[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 12 (Monday, March 29, 1999)]
[Pages 490-491]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Returning From Camp David, Maryland

March 22, 1999

Kosovo

    I want to give you a brief update about the situation in Kosovo and 
make a few comments.
    It is clear that Serb forces are now engaged in further attacks on 
Kosovar civilians. Already more than 40,000 Serb security forces are 
poised in and around Kosovo, with additional units on the way. These 
actions are in clear violation of commitments Serbia made last October 
when we obtained the cease-fire agreement.
    As part of our determined efforts to seek a peaceful solution, I 
asked Ambassador Holbrooke to see President Milosevic and make clear the 
choice he faces. That meeting is either going on now or should start in 
the next few minutes. If President Milosevic continues to choose 
aggression over peace, NATO's military plans must continue to move 
forward.
    I will be in close consultation with our NATO allies and with 
Congress. Over the weekend, I met with my national security team to 
discuss the military options. I also spoke with other NATO leaders by 
telephone. There is strong unity among the NATO allies. We all agree 
that we cannot allow President Milosevic to continue the aggression with 
impunity. I have also sent a letter to President Yeltsin about the 
urgency of the situation.
    Our objective in Kosovo remains clear: to stop the killing and 
achieve a durable peace that restores Kosovars to self-government, the 
self-government that President Milosevic stripped away from them a 
decade ago. We and our NATO allies, and Russia, all agree that this is 
the right goal. The Kosovar Albanians have accepted this course. Only 
President Milosevic and Serbia stand in the way of peace. Serbia's 
mounting aggression must be stopped.
    Since the adjournment of the peace talks in Paris less than a week 
ago, an estimated 30,000 more Kosovars have fled their homes. The number 
now exceeds more than a quarter of a million people, one out of every 
eight people in Kosovo. Many of them now are in neighboring Albania, 
Macedonia, and Montenegro, all of which could be quickly drawn into this 
conflict. So could other nations in the region, including Bosnia where 
allied determination ended a terrible war, and our allies Greece and 
Turkey.
    Seeking to end this tragedy in Kosovo and finding a peaceful 
solution is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing to do, 
very much in our national interests, if we are to leave a stable, 
peaceful, and democratic Europe to our children. We have learned a lot 
of lessons in the last 50 years. One of them surely is that we have a 
stake in European freedom and security and stability. I hope that can be 
achieved by peaceful means. If not, we have to be prepared to act.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:50 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to U.S. Special Envoy Richard 
Holbrooke; President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro); and President Boris Yeltsin of 
Russia.

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