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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPC #53
TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1993, 12:30 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
If I could start, I would like to tell you about our seventh
submission to the United Nations on human rights abuses in the former
Yugoslavia, and after that I'll be glad to take your questions.
Yesterday, our mission to the United Nations in New York
presented the U.N. Secretariat with the seventh U.S. Government report
on violations of humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia. We have
again asked that the report be circulated as a Security Council document
and that it be provided to the U.N. Commission of Experts -- the so-
called War Crimes Commission -- that is examining allegations of grave
breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
As with our previous six reports, this report documents
numerous examples of willful killing; torture of prisoners, including
sexual abuse; deliberate attacks on non-combatants; wanton devastation
and destruction of property; impeding delivery of food and medical
supplies to the civilian population; and other violations of
humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict, including mass forcible
expulsion and deportation of civilians.
We intend to continue to prepare such reports and present them
to the United Nations as further information becomes available to us.
And that report is available in the Press Office.
Q Richard, when does this Administration think it would be
appropriate to go forward with war crimes trials?
MR. BOUCHER: Sid, as you will remember, we have pressed
strongly for the establishment of a war crimes tribunal. Under the
resolution, the Secretary General was to report within a specified
period of time -- I can't remember exactly what it was -- to establish
the tribunal, and then they would commence their work. Q And
when does this Administration think the time is right for that?
MR. BOUCHER: We voted for a U.N. resolution that has certain
time periods in it, and we think it should proceed expeditiously.
Q Does the Administration feel that a war crimes trial
should go on while the negotiations for peace in the Balkans is still
continuing?
MR. BOUCHER: We have not linked the issues. We have felt it
was important to proceed with the establishment of the war crimes
tribunal through the U.N. resolution and then through the further work
that has to be done with the Secretary General's report to move forward
with their work.
Q Would the United States -- I know you are not linking --
would the United States consider dropping this whole war crimes matter
if the Bosnian Serbs sign on to Vance-Owen?
MR. BOUCHER: Saul, that is a totally hypothetical question.
We have indeed pressed for the establishment of the war crimes tribunal,
and we have always maintained that those who are responsible for these
crimes should be brought to justice.
Q Have any other nations submitted yet any such report?
MR. BOUCHER: There have been a number of other reports. I
think the last time we checked in March, it was about ten.
Q Do you have any reaction to the shelling of Srebrenica
yesterday just a couple of minutes after the "no-fly" zone began to be
enforced?
MR BOUCHER: Well, first of all, I think there is no indication
that there is some direct link to the "no-fly" zone despite the
coincidence in time.
The situation with fighting yesterday was very difficult.
There was a lot of shelling in both Srebrenica and in Sarajevo. We
continue to deplore this shelling. These are brutal attacks on innocent
people.
Let me say what we know about it. According to a U.N.
spokesman, there were 56 people, most of them civilians, that were
killed in yesterday's shelling of Srebrenica. Fifteen of the victims
were children, and an additional 73 people were seriously wounded in the
two-hour-long artillery and mortar attacks by Bosnian Serb forces.
Sixteen people were injured in villages near the city center. The city
has been quiet since these attacks.
In Sarajevo, heavy shelling also occurred yesterday. Reportedly
one person was killed and two were injured in those attacks. There were
reports of more shelling and infantry fighting in the city today, and
there were sporadic artillery and mortar attacks overnight in some of
the neighborhoods.
Q This presumably ends the cease-fire.
MR. BOUCHER: The cease-fire is in difficult straits. It is not
being observed, basically. We have this fighting in Srebrenica; we have
the shelling in Sarajevo. Five people were killed in shelling in Bihac;
isolated exchanges of shelling in northeastern towns of Gracanica,
Celic, Gradacac and Brcko.
Clearly we think the cease-fire remains important, and we have
urged the parties to observe the cease-fire that was reached last month.
But, as the facts show, there are a lot of breaches.
Q What does it say about the Serbs -- Bosnian Serbs
commitment to negotiating peace?
