[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[October 15, 1993]
[Pages 1755-1758]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference
October 15, 1993

Haiti

    The President. Ladies and gentlemen, during the past few days, we 
have witnessed a brutal attempt by Haiti's military and police 
authorities to thwart the expressed desire of the Haitian people for 
democracy. On Monday, unruly elements, unrestrained by the Haitian 
military, violently prevented American and United Nations personnel from 
carrying out the steps toward that goal. Yesterday, gunmen assassinated 
prodemocracy Justice Minister Malary.
    There are important American interests at stake in Haiti and in what 
is going on there. First, there are about 1,000 American citizens living 
in Haiti or working there. Second, there are Americans there who are 
helping to operate our Embassy. Third, we have an interest in promoting 
democracy in this hemisphere, especially in a place where such a large 
number of Haitians have clearly expressed their preference for 
President. And finally, we have a clear interest in working toward a 
government in Haiti that enables its citizens to live there in security 
so they do not have to flee in large numbers and at great risk to 
themselves to our shores and to other nations.
    Two American administrations and the entire international community 
have consistently condemned the 1991 military coup that ousted President 
Aristide. In response to United States, Latin American, and United 
Nations sanctions and pressure, Haiti's military rulers agreed with 
civilian leaders on a plan to restore democracy. That plan was reached 
under the auspices of the Organization of the American States and the 
United Nations. It was concluded on July the 3d on Governors Island here 
in the United States.
    Yesterday the United Nations Security Council, upon the 
recommendations of its special negotiator for Haiti, Dante Caputo, voted 
to reimpose stiff sanctions against Haiti, including an embargo on oil 
imports, until order is restored and the Governors Island process is 
clearly resumed.
    Those sanctions will go into effect on Monday night unless Haiti's 
security forces put democracy back on track between now and then. I will 
also be imposing additional unilateral sanctions, such as revoking visas 
and freezing the assets of those who are perpetrating the violence and 
their supporters.
    The United States strongly supports the Governors Island process, 
the new civilian government of Prime Minister Malval, and the return to 
Haiti of President Aristide.
    I have today ordered six destroyers to patrol the waters off Haiti 
so that they are in a position to enforce the sanctions fully when they 
come into effect Monday night. I have also offered and ordered an 
infantry company to be on standby at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba just 
a short distance from Haiti. The purpose of these actions is this: to 
ensure the safety of the Americans in Haiti and to press for the 
restoration of democracy there through the strongest possible 
enforcement of the sanctions.
    The military authorities in Haiti simply must

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understand that they cannot indefinitely defy the desires of their own 
people as well as the will of the world community. That path holds only 
suffering for their nation and international isolation for themselves. I 
call upon them again to restore order and security to their country, to 
protect their own citizens and ours, and to comply with the Governors 
Island Agreement.
    Q. Mr. President, you warned yesterday about maintaining the safety 
of the provisional government in Haiti, and yet there was this 
assassination yesterday of the Justice Minister. You talk about the 
personal safety of Americans in Haiti, is there anything the United 
States can do to ensure the safety of President Aristide's Cabinet? Are 
there any steps that you can take to help this fledgling democracy?
    The President. Well we've had discussions with Prime Minister 
Malval. The Vice President talked to him yesterday, as well as to 
President Aristide. We have, as you probably know, a significant number 
of security forces there that we've been working to train, and there may 
be some things that we can do. But let me say this, we've had 
discussions with him. We're in constant communications with him, and we 
are working with him. He has been very forthright in his asking us to 
reinforce the sanctions strongly and to do whatever we could to try to 
remind people that there is no other way out for Haiti but democracy. 
But what we do with regard to his safety, I think, in some ways is going 
to have to be decided as we go along and with his heavy involvement and 
support.
    Q. Mr. President, are the naval ships going to stop merchant ships 
going in and out of Haiti and maybe board them to make sure that their 
embargo is being complied with?
    The President. That's what they're going to do. They're going to 
have a very wide berth to enforce the embargo, or the sanctions, very 
strongly. And we intend to use the six ships. One of them will be off 
the coast of Haiti within about an hour. They will be around Port-au-
Prince by this evening, and they should all be in place by tomorrow.
    Q. Mr. President, what if this embargo induces a new wave of 
immigrants who say they're political refugees? And what if these 
refugees come upon the U.S. destroyers, how will you handle that?
    The President. Our policy has not changed on that. We still believe 
that we should process the Haitians who are asking for asylum in Haiti 
and that that is the safest thing for them. So we will continue to 
pursue the policy we have pursued for the last several months. But the 
purpose of these destroyers is different. These destroyers are going 
there to enforce the sanctions and to do it very strongly.
    Q. But if they come upon refugees, how will they handle them, 
though? Will they just let them go by? Will they turn them back?
    The President. We have no reason to believe that what we have been 
doing won't work there. And I want to emphasize that our policy has not 
changed, and we will continue to adhere to our policy with regard to 
refugees as we work with Haiti and the Prime Minister and the President 
are restored, the democratic government. But the purpose of the 
destroyers is to strongly enforce the sanctions.
    Q. Mr. President, are you prepared to evacuate American citizens 
from Haiti if the security situation there does not improve?
    The President. As I said to you, we are moving an enhanced infantry 
company into Guantanamo so that we can be in a position to deal with 
whatever contingencies arise. I have taken the steps that I think are 
appropriate at this time. And at this time I have not made a decision to 
evacuate our personnel. But there are 1,000 Americans there. There are 
also 9,000 people who have a dual nationality. The 1,000 Americans, most 
of them are working. There are a handful of tourists there, not many. 
And there are 140 Embassy personnel there.
    Q. Mr. President, since you're dealing with people who agreed to the 
Governors Island accords in the face of sanctions and then reneged on 
their promise, what in your view will be sufficient indication of 
compliance and future compliance so that the embargo and other sanctions 
will be able to be lifted?
    The President. Well, I can tell you one thing that would clearly 
show a fundamental change, and that is if all the United Nations forces 
that were supposed to be there to try to help retrain the police and to 
retrain the army were permitted to do so in a clearly safe atmosphere 
where they could also be protected. That would be some evidence that we 
had fundamental change. Keep in mind, this is a different mission than 
Somalia, different from Bosnia, different from any of the existing U.N. 
missions.
    The purpose of these people--the reason we could not even think 
about landing the United States forces that were there a couple of days

