Africa: Daily Press Briefing -- April 28

Daily Press Briefing
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
April 28, 2008

INDEX:
RUSSIA/IRAN/AZERBAIJAN
Press Accounts of Possible Shipment of Russian Nuclear Equipment to Iran
AFGHANISTAN
Attempted Assassination of President Karzai / U.S. Condemnation Terrorists Only Have to Be Right Once, Those Opposing Them Have to Be Right Always Process of Reconstruction in Afghanistan is Going to Take Time
DEPARTMENT
U.S. Efforts to Counter Rising Food Prices / Food Aid / UN Meeting
ZIMBABWE
U.S. Continues to Call for the Release of Election Results Delays Cause Questions About the Security of Ballots in the Ballot Box Efforts of Assistant Secretary Frazer / Zimbabwe's Neighbors Need to Speak Out in Public Zimbabwe's Ongoing Downward Spiral
ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
Former President Carter's Editorial / Meeting Hamas Will Not Further the Cause of Peace Significant Difference Between Meeting with a Former President and a Current One Visit of Israeli Deputy Prime Minister / U.S.-Israel Strategic Dialogue / Meeting Secretary
CZECH REPUBLIC
Upcoming Signing Ceremony for Missile Defense Agreement / Scheduling Difficulties

TRANSCRIPT:

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12:44 p.m. EDT

MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon, everybody. I don’t have anything to start off with, so we can get right to your questions.

Matt.

QUESTION: Do you know anything about this shipment of Russian nuclear equipment that was destined for Iran. It’s been held up by Azerbaijan for the last three weeks?

MR. MCCORMACK: At this point, not – at least to my knowledge, not a whole lot more than we’ve seen in the press accounts. I don’t know if there’s anything else going on behind the scenes. But in our view, this is something that the Azerbaijan and Russian governments need to work out consistent with everybody’s UN Security Council resolution obligations, enforcing those obligations in terms of the transshipment of materials potentially for illicit purposes. I’m not suggesting that at this point. So, those two countries need to work this out.

QUESTION: Yeah, but do you guys have any reason to suspect that there’s some --

MR. MCCORMACK: Not to my knowledge.

QUESTION: -- there’s some (inaudible) to this?

MR. MCCORMACK: Not to my knowledge unless there’s something that is – information about which I cannot talk about in public, but I have no knowledge of that.

QUESTION: You have no knowledge of something you can’t talk about?

MR. MCCORMACK: No knowledge that there is anything else. I have no knowledge that there is anything else at this point, Matt. I just don’t know.

QUESTION: I’m sorry. You’ve confused me.

MR. MCCORMACK: I have nothing else to offer on this topic. How’s that?

QUESTION: I understand, but are you saying that you don’t know about anything that, if you did know, you wouldn’t be able to tell us about? What --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well --

QUESTION: I’m not sure I understand it.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, it’s actually -- at this point, I don’t know anything that I wouldn’t be able to tell you about. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: Nor do you (inaudible).

QUESTION: I hope everyone else understands that, because I don’t.

QUESTION: It’s an unknown --

MR. MCCORMACK: What’s that?

QUESTION: This is an unknown unknown.

MR. MCCORMACK: To my knowledge, it is an unknown unknown, yes.

Yes, ma’am.

QUESTION: Yes, Nazira Karimi, correspondent for Ariana Television from Afghanistan. As you know, to that last incident in Afghanistan, unfortunately, there is so many people get injured. And what is your opinion about that, although there is heavy international forces presence in Afghanistan, but it clearly shows that there is no tight security in Afghanistan. And also, the Taliban took the responsibility and Hekmatyar included.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, I don’t know. I’ll leave it to others and security experts to read something more into this or not. All I know is that there are determined foes that are attempting to turn back the clock in Afghanistan that don’t like the progress that has been made in the past several years under the government of President Karzai and the Afghan parliament. And, you know, all I can say is, at least one lesson in dealing with terrorists and violent extremists, is that they only have to be right once. People who are protecting democracies have to be right all of the time. So, in terms of the attack, we obviously condemn this attack and our condolences go out to those who lost loved ones in this attack and we wish a speedy recovery to all of those who were injured in the attack.

QUESTION: Were all U.S. diplomats safe? Were any of them in this incident?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, Ambassador Wood was – I can’t tell you exactly where he was in the grandstand, but he was there on site and he’s safe. He was safe. He left the site uninjured.

All right. Charlie, come on, man.

QUESTION: (Inaudible).

