MR. ERELI: We're pleased to have you here. We're even more pleased to have our Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer here to brief on the Secretary's trip to Liberia for the inauguration of the President-elect. Assistant Secretary Frazer will open with a couple remarks and then be available for your questions.
Thank you, Assistant Secretary Frazer.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Thank you. Good morning to all of you. First Lady Laura Bush is leading the President's delegation to the inauguration of President-elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Secretary Rice will also be a member of that delegation. President Bush is sending this high-level delegation to underscore the importance of Liberia's transition from war to peace and towards a democratic consolidation for the Liberian people, the continent of Africa and the world at large.
The election of Africa's first female president is an inspiration for young girls and women across the continent. It also reflects and highlights the special relationship between the United States and Liberia. As you will recall, President Bush in the summer of 2003, when Liberia was at the height of its 14-year civil war, sent U.S. diplomats and Marines to try to help stabilize the situation. The U.S. Congress has appropriated over $840 million last year to help to reconstruct Liberia. And it also reflects the partnership between the United States and the regional countries -- Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and others -- who have provided peacekeeping forces and have helped to mediate to end Liberia's 14-year civil war.
First Lady Laura Bush will continue her travels to Ghana and Nigeria after she leaves Liberia. In Ghana, she's going to emphasize partnership promoting education, specifically focusing on the U.S.-Africa partnership to embrace education, both academic education and health education to give children the foundation they need to succeed as adults and the skills and opportunities to contribute to their communities.
In Nigeria, she will emphasize empowering girls and women through literacy and HIV and AIDS treatment. The President and Mrs. Bush have understood that by providing girls and women the opportunities to attend school, they gain valuable literacy skills and HIV/AIDS treatment so that they are empowered to become successful women and contributing members to their democratic societies.
In Liberia, the First Lady will especially be there to reflect and look at the issues of reconciliation, youth education and youth employment, and the Secretary will emphasize the importance of regional stability and peace in the Mano River states and in West Africa; also, the importance of good economic management for the prosperity of Liberia and democratic governance for the long-term stability of the country.
And I'm happy to take your questions.
QUESTION: I'm (inaudible) with China News Service. The Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing is visiting six African countries right now and several days ago the Chinese Government just released a new policy document to Africa. So I know many American people worries about China's increasing influence in Africa, so what's your comments on that and do you think that China's seeking oil reserves in Africa going to be a threat to Americans interest?
Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: To answer your last question first, no, I don't think China's seeking oil in Africa is a threat to the United States' interest. I am looking forward to reading China's Africa document. I had quite extensive discussions in Beijing with my Chinese counterpart and others in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of Secretary -- Deputy Secretary Zoellick's Strategic Dialogue with China. We had good discussions on Africa.
And I think we share the perspective and I noted in the highlights of the document that there was an emphasis on working with Africa's regional organizations. And this has certainly been a centerpiece of President Bush's policy and approach towards Africa, to work with the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, which was so important in helping to bring about Liberia's democratic transition from war to peace, as well as working with SADC and other sub-regional organizations. So I think there's a coming together, a consensus approach on how to deal with Africa's development.
Certainly when you look at where China has invested its resources in Africa, it's primarily in oil-producing countries and the other place is in South Africa. That's where their main trade relationship is involved. And you will find that China's trade relationship in South Africa is fairly even; it's a trade balance. The United States run a trade deficit with South Africa. And then the other major investments are in oil-producing countries.
So one would hope that China's investment would be broader and that it would contribute not only to China's development and growth, which is at a such a high pace -- it's a high growth rate -- but it would also contribute to Africa's growth and development. And certainly my conversations in Beijing in November suggest that China is looking at its broad relationship with the continent.
