Le porte parole d'Hillary Clinton donne la position américaine sur le limogéage de Nkunda par le Ruanda

U.S. Department of State

Subject IndexTuesday, January 27, 2009


Daily Press Briefing
Robert Wood
Acting Spokesman
Washington, DC


DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO/REGION
Reports that Rebel Leader Nkunda Is in Custody in Rwanda / A Welcome Step / Good Sign of Cooperation
US Commitment to Peace and Stability in Africa




Sylvie.

QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to the arrest of the leader of the rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo? Anything there?

MR. WOOD: Yeah. I saw – I’ve seen the reports on it.

QUESTION: His arrest?

MR. WOOD: I believe he’s in Rwandan custody.

QUESTION: Yeah, right.

MR. WOOD: And – but we don’t really have the details of it. But you know, his removal is a welcome step on the road to peace. I mean, he has caused nothing but havoc for the people of Congo, and, frankly, for the people of the region. So you know, he’s been causing havoc for far too long. So – and that’s basically my comment on it.

QUESTION: How significant do you think the cooperation is between Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda? I mean, how significant? Could this be a diplomatic breakthrough?

MR. WOOD: I don’t know. I think this was a good sign of cooperation among those governments to try to get at Mr. Nkunda – General Nkunda. And so – but I can’t give you a much broader assessment at this point. I just don’t know.

QUESTION: Do you – I mean, I know that they haven’t named an assistant secretary or anything like that, but do you think it’s something that this Administration could help foster that cooperation?

MR. WOOD: Oh, absolutely. I mean, Africa is going to be a priority for Secretary Clinton, and trying to foster cooperation by countries in the region, particularly in – you know, the region of Congo is very important. The violence has been going on there for much too long and the Secretary knows that and so does the President. And they’re going to take a very strong interest in trying to promote peace and stability on the continent in general.

QUESTION: Well, up until the Bush Administration left office, was there any kind of U.S. role in helping bring these three countries together?

MR. WOOD: Look, we’re here to talk about this Administration. I work for this Administration. So let’s –

QUESTION: Well, I mean, where does the policy stand right now?

MR. WOOD: Well, again, the Administration just came into office a few days ago.

QUESTION: I know, but I mean, obviously, there were efforts that kind of didn’t – obviously, the efforts didn’t stop last Monday, so –

MR. WOOD: Well, that’s right. But these were efforts that were – you’re talking about the efforts among the three countries of the region.

QUESTION: Well, it didn’t just start this –

MR. WOOD: That’s right.

QUESTION: I mean, obviously, they’ve been building up to this point.

MR. WOOD: That’s right. That’s right.

QUESTION: So what has been the U.S. hand in that?

MR. WOOD: Well, we have been providing, you know, any type of assistance that we thought was prudent to these countries in the region. We’ve been focused primarily on trying to help the refugees and IDPs of the region, who are very large in number. And that’s where a lot of our efforts have been focused. We’ve been trying to bring about a diplomatic solution to the situation in the Congo, as you know, and those efforts will continue. And as I said, it’s a high priority for the Administration.

QUESTION: (Inaudible). I’m not sure I – it’s a high priority for the Administration, but in 21 phone calls, the Secretary couldn’t make a single call to an African?

MR. WOOD: Matt –

QUESTION: It was a high priority after the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and South Asia.

MR. WOOD: These were not in priority lists. I mean, it’s a question of trying to schedule calls. So I wouldn’t read anything more into it than that.

QUESTION: And was the question of schedule also the explanation of why she didn’t call the Russian Foreign Minister?

MR. WOOD: My understanding, I think, is that the Russian – I think the Secretary tried to place a call, but I think he’s traveling for the weekend and wasn’t reachable.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Yesterday – yesterday morning –

MR. WOOD: We’ll take two more and then I’ll –

QUESTION: Yesterday morning, President Obama signed a bunch of executive orders, one of which related to Guantanamo Bay and its close, ordering it to close in a year. He’s obviously gotten an early start on this, so in the 24 hours since, what has the State Department been doing to help advance this? You guys have been – played a pretty major role in trying to resettle and get detainees out and resettled into third countries. How many calls have been made toward that end? What’s (inaudible) –

MR. WOOD: I couldn’t possibly give you an idea of how many calls have been made. But that’s been something we have been working on for quite some time, trying to find countries where we could send some of these individuals who are being held in Guantanamo. But I’m – the President and the White House Press Secretary spoke at this at length. I don’t have anything more to add on it.

Kirit, last one.

QUESTION: I just wanted to follow up on the Middle East. Secretary Clinton’s predecessor, obviously, was very personally involved in resolving that by traveling there. Do you expect Secretary Clinton to take a similar role on this sort of level, or is she going to leave most of that to her new envoy?

MR. WOOD: The Secretary is going to be very involved in bringing about, you know, Middle East peace. I would look at these envoys as, to be very honest, force multipliers. There’s a lot of work that can be done with regard to the Middle East and with regard to the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And so that’s how I would characterize the efforts of the envoys.

QUESTION: And so you would consider her – if she would travel with Mitchell or something like that?

MR. WOOD: I – it’s hard for me to say, at this point. But certainly, the Secretary will be, you know, traveling at some point to the region when it’s appropriate.

QUESTION: Isn’t force multiplier a military term?

MR. WOOD: Whatever term it is, I think you should look at it in those terms.

QUESTION: Where do they fit in in terms of the assistant secretaries of state? They are reporting directly to Secretary Clinton or to –

MR. WOOD: Assistant secretaries of state?

QUESTION: Yeah, where do they fit in, these special representatives, with respect to the assistant secretaries of state for those respective regions? What’s the, kind of, reporting line?

MR. WOOD: Well, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and this – you know, the special envoy for the Middle East, those two individuals will report through the Secretary to the President. The assistant secretaries in the geographic regions cover a broad range of – a broad number of – a large number of countries. And so, all of those things will be worked out. The important thing here is that we have real high-level attention on these two parts of the world that require serious attention and that are key to U.S. national security interests.

Okay. Thank you everyone.

QUESTION: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 3:25 p.m.)

DPB # 9

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