Bill Clinton: “Let me answer now to just reaffirm what our present posture is. We have given the Bosnian situation urgent…”

“Let me answer now to just reaffirm what our present posture is. We have given the Bosnian situation urgent consideration. We have reviewed a wide range of options. We certainly will take into account what the Prime Minister has said. Our reluctance on the Vance- Owen proposals, while I applaud the effort both personally and as President, is that the United States at the present time is reluctant to impose an agreement on the parties to which they do not agree, especially when the Bosnian Muslims might be left at a severe disadvantage if the agreement is not undertaken in good faith by the other parties and cannot be enforced externally. So we are looking at that. I think one of the things the Prime Minister said is absolutely right: If there is to be a diplomatic political solution to this over the long run, we very much need President Yeltsin involved and the support of Russia. He reaffirmed to me just a few days ago in our telephone conversation his general support for the policy that we have outlined. But I'm sure you can understand why with a problem this difficult, we would like a few days longer just to seriously review this to come up with what our policy is going to be. Then we'll announce it as clearly and forcefully and follow it as strongly as we possibly can. Haiti”