that reflects the fact that
there is still support, even for that particular aspect where we
recognize there is some disagreement. But, at the same time, the
overall support for the sanctions, the overall support for Resolution
1284, is not diminished, and people continue to make clear that is the
path for Iraq if it wants to get any sanctions suspension or relief.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:45 P.M.)
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