MR. BOUCHER: So far they haven't shown that kind of
commitment. We have asked -- the international community has asked for
them to stop the killing and to negotiate seriously for peace. As you
know, we have a number of efforts underway, both the continuation of the
humanitarian efforts, convoys -- we got a convoy into Srebrenica just
today. Air drops have continued. But we are also continuing our
diplomatic and other efforts to bring pressure on the Serbs to stop
killing and join in the search for a peaceful solution.
Q Some of the Third World nations are not too happy at the
unilateral suspension of the sanctions resolution that you and the
Russians decided on yesterday. Do you have anything to say to those
countries?
MR. BOUCHER: The non-aligned nations have expressed their
concerns over the delay in the vote on the resolution. The Security
Council President, Jamshed Marker of Pakistan, is going to hold
bilateral discussions with Security Council members today on the
proposed delay. The Security Council will meet tomorrow informally to
discuss the results of his consultations.
I would point out again, as we did yesterday, in agreeing to
the delay we would also remove from the resolution the two-week grace
period before sanctions would take effect, and thus the delay would not
affect the date on which the enhanced sanctions against Serbia and
Montenegro would begin.
Q The U.N. in Geneva said that they were down to one-day's
food in the pipeline.
MR. BOUCHER: I have slightly different information on food.
We are concerned, as I said yesterday, that there may not be enough food
in the pipeline for coming months, and we are raising this at high
levels with donor governments.
However, there is food arriving. There is a U.S. Food for
Peace shipment that arrived on Friday, April 9. Another shipment from
Canada is expected to arrive April 20. The U.S. is also providing
additional funds to UNHCR for the immediate purchase of food.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has also made emergency
purchases of food for Bosnia that will be delivered later this month.
Still further purchases through the European Community are expected very
shortly.
At this point, we have no information on the U.N. cutting
rations due to a shortfall of food supplies.
Q Srebrenica is -- on the Vance-Owen map -- Srebrenica is in
the Moslem -- one of the Moslem enclaves or zones. How important is it
for the viability of that process that Srebrenica should not fall?
MR. BOUCHER: Alan, it's important for the people in Srebrenica
that they not be subject to further attack. And certainly we have made
efforts to support the cease-fire. We have made efforts to get the
Serbs to stop their aggression in the area, and the international
community has been very united on this point.
In terms of, specifically, the Vance-Owen map, I really don't
want to get into commenting one way or the other on specific lines on
the map. But the problem in Srebrenica is not a problem of lines on the
map. It's a problem of people on the ground who are suffering due to
the continued aggression. We're doing what we can to try to bring it to
a stop through our diplomatic efforts and through our coordination with
other governments and through impending moves such as further tightening
of the sanctions.
Q Any thought given to these NATO warplanes that are flying
overhead over these artillery batteries and mortar batteries and tanks,
that they can take some sort action, even flying low to perhaps prevent
these guns or try to stop these guns somehow from shelling these people
if it's that important that they not be shelled?
MR. BOUCHER: Saul, I don't know if what you're suggesting is
militarily feasible. But in any case, I think we've described the
purpose of these aircraft. They're flying there to enforce the "no-fly"
zone.
Q I know. But the "no-fly" zone is apparently not
protecting the people from the shelling.
MR. BOUCHER: Saul, the "no-fly" zone is intended to prevent
aircraft from flying, to prevent the use of aircraft for a variety of
purposes, including the bombing of civilians such as has occurred in the
past.
Q I got you. So what's to --
MR. BOUCHER: We're there to enforce the "no-fly" zone.
Q I know, but what's to prevent their shells from going from
the Serbian guns onto the population of Srebrenica?
MR. BOUCHER: Once again, Saul, I've described for you, the
Secretary described on February 10, what we are doing to try to get the
fighting to stop. I've described to you the continuation of those
efforts. We're doing every single thing that we described. One of
those things is to enforce a "no-fly" zone, and that's what our
airplanes are there for.
Q Is the violation of the cease-fire also sort of a
violation of other U.N. orders not to do these things? In other words,
isn't the shelling in violation of repeated Security Council
resolutions?
MR. BOUCHER: Indeed, the Security Council has repeatedly
called on the Serbs to stop the aggression and stop the fighting, yes.
