    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 17 (Monday, May 3, 1999)]
    [Pages 705-707]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks Following Discussions With NATO Secretary General Javier Solana
    and Exchange With Reporters

    April 22, 1999

        The President. Good afternoon. Secretary General Solana and I have
    just had a good meeting reviewing the NATO Summit. Our alliance is
    strongly united today, in no small measure because of his leadership. He
    has made a tremendous difference as we have worked to reshape NATO to
    meet new challenges and as we have responded to Mr. Milosevic's
    repression in Kosovo.
        Serb forces there have pushed nearly 1.4 million people, three-
    quarters of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, from their homes. They have
    killed thousands, confiscated identity papers, separated parents from
    children, buried victims in mass graves, told Kosovars, ``Take a last
    look around, for you will never return to Kosovo.''
        NATO's response has been firm and persistent. Our objective is
    clear: We want all the people of Kosovo restored to their homes, free of
    the hostile presence of Mr. Milosevic's forces; protected by an
    international security force; enjoying liberty and self-government. Mr.
    Milosevic can accept this outcome, or he can watch as NATO grinds down
    his war machine and the Serb people he claims to represent face mounting
    hardship.
        Our allied forces come from many backgrounds, but they are working
    together, now, through some 9,000 air sorties. They have weakened Mr.
    Milosevic's defenses, command and control, and capacity to produce fuel
    and ammunition. We are attacking the infrastructure that supports the
    military offensive, including bridges and electrical power.
    Increasingly, we are striking at tanks, artillery, and aircraft, and in
    recent days we've begun to strike key facilities used to direct and
    incite the campaign of ethnic cleansing.
        Meanwhile, our relief efforts are working to bring order out of
    chaos and hope to those in despair. I am grateful to all the Americans,
    and indeed, to people around the world who have provided assistance.
        Now, tomorrow, the leaders of 42 nations will gather here for NATO's
    50th Anniversary Summit. This summit will enable our alliance to advance
    our mission in Kosovo and to plan for a better future--to build a Europe
    that is undivided, democratic, and at peace.
        This crisis in Kosovo has underscored the importance of the efforts
    we have been making for 5 years now to strengthen and adapt NATO for the
    new century, to enhance our capacity to address regional and ethnic
    conflicts on NATO's doorstep, to protect our citizens against terrorism
    and weapons of mass destruction, to improve security cooperation with
    partner nations across Europe, to help aspiring members improve their
    candidacies so they can join NATO.
        At our summit, we will advance these efforts, meet with partner
    nations, including Ukraine and the nations of the frontline of the
    Kosovo crisis. We will reaffirm our commitment to advancing our
    cooperation for peace and stability with Russia, for though we have
    differences on Kosovo, the world benefits when we work together.
        And we will further our efforts for deeper democracy, tolerance,
    economic development, and regional integration in Southeastern Europe,
    in the hopes that soon all the people there, including the Serbs who are
    now suffering from Mr. Milosevic's reckless tyranny, can have peace,
    prosperity, and true freedom.
        Now I'd like Secretary General Solana to say a few words. Mr.
    Secretary General.

    [At this point, Secretary General Solana made brief remarks.]

        Q. Mr. President----
        Q. Mr. President----

    [[Page 706]]

        Q. Mr. President, are you as committed now to now using----
        The President. One at a time, one at a time.

    Ground Troops in Kosovo

        Q. Mr. President, I wonder if you could clarify the U.S.
    Government's position on Secretary General Solana's decision yesterday
    to authorize a reassessment of last year's plan to possibly introduce
    ground forces into Kosovo. Does this represent a precursor to that kind
    of decision?
        The President. Well, the answer to your last question is, no. The
    answer to your first question is, I support the Secretary General's
    decision to update the assessment. I think it is a wise and prudent
    course.
        Now, my position is still the same. I support the strategy we have
    embraced. It has the unity of the alliance, and it will be vigorously
    prosecuted. A vigorous prosecution of the air campaign, an
    intensification of economic pressures, along with our continuing
    diplomatic efforts, I believe is the correct strategy. And I believe it
    will succeed. But I support the decision he made. I think it's only
    prudent.

