    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 16 (Monday, April 25, 1994)]
    [Pages 849-850]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks on Bosnia and an Exchange With Reporters

    April 19, 1994

        The President. Good afternoon. This morning I met for an hour and a
    half with our national security team to discuss what our options were to
    regain the momentum in Bosnia for a peaceful settlement. Several options
    were presented to me, and we discussed some others. When we adjourned
    the meeting, I asked the team to refine three points and to work on some
    of the options and to come back and meet with me again at 3:30 this
    afternoon. So we will meet again.
        In the meanwhile, as I'm sure you know, President Yeltsin has issued
    a statement, which I very much appreciate and which I

    [[Page 850]]

    think is very helpful, calling on the Serbs to honor their commitments
    to the Russians to withdraw from Gorazde, to allow U.N. personnel back
    in Gorazde, and to resume the negotiations toward a peaceful settlement.
        We are working closely on this. And I believe that we have a chance
    to build on what has been done in the last several weeks in and around
    Sarajevo and with the agreement between the Croatians and the Bosnian
    Muslims. And we will just keep working on it.
        As I said, I meet again at 3:30 p.m., and I'm hopeful that we'll be
    able to make some constructive moves over the next couple of days.

    President Yeltsin's Proposal

        Q. Mr. President, Mr. Yeltsin is also asking for a summit of all of
    the major powers to try to find some sort of solution. How do you feel
    about that?
        The President. Well, he and I have discussed that on the telephone
    at least once, maybe twice, and I think it has some merit. We both
    agreed the last time we talked, before this development in Gorazde, that
    we were making progress doing what each of us was doing and that it
    might be a little premature, and that that sort of thing, in effect, can
    only be done once, and it might be better to save it for a time when,
    hopefully, the negotiations between the Serbs on the one hand and the
    Croatians and the Muslims on the other were coming down to an end point.
        I presume from his statement today that he's sufficiently concerned
    about what's happened in the last couple of days, that he thinks maybe
    we ought to go ahead and do it now. I think it deserves serious
    consideration, and I want to discuss it with him and with the other
    nations that would be involved. But I think in the context of the
    statement President Yeltsin made today, it has to be considered
    seriously because it was a very important, positive statement that he
    made.

    Air Strikes

        Q. What about Boutros-Ghali's proposal to expand air strikes to the
    other five safe areas in Bosnia? Would the U.S. and NATO be willing to
    go along with that?
        The President. That's what we're discussing today. And we're
    discussing exactly how that would be done and, of course, whether the
    other NATO allies would be willing to do it and what the ups and downs
    of it would be and what else we could do to get this thing going. But
    again, I want to have my meeting at 3:30 p.m. You should know we're
    discussing all these options, but I reserve the right to announce a
    clear policy on where we go on the specifics until after the next
    meeting, because I did have some questions after our meeting this
    morning that the security team will answer for me later today.
        Q. How concerned are you about empty threats----
        The President. I think that there must not be any. When we had the
    NATO meeting in January, the one thing I implored our allies to do was
    not to reaffirm our position unless we were willing to see it through. I
    still feel that way. The possibility of misunderstanding in this area is
    so great anyway, because of the shared responsibility and the contingent
    responsibility of NATO--contingent on what the U.N. does--and the
    difficulty in getting all the parties together, that we simply must not
    be on record in favor of any policy we are not prepared to follow
    through on.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:45 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House.