QUESTION: Are there any plans to provide more assistance to Liberia to help the new President with her programs? And also, what about the issue of Charles Taylor? The U.S. has asked for his -- for him to appear before the court in Sierra Leone and it seems as if the new Liberian Government is not wanting to take action yet against Taylor and to pull him out of his exile because they fear that Taylor's supporters will probably revolt at that.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Yes, the United States, we are one of the major contributors to Liberia's reconstruction, if not the major contributor, the second being the European Union. And as I said, we've spent over $840 million in the last year; more than $520 million of that has gone to support the UN mission there, the peacekeeping mission UNMIL. Another 60 million has gone towards security sector reform to train and equip the Liberian police and military, another 90 million for refugee assistance. So as I said, the Secretary will continue to focus on three specific areas: one is how do you stabilize this country; the peace and stability. So security sector reform will continue to engage in economic management.
We have what is called the Global Economic Management and Assistance Program to try to bring about transparency in the budget process and financial management of Liberia's resources. And then we will continue to work on democratic governance, working with them to support the rule of law, civilian police and judicial systems.
And so I do anticipate that Liberia will continue to be a priority for President Bush's Africa policy, and in that prioritization significant resources will continue to go towards Liberia. But more important than U.S. foreign aid is to restore this economy, to restore this infrastructure so that Liberia can benefit from trade and from investment. And that's really going to be the emphasis in terms of the prosperity of the country, is to get them standing on their own feet and to encourage American investors to go in and to help Liberia to reestablish its productive sectors.
QUESTION: And Charles Taylor?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: And Charles Taylor. Clearly the United States continues to seek Charles Taylor having to answer to be accountable for the atrocities that he carried out in Sierra Leone where he's indicated by the Sierra Leone Special Court. But throughout the Mano River states, he was one of the major sources of instability in the region.
And so yes, and you know that in Secretary Rice's conversations with the president-elect, Charles Taylor came up. The Secretary made it very clear to the President-elect that the United States was wanting to continue to pursue the -- sending him to the Special Court. We've also had consultations and discussions with all of the regional countries because this was a collective agreement. The Liberian Contact Group was a regional coming together of countries' diplomacy, and so we're working with all of the region to try to bring Charles Taylor to justice, including Nigeria.
And we took it as a positive sign that at the UN General Assembly President Obasanjo, in his speech to the General Assembly, also said that Charles Taylor should be returned to the Special Court. And the United Nation's Security Council resolution that the United States helped to draft gives UNMIL the authority if Charles Taylor should return to Liberia to arrest him and take him to the Sierra Leone Special Court. And so we have the instruments in place to be able to pursue bringing him to justice and making him accountable for the atrocities.
QUESTION: Can I follow up with that, please? What is your understanding of what Taylor is up to these days? He's been in Nigeria now for about, what, two and half years. And is he meddling in Liberian internal politics? Did he try to influence the election in any way?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Well, he didn't influence the election in any way. At every point -- Charles Taylor's the sort of boogeyman out there, to use, you know, a term from my childhood. You know, at every point in this transition there's been fear of Charles Taylor and at every point this transition has succeeded. And so I think that whether he's trying to influence or not trying to influence, he hasn't been successful in doing so. I think that the Liberian people have voted for freedom; they voted to have a voice in their government and Charles Taylor represents the exact opposite.
And so I think his influence on the progress of Liberia is extremely limited, if nil -- if there's no influence at all. It hasn't in any way, as I said, hindered progress towards the democratic transition there.
QUESTION: If I could follow up on that, isn't that a rather passive sentence to say that -- for Obasanjo to say that he also believes Taylor should go to the Special Court? Nigeria would have to facilitate that and not just say that this is a good concept, right?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Well, certainly Nigeria would have international responsibility. There is a UN Security Council resolution. There is a general understanding with the ECOWAS countries and with AU, the Special Court has indicted Charles Taylor. And so yes, we think that President Obasanjo has an international responsibility and we fully expect him to carry it out. He's been a good partner. Nigerian soldiers were the first to go into Liberia in 2003 in July. American Marines were the second to go in and we worked in full partnership to bring about peace and stability in Liberia. Nigerian soldiers are still there as peacekeepers. When I was there as the head of President Bush's delegation to observe the elections in October, it was Nigerian soldiers who were present -- Ghanaians and others.
