[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[April 22, 1999]
[Pages 601-603]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
[[Page 601]]
Remarks Following Discussions With NATO Secretary General Javier
Solana and an Exchange With Reporters
April 22, 1999
The President. Good afternoon. Secretary General Solana and I have
just had a good meeting reviewing the NATO Summit. Our alliance is
strongly united today, in no small measure because of his leadership. He
has made a tremendous difference as we have worked to reshape NATO to
meet new challenges and as we have responded to Mr.
Milosevic's repression in Kosovo.
Serb forces there have pushed nearly 1.4 million people, three-
quarters of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, from their homes. They have
killed thousands, confiscated identity papers, separated parents from
children, buried victims in mass graves, told Kosovars, ``Take a last
look around, for you will never return to Kosovo.''
NATO's response has been firm and persistent. Our objective is
clear: We want all the people of Kosovo restored to their homes, free of
the hostile presence of Mr. Milosevic's forces; protected by an
international security force; enjoying liberty and self-government. Mr.
Milosevic can accept this outcome, or he
can watch as NATO grinds down his war machine and the Serb people he
claims to represent face mounting hardship.
Our allied forces come from many backgrounds, but they are working
together, now, through some 9,000 air sorties. They have weakened Mr.
Milosevic's defenses, command and
control, and capacity to produce fuel and ammunition. We are attacking
the infrastructure that supports the military offensive, including
bridges and electrical power. Increasingly, we are striking at tanks,
artillery, and aircraft, and in recent days we've begun to strike key
facilities used to direct and incite the campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Meanwhile, our relief efforts are working to bring order out of
chaos and hope to those in despair. I am grateful to all the Americans,
and indeed, to people around the world who have provided assistance.
Now, tomorrow, the leaders of 42 nations will gather here for NATO's
50th Anniversary Summit. This summit will enable our alliance to advance
our mission in Kosovo and to plan for a better future--to build a Europe
that is undivided, democratic, and at peace.
This crisis in Kosovo has underscored the importance of the efforts
we have been making for 5 years now to strengthen and adapt NATO for the
new century, to enhance our capacity to address regional and ethnic
conflicts on NATO's doorstep, to protect our citizens against terrorism
and weapons of mass destruction, to improve security cooperation with
partner nations across Europe, to help aspiring members improve their
candidacies so they can join NATO.
At our summit, we will advance these efforts, meet with partner
nations, including Ukraine and the nations of the frontline of the
Kosovo crisis. We will reaffirm our commitment to advancing our
cooperation for peace and stability with Russia, for though we have
differences on Kosovo, the world benefits when we work together.
And we will further our efforts for deeper democracy, tolerance,
economic development, and regional integration in southeastern Europe,
in the hopes that soon all the people there, including the Serbs who are
now suffering from Mr. Milosevic's
reckless tyranny, can have peace, prosperity, and true freedom.
Now I'd like Secretary General Solana to say a few words. Mr.
Secretary General.
Secretary General Solana. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Let me
start by saying that this NATO Summit here in Washington will be one of
the most important meetings that the alliance has ever held. Our focus
will be on the immediate, particularly in Kosovo. It is no doubt the
gravest crisis that Europe and NATO have faced for many years.
And it is with respect that I would like to salute the leadership
that you, Mr. President, and your country, the United States, have shown
since the very beginning of this crisis. Without that leadership,
without the enormous contribution that the United States is making to
the Operation Allied Force, we could not succeed in our goal. And our
goal is to stop the human tragedy in Kosovo. If Europe is to enjoy a
stable, democratic peace, it is essential that our
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values prevail in Kosovo, and not those values of Milosevic.
At our summit tomorrow, we will demonstrate our alliance unity, the
alliance resolve. We will not be divided; we will not be diverted from
our objective. And the objective is clear: the removal of Serb forces
from Kosovo, and as the President has said, an international force that
will be able to assure that the refugees, the people which are really
suffering now, can go back to their country, to their homes with
security. Ethnic cleansing is a crime, and we have to reverse it.
We will also signal our determination to intensify the political and
military pressure on Belgrade until our goals are met. And we will state
our commitment to both an immediate and a longer term effort to assist
and rebuild southeastern Europe, a region which has seen too much human
suffering and too much instability for far too long.
We know that our values are the right ones, but if they are to have
meaning, they have to be defended. This sometimes requires patience and,
in any case, requires perseverance.
We must take care not only of Milosevic's aggression but also of his
victims. This is what NATO is doing with its effort to solve the refugee
crisis.
Let there be no doubt: NATO will see this through to the end. We
have the means, and we have the will. That will be, no doubt, the
message of this Washington Summit.
But as the President has said, at the same time, in the summit we
are going to look to the future. We're going to take decisions that will
equip this alliance to be fully ready for all its new roles and new
missions for the 21st century. We're going to build a new security order
in Europe, in cooperation with our many partner countries.