    Security Force for Kosovo

        Q. Mr. President, there are reports of a new offer by Milosevic to
    the Russians to allow some type of security force into Kosovo. Number
    one, what do you know about this offer? And number two, will any
    security force have to have not only NATO troops but also American
    forces on the ground as well?
        The President. Well, first of all, it's hard--I cannot comment on
    the offer because I literally don't know anything other than what you
    just said--that is, I heard about it just a few minutes before you did
    or after you did or at the same time, so I cannot comment on the
    details. If there is an offer for a genuine security force, that's the
    first time that Mr. Milosevic has ever done that, and that represents, I
    suppose, some step forward.
        My interest here is in something that will work that will have the
    support of the parties. My belief is that the members of our alliance
    want us all to be able to go in there and that the Kosovar Albanians
    want to feel protected and will expect us to be there.
        I have always said from the very beginning that I would hope that
    there would be Russian troops there, Ukrainian troops there, troops from
    Slavic countries, from Orthodox Christian countries, because I would not
    entertain going into Kosovo unless our mandate was to protect all the
    people there, including the Serb minority.
        There will be--after all the stuff the Albanians have been through
    and all the people who have been killed and the families that have been
    wrecked and the homes that have been burned and the records that have
    been destroyed, there will be people who will, inevitably, be looking
    for some outlet for vengeance there.
        So I can't comment on this except to say if it is true, then it is
    at least the first acknowledgement by Mr. Milosevic that there will have
    to be a security force there. But for the security force to work, it
    will have to have the confidence of the people who live there. And it
    will have to operate in a way that protects all the people there,
    including the Serb minority.

    Serbian Targets

        Q. Secretary Solana and President Clinton, is NATO targeting
    Slobodan Milosevic directly? They destroyed one of his residences.
        Secretary General Solana. The objective of this military campaign,
    as you know it very well, is very clear, has five points. We want to
    stop the killing. We want to have all the troops withdrawn from Serbia,
    from Kosovo. We want an international force, military force, to
    guarantee the security of Kosovo and to guarantee, fourth, the return of
    refugees. And for us, this is the most important commitment. The
    refugees that have been expelled brutally from that country, they have
    to return. And fifth, we want a political agreement in the terms that
    the President has mentioned.
        Q. Yes, but I'm talking about the attack against one of the
    residences of Milosevic.
        The President. The answer to your--yes, I understand your question.
    The answer to your question is, no, but we are targeting command and
    control facilities. And I think it is important.

    [[Page 707]]

        You know, when the weather permits, we go after the tanks and we go
    after the soldiers. But the tanks and the soldiers are there because
    people who believe in ethnic cleansing ordered them to go there. And in
    this conflict, it would be wrong and unfair not to target the command
    and control operations as well. And that's why the Socialist Party
    headquarters in Belgrade, for example, was targeted.

    President Milosevic

        Q. Mr. President, can the Kosovar refugees ever go home, with an
    international security force, without Mr. Milosevic giving his okay?
        The President. Well, that's a hypothetical question, but, of course,
    there are scenarios under which that could occur.
        Q. Mr. President, can you imagine an outcome in this war, sir, that
    would leave Milosevic in power?
        The President. Well, we set forth certain conditions, and if he
    meets those conditions and the Serbian people are willing to continue
    him in power, then I could imagine such an outcome. Now, that begs the
    question of what the War Crimes Tribunal will do or what other action
    might be taken.
        But we--NATO has never taken a position on that issue. Our concern
    has been for the Kosovar people, for the welfare of the refugees, for
    the integrity of their life and how they are treated.
        Secretary General Solana. I would like to add to what the President
    has said, it would really concern us in the future of the people who
    have been suffering--being expelled from their houses, from their
    country--to see them returned. That we are going to see, and that's our
    main concern and the concern that we have now to continue.
        The President. Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:05 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Slobodan Milosevic of
    the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). The
    transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included
    the remarks of Secretary General Javier Solana. This item was not
    received in time for publication in the appropriate issue.