Remarks Following Meeting With Haitian Interim President Boniface Alexandre

(5:15 p.m. EDT)

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, you've got your trip to Darfur.  Could you tell us
what you're --

SECRETARY POWELL:  Beg your pardon?

QUESTION:  Your trip to Darfur.  Could you tell us what you're hoping to
accomplish there?

SECRETARY POWELL:  Well, I'll have an opportunity to spend time with the
leadership of the Government of the Sudan.  I'll be seeing President Bashir,
if schedule permits, on the night of my arrival, and then that will give us
a chance to discuss not only the situation in Darfur, but also the success
we've had in recent months, recent weeks, down at Lake Naivasha.  So we have
seen progress with the negotiations between Sudan and Dr. Garang and the
SPLM and hopefully, working out a problem like that will give us the basis
of working on the problem of Darfur.

In Darfur, I just want to get a hands-on opportunity to see how people are
being dealt with, to see whether the aid is starting to flow, to see whether
or not efforts are being made to rein in the militias, the Jingaweit and
others, who are causing such difficulties in the area.  I'll have some AID
people with me to take a look.  Kofi Annan will also be in the region and I
hope that he and I will also have a chance to talk.  We'll also have some
congressional delegations that will be in the region.

So it's a good opportunity for me to actually see things on the ground as
well as talk to government leaders.  And the President and I discussed this
at length this morning.  He and I have been discussing this for the last
several days, and when the logistics were able to be worked out, the
President approved my trip this morning.

QUESTION:  What's your message to the government on Darfur?  What do you
want to tell them?

SECRETARY POWELL:  Let the aid flow freely.  Let the humanitarian workers
in.  Use government forces and political influence to end the attacks and to
act in a very responsible way to help these people as fast as we can.

The situation is so dire that if we were able to do everything we wanted to
do tomorrow, there would still be a large loss of life, because of
deprivations that people are under now with the lack of health care, the
manner in which they have been living, 110 degrees, 115 degree heat in the
middle of a very arid area, a desert area; the rains have not started yet.

And so we need to get help to these people now.  And I hope that the leaders
in Sudan will also give a message of cooperation to Kofi Annan and to the
other foreign officials that are traveling in the region and from other
countries who have an interest in this as well.

This is a catastrophe.  And it's incumbent upon the international community
to come together solidly to do everything we can to bring it to an end and
to bring relief to these desperate people.

Thank you.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, can I ask you about Iraq?  Given the violence
today, it really shows the intensity of the insurgency or insurrection or
whatever term you would like to use.  Do you think that this will threaten
the new government?  How much will it threaten the new government?

SECRETARY POWELL:  The new government is displaying a great deal of courage.
The prime minister is not blinking in the slightest.  The terrible loss of
life today -- and you all heard the numbers I've heard, 68 killed and a
couple of hundred people injured.  These are murderers, these are
terrorists.  Who are they attacking?  They're attacking innocent Iraqis who
just want to go about their lives, who want to wait and see what this new
government will do for them.  Let's not forget who is responsible for this;
it is the terrorists and murderers, the people who are setting off the
bombs, the people who are attacking their own people and who are attacking
the coalition forces that are there to help them. 

They have to be defeated, they will be defeated, and they cannot be allowed
to deny the people of Iraq the better future that is awaiting them.

Thank you.

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