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U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #100, 99-08-09

U.S. State Department: Daily Press Briefings Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>


790

U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

I N D E X

Monday, August 9, 1999

Briefer: James P. Rubin

STATEMENTS
1	Transfer of War Criminal Vinko Martivonic to the Hague

MEPP 1-6 Secretary's Revised Travel Plans to the Middle East / Implementation of Wye River Agreement/ Secretary Albright's Objectives / Israeli-Syrian Track / Palestinian Track / Israel-Lebanese Track / Advancement of Peace Process / Permanent Status Talks / Wye Clock - Phases 1 - 3.

RUSSIA 7-9 New Prime Minister / Duma Elections / US-Russian Bilateral Relations / Start III Talks / Autonomy on Dagestan / Chechnya

NORTH KOREA 9&10 Four-Party Talks / Missile Test / Statement of Policy by US/Japan/South Korea

SERBIA (Kosovo) 10 French K-FOR Troops in Mitrovica

COLOMBIA 11 Venezuelan Plane Hijacking and Kidnapping of Passengers / FARC / Peace Process / Visit of Under Secretary Pickering

QATAR 12 Former Police Chief

CHILE 12&13 Visit of Chilean Foreign Minister / Pinochet Case / Release of US Documents

CUBA 13 Repeal of Ban on Food and Medicine Sanctions


U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

DPB #100

MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1999, 1:00 P.M.

(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

MR. RUBIN: Good morning, good afternoon. Welcome to the State Department briefing. We're either a half an hour early or a half an hour late, depending on how you look at it But I guess that means we're not on time.

We do have a statement on the transfer of a war criminal from Croatia to The Hague that we'll be releasing after the briefing.

Now, let me go straight to the Middle East and to the question that some of you have had during the course of the morning. Secretary Albright has spoken to Prime Minister Barak, Chairman Arafat and Foreign Minister Shara of Syria in the course of the last several days. As a result of a request from Prime Minister Barak, Secretary Albright has decided to make her trip to the Middle East at the end of the month rather than the possibility of earlier than that. It is Secretary Albright's hope and expectation that the Israelis and Palestinians will work together seriously and constructively during this period. In the Secretary's view, it is absolutely essential that a working relationship between Israelis and Palestinians based on a sense of partnership be reestablished. Based on her discussions with the Prime Minister, Secretary Albright is confident that he is working in good faith toward that end.

In this regard, let me say that Prime Minister Barak has assured both the Secretary and the President that he will do his part to implement the Wye agreement fully. We understand from Chairman Arafat that he will implement his obligations under Wye fully as well. It is our view that the best way to restore trust and confidence between the parties is to see Wye implemented - that is, the Wye River Agreement - and to have permanent status negotiations resumed.

At the same time, we also believe it is important to see all of the negotiating tracks, including specifically the Israeli-Syrian track and the Lebanese-Israeli track resumed in order to achieve the objective of reaching a comprehensive peace.

With those comments, let me turn to your questions. I don't know whether there's anybody from the Associated Press sitting down. I don't know which one wishes to start.

QUESTION: Why don't you get someone who spent the whole weekend trying to get what you just announced, which has come from every other part of the world? What is the Secretary keying her travel plan schedule to? What developments in the region because she had all sorts of possible dates.

MR. RUBIN: Right. The plan now is to go toward the end of the month, the beginning of the next month. She has spoken to Prime Minister Barak, Foreign Minister Shara, Chairman Arafat about her trip. Chairman Arafat expressed understanding for this schedule, as did the Syrian Foreign Minister and, as I indicated at the opening of the briefing that just began a few moments ago, that the request for the trip to occur at the end of the month came from the Prime Minister.

As far as what the Secretary hopes to achieve on this trip, there is a new Israeli Prime Minister; she hasn't traveled to the region since the Israeli Prime Minister has put his government together. She's visited with the Israeli Prime Minister here. Obviously, it is an objective of American policy to see whether a way can be found to reinvigorate the Israeli-Syrian track and the Israeli-Lebanese tracks of the peace process. We are going to be visiting Syria.

Essentially what the trip will be designed to do will be to take stock of where all the parties are; what their positions are; and then be in a position to see whether down the road there are openings that one can try to advance.

QUESTION: Her objectives, of course, are peace and all of that, but the question is how did she determine to go now because there have been talks between the Israelis and Palestinians? One day things look positive; one day they don't. Has she chosen this because this coincides with the end of a period that the Israelis said the would need to begin to withdraw -- (inaudible) - so she's going after the fact? Or is she going at that point because that's a critical point for that or for something else? In other words, how did she - to use your word and her word - "calibrate," how did she calibrate her decision? What does it coincide with? She didn't pick the date out of a hat, clearly; she had some connection to events on the ground.

