(2:40 p.m. EDT)
MR. BOUCHER: Ladies and gentlemen, this is a briefing on the record by our Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner, who has recently returned from a trip to Africa, and he is here to tell you all about it.
Walter.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Thank you, sir. I just got back before the weekend from a good trip to Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Ivory Coast and Guinea. It was a follow-up trip. The first half was a follow-up trip to the WSSD and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, in particular.
Secretary John Turner and I, Assistant Secretary John Turner, spent five days in Gabon working with the Gabonese Government on how to structure this Congo Basin Forest Partnership, how we were going to put it together and some of the funding issues, and most importantly, some of the technical assistance that we were going to be able to help pull together, not only for Gabon, but for the six Congo River Basin countries that are involved in the Partnership.
We looked at a number of ecotourist possibilities and how we can start helping them pull together things like business plans for those, and it was a very good trip and I think the Gabonese are well on their way to putting together an outstanding environmental program that is preserving about 10 percent of the land mass area for national parks, hence, saving the Congo River Basin Rainforest.
Next stop was Sao Tome and Principe, where we had very good discussions with the President of Sao Tome, general bilateral issues including the new cabinet that he just named prior to our arrival. We discussed a number of transnational issues: combating drug trafficking, combating illegal fishing in the waters off the coast of the islands; we talked extensively about an anti-malaria program. In Sao Tome, malaria was almost wiped out about 20 years ago and unfortunately in the past ten years it's come back somewhat with a vengeance, and so we are looking at ways that we can help combat some of those anti-malarial programs.
Next stop was Cote d'Ivoire. As most of you know, Cote d'Ivoire is under tremendous pressure. There is the beginnings of what looks like a serious civil war, where you have an armed rebel group that is clearly not just a weekend mutiny. It has potential for command and control and it is a serious threat to a government that is an elected government and is a government that we want to support and help them resolve this coup or rebellion, whatever term you want to put on it, in an effective way. And so we had bilateral discussions with President Gbagbo, encouraged him to look for peaceful solutions, to reach out to the rebels in the sense of bringing them into some kind of peace talks and working with the regional organization of ECOWAS in producing some of the modalities for a ceasefire.
I then had a brief stop in Guinea, Conakry, Guinea, where I met with President Conte and we discussed bilateral relations. We discussed Cote d'Ivoire being a neighbor, and in fact, the refugee flows that are coming into Guinea from Cote d'Ivoire. And we discussed Liberia, as well. Liberia is also a neighbor of Guinea.
Guinea serves on the Security Council, so we touched base on Security Council issues and then we talked about development and particularly some ideas that we have on helping Guinea with their economy.
That was the short of it and I would be happy to take questions on any part of that trip or any African issues that you have.
Yes, sir.
QUESTION: Did you also discuss the issue of oil import by the US from some countries of this region, particularly Gabon and maybe Sao Tome?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Oil did not come up in Gabon. As you might know, Gabon's oil revenues are actually declining. Their barrels per day are dropping. It is still a very important producer of petroleum products but it, in fact, is a declining net exporter.
We discussed in Sao Tome the future, which is the exact opposite in Sao Tome where they have potential prospects, future oil revenues, and we discussed there a number of issues that they are looking at, including a joint zone that they are trying to work out and structure with the Nigerians. There's an offshore joint zone where they actually share production. Well, there is no production, it's all in the exploration phase now, so we discussed some of those technical issues.
QUESTION: There were reports -- I'm sure you've seen them -- about American plans to set up some kind of military installation or to use some kind of military installation on Sao Tome to protect your interests in that part of the world -- I mean, oil interests. Can you brief us on -- I assume you discussed this with the president. How far has that plan gone?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Well, there are no plans to set up US military installations in Sao Tome. In fact, there are no plans to set up US military installations anywhere in Central or West Africa, so there were no discussions per se on that. They do have some coastal patrol issues that they are worried about. They have no coast guard. They literally have no vessels to patrol their close-in waters. They have terrible fishing problems in the sense that some countries simply violate international fishing agreements and heavily fish out their waters, so there is an effort to help them with some of these coastal patrols. But that was about the extent of it.
QUESTION: Can I just follow up on that? Perhaps there's a misunderstanding here, then. Is there any discussion of US military personnel or vessels visiting Sao Tome more frequently than they do now?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: No. In fact, we've seen those reports, too, and we were very perplexed. I think there was a couple of reports on the BBC and we gave an interview with the BBC to set them on the right course.