And so I think that President Obasanjo has as much a stake and interest in Liberia's future and that future being a positive one as any other country. There's a sense of ownership for helping to bring about the results -- the election of the first female president -- and will do the right thing in regard to Charles Taylor at the right time.
QUESTION: So this is not the right time? I mean, can you name anything that he is doing to make this happen?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: We're in consultations with him and certainly the United States thinks that, you know, now is the right time. And you know, in July of 2003, when President Bush said Charles Taylor must leave Liberia so that forces could come in and end this war, it was President Obasanjo who brought the plane in that took him out, that gave the people of Liberia a chance for peace. And so President Obasanjo has continued to play a very positive role, and with the election of their first president now is the time.
Yes.
QUESTION: Can you talk about your trip after the trip to Liberia and the First Lady? Can you talk about your visit to the Ethiopia-Eritrea border and what you hope to accomplish?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Sure. I'm basically going with General Fulford, our U.S. Representative, to work Ethiopia-Eritrea to get the boundary demarcated and to help defuse the tension between the two countries.
This first trip is mainly -- the purpose of it is quite limited, frankly, and it's for me to see the border. One of the problems in the Ethiopia-Eritrea impasse over demarcation is the international partners actually have to have the expertise to be able to assist them to find the solution to get that border demarcated. And I want to state that this is the U.S. objective is to see the EEBC -- Boundary Commission -- decision implemented. And I think that as a -- the least that I could do as a first step is to actually see the boundary, to actually go to the boundary to understand what exactly we're talking about.
And so this is a first step on a long road. It's not the end of a process; it's the very beginning of a process to try to help the parties to, as I say, get the boundary demarcated.
QUESTION: Do you plan on spending any time in Ethiopia talking to the government about your concerns about the democratic backsliding?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Well, yes, if I go to Addis, I certainly would expect to have consultations with members of the government. The primary purpose of this trip is boundary demarcation, let me be very clear, but whenever you talk to a government, the full range of issues before you are likely to come up.
And Ethiopia's domestic situation, in terms of its democratic elections, the arrest of the opposition leaders, the continuing lack of -- I should say the lack of allowing freedom of assembly, certainly would likely to come up in the conversation, I would expect, as will issues of the African Union, the Darfur, you know, Sudan. We have a full range of issues with the Government of Ethiopia and I plan to, if I have a chance to meet with Ethiopian officials, I plan to discuss that.
But again, the purpose of my trip is really to educate myself to have a better understanding of the border, to see it, to understand what it means to the people who are living on both sides of that border. It's more of an education trip for me than anything else.
QUESTION: Can you say whether you plan on going to Asmara? They have indicated that you would not be welcome there.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: No, I don't think so. They've just given me my visa, so that sounds like a welcome to me.
QUESTION: You saw the statement by the Information Ministry?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: No. I understand that the Information Minister said something about what's the purpose. And you know, I think what they are trying to say is the Boundary Commission has made a ruling and that ruling stands and that they would not want me to come and try to change the ruling. That's how I interpreted what the Information Minister was saying. And as I said, the intent of my trip is to go to better understand that, to have a look at the boundary itself, to see it. Often, when I've had consultations with officials both in Eritrea and Ethiopia, they said, "Have you actually seen the boundary? You know, do you know what you're talking about?"
And I think it's extremely important to them to say that America is very serious about trying to address this issue; and as a result, the Secretary is sending her Assistant Secretary to go and get the appropriate knowledge and the special rep, you know, actually go to the boundary and have a look. And so that's the intent of the trip, and I think that they will understand that and I would expect they would welcome that.
Yes.
