    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [April 1, 1998]
    [Page 482]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With President Abdou
    Diouf of Senegal in Dakar
    April 1, 1998

    African Crisis Response Initiative

        Q. Mr. President, are you--how important do you feel an African
    force is--[inaudible]?
        The President. Well, I think it's potentially very important because
    an African Crisis Response Force can enable the Africans to stop
    problems before they get out of hand. And of course, the President and I
    are going to review one of the training exercises here in Senegal. We've
    had one in Uganda. We will have one in Ghana. President Mandela said that he would be interested in participating, so
    I'm encouraged by that. I think there's an enormous sense among African
    leaders that if they have infrastructure and the training to do it, they
    could solve a lot of their own problems. I'm very excited about it.
        Q. Will you be talking to--[inaudible]--about reports of--
    [inaudible]--party politics here? There is criticism that perhaps the
    ruling party has too much power and is too controlling.
        The President. Well, we'll discuss the whole range of things. But
    the main thing I want to do today is to thank the President for the
    support that he's given to peacekeeping around the world and to--
    [inaudible]--Senegal's long experience with elected Presidencies and to
    work on this African Crisis Response Initiative.

    Note: The exchange began at approximately 11 a.m. at the Presidential
    Palace. In his remarks, the President referred to President Nelson
    Mandela of South Africa. A tape was not available for verification of
    the content of this exchange.