Robert B. Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State
Washington, DC
June 19, 2006
QUESTION: Now our conversation with Robert Zoellick, who resigned today as Deputy Secretary of State. Zoellick has been,
among other things, the U.S. Government's point man on the Darfur crisis. Last month he played a key role in a peace
accord between the Sudan Government and the main rebel group in Sudan's Western Darfur region. More than 180,000 people
have been killed there in over three years of fighting, creating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Mr. Secretary, welcome.
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Thank you.
QUESTION: Has the deal you helped negotiate resulted in a reduction in the violence in Darfur thus far?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: The reports over the past couple of weeks, Jim, is that it has. And that's a good sign, but
as we've said from the start, it remains very, very fragile so there's a lot of follow-up work to do.
QUESTION: There's still people dying and still people being displaced and abused; is that correct?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Oh, yeah. There's a terrible human tragedy. I mean, there's over two million people in camps
and that's why this peace accord, Jim, really is just an opening. Over the past couple of weeks, you've had a group of
ambassadors from the UN Security Council visit to try to pave the way for a UN peacekeeping force. We've got the UN
peacekeeping mission there right now -- the assessment group, they're supposed to be back later this month -- and then I
hope they will move quickly to work with us in the UN Security Council to get the UN force there.
We're very fortunate; the Congress just passed some money that we needed to pay the African Union forces and we're going
to try to expand that. The African Union has sent a letter to NATO talking about their interest in NATO support. So on
the security side, the accord has created the opportunity for things to move, but there's a tremendous amount of
follow-up. And then we've also needed to get the food levels back up. The President launched that right after the peace
accord. And then the biggest thing is we've got to explain this accord in all these camps. So there's a lot of
implementation work ahead of us.
QUESTION: Do you leave your job frustrated that more has not been done quicker to help this situation?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, you know, if you go to Darfur as many times as I have, your main concern is when you
see the people, your heart goes out to them. And so I'm very pleased, frankly, to be the representative of the United
States, which has done more than any other country in terms of feeding people and trying to put a focus on this issue.
And I'm very pleased that through some tough work with the Europeans, African Union and others, we were able to get this
accord. But when you look at a problem like genocide, there's no doubt that it's going to take a long time. And part of
it will have to help, I hope, as the peace accord gets implemented with the reconstruction and development. So this is
one of those problems that's going to take time.
QUESTION: Look, Mr. Secretary, a lot of people have trouble understanding now why here's the United States of America,
the most powerful nation in the world, with the United Nations and many, many other like powerful nations in the world,
faced with a very public genocide, cannot stop it after years now. It's been reported everywhere. Everybody in the world
knows about Darfur. Everybody is shown pictures and yet it continues as we speak.
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, as we just said, Jim, the violence after this peace accord is way down. And so now the
key step is to try to strengthen the troops to try to keep security. There's about 7,000 African Union troops there.
They've done good work, but this is an area the size of Texas; there's not enough. That's why we're trying to push a UN
force in.
And the basic issue goes to the fact that anytime that you are going to another country and deciding that you're going
to want to put a big army there -- and this is a multinational army -- that's obviously going to be a substantive issue.
I mean, just think about your rapport with Iraq.
And so at the same time you're trying to feed people. You've got rebels that have fought one another. You've got the
government that created the Janjaweed, which is a terrible group that's a former counterinsurgency. So you've got a lot
of groups going after each other and that's why the basic part is to try to bring the parties together for peace and
then create the conditions that make it work.
QUESTION: What are the obstacles preventing this UN force, a larger UN force, from going in there?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, we still have to get the Government of Sudan to agree. There have been some members of
the government who have said that they would. President Bashir, when he met this UN mission that I just talked about,
hasn't given its final answers. So that's the first key step.
Second, you know, this is a pretty rough place and you're trying to expand to 15-20,000 troops, so you have to create
the facilities for them. That's what the United States has helped prepare. You've got to get the troops from countries
around the world and that's one of the things that President Bush started to do months ago. So there are different
elements that you have to bring together and, frankly, as quickly as we can.
QUESTION: But the reports all say that China and Russia are two countries that are opposed to a UN force. What's their
problem?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, in the case of China, you know, I've spent -- that's another issue I've spent a lot of
time with over the past few years. And the Chinese have told me that if the African Union supports this force, that they
will support it and that's a good step. And frankly, I think if China supports it, I don't think Russia will stand in
the way. So they're certainly not leading the effort as we and the Europeans and the African Union are. I don't think
they'll stop it. And, you know, there's been a long conflict between North and South Sudan that went on for 21 years.
And there's some Chinese that are actually part of that peacekeeping force. So we need to encourage the Chinese to play
a more responsible role with this.
QUESTION: What are the pressure points on the -- if the Sudanese Government remains adamant against their allowing a UN
force, then nothing happens; is that right? Is that what I understand you're saying?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, that certainly wouldn't be our position, but I think it's best if you can bring a
country along. And so when you ask what are the pressure points, the first pressure point is their own self-interest.
