Summary

President Clinton and President Rawlings of Ghana hold a joint news conference

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 253697
Story Slug PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON / JERRY RAWLINGS NEWS CONFERENCE (1999)
Location WASHINGTON, DC
Format TVD
Date 02/24/1999
Archive Time 4:55
TRT 10:01
Supers President Jerry Rawlings, Ghana
Video Description News conference
Description President Clinton and President Rawlings of Ghana hold a joint news conference
Script (SUGGESTED TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO) No, we have not given up on the prospect of restoring inspections But since Saddam Hussein terminated his cooperation with UNSCOM, and then the military action was taken by the United States, Great Britain, through the support of our allies They have continued to defy the UN And that's where we are now Now that brings to us back to your first question What's going on with these incidents is that under the United Nations resolutions, which are still in place, the no fly zone still exists The no fly zone has to be patrolled When it is patrolled by American and British pilots From time to time, as you pointed out, there have been several instances when Israeli air defense, I mean, excuse me, Iraqi air defense efforts, weapons have been fired in our airplanes And they're trying obviously, for the symbolic victory of shooting one of these planes down And perhaps trying to intimidate us from enforcing the no fly zone, which we're still bound to do under the United Nations resolution Now, in response to that, we have certain rules of engagement, which permit us to take out the air defense And we have done quite a lot of it I noticed there was one column in in the press in the last week, I think it was Mr CIBSE column But anyway, there was a column which pointed out that a significant amount of damage perhaps as much damage, or more has been done to the air defense network, since the end of the last military action that was done during the military action, where we had a lot broader range of targets we were going after And I regret this, you know, I regret this, I wish he would stop doing that I wish he would let the make an agreement with the United Nations to let the inspections go back We have shown that we are not interested in hurting the Iraqi people, we have been for broader rules for meeting the non military needs of the people of Iraq And we will continue to work with that But these instant these little encounters, each of them so far has been relatively small, are as a result of the fact that we are still not withstanding the fact that the inspectors aren't they're bound to enforce a no fly zone, which still exists under the UN resolutions Does the United States have an immediate selfish interest? And what happens on some lonely road and Kosovo to some poor farm family driving wagon with horses that are under fed because they haven't been able to get food? No We have I would argue we have a humanitarian interest He's one of our major papers yesterday, ran a gripping picture on the front page of a whole line of refugees moving out But the United States does have a direct interest And whether there is instability in the Balkans And I would say to Dr Kissinger, I think we're moving in the right direction We want Europe to assume more of its own defense And if you compare where we were in Bosnia, how long it took to get there, what our role was our contribution to the beginning of the Bosnian operation, to where we are in Kosovo on this military proposal, how much more quickly it materialize And our contribution only about 14% I think of the total I think we're moving toward more of an independent European force, but supported by the United States, because we have a very large stake in anything that upsets the stability of Central Europe What they did in the peace talks, was to reach an agreement that they had gone as far as they could, but they did not want to give up and the Senate right into violence So when we agreed to extend, we were basically agreeing to what both parties wish to do It seems to me that if your objective is to get people to get together and make peace, and they say this, we think this is what we need I think that's the right thing to do And what is your reaction to recent allegations by an Arkansas woman apparently that something happened many years ago? Well, my counsel is made a statement about the first issue and I have nothing to add to it On the independent counsel law, I think that as you know, we've been Thank you No, I think it's been public that we've been asked to testify The White House counsel has been invited to testify next week And I presume sometime between now and then I'll have a chance to talk to them about what they intend to say I think for right now, what I would like to say, because I have been to put it mildly, closely involved with the operation of the statute, that I think I would like to leave the maximum amount of time for others to make their opinions known And and to feel free, out of without any reference to anything we might say to do that I would encourage people who have used to make them known And I was particularly struck by the change in position of the American Bar Association and by the size of the vote in favor of that different position And I think it's just something that Congress should look at I do, I do have some, I do, I have some ideas about it But I think it would be better for me at this time, to say less so that others can say more The the council will be testifying at some point next week But now what I think the important thing is that everyone feel free to express their opinion And I don't think man should, in effect, cast a shadow or illuminate what others might wish to say between now and the time, we make our statement 06:31 More than enough problems on our hands on the west coast of Africa And for the past, what 10 to 15 years or so, we've been involved in the conflict issues in West Africa, mainly between Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana We've managed to find the appropriate solution to the problem in Liberia And today we find ourselves also in Sierra Leone I must admit, though, that much as we've enjoyed some form of assistance from some of our Western allies, I don't think the assistance that has been provided has been adequate And it's something we've always brought to the notice But in our recent discussions with the cabinet under his leadership, they've made it quite clear that they will do everything possible to assist us to be able to deal with some of the problems in West Africa As far as the issues to do with Congo is concerned I believe the US is doing what she can, by way of providing, you know, the National assistance to South Africa and a few other countries to find a solution to the problem in that part of Africa Should they be asking for troops from Ghana, to serve in in what they call it? Congo Brazzaville? Thank you very much I have to say that our resources are stretched to the very limit We have problems back at home And if the UN or other international organizations and countries would want to assist us, we have a number of troops, who would be prepared to assist to provide a peacemaking as well as the peace You know, what they call it, What's the word peacekeeping efforts in that part of the country
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