[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[April 28, 1999]
[Pages 653-654]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following a Meeting With a Congressional Delegation and an 
Exchange With Reporters
April 28, 1999

Situation in the Balkans

    The President. Good afternoon. I just had a good meeting with a 
large bipartisan delegation from both Houses of Congress on Kosovo. It 
was our fourth meeting since the airstrikes began. We spoke about the 
NATO Summit, its unity and determination to achieve our objectives in 
Kosovo; about the progress of our military campaign and the 
intensification of economic sanctions; about the humanitarian challenge 
that we face and the work that we and our allies are doing to meet it.
    Just on Monday, some 3,500 Kosovar refugees in trains and buses 
arrived in Montenegro. Yesterday about 5,000 entered Macedonia; almost 
3,000 arrived in Albania, exhausted, hungry, shaken, all by the violence 
and abuse they experienced on the way. At one point, 1.8 million ethnic 
Albanians lived in Kosovo. Nearly 1\1/2\ million have been displaced 
since the start of the crisis.
    Our humanitarian coordinator, Brian Atwood, who just returned from the region, has described an 
elderly Albanian woman he met in a camp outside Tirana. She saw all the 
male members of her family and most of the men in her village rounded up 
by Serbian authorities, tied up, doused with gasoline, and set on fire 
in front of their families.
    It's the kind of story that would be too horrible to believe if it 
were not so consistent with what so many other refugees have been 
saying. What we need to remember is that this is the result of a 
meticulously planned campaign, not an isolated incident of out-of-
control rage, a campaign organized by the Government of Belgrade for a 
specific political purpose, to maintain its grip over Kosovo by ridding 
the land of its people.
    This policy must be defeated, and it will be defeated. That was the 
clear message of the NATO Summit. Nineteen democratically elected NATO 
leaders came together to demonstrate

[[Page 654]]

their unity and determination to prevail. We agreed to intensify the air 
campaign, and that is what NATO is doing, both against military targets 
in Kosovo and against the infrastructure of political and military power 
in Belgrade.
    Our partners in southeastern Europe, the frontline states, who are 
risking so much and who have borne such a heavy burden, have followed 
through on their pledges of support. We are also providing more funds to 
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and to NGO's to deliver food and 
supplies to the refugees. Our Defense Department has found a site for 
the facility it will build in Albania for up to 20,000 refugees. We hope 
it will begin taking in refugees in about 2 weeks.
    I spoke to Members of Congress about all these efforts today. I told 
them that now is the time to pass the supplemental funding for Kosovo 
that I requested 9 days ago. We need it to maintain our military 
readiness. Just as important, we need to sustain humanitarian relief and 
support for the frontline nations that have absorbed the brunt of this 
emergency.
    Let me stress that my request fully funds our military and 
humanitarian needs in Kosovo. Congress should resist the temptation to 
add unrelated expenditures, even important ones, which could delay the 
process, because that would undermine the very goals that this funding 
is intended to meet. We must get a Kosovo funding measure passed and to 
my desk now.
    We also talked about other legislative initiatives pending on Kosovo 
in the Congress. I stressed that the 19 NATO Allies are speaking with a 
single voice. America must continue to speak with a single voice as 
well. I told them we would welcome the support of the Congress so that 
Mr. Milosevic will have no doubt that we 
had the determination and the patience to persevere until we prevail.
    Each day our military campaign takes a toll on Serbia's machinery of 
repression. The Serbian leadership has failed to divide us and will not 
outlast us. The combined military might and moral determination of 
Europe and North America will endure.
    We know what the final outcome will be: The Serbian forces will 
leave Kosovo; an international security force will deploy to protect all 
the people there, Serbs as well as Albanians; and the refugees will 
return with security and self-government.
    Thank you.
    Q. Did you say you promised Congress you would ask permission----
    Q. [Inaudible]--how can you say the strategy is working when 40,000 
troops remain in Kosovo?
    Q. Mr. President, do you see any signs that Milosevic is losing his 
grip, sir? Any signs at all?
    The President. We have some indications that there are differences 
of opinion, obviously, developing in Belgrade, and we saw some of it 
public this week. There are some things that we know that I think I 
should not comment on. But the thing I want to tell the American people 
is, we know, objectively, what damage has been done. We know now we're 
going to be in a position to fly around the clock at lower altitudes 
from all directions in better weather.
    Historically, the weather is better in May than in April, better in 
June than in May, better in July than in June. And I feel very strongly 
that we should stay with and be very strong in determination to pursue 
our strategy, as well as the very important decisions we made at the 
NATO conference to intensify the economic pressure. And I believe that 
if we do these things, we will be successful.
    I am determined to do it. I believe our allies are all determined to 
do it. I think when they left here, they were more determined than when 
they came.
    As to the question the gentleman asked about the troops, keep in 
mind, the fact that they have mobilized more troops is an indication of 
the trouble they're having. If they had no problems, they wouldn't need 
the troops. The initial state of play on the ground was they had 40,000 
troops in and around Kosovo and nearly 300 tanks. So we always knew that 
if they were willing to take the bombing in the beginning, they could do 
what they have done. Now, we have to stay with it to reverse that, and 
we can, and we will if we stay with it. I'm determined to do that.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:20 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).