US Department of State Daily Briefing #42:
Thursday, 3/14/91
Boucher
Source: State Department Deputy Spokesman Richard
Boucher
Description: 12:24 PM, Washington, DC
Date: Mar 14, 19913/14/91
Category: Briefings
Region: MidEast/North Africa, Central America,
Subsaharan Africa
Country: Israel, Kuwait, Iran, Syria, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Albania, El Salvador, North Korea
Subject: Terrorism, Regional/Civil Unrest,
United Nations, Travel, Human Rights, Democratization
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I
have nothing particular for you to start off with today, so I'd
just be glad to take your questions.
[Iran: US Policy on Contacts and Relations]
Q Do you have anything on the supposed proposal for
direct talks with the Iranians?
MR. BOUCHER: We have had a longstanding position that
we're willing to talk directly to authoritative representatives
of Iran on the issues of concern to both of our countries,
including hostages. Iran is well aware of this position, and
they're also well aware that any substantial improvement in
relations with Iran depends on the release of hostages and the
cessation of Iranian support for terrorism.
Q Has this offer been renewed since the end of the
Persian Gulf war?
MR. BOUCHER: George, we have declined in the past to
get into the specifics of any discussions that we have with the
Iranians. You know that we have exchanges from time to time
through the Swiss. I think on this point, the only thing I can
tell you is that since there has been -- while there has been no
change in the U.S. position, this is a longstanding position and
that Iran is well aware of our position.
Q In those exchanges, Richard, have the Iranians
described any of their requirements they might have in order to
assist in the hostage matter?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, first I have to decline to get into
the exchanges, but, if you're referring to one report that
appeared yesterday on television, I just don't have anything on
that.
Q Richard, could you tell us what you don't have
anything on, for those of us who didn't see the report?
MR. BOUCHER: Reports that appeared on a network
sitting next to you.
Q And what was the report --
Q I'll tell you about it.
MR. BOUCHER: You can ask him later. This is my
briefing.
Q -- you have no comments on? (Laughter)
[Iraq: Civil Unrest Continues]
Q Richard, the Iraqi opposition radio says that it
now -- or is taking control of eight cities, and it also --
well, that's the first question. Do you have anything to
confirm that?
MR. BOUCHER: We can't confirm those opposition claims
that the dissidents were actually in control of large portions
of Kurdistan. What I can tell you is that the information
available to us shows continued heavy fighting in and around
several cities and towns in the Kurdish north since yesterday.
In addition, there continue to be heavy clashes in the area
north of Basra and around the Shi'a holy cities.
The situation in the south continues to seesaw, as we
receive reports of renewed fighting in towns where the
government had previously appeared to have suppressed the
earlier unrest.
Q Iraqi official radio has denied what you said here
yesterday, that there has been an uprising in parts of Baghdad.
Have you confirmed your information?
MR. BOUCHER: We stand by what we said yesterday on
that. I have nothing particularly new for you on Baghdad today,
although I think some of the opposition sources are continuing
to report unrest in Baghdad.
Q And as far as you know, is it still continuing?
Is it still as it was?
MR. BOUCHER: Again, I don't have anything new from
here on Baghdad today, other than to note that there are these
other reports.
Q And do you know if the Iraqi government forces are
using armed helicopters to try to subdue the uprisings?
MR. BOUCHER: I know exactly what the President said
yesterday, and that's we have received information over the past
week that he, Saddam, has been using helicopters in an effort to
quell civil disturbances against his regime.
Q The Iraqi opposition seems to have come to some
unification situation in Beirut. Is the United States
interested in talking to these people?
MR. BOUCHER: At this point there's been no change. As
we've said, the question of contacts with the opposition is
something we handle on a case-by-case basis. We've seen various
press reports of statements made by people who attended the
meeting in Beirut. We haven't seen a joint statement of some
kind that would represent a consensus.
Again, on the meeting I'd repeat what I said before,
and that's that the leadership of Iraq is for the Iraqi people
to determine, and we have no plans or intention to try to choose
alternatives to the present leadership.
Q The United States has said that it doesn't favor
the dismemberment of Iraq, and it has also said that it doesn't
favor Kurdish national rights. Therefore, what is your position
with regard to the Kurdish nationalists in the north who are in
an uprising against Saddam Hussein whom the United States has
said it will not weep any tears over should he be removed. Are
we against both he and the Kurds?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, Alan, I think what I need to repeat
is more or less what you understand: we have no support for the
dismemberment, disintegration of Iraq. We think that its
territorial integrity should be respected. We've also certainly
said that we'd weep no tears if Saddam Hussein departed the
scene, and the President said yesterday that we couldn't
conceive of a normal relationship with Iraq with Saddam still in
power.