MR. RUBIN: Right. We have believed for some time that the best way to advance the peace process in the Middle East - certainly with respect to the Palestinian track - is to have the Israelis and the Palestinians working very closely together to be in a position to work out problems themselves. It is our understanding that the Prime Minister wants to continue that work in the coming weeks, and it is my understanding the Prime Minister has indicated that it is his intention to begin the implementation, or essentially end the suspension of the implementation of Wye, around the time of the Secretary's trip. He has made that decision now.

To the extent that the Israelis and the Palestinians have made progress on various aspects of implementation -- because implementation is not done with the snap of a finger - requires a great number of steps on both sides. We're looking for parallel phased implementation that the Secretary will be able to focus on issues beyond implementation of Wye. Those are the very issues that we would want to talk about - the permanent status talks, the Syria track, the Lebanon track. So that's where the situation stands.

QUESTION: I'm going to give someone else a chance, but that answers the question. I have a couple other questions, but if someone else wants to --

MR. RUBIN: You seem to have the floor - oh, no, there we go.

QUESTION: Since you are interested in invigorating the Lebanese track, will she be visiting Lebanon?

MR. RUBIN: I think those of you who followed Secretary of State's trips to Lebanon in the past know that there are security issues associated with trips to Lebanon, and the only stops that I'm in a position to say will occur are the - in addition to Israel and Gaza and the West Bank - is Syria. So I'm not in a position to answer that question.

As you well know, that's the kind of question that may never be able to be answered because of the security situation.

QUESTION: Did the Secretary get a sense from Arafat of what the Palestinians' reaction was to her deciding to move the trip?

MR. RUBIN: Yes, she had a very good phone call with him on Saturday, I believe. He expressed understanding with the timing of her trip.

QUESTION: Was he kind of - I mean, obviously he wasn't thrilled with it, but I mean, was the reaction a resigned acceptance?

MR. RUBIN: No, I wouldn't see it that way. Again, in response to one of your colleague's questions, I pointed out that the Prime Minister has indicated that he intends to implement fully the Wye Agreement, beginning at the beginning of next month. That is what the Palestinians have been concerned about.

What we've been concerned about is that both the Israelis and the Palestinians implement the Wye Agreement. So to the extent the Palestinians have had concerns about whether Wye would be implemented, I think Prime Minister Barak has answered those concerns by indicating that he will - the suspension of Wye will end and that the second phase will begin on September 1.

QUESTION: This postponement is obviously related solely to the Palestinian- Israeli track. In the meantime, what will the State Department be doing to prepare a resumption of talks on the Syrian track?

MR. RUBIN: Well, we don't expect anything resembling a quick resumption of talks. The Secretary's trip is a stock-taking trip. She will be going to Syria; she hasn't been there for, I believe - someone in this room can probably correct me - but I would think it was two years since she went to Syria in the fall of 1997. So it will be precisely two years since she went there.

So that will be an opportunity to have an extensive discussion with the leaders in Syria about their views on the Syria track - the first time such a discussion will have been had in a very, very long time; at the end of which, one will have a better sense of what is possible and not possible.

Similarly, people in this building and the Secretary of State work on this problem every day in some form or another. We will continue to work on it by providing the assistance and the help and the confidence and the support that the parties need.

QUESTION: When was the initial request from Barak for her to postpone her trip? Was it last week?

MR. RUBIN: I don't know precisely when that was.

QUESTION: Was there a lag time between his request and her answering him? Did she say, let me get back to you in a couple of days?

MR. RUBIN: No, I don't think so. I think it was in the call on Friday that they began to talk about it, and the next work day was Monday, and now we're talking about it on Monday.

QUESTION: Is it the US' understanding that the pull back will begin in two or three weeks, or preparations for the pull back and then maybe another month before the pull back? And I guess related to that, did Arafat relate to the Secretary in that conversation any disappointment with the pace of the Israeli withdrawal?

MR. RUBIN: Well, in response to your colleague's question, I think I answered the Arafat point, which is that Chairman Arafat has been very clear in his concern about implementation of Wye. We believe that the Prime Minister's announcement that Wye will be implemented in full one way or another beginning the period on September 1 certainly satisfies us as to the resumption of the Wye process. Now Wye has to be implemented, but at least the suspension will now be ended and it will be resumed - phase two.