MR. MCCORMACK: Kralev.

QUESTION: Sean, the Secretary General is – has convened a meeting today in Switzerland on the issue of the food crisis and the food prices rising.

MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: Do you – what’s your participation in that meeting and is the United States planning to do anything in terms of aid, increasing aid? Because the UN is estimating that about a hundred million people now will not be able to afford basic food supplies.

MR. MCCORMACK: That’s a deep concern for us and we already have taken some steps in terms of releasing hundreds of millions of dollars or equivalent in food aid, and we’re very much concerned about those around the globe who are the most vulnerable, especially in circumstances like this. We’re taking a look at what other steps the United States might do in leading the way to address this situation where the rising prices might cause severe and drastic shortages for those who can least afford it.

Was there a second part to the --

QUESTION: What’s the participation (inaudible) meeting --

MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, let me check for you. Let me check for you. Yeah. Don’t know.

Kirit.

QUESTION: Do you have anything to say about Zimbabwe? I think the results are -- we’re expecting those tomorrow, at this point.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we have been for some time looking for the results. We -- you know, we have deep concerns about whether or not results that are released this far after the election are results that the Zimbabwean people can have confidence in. We shall see. There has been -- in the results released to this point for the parliamentary elections, there have been -- there has been a clear trend in a vote for change, and we shall see what the final election results yield.

QUESTION: So are you saying, essentially, that these could have been tainted in the period sine the election?

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Any time you have this kind of -- these kinds of delays, questions arise as to the chain of security for the ballots and the ballot boxes.

QUESTION: Is Jendayi Frazer getting a firmer regional position regarding --

MR. MCCORMACK: I think she’s on her -- she’s either back here today or on her way back today. I mean, thus far, you have not seen the countries in the region being dramatically more outspoken in this regard, and this is really a case where the -- Zimbabwe’s neighbors really do need to speak up more clearly in public.

QUESTION: But that’s what she was trying to do? That was one of the --

MR. MCCORMACK: That’s part of what she -- trying to assess the situation --

QUESTION: With little or no success, then?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, look, you know, it’s been -- Zimbabwe has been on a downward spiral for quite some time under the rule of President Mugabe. This isn’t new. The economy has been wrecked; the political environment there has really been poisoned by the way President Mugabe has ruled there. And you haven’t heard much from the region, so that’s not something new. Now is the time, really, for them to step up, though.

Yes, ma’am.

QUESTION: Again, what do you think of NATO increasing the forces in Afghanistan? It’s going to be useful to, like, stop this crisis situation in Afghanistan?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I think the process of reconstruction and construction in Afghanistan is going to take quite some time. It will take some time to root out those who are irreconcilable to any democratic political process. And in terms of the numbers of troops that are there, I leave that to the military commanders to describe what they think is sufficient in order to meet the mission goals.

Yeah, Elise.

QUESTION: It’s on your favorite topic, Jimmy Carter and Hamas.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: He has an op-ed in the New York Times today, kind of reconfirming (a) that Secretary Rice never asked him not to go, never warned him anything about the trip except the dangers of Gaza. He also talked about how trying to encourage Hamas could bring in -- you know, could actually lead to peace, and he ticked off about five or six agreements that he secured from Hamas; for instance, Hamas will accept an agreement negotiated by Israel and the Palestinians if a referendum accepted it, that it’ll disband its militia, that it’ll allow international control of the Rafah crossing, which is what the U.S. has been arguing for, and that it will have a ceasefire in Gaza. I was just wondering --

MR. MCCORMACK: Yes.

QUESTION: -- what you think of the fact that he is continuing to make this argument that bringing in Hamas, as he says is evident by these things that he’s secured from Hamas, could actually help?

MR. MCCORMACK: We disagree with that point of view. We said prior to his meetings with Hamas that we didn’t think that those meetings would further the cause of peace and we still believe that’s the case.

QUESTION: Well, can I follow up?

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.

QUESTION: You know, a lot of times he comes out and says Hamas says something and then Hamas has kind of disagreed with his characterization. Do you think that, in some way, President Carter has kind of weakened the power of a former president by these type of meetings?

MR. MCCORMACK: I’m not going to comment on that. He’s a private citizen, who is going to make his own decisions about with whom he meets and what causes he chooses to talk about in public.

