[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.