As far as how phase two and phase three of Wye unfold, I think all of us who were there are quite familiar with the agreement and quite familiar with the American positions about the agreement. The agreement clearly states that there are a number of responsibilities on both sides during this phase two and phase three, including on the subject of prisoner releases and the subject of fighting terrorism and anti-incitement and a number of steps - safe passage, committees on the various other subjects - as well as the transfer of land pursuant to phase two and phase three. We expect all parts of those agreements to be fulfilled, and have stated in the past that by the end of each period the land has to be transferred.

QUESTION: You said - that was a long statement, and you spoke of one way or another.

MR. RUBIN: Long answers, sometimes long questions.

QUESTION: That's fine, but I don't know if "one way or another" really is what you want to say if I put the question to you this way. Israel, the Prime Minister, wants to fold in the final phase to at least the outline of an agreement on final status issues, which everybody recognizes are far more difficult than the current problem. So do you have from the Israeli Prime Minister, does she now have that if that scheme doesn't work out, he will - one way or another - conduct the final pull back?

MR. RUBIN: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. RUBIN: I did say it exactly as I wanted to say it.

QUESTION: Tangled or unentangled, either way, they're going to pull back.

MR. RUBIN: The Prime Minister of Israel's statement says that the Government of Israel will proceed to honor its obligations to implement Wye fully with the timeline for implementation resuming again on September 1. That is the full implementation of Wye; not partial implementation --

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. RUBIN: You're asking two separate questions: the timing of the pull back and the other question of whether it's wrapped into the permanent status talks. I think for the first time in a long time, you've managed even to confuse yourself on this subject.

QUESTION: No, I haven't confused myself at all. I think that's a very clever statement.

MR. RUBIN: It's not clever; it's clear.

QUESTION: It's extremely clever - the word "proceed" means they will begin.

MR. RUBIN: Right, that's what we expect.

QUESTION: My question to you is, put away the statement; I'm talking about what he's told the Secretary of State. They will proceed - of course they'll proceed; they'll proceed to implement all of it. But he wants the end of it tied into the final status talks. So the question is, proceed as he will, when he gets to the final phase and if it is not acceptable to the Palestinians that it be pegged or linked to the final status talks, will he go ahead with a final withdrawal anyhow?

MR. RUBIN: That's what the word "fully" means, Barry.

QUESTION: See, if you start down that road it doesn't mean we're going to get there.

MR. RUBIN: Proceed to implement fully. The proceed means to start the clock, the Wye clock. The Wye clock has certain obligations that they will proceed to implement fully. The Wye Agreement also envisaged the possibility that the Israelis and the Palestinians might make modest adjustments. They might have their own ability; and frankly -- I'm sure you know this as well - the permanent status talks were specified in Wye to begin as well. There's nothing new about permanent status talks.

QUESTION: I know that; it had US support as well.

MR. RUBIN: Exactly. So the issue here is that the Prime Minister has indicated they are going to implement Wye fully. That means phase one, phase two - proceed means to start the clock.

QUESTION: Correct - to restart the clock.

MR. RUBIN: Right, to restart the clock. So I think you're over-focused on the word "proceed." There are two issues and I think I've answered them as best as I can. We believe the Prime Minister intends to implement Wye fully - all parts of Wye, not just the parts that he says he will implement prior to any agreement with the Palestinians, but all the parts of the Wye agreement. That's our view.

QUESTION: Jamie, when you stay starting the Wye clock, can you jog our memories on what - do you recall what it is?

MR. RUBIN: Yes, I can give you some general numbers; you won't hold me to it - just for the moment so you don't have to go right to your agreement. Phase two involves a series of responsibilities for four weeks; phase three is six weeks. So there's ten weeks of the Wye clock remaining. Phase two involves certain activities on fighting terrorism, prisoners, weapons

collection; all the committees. Phase Three involves also the transfer of land and a number of other activities. So according to the Wye clock, if it were to resume on September 1 it would end on November 15.

QUESTION: Do you recall in which phase the Palestinians are supposed to reduce the numbers of their police force?

MR. RUBIN: All the way through there's a process for that.

QUESTION: Do you know if Morocco will be on the Secretary's itinerary?

MR. RUBIN: I will have to check when we're in a position to announce the itinerary but I wouldn't rule that out.

QUESTION: But do you think the US will still encounter the new king in the mediation between Arabs and Israelis in tradition for his dead father? And also, are you aware of any new aid package to Morocco?

