[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 16 (Monday, April 25, 1994)]
[Pages 824-825]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters in Newport News, Virginia

April 17, 1994

    The President. Ladies and gentlemen, I've received a number of 
reports today on the situation in Bosnia. I've also been in touch today 
with President Yeltsin.
    We don't have any definitive reports on the status of Gorazde, but I 
can tell you that there has been some progress in the negotiations 
between the United Nations and the Serbs. Mr. Akashi has been working on 
it, Ambassador Redman and Mr. Churkin, and they may have something to 
announce shortly.
    I also--I don't know that this has been made public or not, but the 
Serbs released 16 Canadian soldiers, and we're working on the release of 
the other UNPROFOR forces today. So the situation is still tense around 
Gorazde. There is still some degree of uncertainty there, but there has 
been, as of my latest report, which was just about 10 minutes ago, some 
progress in the negotiations between the U.N. and the Serbs on getting 
back to the negotiations and reducing the tensions.
    Q. What's the U.S. role been?
    The President, Well, essentially, we've been--Ambassador Redman has 
been there. He's been working very hard, especially for the last 7 
hours, trying to hammer out an agreement that everybody could live with, 
along with the U.N. and Mr. Churkin.
    Secondly, we've worked very closely with the Russians trying to 
think about what the end game might be, how we can work this out to a 
successful conclusion over the long run. And of course, we're still a 
very important part of the NATO alliance, and we're committed to doing 
whatever we're asked to do by General Rose. But keep in mind, except for 
the safe area around Sarajevo, our role in NATO has been to provide 
close air support, or, if necessary, to protect the UNPROFOR troops, the 
U.N. troops, and where it's possible to do that. So we have the role, 
but we also have this diplomatic role, and we're doing our best to 
fulfill it.
    Q. Have there been any violations of the new truce since the 3-mile 
zone was agreed to?
    The President. I don't want to comment on anything definitively with 
regard to Gorazde, because we have been getting reports over the last 4 
and 5 hours, kind of mixed reports. But on balance, the last report I 
got was encouraging in terms of an agreement impending between the U.N. 
and the Serbs.
    Q. Were the next reports reports of tank incursions into that zone?
    The President. There's one, I think. I think there was a news report 
that there was at least one tank sighted. But I want to say that we have 
no reports at the moment that the status of Gorazde has changed.
    Thank you.
    Q. Is military action still possible?
    The President. It depends on NATO. It depends on what the U.N. 
commander on the ground, General Rose wants. But their conclusions were 
twofold. One is that with regard to Gorazde itself, it wouldn't 
necessarily be possible now for close air support to have the desired 
military effect. And secondly, that they're trying to get a negotiated 
agreement here that can serve as the basis not only for relieving 
Gorazde but for getting these peace talks back on track. So that's what 
we hope we're doing.
    Q. Are you considering actually easing the economic sanctions on the 
Serbs?
    The President. No, not based on anything that's happened so far. We 
have said to the Russians that if they want to discuss that with us, 
that of course we would be willing to discuss it if certain conditions 
on the ground were met. But continued Serb aggression on the ground, not 
only in Gorazde but everywhere else, is hardly an encouragement to 
discuss that. That's not even--we can't even begin discussions in the 
environment which has existed for the last few days there.

[[Page 825]]

Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. at the Newport News Williamsburg 
International Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Yasushi Akashi, 
highest ranking U.N. official in the Former Yugoslavia; Ambassador 
Charles E. Redman, U.S. Special Envoy for the Former Yugoslavia; and 
Vitaly Churkin, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister. A tape was not 
available for verification of the content of these remarks.