    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [April 3, 1999]
    [Pages 494-495]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    April 3, 1999

        As we gather in our homes during this sacred week to observe Easter
    and Passover, let us take a moment to think about the plight of the
    people in Kosovo, who have been forced from their homes by a campaign of
    violence and destruction, and who look to us for help and hope.
        The tragedy in Kosovo has been mounting for over a year now. Over
    the last 2 weeks, Serbian forces have intensified their attacks against
    innocent civilians there, leaving no doubt about the cold, clear goal of
    their leader, Slobodan Milosevic, to keep
    Kosovo's land while ridding it of its people.
        Nearly one out of every three people in Kosovo has been made
    homeless since the start of this conflict. Even before the recent surge,
    well over a quarter of a million people had

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    been displaced. Every hour of every day, more arrive at Kosovo's
    borders, tired, hungry, shaken by what they have been through.
        Among them are elderly people, who have lived their whole lives in
    peace with their neighbors, only to be told now to leave everything
    behind in minutes or to be killed on the spot. Among them are small
    children who walked for miles over mountains, sometimes after watching
    their fathers and uncles and brothers taken from them and shot before
    their eyes.
        Some have been shelled by artillery on their long trek to safety.
    Many have had their identity papers and family records stolen and
    destroyed, their history in Kosovo erased, their very existence denied.
        Our Nation cannot do everything. We can't end all suffering. We
    can't stop all violence. But there are times when looking away simply is
    not an option. Right now, in the middle of Europe, at the doorstep of
    NATO, an entire people are being made to abandon their homeland or die,
    not because of anything they've done but simply because of who they are.
        If there's one lesson we've learned in this century, it's that that
    kind of poison will spread if not stopped. If there's one pledge that
    binds the past and future generations, it is that we cannot allow people
    to be destroyed because of their ethnic or racial or religious groups
    when we do have the power to do something about it.
        Our military mission in Kosovo is a difficult and dangerous one, but
    it's necessary and right, and we must stand with all our NATO Allies to
    see it through. Our goal is to exact a very high price for Mr.
    Milosevic's policy of repression and to
    seriously diminish his military capacity to maintain that policy.
        We also must open our hearts and our arms to the innocent victims of
    this conflict. This week I authorized the expenditure of $50 million in
    emergency funds to support the relief effort and directed our military
    to do its part to get critical supplies to people in need. We'll work
    with the United Nations and with the many courageous volunteers working
    on the ground with nongovernmental organizations from all around the
    world.
        You can help, too. I urge you to call your local Red Cross or
    church-based charity and ask them how you can get involved. Together,
    we'll provide food, water, and medicine, blankets, clothing, and shelter
    to Kosovar refugees. We'll remind the victims of this conflict that for
    all they have lost, they have not been abandoned or forgotten.
        European countries are helping as well. Kosovo's neighbors,
    Macedonia and Albania, are taking the refugees in, despite the huge
    burden this places on these poor, struggling nations; so are Greece,
    Bosnia, and Bulgaria, showing there's more mercy than madness in the
    Balkans, more compassion than cruelty in this troubled region of the
    world.
         All of us want to provide for the refugees; all of us want to make
    it possible for them to return home. Let us do our part for all the
    innocent people whose lives have been shattered by this conflict. And
    let us give our thanks to our men and women in uniform who are risking
    their lives today for our ideals, our interests, and their lives.
        Let us keep in our prayers the three brave American servicemen now being held
    without justification in Belgrade that they may return to us soon. Let
    us do what we can, and what we must, for peace to prevail. And let us
    stay the course until it does.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 5:05 p.m. on April 2 in the Oval
    Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April 3. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    April 2 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. In his
    remarks, the President referred to President Slobodan Milosevic of the
    Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro); and Staff Sgt.
    Andrew A. Ramirez, USA, Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Stone, USA, and
    Specialist Steven M. Gonzales, USA, infantrymen in custody in Serbia.