Q Has Ambassador Bartholomew met with Bosnian Serbs yet?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes. I'll give you a rundown. Ambassador
Bartholomew, Lt. General McCaffrey, and Deputy Assistant Secretary Ralph
Johnson are in Mostar, in southern Bosnia, today for a meeting with the
Bosnian Croat leader Mate Boban.
Yesterday they met in Sarajevo with members of the Bosnian
Presidency and with senior UNPROFOR and UNHCR officials. Tonight
they're returning to Zagreb for meetings with Croatian President
Tudjman, UNPROFOR Civil Administrator Chief Thornberry, and UNPROFOR
Commander Wahlgren.
Tomorrow they're scheduled to be in Belgrade to meet with
Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic, Serbian President Milosevic, and Russian
Special Envoy Churkin. Later in the week they're scheduled to meet with
Bosnian President Izetbegovic.
Q I don't know fully the purposes -- I mean, what they hope
to come out of these meetings with --
MR. BOUCHER: The purpose is what we've described previously,
and what I've described again today. This is part of our efforts to
support an overall Bosnian settlement. He's pressing the main points of
our policy with all of his interlocutors.
Part of that policy, of course, is to tighten and toughen the
U.N. sanctions regime to bring more intense pressure to bear on the
Bosnian Serbs and their supporters in Belgrade. And, as I said before,
we and the rest of the international community are working to bring the
Bosnian Serbs to an agreement so that we can put an end to this
conflict.
Q Has there been any violations of the "no-fly" zone in the
last 12 hours -- last 24 hours?
MR. BOUCHER: The last 24 hours?
Q Any interceptions?
MR. BOUCHER: I wasn't able to get up-to-date information on
that. You might check with the military, and I'll see if I can get you
something later.
Q Can we ask about Vietnam? Have you had a chance to
evaluate at all the document in question and its authenticity?
MR. BOUCHER: The experts are continuing their analysis of the
document. It's not completed yet. It is being undertaken on an
expedited basis. As I think I mentioned yesterday, some of the experts
at the Pentagon have been looking at the information that was in this
document even before we actually got a copy of it. So while that
analysis continues, I'm afraid I won't have any more to say about it.
Q The Vietnamese are saying that this is a forgery and a
fake.
MR. BOUCHER: Again, until we've finished our analysis, I
couldn't say one way or the other.
Q Have the Vietnamese communicated directly or indirectly to
the U.S. their opinion of the document?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know.
Q Do you have any comment on the situation in South Africa?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I have anything new, Alan. We
commented on the death of -- the assassination of Chris Hani. Of
course, we've seen various statements by different parties that indicate
their commitment to the talks and the negotiations, and of course we
welcome that and support that.
Q Can you give us any kind of readout on the meetings today
with, I think, the Jordanians --
MR. BOUCHER: Yes. I don't have any sort of readout yet. The
schedule is the Jordanians met this morning with Assistant Secretary
Djerejian and the peace team at 11:00. The Syrians meet with them this
afternoon at 3:00. Tomorrow the Lebanese will meet with us at 11:00;
the Palestinians, at 3:00. They're also seeing Israeli Ambassador
Rabinovich on Thursday.
Q Can you say what the purpose is?
MR. BOUCHER: These are consultations in advance of the talks
which we expect to resume on April 20. The purpose is to discuss with
the parties the issues that will come up at those talks and try to
encourage them to make -- to be in a position to make meaningful
progress when those talks resume.
Q Have you heard from any of the parties?
MR. BOUCHER: We have no new definitive answers yet.
Q Have you received any official notification that Faisal
Husseini will be part of the delegation?
MR. BOUCHER: At this point, I don't have anything on that.
Q There is no message coming out either from Tunis or from
other capitals telling you officially that he's going to be --
MR. BOUCHER: I've seen lots of various statements, but I don't
have anything for you on it.
Q Have we communicated with the Iraqis since the incident
Friday? Did they give any possible explanation? Can we draw any
conclusions?
MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to check, Sid. I don't know.
Q Thank you.
(Press briefing concluded at 12:48 p.m.)
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