QUESTION: Well, he is -- yes, he’s a former citizen. He’s a -- well, he’s actually a current citizen so far. But he’s a former president. I mean --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- isn’t there a difference from a private citizen than a former president? Doesn’t that almost kind of have an air of U.S. legitimacy, of meeting with someone and if it doesn’t work out --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, no, no. No, not at all, because people around the world and the United States understand quite clearly that he is a former president. There is a current Administration policy. And in this case, the views of President Carter and this Administration on this particular question are dramatically different.

QUESTION: Just one more on Israel. (Inaudible)? Do you have anything on the recent Israeli raid in Gaza that killed a woman and a --

MR. MCCORMACK: I’m still gathering some facts about that.

QUESTION: I was going to ask about this, but is this in any way complicate the Secretary’s mission this weekend when she goes to the region?

MR. MCCORMACK: No. I don’t think anybody confuses what she’s doing with President Carter’s mission

QUESTION: Well, no, no, no. I mean, the – you know, the recent events with the violence.

MR. MCCORMACK: I --

QUESTION: Apparently, what happened today was a response to –

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- several raids coming from Gaza into Israel over the last couple days.

MR. MCCORMACK: Like I said, let me look into the facts here.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. MCCORMACK: Samir.

QUESTION: Can you give us a readout of the visit of the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister today?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, he’s here for the U.S.-Israel Strategic Dialogue. It happens every six months. We have these meetings, alternate – we alternate home and away games here. This is a home game for us. And he’s going to be meeting with the Secretary, I think, about 1:30 this afternoon just to talk about the state of play in U.S.-Israeli bilateral relations and then also to talk about issues of general interest in the region, Israeli-Palestinian track, as well as other security related issues in the region.

QUESTION: What about the Syrian track? Is he going to promote the Syrian track?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don’t know. You can talk to him.

Yeah, Lachlan.

QUESTION: The Czechs. Are the Czechs concerned – do they still have concerns about the Russian presence at their sites? Is that delaying a deal, for example?

MR. MCCORMACK: No. There’s a scheduling conflict. The Secretary --

QUESTION: So other concerns have been met, regarding the site --

MR. MCCORMACK: As far as I –

QUESTION: -- regarding the Russian presence there?

MR. MCCORMACK: As far as I know. I don’t know of any substantive differences here. This is really a matter of just working out the Secretary’s schedule and schedule for Czech officials to have a signing ceremony.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: Great.

(The briefing was concluded at 12:54 p.m.)

DPB#75

Released on April 28, 2008

  

Press Releases: Inaugural Session of the U.S.-Russia Economic Dialogue

Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
April 28, 2008

Inaugural Session of the U.S.-Russia Economic Dialogue

Following is the text of a joint statement by the United States and Russia upon the conclusion of the Inaugural Session of the U.S.-Russia Economic Dialogue.

Begin text:

Today, officials from the Governments of the United States and Russia met for the inaugural session of the U.S.-Russia Economic Dialogue at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC. The launch of this dialogue fulfills a commitment agreed to by President Bush and President Putin in the U.S.-Russia Strategic Framework Declaration announced at their April 6, 2008 meeting in Sochi.

The session was co-chaired by U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Reuben Jeffery III and by First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Andrey Denisov.

The Economic Dialogue covered a wide range of issues, including the U.S. economy, U.S. and Russian trade and investment policies, and growth and efficiency in energy markets. Officials from the National Security Council, Council of Economic Advisors, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of the Treasury, and U.S. Department of State took part. Russia was represented by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, and Ministry of Finance.

This and future sessions of the U.S.-Russia Economic Dialogue provide a regular forum for strengthening American-Russian economic and business interaction, helping to create conditions that will enhance trade and investment relations between the United States and Russia, and increase prosperity.

2008/329

Released on April 28, 2008

  

Press Releases: UN Annual Meeting in Bern on the Food Crisis (Taken Question)

Taken Question
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
April 28, 2008
Question Taken at 04-28-08 Daily Press Briefing

UN Annual Meeting in Bern on the Food Crisis (Taken Question)

Question: Who will be the US representative at the annual meeting of UN agencies in Bern, Switzerland?

Answer: The meeting referenced is the twice-yearly meeting of the United Nations Chief Executives Board, which is made up of the executive heads of the UN System (funds, programs, conferences, etc.)

The meeting is an internal UN meeting, not a member state event, so the U.S. will not be attending.