MR. RUBIN: I'm not aware of any new aid package to Morocco. I'm sure we will work closely with the leader of Morocco - the new leader - as closely, we hope, as we worked with the last leader.

QUESTION: Sergei Stepashin is out, Mr. Vladimir Putin is in. You don't like my style? It was an announcement. President Boris Yeltsin says he's appointed his successor now to be the chief what - help - so what do you have to say about this? They can't seem to keep anybody in the position. How are they going to get a successful government if they can't get a guy trained and keep him in there for a while?

MR. RUBIN: Could you try to do that question again for us?

(Laughter.)

With respect to that subject, it is the prerogative of the president to choose the premier. President Yeltsin's actions are consistent with the constitution. It's now up to the Russian Parliament to consider the candidacy of President Yeltsin's nominee. We understand that this candidacy will be debated next week.

We have focused our policy on the policies of Russian reform and the policies of the Russian Government, not the personalities. We do have some experience with Mr. Putin and have a constructive relationship with him. We note that President Yeltsin also signed a decree reaffirming his intention to hold Duma elections on schedule in December.

Our two governments and two presidents have laid out a clear agenda for our bilateral relations to focus on arms control, economic reform in Russia and non-proliferation; and it will be important for us to follow up on these in the coming weeks.

QUESTION: Is there any concern on the part of this government that Mr. Yeltsin might be unstable insofar as his changing the prime minister as rapidly as the seasons?

MR. RUBIN: I think there are other governments in the modern era that also change their prime ministers quite often.

QUESTION: Did this cause any uncertainty - I almost want to ask if the Gore Commission has permanent stationery.

(Laughter.)

It's the Gore fill-in-the-blank Commission. We went through now a very serious visit - Mr. Stepashin made speeches, had news conferences. It was billed as a get-acquainted session. Some serious business was done -- particularly on one of your old favorite subjects - getting started on a new treaty even before the old treaty gets finished and ratified. I mean, doesn't this create some sort of, if not chaos, some sort of uncertainty who you're dealing with in Moscow?

MR. RUBIN: Governments work at a variety of levels; not just at the prime minister-to-prime minister level or the prime minister-to-vice president level in this case. The officials that we've been working with by and large on arms control, on matters related to security in Europe and elsewhere have, in the Foreign Ministry, certainly, have remained largely the same. We have no reason to think that Foreign Minister Ivanov -- as I understand it, the statement of Mr. Putin is he intended to keep most of the ministries the same. So I don't think we should blow this out of proportion.

Government heads do change and yet governments work with each other on substance, on issues of concern. As the famous dictum goes, countries act in their national interest, not on the basis of one person or another. So we believe it is in the national interest for Russia to pursue the ratification of the START II agreement. We believe that most of the top Russian generals have explained that to the Duma. We believe it is in the national interest of Russia to work with us on lowering those levels even further, and that is the decision that they will have to make; but it won't be necessarily effected by personalities.

QUESTION: One fast one - we could try Gore's office, but you remember there were to be start on START III Talks this month in Moscow. As far as you know is that still on?

MR. RUBIN: No reason to think that would change.

QUESTION: Roughly the same subject - what's the Administration's position on autonomy for Dagestan?

MR. RUBIN: I don't think we have any new position on parts of Russia. As far as the situation is concerned, we understand that after several clashes with authorities patrolling the border of the breakaway Russian Federation Republic, the group succeeded in seizing several villages. According to the Russian press, the armed groups are subordinate to outlaw field commanders. We understand that as many as 50 people have been killed. We are following this situation very closely. Obviously, Dagestan is a very volatile region and the situation there is very complex. We view with concern the marked increase of violent classes in the region of Chechnya in the past months, and condemn this action by armed groups from Chechnya, which has resulted in the loss of life.

We look forward to a time when the security situation in the North Caucasus will allow those who live in this troubled region to enjoy a more normal life. We wish to use this opportunity to remind all Americans of the State Department's consular information sheet on Russia, which recommends Americans defer travel to Chechnya, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Dagestan and surrounding areas due to continued political strife and frequent kidnappings.

QUESTION: So basically it's an internal matter as far as you're concerned?

MR. RUBIN: We don't have a new position on the sovereignty question; we continue to recognize the borders of Russia. That doesn't mean we have no concern or interest about what goes on there.

QUESTION: The Four Party Talks have presumably ended in Geneva --

MR. RUBIN: Haven't ended yet, according to last count.

QUESTION: They're still on?

MR. RUBIN: Yes.

