[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 46 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Page 2386]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Interim Report on Implementation of the Good Friday 
Accord

November 15, 1999

    I am heartened by George Mitchell's interim report issued in Belfast 
today, stating that he is increasingly confident that a way will be 
found to resolve the current impasse in implementing the Good Friday 
accord. I look forward to the parties' statements on their positions in 
the next day or so.
    Senator Mitchell has concluded that the pro-agreement parties and 
the governments share the view that devolution should occur and the 
political institutions should be established at the earliest possible 
date. He has also concluded that it is common ground that 
decommissioning of paramilitary weapons should occur as quickly as 
possible and that the Independent International Commission on 
Decommissioning, led by General de Chastelain, should play the central 
role in achieving this, under the terms of the Good Friday accord.
    I applaud the persistence that the parties have shown through the 
last 10 weeks of grueling negotiations. Now the parties must move 
forward to implement the agreement in full and carry out their 
obligations as spelled out in the Good Friday accord.
    I want to express my personal appreciation to George Mitchell for 
his remarkable work.