[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
[November 15, 1999]
[Pages 2097-2098]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on the Report on Implementation of the Good Friday Accord
November 15, 1999

    I am heartened by George Mitchell's 
interim report issued in Belfast today, stating that he is increasingly 
confident that a way will be found to resolve the current impasse in 
implementing the Good Friday accord. I look forward to the parties' 
statements on their positions in the next day or so.
    Senator Mitchell has concluded that 
the pro-agreement parties and the governments share the view that 
devolution should occur and the political institutions should be 
established at the earliest possible date. He has also concluded that it 
is common ground that decommissioning of paramilitary weapons should 
occur as quickly

[[Page 2098]]

as possible and that the Independent International Commission on 
Decommissioning, led by General de Chastelain, should play the central role in achieving this, under 
the terms of the Good Friday accord.
    I applaud the persistence that the parties have shown through the 
last 10 weeks of grueling negotiations. Now the parties must move 
forward to implement the agreement in full and carry out their 
obligations as spelled out in the Good Friday accord.
    I want to express my personal appreciation to George 
Mitchell for his remarkable work.