QUESTION: Thank you, Secretary. My name is Ben (inaudible), Guinea News. I was wondering what comment that you have with regard to December local elections in Guinea, which was seen as a major test for Guinea going back to democracy. Do you have any comments?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Yeah, we are working very closely. As I said, the Mano River states stability is extremely important and Guinea is the next country. Sierra Leone is on its way; it has a democratic government in place. Liberia is as well. And we're trying to work with Guinea so that it can continue from local elections to national elections to have a clean process.
Obviously there's still work to be done in Guinea. It was a very first step. But we'll remain engaged. We're trying to provide electoral assistance. We're reaching out to all of the opposition parties, especially to try to build the National Electoral Commission's capacity to conduct elections. So clearly these elections were of mixed quality, but that's to be expected. Elections occurred and we're going to continue to work with all parties to improve it so that when we get to national elections everybody will have confidence in those elections and the quality of them and the freedom of them.
QUESTION: In regard to electoral -- election and --
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Yes.
QUESTION: Folks in that body complained that the process, you know, was hijacked by the Interior Minister, who basically (inaudible) the whole process. I mean, are you satisfied with the result that came out with this election?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: What we're focusing on is trying to get the best process towards national elections and this is a small step in that way. As I said, the results are quite mixed in the quality of the process, and so obviously there's much, much more work to do and we're going to focus on trying to get the opposition parties to act responsibly, trying to get the government to act responsibly, and most importantly to get an institution, the National Electoral Commission, to be one that's credible that all sides will accept the results from.
Typically, in African countries right now that are moving towards democratic transition, every side says the other cheated. I mean, they all say it. Whoever loses, the other side cheated. But what we need is a credible body to make that assessment, and so that has to be the focus in terms of next steps.
Yes.
QUESTION: Secretary Frazer, I have two questions. One is a short one. Will Secretary Rice be having any meetings on the sidelines of the inauguration with any officials?
And my second question has to do with the African summit coming up in Khartoum. Is the U.S. concerned that President Bashir will take over the presidency there and what impact would that have on the talks in Abuja if he did?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Well, Secretary Rice, as you know, this will be her second trip to Africa. She was there in July 2005 in Senegal for the AGOA Forum and she went to Sudan, to Khartoum and to Darfur as well. On this trip, she really wanted to go because she wanted again to reflect how important -- what a special relationship the United States has with Liberia. Her trip will be an in-and-out, however. She's going in to -- she will certainly meet with the President-elect, who will then be the new President. She will certainly have a meeting with Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. She may have meetings, pull-asides with others. I don't think that there's any planned meeting at this point in time. But if opportunity presents itself and there is a key issue that she has to raise, there may be a pull-aside. But she will certainly have a meeting with the President-elect.
As for the AU summit, an important decision was taken early on, which is to de-link the presidency of the AU from hosting the summit itself. And so there's no necessary or automatic move from the meeting being held in Khartoum to President Bashir becoming the president of the African Union. I think that there are serious consultations going on across Africa.
Obviously, many leaders are concerned about the situation in Darfur. When they decided to have -- to host the summit in Khartoum, it was because of the North-South Peace Agreement and with the hope of peace throughout Sudan. With the situation in Darfur, it obviously makes it very problematic, particularly if you have -- if you were to assume the presidency and the AU has a peacekeeping mission trying to stabilize Darfur, it may be a bit of a conflict of interest there. But I think that this is really an internal matter for the African Union at the summit level to address and I think that they're in those consultations right now.
Yes.
QUESTION: A follow-up on that? The African Union has said it's running out of money to keep this peacekeeping operation going. The UN says it's doing contingency planning, but if it's going to take over, it needs U.S. and NATO troops and logistics. And I wonder what the Bush Administration is willing to provide.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Well, the United States has provided over $170 million to support the AMIS peacekeeping mission, the African Union Mission in Sudan. And the United States has also, as you know, airlifted in AU troops. And our commitment is to support the African Union in its peacekeeping mission. We think it's extremely important and it's an advancement for the continent as a whole and we've been always supportive, as I said.