There was widespread unrest in Iraq for very good
reasons on behalf of different groups, and we're watching the
situation closely.
Q Could you tell us anything about the relationship
between allied forces and Iraqi civilians in the occupied area,
if there is any relationship, and can you tell us whether
there's been any civil unrest in the occupied part of Iraq?
MR. BOUCHER: The answer to both of those is no, but I
suspect the Pentagon may be able to do that.
Jan?
Q Richard, there was a report yesterday about
American air bases in Kuwait. Do you have anything on that?
MR. BOUCHER: Those reports were totally unfounded.
There was nothing behind them. The President and the Secretary
have talked about our future security relationships with the
countries in the Gulf. I think the Secretary addressed it on
the airplane going out. He talked about the continuation of the
U.S. naval presence. He talked about exercises. But again,
among the things he said he was going to discuss, there was no
mention of air bases. So those reports just have no foundation.
Q Richard, now that the Amir is back in Kuwait and
the Kuwaiti -- and that the United States has achieved its
stated objective of restoring the legitimate government, does
the United States favor free and fair elections for the Kuwaiti
people?
MR. BOUCHER: Alan, I'd refer you back to what the
President and the Secretary have consistently said, and that's
we stand for democracy in the world.
[Kuwait: Treatment of Palestinians and Others]
Q Richard, have your people been able to look any
further into those reports of Kuwaiti mistreatment of people
suspected of collaboration?
MR. BOUCHER: We have been looking at those. We have
been following up on the allegations, and I can give you a
rundown, if I find it. Yes.
We continue to look into all allegations of
mistreatment of Palestinians in Kuwait. Senior government
officials have continued to enunciate clearly that the Kuwaiti
policy is to treat all nationalities in Kuwait according to the
law.
Frankly, we have been concerned about the possibility
that individual Kuwaitis might have acted on their grievances
against individual Palestinians accused of collaboration. So
far our extensive inquiries amongst the Palestinian community in
Kuwait have failed to substantiate reports of torture or
killings of Palestinians by the Kuwaiti authorities.
We have raised the general question at the highest
level of the Kuwaiti leadership on various recent occasions as
well as in the past. And in addition, our Ambassador has raised
these specific press reports, which came out yesterday, with
Kuwaiti cabinet members. They denied that there was a detention
center such as described in the article that appeared yesterday,
and they reaffirmed that the Kuwaiti government has no policy of
deportation.
They assured our Ambassador that any incidents of abuse
of Palestinians that may have occurred in the aftermath of the
liberation were not condoned by the government and were, if they
occurred, isolated incidents.
We've also been in touch with the ICRC in Kuwait, and
the ICRC cannot confirm any reports of abuses of Palestinians.
But once again, let me tell you we are concerned about the
situation of Palestinians there, and we continue to follow up on
all such reports, and we're watching the situation very closely.
Q Did you say so far your investigation has failed
to substantiate any mistreatment by "official Kuwaitis." But in
the talks with the Palestinians, have they given you convincing
evidence one way or another that there in fact had been
individual abuses?
MR. BOUCHER: As I said, on the question of individual
abuses and isolated incidents, that is something that both we
and the Kuwaiti authorities are concerned about -- the
possibility that that may have occurred.
In our contacts with the Palestinians, our Embassy
officers have reported that the Palestinians have complained
about harassment and verbal abuse at checkpoints. Palestinian
residents have also complained about food shortages at the local
food cooperative. Those are the kinds of complaints we're
hearing about directly. And, as I said earlier, our inquiries
among the Palestinian community in Kuwait have failed to
substantiate reports of torture or killings.
Q Richard, there's a report today that quotes a
prominent Kuwaiti as saying that in the future there shouldn't
be more than about -- I think the figure was 30,000 Palestinians
in Kuwait.
Does the United States have any opinion about what
should happen to the other 150,000 that are there or the 450,000
that were there before the war?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm afraid I haven't seen that report. I
don't know anything about it.
Q On that same line, would the United States have
any view about Kuwait prosecuting Palestinians as war criminals
for collaborating with the Iraqis during the occupation?
MR. BOUCHER: We have said that individuals who have
committed crimes should be held responsible. The Kuwaiti
government -- I'm thinking in particular the Crown Prince's
press conference a little while ago -- and I think at other
times he's said that any persons who would be detained would be
detained according to the law and prosecuted for specific
crimes.
Q Richard, on this subject, I'm getting a little bit
the feeling that the investigations that are being done by the
embassy don't cover a whole lot of ground. I'll give you an
example. There were several reports with videotape on various
networks yesterday which showed Palestinians that had been
forcibly evicted from Kuwait and were now in occupied Iraqi
territory, some of them in very bad shape, being treated by --
being given some help by American U.S. military personnel.