These are their people after all. There's two million of them in camps. They certainly can't be supportive of the
killing. And if they want to dig themselves out of the very deep hole, they need to take the peace accord to which they
agreed and help bring it to fruition. And recall, that peace accord also means disarming and neutralizing the Janjaweed,
creating a different political process to finally give the people of Darfur a fair chance to participate in Sudanese
politics. So these are elements that the Sudanese Government has agreed to itself, just as it agreed to in the
North-South crisis. And so the start in most of foreign policy is if you can get people to recognize this is in
everybody's interest.
QUESTION: And has that happened?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: I think it's moving in that direction, but you have to keep the pressure up and that's one
reason why it was good for the UN mission to be there. It's good for the African Union to keep pushing and you can be
certain the United States and the European Union are sending a strong message, too.
QUESTION: Are you -- do you leave office satisfied that the United States has done all it can or is doing all it can to
resolve this tragedy?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: I really do, Jim. And that isn't to say that, you know, I'm not heartbroken by seeing the
same things that happened, too. But you know, you find these problems. Look at what's going on in Somalia today or what
people incurred -- the problems we had in Somalia in '91, '92.
And so frankly, you know, for all the talk about the U.S. around the world and how we're seeing some of these recent
polls, I'll tell you this: This problem would not even be where it is today without the U.S. leadership and particularly
President Bush and I have to say, backed by a lot of American people all over the country.
QUESTION: Why not? Why wouldn't it have been the issue that it is? Why did it take the United States to get involved in
a country that far away and not immediately in the U.S. interest to get something done?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, I think first, you know, the American people have a very strong feeling for those that
are suffering around the world. I'm sorry to say, but some others just take a rather cold-blooded view of that. I think
the American public was particularly energized to this because they focused on Sudan because of the North-South
struggle, which left some two million dead. So a lot of people in the church community, Jewish American community,
African American community, they were already focused on this issue. That helped give it attention.
Frankly, President Bush was morally outraged by this and so he's pushed it forth and then you know, Jim, part of this is
certain countries really do expect that at the end of the day that they just don't have to do it, so they look to
others. But it is done as a group. When I was part of these negotiations, over four days and nights, President Obasanjo
of Nigeria did a fantastic job. And so that's where the U.S. can be most effective really when we help pull all the
players together. The European Union was a really good partner in this process. And as I said, you know, we're trying to
bring along the Chinese and others to a sort of common interest and point out to them why they should be supportive. The
U.S. as a global power is probably the only one that can pull all those elements together, but we're most effective when
we can do it in concert with others.
QUESTION: What is your message to China and to any other countries that may be reluctant to come along? What do you tell
them is in their interest to help resolve Darfur?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, it depends on the country and you obviously have to customize the message. It's
different for Egypt than it is for China or when I'm working with Libya.
But if you take China as a case, I emphasize that I know China wants to have an energy relationship with Sudan. Fine.
That may be different than our policy. But I say they certainly don't want to be associated around the world with
genocide, so why can't they use their influence to be supportive of this effort to try to achieve a peace? Their
response would basically be, well, we won't do it the same way the U.S. does, but if you can bring along the other
African countries, we won't be left out. So we worked to bring the African Union countries along. That's a good example.
And different countries have different ways and, you know, appealing to their interests with some combination of
pressure is usually the combination you need.
QUESTION: Is there any reason at all to be specially optimistic right now about this situation?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: You know, Jim, this is such a terrible problem. I just really -- I keep my fingers crossed.
And as I said, I think the Darfur accord creates an opportunity, but you still have some rebels that have not signed on.
We've had some good news over recent weeks; some of the negotiators for the rebels that haven't signed on did agree. So
we're trying to make this broader and more inclusive. We're trying to get word out in these camps. We're trying to work
with the Europeans and the African Union to be part of that.
And a key element is -- and some have written about this -- you know, we know that the rebels don't represent all the
people of Darfur. There are tribes that have been sitting on the sidelines. That's why the peace agreement included
something called the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue to try to bring everybody into the political process and that's something
we've been working with the African Union to get launched.
So when I look at this problem like many others, Jim, it's got different pieces: It's got the security; we've got to
keep the humanitarian side going; we've got to try to help make the political process of this agreement work. And all
the pieces have to try to be synchronized together.
QUESTION: Did the Darfur situation have anything to do with your resignation today?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Oh, no, no. You know, I've been in government for six years. I served for four years as U.S.
Trade Representative, a job I very much enjoyed. I appreciate the President giving me a chance to do so. Secretary Rice
has been a friend of mine for a long time. And when she asked me to come over as Deputy, my understanding was I wanted
to try to help build a team here and get us off and running. And she's certainly doing a great job around the world. So
it's time for me, I think, given the things I've done with China and Latin America and others, to turn to a new
opportunity. And I'm fortunate; I face a great challenge in the private sector.
QUESTION: You're going to maintain your interest in Darfur?
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Oh, certainly, and many other public issues.
QUESTION: All right. Mr. Secretary, thank you and good luck.
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: You bet. Thanks.
2006/630
Released on June 20, 2006
ENDS