    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [September 17, 1993]
    [Page 1526]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Carlo
    Azeglio Ciampi of Italy
    September 17, 1993

        The President. Hi, Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].

    Somalia

        Q. Hi. How are you? What do you think of Aideed's proposal, Mr.
    President, concerning Somalia and straightening out his position?
        The President. Well, I think we have to--my main concern is not to
    allow Somalia to deteriorate to the condition which it was in before the
    United Nations went there. I look forward to talking with the Prime
    Minister about Somalia today.
        Obviously, we would like it if some political initiative could be
    taken to stop the current violence, but we certainly can't afford to do
    anything that would permit the country, after all of the efforts the
    United Nations has made, to deteriorate to its former condition where
    hundreds of thousands of people are killed or starved at random. So
    we'll just see--we're discussing it. We're going to discuss it today,
    and we have it under active discussion here what we should do, and we're
    looking at our options.
        Q. Have you resolved your differences between U.S. and Italy on the
    question of Somalia?
        The President. Well, I hope we have, but we haven't had a chance to
    talk about it.

    Note. The exchange began at 11:15 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this
    exchange.