One of the key elements of President Bush's policy since 2001 is to support the capacity of the African countries and the African regional organizations to mediate conflicts and to carry out peacekeeping. And so we are going to continue to fund AMIS. Obviously this is very difficult for the United States and other international partners and so one does have to look at how we can further strengthen AMIS capacity, whether that's financial, logistics or whatever the case may be, to help them to better stabilize Darfur. But we will continue to financially support them.
The issue of transitioning to a UN peacekeeping operation took a step forward with the Peace and Security Council of the AU deciding in principle to ask or to look at that transition from AMIS to the UN and we will follow that process. We're working on it.
QUESTION: Why is it important that the First Lady attend this inauguration?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: It's important, as I said, because it is a symbol of America's engagement on all levels: our Congress; our Department of Defense, the Marines; and most especially, the State Department and the diplomats who stood in there with the Liberian people to make sure that they had an opportunity to express their vote through ending the civil war. It was American Marines that took Roberts International Airport. Some of you will be on that trip. When you go to Roberts International Airport, it was American Marines that came in and held that airport so the humanitarian assistance could come into the Liberian people in July, and we've been there ever since. America is one of the only embassies in Monrovia today.
I mean, we have stood with the Liberian people. As I said, our Congress has appropriated over $840 million over the last year and what a result: The Liberian people freely and openly elected the first female president in Africa. And so I think that the President is sending the First Lady and his Secretary of State to reflect both elements of that: women's leadership, the promise that young girls have to emerge to a leadership role, and also the promise that the Liberian people have to democratically elect their new leadership, to transition from 14 years of civil war to the opportunity and promise of peace and prosperity. So I think that's why.
QUESTION: Can I ask --
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: It's got to be back there because only one more. He's had his hand up.
QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador. How do you see the media's role in this event, in this visit?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Oh, I think the media -- if the media goes, you're going to have a good time, after we deal with the logistical challenges certainly. But the Liberian people are anxious to talk. They're anxious to tell their story. That's what I found when I was there in October. I think that they're extremely proud of the result that they've achieved in the last two years.
Now, clearly there are tremendous challenges and I hope that the media will both show the promise that the Liberian people exude about taking control of their destiny as well as the challenges that they face and how we, as an international community, must get behind those people and support them.
And as I said, three of the key elements of support will be reconciliation, bringing the youth into education and employment opportunities. There are so many young kids. There's 80 percent unemployment in Liberia right now. And then also, continuing to work with the government, whether that's pressure or support, to make sure that there's transparent and good management of Liberia's resources. And so there's tremendous work to be done, and I think hopefully the media will showcase Liberia to the rest of the world. And certainly the President sending his wife, the First Lady, and his Secretary of State is intended to help showcase Liberia.
QUESTION: Can I just follow up on that very quickly. You said 80 percent unemployment, so does that mean that most of the public is on public assistance right now?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: (Laughter.) There's no public assistance.
QUESTION: Well, no, no, no, I don't mean like U.S. public assistance. But, like, with 80 percent of unemployment of people, I mean it's --
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Well, as I said, the United States is putting tremendous amounts of resources into Liberia to help the people. We've spent $90 million to deal with refugees and internally displaced persons. So we're helping to run the camps. We're helping to move people out of those camps back to their homes. We've put $75 million into reintegration of peace-building programs. We are providing $44 million in food assistance to support the IDPs. We have a infrastructure development project that employs young kids to give them a livelihood.
And so there's tremendous need for foreign direct assistance. But what we need to do -- Liberia actually has good resources so we have to transition that country from official development assistance to its own productivity, which is why I said it's important and we'll be looking at how we can fast track Liberia in terms of the AGOA, you know, and other trade benefits that we have.
QUESTION: Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: Thank you.
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