[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[September 28, 1993]
[Pages 1624-1625]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Meeting With Congressional Leaders
September 28, 1993

Somalia

    Q. Mr. President, have you decided to change your strategy in 
Somalia, perhaps not go after General Aideed out of concern, perhaps 
because of congressional criticisms of the mission?
    The President. No. The United Nations strategy on the ground has not 
changed. But I have emphasized to them that every nation involved in 
that, from the beginning, was in it with the understanding that our 
first goal was to restore the conditions of normal life there, to stop 
the killing, to stop the disease, to stop the famine. And that has been 
done with broad support among the Somali people, with the exception of 
that small portion in Mogadishu where General Aideed and his supporters 
are.
    So the enforcement strategy did not change, but what I wanted to 
emphasize at the U.N. yesterday was that there has to be a political 
strategy that puts the affairs of Somalia back into the hands of 
Somalia, that gives every country, not just the United States, every 
country that comes into that operation the sense that they are rotating 
in and out, that there is a fixed date for their ultimate disengagement 
in Somalia, because there's so many other peacekeeping operations in the 
world that have to be considered and that we owe that to all the nations 
we ask to participate in peacekeeping over the long run.
    So there's been no change in the enforcement strategy, but I have 
tried to raise the visibility or the urgency of getting the political 
track back on pace, because in the end every peacekeeping mission or 
every humanitarian mission has to have a date certain when it's over, 
and you have to in the end turn the affairs of the country back over to 
the people who live there. We were not asked to go to Somalia to 
establish a protectorate or a trust relationship or to run the country. 
That's not what we went for.

Bosnia

    Q. But do you have broader concerns about Bosnia? I mean, there's a 
similar problem there with no date certain, no exit strategy.
    The President. I think there, in that case, the United States is in 
a much better position to establish, I think, the standards and have 
some discipline now on the front end. To be fair, I think that everyone 
involved in Bosnia is perhaps more sensitive than was the case in the 
beginning of this Somali operation about the--[inaudible]--of it, the 
dangers of it, and the need to have a strict set of limitations and 
conditions before the involvement occurs.

Somalia

    Q. Given the current situation in Somalia, Mr. President, how do you 
go about fixing a date certain for withdrawal?
    The President. I think one of the things we have to do is assess the 
conditions. Keep in mind, what we see every night reported now is a 
conflict between one Somali warlord who started this by murdering 
Pakistanis in a small portion of Mogadishu. It has very little to do 
with the whole rest of the country where tribal councils and village 
councils are beginning to govern the country, where most of the people 
are living in peace with the conditions of normal life have returned. 
There are lot of things that need to be sorted through there. And I 
think that what you'll see in the next few weeks is a real effort by the 
United Nations to articulate a political strategy. The country can be 
basically given back to the people who live there.

[[Page 1625]]

    Q. Do you think you'll be sending troops to Bosnia?
    The President. I've made it clear what I believe will happen.

Note: The exchange began at 11:16 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.