[[Page 1757]]

ago is that primarily they were Seabees going there for the purpose of, 
in effect, helping the Haitian army to become like the Army Corps of 
Engineers in this country. They were helping them transform their whole 
mission, not to be fighters anymore but to try to rebuild one of the 
most environmentally plundered and devastated lands in the entire world.

    So if we were seriously proceeding, evidence of that would be all 
these French-speaking countries being able to bring their folks back in 
and retrain the police force to be a professional and ordinary, not a 
renegade, police force and having the French-speaking Canadians and the 
United States in there showing the army how to build a country instead 
of tear up the fabric of the society.

    Q. President Aristide is asking that the administration increase the 
Marine contingent at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince in order to 
protect the people in his government. Is that under consideration at 
this point? And if, let's say, members of his government should flee to 
the American Embassy, would the Embassy provide protection for them?

    The President. The answer to your first question is that that is 
certainly something that I have not ruled out. I have not ruled out 
anything that I have spoken, just because I haven't spoken about it 
today. We had a good, long meeting this morning with Admiral Jeremiah 
and General Shalikashvili and others, Secretary of State, Secretary of 
Defense. And I am very concerned about the security and safety of the 
Americans there and the very brave Prime Minister and his government.

    Again, I would say to you, whatever specific things we do with 
regard to the Prime Minister and his government, I would rather come out 
of statements they make, because I don't want anything I say to upset 
the balance of forces in Haiti now. But I wouldn't rule out a change in 
the deployment around the Embassy.

    Our first obligation, after all, is to protect the Americans there. 
But I think what I have done and the announcement I have made today, 
based on the facts that we have as of when I came out to speak to you, 
is sufficient as of this moment.

    Q. I'm wondering, sir, if you have thought about and considered the 
possibility that you might need to have some kind of police force on the 
ground there in Haiti, much as has been necessary in Somalia in light of 
the fact that the place has been so violence-prone for so long?

    The President. One of the discussions that we had when the gang 
showed up on the dock was the question of whether the protection for our 
Seabees, who were after all, as I say, not delivering food, not--their 
whole goal was to retrain army personnel to rebuild the country. And the 
agreement under which they were going there was that they would have 
sidearms and access to rifles--was to whether that was adequate or not. 
That question will obviously have to be revisited depending upon the 
developments in the next few days. I wouldn't rule that out, Brit [Brit 
Hume, ABC News], but I think we ought to--let's see what happens over 
the next few days.

    Q. Mr. President, how does this differ from the word ``blockade,'' 
which you the other day mentioned as a term of art associated with a 
declaration of war?

    The President. Well, in a literal sense, a blockade would physically 
stop all traffic going in and out of the country, in this case by water. 
The United Nations resolution and the sanctions attempt to stop 
virtually all commercial traffic that could be of some commercial 
benefit. It does not render illegal every single entering into or exit 
from Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haitien, or the country in general. So there is 
a legal difference in that sense.

    But if you use the word in the common-sense parlance, we would block 
any prohibited materials and goods and anything subject to the sanctions 
from going into the country. That is our goal.

    Q. Mr. President, today was the day that Colonel Francois and 
General Cedras were supposed to resign their posts--went past. Are there 
any conversations between the American Embassy people and General Cedras 
and Colonel Francois going on? Has there been any attempt to have 
communications from both sides?

    The President. Well, as you know, Mr. Pezzullo went back yesterday. 
And our Ambassador, Mr. Swing, is down there now. And they are working 
hard to make sure that everyone in the country knows that the United 
States

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is determined to see the democratic process restored. I think they've 
made their position clear.

Note: The President's 30th news conference began at 2:49 p.m. in the 
East Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Lawrence 
Pezzullo, U.S. Special Envoy to Haiti.