Is this not an incident that the embassy knows about?
Are they not aware that Palestinians are being dumped on the
road outside Kuwait?
MR. BOUCHER: David, as I said, we continue to follow
up on allegations and reports of that nature. We continue to
look into it. In fact, those kinds of specific reports, the
embassy will continue to look into.
What we have confirmed so far is that there is not,
according to the government, a policy of deportations. The
government does not condone and will not condone tortures,
beatings, and things such as that.
Exactly what happened in those cases is something we
have to follow up on and that's why we're saying that we're
looking into the possibility that these sorts of things may have
occurred as isolated incidents.
Q Is there any indication that the government is
trying to apprehend and prosecute the people responsible for
these isolated incidents?
MR. BOUCHER: Again, we have to find out exactly what
happened before we can identify that.
Q Richard, on the subject of deportation, there are
ways and there are ways. In Kuwait, for example, the
traditional way of sending someone back home is simply to
withdraw his residence or work permit. Would you regard that as
deportation?
MR. BOUCHER: Jim, that's really a hypothetical
question at this point. I have not seen reports that that was
being done. As I said, the government says they have no policy
of deportations. They have said very clearly and publicly in
Kuwait that they will treat all nationalities in Kuwait alike;
that the only detentions and prosecutions will be for crimes.
They have said very publicly that while some Palestinians may
have committed such crimes and others may have committed such
crimes during the course of the Iraqi occupation, that there
were also numbers of Palestinians that helped the Resistance.
So I think what you're asking is really a hypothetical question
at this point.
Q Well, to take it out of the realm of the
hypothetical, could you look into it, please, to see if the
Kuwaiti government does have a policy -- an intended policy or a
current policy -- of reducing the number of work permits allowed
to Palestinians?
MR. BOUCHER: That sort of gets back to Gil's question
before about the ultimate number of Palestinians. I'll see if
we have anything on it, but I think your questions are probably
more appropriately addressed to the Kuwaiti government.
Q But you are saying that the Kuwaiti government has
formally notified the U.S. Government that it has no intention
of expelling Palestinians on a mass scale; is that correct?
MR. BOUCHER: We have talked, over the course of days
and weeks, with senior Cabinet officials of the Kuwaiti
government, and they have told us that they have no policy of
deporting Palestinians.
Q Do you have anything on the Amir returning? Does
that have any impact at all on the situation in Kuwait?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any particular analysis. He
returned. Our Ambassador was at the airport. This is something
that I think has been looked forward to in Kuwait City, and,
certainly, it's the culmination of the process that we've been
going through to restore the legitimate Government of Kuwait.
Q There was apparently no great celebrations in the
street, etc. Is that indicative of the Amir's popularity?
MR. BOUCHER: It just happened a couple of hours ago.
The reports that I saw on TV said that the Kuwaiti government
intentionally kept it low key.
Q Richard, did you confirm anything about North
Korea's Scud-exporting to Syria today? And did Secretary Baker
mention anything to Syrian President Assad about this?
MR. BOUCHER: We have seen quotes on the wires of the
Secretary's press conference in Damascus where he addressed
this. I don't have the full transcript of that, but we'll get
that for you when it comes in.
[Ethiopia: Fighting and Immigration]
Q Do you have anything on the situation in Ethiopia
today?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything different on the
overall situation with regards to the fighting. I think we put
out a travel advisory yesterday -- (TO STAFF) Ethiopia was
yesterday? We're doing so many these days, I can't remember --
that said the fighting was getting nearer to the capital. I
think I may be able to get you some more detail that I don't
remember right now.
Q But nothing beyond that?
MR. BOUCHER: There's the question of the immigration
of the Falashas -- the Jewish immigration -- and we do
understand from reports that the Ethiopian government brought
Ethiopian Jewish immigration to a halt about the beginning of
March.
We have raised these reports at a very high level in
Addis Ababa, and we have asked for clarification. If these
reports prove true, it will be a matter of deep concern to the
United States.
[El Salvador: Overview and Partial Release of US Military
Aid]
Q Richard, has the Administration decided to lift
the moratorium on aid for El Salvador?
MR. BOUCHER: I think the first thing before I try to
explain the situation extensively is to quote from the White
House statement of January 15, when they announced our original
decision. At that time, Marlin Fitzwater said in a statement
that "If the FMLN takes a serious and constructive approach to
the peace talks so that they result in a political settlement
and a U.N. supervised ceasefire within 60 days, these funds will
not need to be released for the defense of El Salvador's
security." Those were the conditions that Marlin laid down on
January 15.
