[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.