QUESTION: Will there be any sort of bilateral discussion after these?

MR. RUBIN: Could well be, yes, I expect there to be.

QUESTION: Could I ask you to respond to Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan's statement to reporters? He says, "We'll launch a missile whenever we feel it's necessary." Have we gotten a better feeling or a better idea of how they feel on the issue or what's necessary?

MR. RUBIN: Yes, we certainly have talked to them extensively in the last week about this issue and other issues. We do have a better feel for their position.

We hope that North Korea embraces a positive path towards a constructive relationship with the United States, where North Korea would forswear further testing or exports of long range missiles.

It would not be appropriate for me to comment about what we know of the details of the activities. Suffice it to say that we remain concerned about this possibility of a missile test.

QUESTION: How about timing? Could you make any further statements as far as timing? Are they ready to go ahead and test now?

MR. RUBIN: No, my impression is the most of the people who make comments to you about the timing of this test tend to reverse themselves a day or two later because they're obviously not providing you with accurate information. I'd like to avoid falling into that pitfall.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

(Laughter.)

MR. RUBIN: A wrong story a day, but at least it's source-able.

QUESTION: Can you say anything about reports that, in conjunction with Japan and South Korea, you are actually preparing some kind of formal warning related to this possible missile test?

MR. RUBIN: Well, I believe that Secretary Albright and the Foreign Ministers of Japan and South Korea issued a very carefully worded and well- prepared statement in Singapore about this question of the missile. That's a pretty high-level statement of policy from the three countries, and I'm not aware there's any real need to go beyond that statement from Singapore.

QUESTION: In your talks - or at least up until the last few moments of them - you have received no assurances from the North Koreans that they would not launch the test?

MR. RUBIN: We remain concerned about the possibility of a test by North Korea. That's a matter of serious concern to us, has been for some time. I would not want to get into any of the details of the bilateral discussion that we've had with North Korea.

QUESTION: You said that the Four Party Talks hadn't ended yet.

MR. RUBIN: Correct.

QUESTION: And this missile isn't coming up in that.

MR. RUBIN: We had a couple of bilateral meetings last week, and I indicated in response to the question that I would think it quite likely we would have additional bilateral meetings, even after the Four Party Talks end.

QUESTION: Right, but you wouldn't expect the North Koreans to come out with some announcement saying, oh, we're not going to shoot the missile off, during the Four Party Talks.

MR. RUBIN: That would be a question that those of you who have to make decisions whether to write a story every time somebody says something would have to make; it wouldn't be for me to make - to try analyze at what time the North Koreans are likely to make or not make a statement.

QUESTION: It's a different subject than the Four Party Talks.

MR. RUBIN: I think I've been quite clear on that; I agree with you completely.

QUESTION: Thank you. Can I change the subject? Kosovo - things seem to be deteriorating in bits of Kosovo, and I notice that Mr. Thaci has, within the last two hours, blamed the French for this uprising - the French KFOR troops -- calling them arrogant. I'm wondering what the US reaction is.

MR. RUBIN: For the third consecutive day, French KFOR troops prevented a crowd of ethnic Albanians from crossing a bridge into a predominantly Serb area of Kosovska Mitrovica. KFOR believes that at present, there would be a serious risk of large-scale violence if the Albanians were allowed to cross the bridge. By preventing them from doing so, KFOR is acting to keep the situation under control.

QUESTION: So you don't agree with the characterization that Mr. Thaci used?

MR. RUBIN: I think I just spoke as far as our view is concerned.

QUESTION: Are you staying in regular touch with Thaci?

MR. RUBIN: Yes, not as much as it was during the military campaign, but I am from time to time in touch with him, yes.

QUESTION: And do you discuss things like this?

MR. RUBIN: We discuss matters related to Kosovo. I haven't talked to him about this incident.

QUESTION: On Colombia, regarding the visit of the officials of the State Department to Colombia this week?

MR. RUBIN: Yes.

QUESTION: And what is the purpose of their visit?

MR. RUBIN: Didn't we put a statement out on this? Yes, let me get you the statement.

QUESTION: Okay, and one more thing about Colombia. General McCaffrey -- (inaudible) - were in Colombia a couple of weeks ago, and at the same time there was a plane from Venezuela hijacked. Now the FARC are claiming responsibility and it has come up that probably General McCaffrey and -- (inaudible) -- knew something about this while they were in Colombia.

MR. RUBIN: Don't believe everything you read.

