    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [May 22, 1993]
    [Pages 724-725]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Bosnia and an Exchange With Reporters in Manchester, New
    Hampshire
    May 22, 1993

        The President. First of all, I'm very pleased by the agreement that
    has been reached by Secretary Christopher and the foreign ministers from
    Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain. I think it puts us back
    together with a common policy. I think that is a very good thing. I
    think it does some important work in confining the conflict to Bosnia so
    it doesn't spread into Macedonia and Kosovo or other places. I think
    that it takes a step toward ending the ethnic cleansing and slaughter by
    staking out the safe havens without doing what I was opposed to, which
    is basically agreeing that those folks were going to be in camps there.
    In other words, we're still pushing for a political settlement that has
    reasonable land for the Bosnian Muslims. So I think it's a real step
    forward. I think it has a chance to do some good. I'm glad we're working
    together again, and I applaud all the foreign ministers for this work.
        Q. You were a little skeptical yesterday after the meeting with
    Foreign Minister Kozyrev. Has something happened in the last 24 hours?
        The President. Well, what happened was two things. Number one, the
    safe havens were defined in a way that was clearly designed to end the
    slaughter, provide safety and humanitarian aid. And number two, they're
    willing to use the safe havens to build on, that is to build a reason-

    [[Page 725]]

    able territorial settlement instead of just confining folks to camps
    forever. And finally, they also agree explicitly to leave stronger
    measures on the table if these fail. So I feel much better about the
    position than I did yesterday. I applaud Mr. Kozyrev. He's done a lot of
    work on this. And I will say this: President Yeltsin said to me that
    after the elections and after they began work on their own
    constitutional reform, that Russia would come back in and be a full
    partner in this. And he has kept his word. So we've worked together, and
    I feel good about it.
        Q. [Inaudible]--the risk of the United States forces being drawn
    into a Vietnam-type quagmire that you're concerned about?
        The President. No, it actually decreases that risk. You can see from
    the statement where we are on this. We have reaffirmed our previous
    agreement to protect the forces that are there working for the United
    Nations if they are attacked. We have said explicitly that we would talk
    to the government in Macedonia about the United Nations strengthening
    its presence there and about whether it would be advisable for us to
    have a small force there. We are clearly not going to get involved there
    either unilaterally or multilaterally in the conflict on one of the
    sides of one of the combatants in a civil war. That's what happened to
    us in those other places. So the American people should be reassured
    that we have limited the possibility of quagmire and strengthened the
    possibility of ending the ethnic cleansing and the possibility of
    limiting the conflict. I think this is a significant step. And we're
    back in harness again, which is where we ought to be. We're all working
    together. I'm encouraged by it.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:25 p.m. at the Manchester Institute of
    Arts and Sciences. A tape was not available for verification of the
    content of these remarks.