SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister, for your remarks and for the gracious hospitality that you have extended to me, especially the warm greeting I received from President Konare. I brought greetings to the president from President Bush, and I also wanted to reinforce to the president that Africa is a priority to the Bush administration.

President Konare noted that recently President Bush had received President Obasanjo, and that he had also held an event announcing the new global trust fund for HIV/AIDS and the president and President Bush also had another event announcing the upcoming meeting in the fall the forum meeting under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act which will bring 35 nations to be represented in Washington to move forward on the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. All of these are indications of the support that the Bush administration has for African efforts and African programs.

President Konare and I had a wide-ranging discussion on the region, some of the conflicts that are going on in the region, but really it was a conversation of hope. It was a conversation of hope that focused on the fact that if you can obtain conditions of peace, if you can get violence and conflict behind you, then you have circumstances on which you can build democracy, you can build a free enterprise system, you can attract investment, you can attract development funds, you can make a better life for the people in your country as we have seen here in Mali, which is firmly committed to democracy.

I assured the President of our continuing support to his efforts to make sure that democracy remains firmly rooted in Mali, to help educate the children of Mali, to help bring the information age to the children of Mali and to the people of Mali so that they can join in the twenty-first century economic and technical revolution that is under way. I was very impressed with the passion of the president's presentation on regional efforts to resolve conflicts and to spread democracy throughout Africa. It is a problem for Africans, with the help of others, but fundamentally a problem for Africans and for African leaders working together in regional organizations such as ECOWAS.

I just want to close by once again thanking the president and the minister for receiving me and for the hospitality extended to the members of my delegation. I look forward to doing everything I can in my power to strengthen the relationship that currently exists between our two nations.

QUESTION: Mr. Minister, two questions. First, are you concerned that the new administration may hurt efforts on regional peacekeeping by cutting back on support and training for peacekeepers? And secondly, the United States has come under criticism for not giving enough in terms of its economic strength to either development or to AIDS. Do you feel that the United States has given all that it could in terms of these?

FOREIGN MINISTER SIDIBE: I think you shouldn't just look at some events and facts that may just be merely conjectural. What you have to look at is, does the United States have a clear policy, a clear commitment towards peacekeeping forces in Africa. And to that question, I believe the answer is yes. I believe that today this commitment towards peacekeeping forces takes place in the form of support for regional institutions such as ACRI in order to help develop the regional peacekeeping capabilities. Likewise, in the case of AIDS, a certain amount of contribution was announced. However, yes, indeed, the fund in toto is expected to be in the amount of $8 billion; that's a very large amount, which means that everybody -- everybody -- has to contribute to this fund. It's going to be a worldwide effort, which is why President Konare pleaded for the treatment of AIDS as an exceptional, the AIDS exception. From what I heard, and from what I felt from Secretary Powell's words, there is a commitment, a long-term commitment and that's what counts.

QUESTION: You gave us an accounting of your conversations with President Konare, but how do we read the general message of your guidelines, your themes of your visit to Africa? How are we to read this visit to Africa?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, it is the first visit by a senior member of the Bush Administration, very early in the administration, only in the beginning of the fifth month of the administration. I think this shows the Bush administration sees Africa as a priority. The countries that I have selected to visit are around the continent, beginning with Mali. I picked Mali because it was a good model for the rest of the world to see and focus on: a democracy, a nation that is getting ready for a peaceful change of president next year under democratic processes and a rule of law. A country that is welcoming in aid in a society that does have a rule of law where the aid will be used effectively. A county that is welcoming in investment, a country that understands it has to invest in its young people, its future. A country that realizes they have to have a political process that will deal with disagreements, so that disagreement doesn't run into conflict. So I think Mali was a good start and is an example for the rest of Africa, an example for many, many countries of the world.

I will go to South Africa, another great democracy, one of the most important countries in Africa, and from there I will go on to Kenya, and I will also go on to Uganda. Kenya, going through its transition to elections and a new system -- not a new system, but new representatives coming in within the not-too-distant future. In Uganda, I'll have a chance to see what one country is able to do with respect to getting the infection rate from HIV/AIDS down because the government and the people are willing to see this as a crisis in the country and do something about it.

So I think with my travels to these four countries, I will go back to the United States and report to President Bush on the different issues that I encountered and the opportunities that I saw here. It also gives me greater standing when I go before Congress and ask for additional funds to support our programs in Africa. I am deeply impressed with what we are doing here in Mali with our AID programs and other assistance programs. I think we have helped enormously in Mali's movement and march toward democracy, and we will continue to do so.

QUESTION: Mr. Powell and Mr. Foreign Minister: what is your view about sanctions on Liberia? Should they remain in place, should they be strengthened, should they be imposed at all? And, let me go further, is Liberia responsible for the security problems in the region? And let me go further than that: behind Liberia, some see the hand of Libya, that Libya had a hand in the coup that took place in Gambia some years ago, and the fighting in Kasima, and in supporting Charles Taylor. I just wonder if you see a new involvement in all this?

One final question, directed to the Foreign Minister. I met some people in the market today and they said that even though they're poor, they have to pay to send their children to private school because the government schools are too crowded. Can you address this question, whether or not the government has a plan to provide adequate education to people in the near future?

SECRETARY POWELL: Let me just say I think that the sanctions that were imposed on Mr. Taylor and his associates recently were appropriate. I thanked the president earlier at our lunch for supporting those sanctions, and I think we should now wait and see what effect those sanctions have. Certainly Charles Taylor cannot take all the responsibility for the problems in the regions, but I think he bears a large portion of the responsibility. President Konare noted that we also needed a political dialogue with Mr. Taylor, and I certainly agree with that. But there are many things that he could be doing now to end the kind of problems and crises we see in the region that he is not yet doing. I hope these sanctions will encourage him to play a more positive role.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIDIBE: I believe that we agreed to allow ECOWAS to play a greater role in terms of implementation and of sanctions in the region, and that a greater role should be played at the sub-regional level. In terms of the Security Council, we should allow the time to decide whether the sanctions will be effective. So ECOWAS is mindful and abides by the legal process. We, ourselves, have submitted a report to the Security Council regarding Liberia. So we ask Liberia to abide by the measures taken.

In terms of overcrowding of schools and of education problems, we have problems. But thanks to our educational and school attendance policies over the last few years, the school attendance rate has grown significantly. And in terms of the school attendance, and the school attendance rates, we have implemented large-scale programs to improve those ratios, not only for boys, but especially for girls, with a special focus on girls, and we'll extend these programs throughout the country. Indeed the United States, through USAID, is providing support to this program. President Konare had an opportunity to say, and repeated, the vision of the future for Mali: it's a school, a village, a healthcare center, a communal center, that is his vision for Mali.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, prior to your departure, you mentioned that the United States was ready to give assistance to Mali in its preparation of the democratic transition in 2002. In concrete terms, how will this support manifest itself? And a second question. Can you respond to the rumor that the United States is highly interested in developing a base in Tessalit.

SECRETARY POWELL: Let me answer the second question first. I have just heard about these rumors today, upon arrival in Mali. The rumors are categorically, one hundred percent, not true. There are no plans for any such base, there is no thinking about any such base, there is no need for any such base. I speak on behalf of the entire United States Government that we have no such plans and the rumor is categorically false.

With respect to the election next year, we have experience in helping to organize for elections, in helping countries go through the process of certifying voters and all sorts of other things. We'll be providing that kind of technical and educational assistance, as well as some modest financial assistance as appropriate. I will let our ambassador work out in the course of the next year what might be required or what might be helpful or what might be available from U.S. resources. Thank you very much.