2008/332

Released on April 28, 2008

  

Secretary's Remarks: Remarks with the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General for Afghanistan Kai Eide After Their Meeting

Remarks with the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General for Afghanistan Kai Eide After Their Meeting

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC
April 28, 2008

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SECRETARY RICE: I would like to welcome Ambassador Kai Eide to the United States for conversations with the U.S. Government about the very important role that he has assumed as the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan. He was at the Bucharest meeting, and I hope that you felt the strong support from NATO and that you have felt the strong support from the United States and the allies there. We have no more important mission together than to help the Afghan people to find security, development, and, ultimately, prosperity and peace within their newly democratic state.

It is a tough job, Ambassador. We understand that. There is a lot of work to do to improve the coordination among the international donors to Afghanistan, the many countries that are on the ground. But I do think there is a good spirit and a good will. I look forward to working with you also to make certain that the Paris conference in June is a success. We have a lot of work to do, but we’re going to do it together. And the Afghan people deserve to have that kind of support.

I know, too, that you have met with President Karzai, that you’ve been on the ground in Afghanistan, and we want to do everything that we can to support his leadership in this democratic government.

AMBASSADOR EIDE: Thank you very much. I am very grateful to you for receiving me and my team here today and for the way you receive us here in Washington. I have felt, since taking on these duties, and I feel that strongly today, that there is full U.S. support for what we are trying to do. That is important. I also feel that we do have the confidence of the President of Afghanistan and his government. And with that and the sharper mandate that we have, I believe that we have the tools available to us that are important to succeed.

We are also looking forward to the Paris conference and are doing what we can to prepare that. It will be important that the donors who have perhaps not been too generous in the past try to mobilize the resources that the Government of Afghanistan need. And then, of course, we are starting to prepare the very important elections that will take place in 2009. So, I think we have our priorities set, and we look forward to working with you in the months and years ahead. Thank you.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you.

SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE EIDE: Thank you very much.

QUESTION: A question (inaudible). Does the assassination attempt in Kabul this weekend underscore for you the fragility of the Karzai government?

SECRETARY RICE: What it underscores for me, Anne, is that Afghanistan has, as we’ve said many times, determined enemies who will do anything to try and disrupt the democratic progress that the Afghan people have made. President Karzai is a strong leader and he has responded, I think, in a strong fashion to this. They will certainly find the perpetrators and they will bring them to justice.

But obviously, Afghanistan is a young democracy, it is a country that comes out of decades of civil war, it is a very poor country. It has a lot of challenges of governance, it has challenges of building an economy, and it has security challenges. But I’m also quite confident that with the work that NATO is doing, with the work that the UN is doing, with the work, most importantly, that the Afghan government and the Afghan people are doing, that they’re going to succeed.

MR. MCCORMACK: All right. Thanks, guys.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you.

2008/331

Released on April 28, 2008

  

May 1st = Disaster Preparedness Day

May 1st is Disaster Preparedness Day for improving awareness of protecting historic documents of all types during disasters like tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters. Be ready to care for your family and your family's most important records. Plan an evacuation route for your family, plan a safe place in the home, plan for a meeting place, plan to take a cell phone or numbers. Be able to "grab and go" when the time comes. Tennessee State Library and Archives, County Government Archives, and Council of State Archivists want everyone to remember to be prepared for the unexpected. Determine what are your family's most Essential records and/or Irreplaceable records. Essential records are: birth certificates, marriage records, health and insurance records, banking account records, and mortgage and deed records. Irreplaceable records are family documents, letters, diaries, photographs, and scrapbooks. Ways to prepare for emergencies. 1. Keep a checklist up to date, of all those essential records and locations. 2. Take a copy of the checklist any time you have to evacuate your home. 3. Consider duplicating essential records and store "off-site" (a bank safety deposit vault or another trusted family home). Think of where other duplicates might be and name that location on you list: local government records, State Vital Records, or even doctor's office records. 4. Do not forget computer records: Any essential records stored on home computers should be backed up by paper copy, CD, or jump drive stored off site. 5. Be ready to evacuate some original records. If necessary create an easy to carry ready to move container with essential or irreplaceable records, to pick up as one evacuates. 6. An itemized list of locations for essential and irreplaceable will help give a priority to possible recovery and salvage of those items after a disaster. Read more about this topic: Rescuing Family Records A Disaster Planning Guide by David W. Carmicheal Or Study the following websites: Tennessee State Library and Archives: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/ Council of State Archivists: http://www.statearchivists.org/ Heritage Preservation: http://www.heritagepreservation.org/ American Red Cross Preparedness section: http://www.redcross.org/ For more information contact: Carol Roberts Director Preservation Services Tennessee State Library and Archives 615-253-6446 Preservation.tsla@state.tn.us