News

ACCESSION 
NUMBER:353105

FILE ID:POL503

DATE:07/15/94

TITLE:STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT, FRIDAY, JULY 15 (07/15/94)

TEXT:*94071503.POL

STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT, FRIDAY, JULY 15

(Haiti, Colombia)  (630)

There was no State Department news briefing.  However, acting spokesman

David Johnson informally discussed the following topics with reporters:



MORE HAITIAN BOAT PEOPLE PICKED UP BY U.S. COAST GUARD

The acting spokesman said he was not in a position to elaborate on Secretary

of State Christopher's remarks, made earlier in the day, that the United

States is continuing to consult with hemispheric nations about the makeup

of a multinational force for Haiti once its de facto military leadership

departs.



The consultations the United States has had with countries in the region and

1lsewhere have all been on the basis of a voluntary departure of Haiti's

military strongman General Raoul Cedras and his colleagues, Johnson said.

"We've been talking to about a dozen countries," he said.



While reiterating President Clinton's position that "other options are not

ruled out," Johnson stressed that "the premise" of the continuing

consultations is "a voluntary departure" of Cedras.



Haitians continue to flee their island nation, although in smaller numbers

than recent days.  Johnson said the U.S. Coast Guard picked up 78 Haitians

from four boats on July 14, bringing to 20,430 the number of boat people

picked up since mid-June.



Seventy-eight is the smallest number of boat people picked up on a single

day since June 20.  "It's too early to speculate on whether the trend will

continue," Johnson said.  "We do know that the weather has been bad with

high seas off Haiti.  This has had an effect on the number of departures.

We cannot discount the possibility of an increased outflow."



At present, there are some 16,300 Haitians at the Guantanamo processing

facility, the acting spokesman said.  Approximately 9,600 are awaiting

processing for either voluntary repatriation or temporary protection.



Exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was to begin broadcasting to the

Haitian people late July 15 with U.S. government assistance under a program

called Radio Democracy.  The program will be transmitted from facilities

aboard Department of Defense aircraft which will beam both AM and FM radio

signals to all of Haiti.



Aristide has described Radio Democracy as a joint action by the Haitian and

U.S. governments to promote their desire to see democracy restored in

Haiti.  Initial broadcasts will be tapes of Aristide.  "He will bring a

message of reconciliation, the restoration of democracy, and reassurances

of personal safety to all sectors of Haitian society," Johnson said.



U.S. HOPES FOR STRONG COLOMBIAN ANTI-NARCOTICS EFFORT

Johnson noted that the United States, in recent months, has had several

issues under discussion with Colombia, including radar intelligence-sharing

and the reports that the campaign of President-elect Ernesto Samper

accepted contributions from drug traffickers.



"Concerning radar intelligence-sharing, the president three weeks ago sent

Congress proposed legislation that would permit us to resume

intelligence-sharing with Colombia and Peru," the acting spokesman said.

"The Senate has already passed the bill.  We hope the House will act with

similar dispatch."



Meanwhile, he said, the United States is working with Colombia and Peru to

reach an interim agreement that would address the concerns posed by

domestic and international law and permit the United States to resume

counter-narcotics cooperation with the two countries even while the

legislation is pending.



"With respect to President-elect Samper, I would say that at this point,

decisive action by Colombia on the counter-narcotics front is the key to

our relationship with the forthcoming Samper administration," the acting

spokesman declared.  "We hope that he will continue Colombia's long history

of counter-narcotics cooperation with the United States and become a full

partner in the international effort against the illegal drug trade and the

Colombian cartels that dominate it," Johnson said.



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