Press Briefing by Dana Perino

Business Wire, June 30, 2008

WASHINGTON -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:07 P.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: Hi. I don't have anything to start with. Sorry I'm late.

Q Robert Mugabe was welcomed with no public criticism at an African Union summit in Sharm el Sheikh. Is that the kind of message that you had hoped that the African leaders would send to Mugabe?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think let's see how the meeting goes. We don't believe that the Mugabe regime is a legitimate government. We think that because they ran a sham election last week, in which they intimidated every voter who would have voted against Mugabe, that the African leaders had an opportunity at this week's meeting to really dig into these issues. Because one of the single greatest challenges of regional instability in southern Africa is Zimbabwe. And let's just see how the meeting goes.

I think that they do understand -- a lot of those leaders in Africa understand and did speak out before the sham election. So I think we should let the meeting take place and see what happens.

I do think that it is unfortunate that the Mugabe -- Mugabe's actions has cast a negative light on some really good democratic leaders in Africa. I don't want them all to be painted with the same brush, because I do think that there are many of them who are working very hard to institute democratic reforms in their own way, commensurate with their culture and their traditions and their history.

And so I think that we will continue to put the pressure on. In the meantime, regardless of what happens at that African Union meeting, President Bush has instructed the Secretaries of State and Treasury to develop sanctions against the regime and we will be working on those. Those sanctions could also go against those who support the regime. So as Secretaries Rice and Paulson work on those, we'll continue to keep you updated.

Q Dana, will those sanctions be unilateral? Will the President be --

MS. PERINO: They could be.

Q -- seeking other -- seek other forums where those sanctions will be implemented?

MS. PERINO: We will press for strong action by the United Nations, but we could also act unilaterally. It could come in multiple ways. Obviously sanctions work best when there are multiple parties working in concert, like we are with the European Union when it comes to getting Iran to halt its uranium enrichment so that we can have talks with them.

Q Dana, on sanctions, what is the ultimate goal for the United States in imposing these sanctions? Do you want him to hold another election?

MS. PERINO: I think that we'll have to see. I don't know if that's necessarily clear. What we would like is for people, first and foremost, to feel safe in their own country and to let their voices be heard. I know that down in the area there's conversation about a possible power-sharing agreement. I don't know a lot about that; I think that it's a little bit too early to say. But first and foremost, we want people to feel safe in their own country.

More on Zimbabwe?

Q Yes.

MS. PERINO: Okay.

Q Anything we're saying, in all due respect, is so namby-pamby. I mean, isn't there some mechanism to arrest him as a war criminal, detain him in Egypt? Why isn't the world taking a firmer stand on this?

MS. PERINO: I think that the President has taken a very firm stand on it. He's working -- he pushed very hard last week for the U.N. Security Council to put forward a president's statement, which has to -- which requires a unanimous consent by all 15 parties, including the South African leader. And then he called for the Secretaries of State and Treasury to work on sanctions against the regime and those who support it. And we will continue to press on it. The President is very interested in what's going to happen in the area. And I think that the African leaders, knowing that there is a huge problem of instability in their region casts a pall on all of them, and so I think that they'll have incentive to work for it to make something happen.

Q But would the administration -- would the Bush administration be upset if he were detained and not allowed to leave Egypt?

MS. PERINO: I think -- I'm just not going to speculate on any such action. I don't know of any that's being contemplated.

I'm going to go back to April, because she had one, too, on this.

Q Dana, as you're talking about these stiff sanctions, possibility of stiff sanctions on Zimbabwe, how do you deal with that as this country is in a crisis, has humanitarian needs? How do you implement a sanctions or put forth sanctions without hurting -- 80 percent of the population is in poverty and in despair.

MS. PERINO: Well, again, I think that sanctions would be targeted to the leader and his cronies and then those who support the regime. But what we will continue to do is continue to provide food assistance to more than 1 million people, and then AIDS -- HIV/AIDS treatment to more than 40,000 people there in Zimbabwe who need that treatment. We'll continue to do that -- and I believe that the NGOs were allowed to go back in and to try to help feed those people; that happened I think a couple of weeks ago. But we're going to keep a close eye on it and we'll try to make sure that no one suffers humanitarianly [sic].