QUESTION: No, I don't; I just want to see if --

MR. RUBIN: We are aware that the Colombian guerrilla group, the FARC, announced over the weekend that it discovered the missing Venezuelan passenger plane. The FARC professes that individuals hostile to Venezuelan President Chavez had hijacked the plane, but that the hijackers fled when FARC troops approached the plane. We understand that the plane has flown back to Venezuela and find it strange that the FARC did not allow the passengers to return with the plane. We deplore the kidnapping and hijacking of civilians by any group and hope the FARC will honor its statement that it will free everyone that was on the plane.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) - Colombia is the peace process, and President Pastrana announced on Saturday that the commission that was supposed to be in place as a mediator is not a must now; it could be a possibility that it is in place or not in place for negotiations to begin. Is this the position of the United States Government -- agree or disagree?

MR. RUBIN: Under Secretary Pickering and a delegation will be visiting Colombia and these are the kind of subjects that they will be discussing -- the question of how we could be most helpful to the peace process in Colombia. I wouldn't want to preempt anything they might want to say on this subject.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) - on Colombia, but how does this visit fit in with the McCaffrey visit? Is it a follow-up visit; is it separate?

MR. RUBIN: Under Secretary Pickering works on issues beyond drugs; General McCaffrey works solely on the drug issue. Under Secretary Pickering is, as the third ranking official here at the Department, involved in the whole panoply of US-Colombian relations going beyond just the fight against drugs, including the peace process, the difficulties Colombia has been having in dealing with the many security issues as well as a number of other subjects.

QUESTION: Can I ask you about Qatar? Last week the former chief of police of Qatar was taken from Lebanon back to Qatar. He had been the mastermind of a counter-coup in '96, working with the previous emir, and now is back in jail in Qatar. Is the US familiar with this situation now and what's going on with the coups and counter-coups in Qatar?

MR. RUBIN: I will see whether we intend to answer that question.

QUESTION: Jamie, the Secretary is going to meet with the Chilean Foreign Minister in about an hour. Undoubtedly the Pinochet case will come up. Could you give us your thoughts on the Pinochet case?

MR. RUBIN: We have taken the view for some time that we are not in the business of giving advice to the United Kingdom regarding how its judiciary should handle the case of former Chilean President Pinochet.

The US is committed to the principles of accountability and justice and to supporting Chile as it wrestles with the difficult problem of how to balance the need for justice with the requirement of reconciliation. We believe that the United Kingdom is similarly committed firmly to these principles and will make its decision based on how it can best serve those purposes.

With respect to our part - and that relates primarily and exclusively to documents - the first tranche of documents was released on June 30. They are available on the Department's website, and I'm sure some of you have a lot of fun doing weekend reading going through those hundreds of pages of documents. We expect that the second tranche of documents covering the period 1968-1972 will be released later this year. No date has been set for that. Those would be the points the Secretary would make to the Chilean Foreign Minster.

Now, we were over here and then we're going to go over there.

QUESTION: I don't know whether you have anything on this. The Commerce Department is expected today to decide whether this anti-dumping - no, you don't have anything on that?

MR. RUBIN: I'll try to check and see whether we intend to speak out on that.

QUESTION: Because it has foreign policy implications in Saudi Arabia and - -

MR. RUBIN: It absolutely does, but since it's a Commerce issue --

QUESTION: I didn't know whether the State Department had been asked to -

MR. RUBIN: I'm know we've been involved in all of the dumping cases that have received a lot of prominence, but let me try to get something for you after the briefing.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask about Chile also. Does the US Government have a position on the idea and the Chilean idea to use an arbitrator to decide where Pinochet should be judged?

MR. RUBIN: Right now this case is before the UK courts and we don't intend, as I think I indicated in response to the last question, to say anything that would prejudge how those courts make that decision; and your question would suggest that we would.

QUESTION: Is that what the Secretary would tell the Foreign Minister if he brings this up?

MR. RUBIN: Our position, because we are the United States, is the same in public as it is in private.

QUESTION: Cuba? Do you have any reaction or position over the decision that took place in the Senate on Friday to approve the amendment that --

MR. RUBIN: As I understand it, nothing happened was the end result. We continue to be able to pursue the policies that we indicated were based on our overall view that food and medicine should not be used in sanctions regimes in the future and it has no effect. So we're pleased that we were able to insure that that approach prevailed.

QUESTION: Pan-Am Games. Is the United States involved in sabotaging Cuba's efforts in Winnipeg?

MR. RUBIN: I have no information on that. I will check it for you, though.

(The briefing concluded at 1:35 P.M.)


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