[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 37 (Monday, September 20, 1993)]
[Page 1799]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Carlo 
Azeglio Ciampi of Italy

 September 17, 1993

    The President. Hi, Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].

Somalia

    Q. Hi. How are you? What do you think of Aideed's proposal, Mr. 
President, concerning Somalia and straightening out his position?
    The President. Well, I think we have to--my main concern is not to 
allow Somalia to deteriorate to the condition which it was in before the 
United Nations went there. I look forward to talking with the Prime 
Minister about Somalia today.
    Obviously, we would like it if some political initiative could be 
taken to stop the current violence, but we certainly can't afford to do 
anything that would permit the country, after all of the efforts the 
United Nations has made, to deteriorate to its former condition where 
hundreds of thousands of people are killed or starved at random. So 
we'll just see--we're discussing it. We're going to discuss it today, 
and we have it under active discussion here what we should do, and we're 
looking at our options.
    Q. Have you resolved your differences between U.S. and Italy on the 
question of Somalia?
    The President. Well, I hope we have, but we haven't had a chance to 
talk about it.

Note. The exchange began at 11:15 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.