As the President has said, on Sunday the Euro-Atlantic Partnership
Council will bring, on top of the 19 countries of NATO, another 20
partners. It will take place here in Washington. It seems to me that it
will be not only the largest international meeting that this Capital has
ever seen but one of the most important ever to have taken place.
Let me say that it will also be another important moment in building
a Europe in which the barbarities we see in Kosovo have no place and
will not be tolerated.
Mr. President, it was great. Thank you very much for your
leadership.
Q. Mr. President----
Q. Mr. President----
Q. Mr. President, are you as committed now to now using----
The President. One at a time, one at a time.
Situation in the Balkans
Q. Mr. President, I wonder if you could clarify the U.S.
Government's position on Secretary General Solana's decision yesterday
to authorize a reassessment of last year's plan to possibly introduce
ground forces into Kosovo. Does this represent a precursor to that kind
of decision?
The President. Well, the answer to your last question is, no. The
answer to your first question is, I support the Secretary General's
decision to update the assessment. I think it is a wise and prudent
course.
Now, my position is still the same. I support the strategy we have
embraced. It has the unity of the alliance, and it will be vigorously
prosecuted. A vigorous prosecution of the air campaign, an
intensification of economic pressures, along with our continuing
diplomatic efforts, I believe is the correct strategy. And I believe it
will succeed. But I support the decision he made. I think it's only
prudent.
Q. Mr. President, there are reports of a new offer by Milosevic to
the Russians to allow some type of security force into Kosovo. Number
one, what do you know about this offer? And number two, will any
security force have to have not only NATO troops but also American
forces on the ground as well?
The President. Well, first of all, it's hard--I cannot comment on
the offer because I literally don't know anything other than what you
just said--that is, I heard about it just a few minutes before you did
or after you did or at the same time, so I cannot comment on the
details. If there is an offer for a genuine security force, that's the
first time that Mr. Milosevic has ever
done that, and that represents, I suppose, some step forward.
My interest here is in something that will work that will have the
support of the parties. My belief is that the members of our alliance
want us all to be able to go in there and that
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the Kosovar Albanians want to feel protected and will expect us to be
there.
I have always said from the very beginning that I would hope that
there would be Russian troops there, Ukrainian troops there, troops from
Slavic countries, from Orthodox Christian countries, because I would not
entertain going into Kosovo unless our mandate was to protect all the
people there, including the Serb minority.
There will be--after all the stuff the Albanians have been through
and all the people who have been killed and the families that have been
wrecked and the homes that have been burned and the records that have
been destroyed, there will be people who will inevitably be looking for
some outlet for vengeance there.
So I can't comment on this except to say if it is true, then it is
at least the first acknowledgement by Mr. Milosevic that there will have to be a security force there.
But for the security force to work, it will have to have the confidence
of the people who live there. And it will have to operate in a way that
protects all the people there, including the Serb minority.
Q. Secretary Solana and President Clinton, is NATO targeting
Slobodan Milosevic directly? They destroyed one of his residences.
Secretary General Solana. The objective of this military campaign,
as you know it very well, is very clear, has five points. We want to
stop the killing. We want to have all the troops withdrawn from Serbia,
from Kosovo. We want an international force, military force, to
guarantee the security of Kosovo and to guarantee, fourth, the return of
refugees. And for us, this is the most important commitment. The
refugees that have been expelled brutally from that country, they have
to return. And fifth, we want a political agreement in the terms that
the President has mentioned.
Q. Yes, but I'm talking about the attack against one of the
residences of Milosevic.
The President. The answer to your--yes, I understand your question.
The answer to your question is, no, but we are targeting command and
control facilities. And I think it is important.
You know, when the weather permits, we go after the tanks and we go
after the soldiers. But the tanks and the soldiers are there because
people who believe in ethnic cleansing ordered them to go there. And in
this conflict, it would be wrong and unfair not to target the command
and control operations as well. And that's why the Socialist Party
headquarters in Belgrade, for example, was targeted.
Q. Mr. President, can the Kosovar refugees ever go home, with an
international security force, without Mr. Milosevic giving his okay?
The President. Well, that's a hypothetical question, but, of course,
there are scenarios under which that could occur.
Q. Mr. President, can you imagine an outcome in this war, sir, that
would leave Milosevic in power?
The President. Well, we set forth certain conditions, and if
he meets those conditions and the Serbian
people are willing to continue him in power, then I could imagine such
an outcome. Now, that begs the question of what the War Crimes Tribunal
will do or what other action might be taken.
But we--NATO has never taken a position on that issue. Our concern
has been for the Kosovar people, for the welfare of the refugees, for
the integrity of their life and how they are treated.
Secretary General Solana. I would like to add to what the President
has said, it would really concern us in the future of the people who
have been suffering--being expelled from their houses, from their
country--to see them returned. That we are going to see, and that's our
main concern and the concern that we have now to continue.
The President. Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 4:05 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to President Slobodan Milosevic of
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).