[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 14 (Monday, April 6, 1998)]
[Page 551]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With President Abdou Diouf 
of Senegal in Dakar

April 1, 1998

African Crisis Response Force

    Q. Mr. President, are you--how important do you feel an African 
force is--[inaudible]?
    The President. Well, I think it's potentially very important because 
an African Crisis Response Force can enable the Africans to stop 
problems before they get out of hand. And of course, the President and I 
are going to review one of the training exercises here in Senegal. We've 
had one in Uganda. We will have one in Ghana. President Mandela said 
that he would be interested in participating, so I'm encouraged by that. 
I think there's an enormous sense among African leaders that if they 
have infrastructure and the training to do it, they could solve a lot of 
their own problems. I'm very excited about it.
    Q. Will you be talking to--[inaudible]--about reports of--
[inaudible]--party politics here? There is criticism that perhaps the 
ruling party has too much power and is too controlling.
    The President. Well, we'll discuss the whole range of things. But 
the main thing I want to do today is to thank the President for the 
support that he's given to peacekeeping around the world and to--
[inaudible]--Senegal's long experience with elected Presidencies and to 
work on this African Crisis Response Initiative.

Note: The exchange began at approximately 11 a.m. at the Presidential 
Palace. In his remarks, the President referred to President Nelson 
Mandela of South Africa. A tape was not available for verification of 
the content of this exchange.