QUESTION: How would the United States assist in the coastal patrols? Are you talking about aid/advice? Are you talking about naval vessels or US Coast Guard going over there and assisting?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Right. And I need to be careful because I haven't had a chance to discuss this with folks like the Coast Guard. But they do need -- the Sao Tomeans need both training in how do you do coastal patrols, and then they also need the actual materiel. Since they don't have any boats, they need boats. So we are looking for ways that we can be helpful on one or both of those. We're also going to be discussing this with some of our European allies, looking to see -- maybe the EU could be helpful on this, too.
QUESTION: I wondered if you could elaborate on your conversations with President Gbagbo given the situation changes day-to-day. It looks like the government has retaken Dalao.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: It does, although we've had mixed news stories, quite frankly, on Dalao, exactly who's in control. So it does change hour-by-hour, it seems, as you said.
We encourage President Gbagbo to look at how some kind of ceasefire talks could be initiated. ECOWAS has got some ideas. Foreign Minister Gadio of Senegal, was just in Cote d'Ivoire -- in fact, he might still be there -- and he was trying to patch together a diplomatic effort that would pull the rebels in, get some kind of cessation of hostilities, and bring both parties to the table. We are encouraged that Senegal and Foreign Minister Gadio and ECOWAS in general is doing that, and we want to be supportive of that.
But we were sending strong signals to the Ivorian Government that flexibility is the name of the game right now, and we fully support them; they are the elected government, and we recognize that this is an important principle that we have to stand by that a rebel group simply, in Africa or elsewhere, simply cannot come to the fore by the barrel of a gun. And so we encouraged him to be flexible, at the same time recognizing that he is the right government of the day.
QUESTION: And speaking of the rebels, does the Department have any idea yet exactly who was in charge of this group?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: It seems mixed. It seems as if the rebels might have a number of factions, at least two or three. There does seem to be some coordination among these rebel factions. Exactly who is emerging as the leadership is still a little bit fuzzy. Again, the ECOWAS interlocutors, I think, are learning more every day as they reach out and try to have these discussions with the rebels. I think the French are getting a better feel for it. So we're learning more every day.
QUESTION: I've seen some descriptions of this conflict -- the rebellions is Muslim-based, complaints about discrimination. Is that your take on it?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: I think it's slightly more complicated than that. I think it is part regional. I think it, unfortunately, could have some ethnic overtones to it. I think that because it's regional it does have the religious overtones in the sense that a north-south divide also happens to be the religious divide, north being Muslim, south being Christian. But it's not just that. It is also a feeling of those in the interior being denied certain resources and advantages that those on the coast might have had. So it's all of those things wrapped up together.
There are clearly worries of some xenophobia and anti-foreign attitude, particularly in Abidjan. In fact, we discussed that with President Gbagbo and we encouraged him to continue on what we see as a very constructive path. About four or five days ago, he gave a speech in Abidjan saying, you know, we Ivorians need to be a tolerant people and we need to be reaching out to our foreign guests; we don't need to be persecuting them. And that was exactly the kind of rhetoric that he needs to be saying and we very much praised him for that.
QUESTION: There was also some reporting that Angolan forced had become involved on the side of the government. Is that your understanding?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: We have not seen any confirmation of that.
QUESTION: In Guinea, you spoke about its membership in the Security Council. Did you receive any assurances while you were in Guinea that they would vote for whatever you eventually come up with with your Perm 5 partners on Iraq?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: The discussions were quite general, to be honest, and there are a number of issues that Guinea has been helpful on in the Security Council. They did express their concern about the situation in Iraq and we're looking forward to the resolutions that might come forward -- and said that they would be more than happy to work with us, and work closely with us, as those resolutions come up to a vote.
QUESTION: Can you update us about the US military presence in Cote d'Ivoire? A couple of weeks ago, some soldiers were sent in Ghana, some of them moved to inside Cote d'Ivoire to help American citizens there.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Yes, exactly. Exactly. Forces from out of EUCOM, European Command, staged out of Acara, and then did go into Cote d'Ivoire and worked with the French forces to help extract expats -- French, Americans, Canadians, others -- from Bouake, the second largest city in Cote d'Ivoire. That operation ended quite successfully. And you might remember there was a school, American missionary school, that was under particular threat. All those kids got out and they got out safely.
Once that mission was complete, once the expats, the American expats, departed Bouake, then the forces from EUCOM also departed. So they are no longer in the theater.
QUESTION: No longer in Ivory Coast or in Ghana?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Correct. They are back in Stuttgart.
QUESTION: Did you have any conversations about Article 98 agreements, and if so, did you make any progress or come away with any commitments?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: We did not have detailed discussions on it. We did bring it up and we said that we wanted them to seriously consider looking at it, and they said they would.
I'm off the hook. Thank you all very much.