Let me go through the whole situation, if you'll bear
with me. In January, the President determined that the FMLN had
violated the conditions set forth in the legislation withholding
military aid to El Salvador. In particular, this was based on
the attacks against civilian targets that occurred during
November-December, the importation of significant shipments of
military equipment.
At that time, the President decided to suspend delivery
of these funds voluntarily for an additional 60 days as an
incentive for progress in the negotiations to reach a ceasefire.
I read you the sentence that pertained to that.
He called for intensive and accelerated negotiations to
achieve a political agreement and a ceasefire by March 15.
While the negotiations since then have narrowed the gap, the
FMLN was not interested in intensifying and accelerating the
process in order to reach agreement on a ceasefire at the
earliest possible date.
At this point, we have obligated slightly over one half
of the first $36.5 million for Fiscal Year 1991, which, in fact,
was only available for expenditure in January.
In considering, or in deciding to obligate additional
military assistance to El Salvador, the United States will
continue to take into close account the security requirements
for the defense of the democratically elected government, the
progress made towards a thorough and professional investigation
and prosecution of the Jesuit murders, and the progress in
negotiations towards a political agreement and a ceasefire. We
would far prefer to be able to utilize these funds to support a
ceasefire and the demobilization of combantants on both sides.
Agreement on a U.N-supervised ceasefire would permit us to do
that.
So to try to draw all that together, we've only
expended half of the original half. As for the second half,
which we said would be released after 60 days -- in other words,
after March 15 -- the conditions that prevent that from
happening did not occur. The FMLN did not accelerate the
negotiations in order to reach a ceasefire by that date so that
we would be in a position to obligate those funds. But as we go
forward with obligating those funds, we will still have in mind
the security situation, the situation with the Jesuits and other
things, and still hope to be able to use those funds to finance
a ceasefire.
Q Does that mean the half of the first half, that
part is continuing and you may eventually get to the second half
but you're not there yet?
MR. BOUCHER: That's about right.
Q But where does the figure of $36.5 come from?
Q Yeah, right.
Q Because the half is $42.5. The whole amount is
$85.
MR. BOUCHER: That's pretty complicated. I think
you're about right, because in the January statement it was
$42.5. I will revise and amend my remarks.
Q That $36.5 should be $42.5?
MR. BOUCHER: I believe it should be, and I'll confirm
that to you as soon as I can, if anybody is listening.
Q Forgive me if I sound awfully dense, but could you
put that into plain English and explain what exactly that meant,
that whole thing meant?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, I tried once. The money for El
Salvador, half was held back by Congress under certain
conditions. We said in January those conditions had not been
met but that we would voluntarily withhold that half for another
60 days to see if we could get to a ceasefire by March 15. We
haven't gotten to a ceasefire by March 15, so the whole amount
is available to be spent. Although in actual fact, we've only
spent half of the first half. As we proceed with the further
expenditures of funds, we will keep in mind the same type of
conditions and keep in mind our strong preference to be able to
finance a ceasefire rather than just to continue our support as
it has been in the past.
Q Why have you only spent half of the first half?
Is it because they didn't need anymore, or something else?
MR. BOUCHER: It's a combination of the actual process
of identifying things to spend money on; how the money will be
spent, and I guess the fact that the money was not really
available until January.
Q Richard, on another country. Do you have any
notion what's going on in Kenya with the opposition forces
combining? And what does that do to the safety of Americans?
MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to look into that. I hadn't
personally seen anything particular on Kenya.
Q Have you passed out any information allowing
voluntary departure of dependents and such?
MR. BOUCHER: Not recently, at least. I'll have to
check on the exact status of travel advisories for Kenya, but
I'm not aware of anything particularly new. I'll check on it.
Q Have you made some plans for the various Albanians
that are coming in -- the Foreign Minister and the members of
the opposition? Who will they meet and when will they meet?
MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to get you details on that
later today or in tomorrow's schedule. There will be meetings
tomorrow and the signing will be tomorrow. I don't have the
final details pinned down at this point.
Q Will that be open to the public?
MR. BOUCHER: That's the kind of information I'll have
to get for you.
Q Can you tell us anything about plans for a joint
U.S.-Soviet space venture?
MR. BOUCHER: No.
Q No? You don't know about it, or --
MR. BOUCHER: I don't personally know anything about
it. I guess I can look into it if there's anything. I guess
I'd say that the Secretary is in Moscow and I better leave it to
him if there is such a thing to talk about.
Q Do you have anything on the Birmingham 6?
MR. BOUCHER: On what?
Q Do you have any comment on the release of the
Birmingham 6?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I'm afraid I don't. I'm sorry, I
don't.
Q Thank you.
(Press briefing concluded at 12:48 p.m.)
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