DATE=8/24/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-COLOMBIA (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-265832
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
INTRO: The Clinton administration is insisting its
plan for stepped-up security assistance to Colombia is
aimed at strengthening President Andres Pastrana's
anti-drug campaign and not to fight leftwing
insurgents there. President Clinton waived human
rights conditions this week to speed the delivery of
U-S aid. VOA's David Gollust reports from the White
House.
TEXT: The one-point-three billion dollar aid package
- including the provision of U-S helicopters and
military trainers -- was approved by Congress last
month despite concern by some members of both parties
that it will drag the United States into Colombia's
long-running civil war.
Briefing reporters on President Clinton's visit to
Colombia next week, White House National Security
Adviser Sandy Berger rejected the notion the United
States is heading for a Vietnam-style U-S involvement
in Colombia:
/// BERGER ACTUALITY ///
You should learn from what happened before. But
the fact is this is nothing similar what-so-
ever. We're talking about a few hundred American
people going to train some Colombian army
battalions - vetting them for human rights,
training them in human rights as well - who will
have a greater capability to provide security
for the Colombian national police when they go
in to try to destroy crops. That is the
parameters of our undertaking.
/// END ACT ///
A principle aim of the U-S policy is helping Colombian
security forces re-assert control over the coca-
growing areas of the southern part of the country
where both drug traffickers and leftwing insurgents
operate freely.
Mr. Berger said it is hard to imagine democracy
surviving in Colombia over the long-term unless the
grip of the drug kingpins is reversed and the
insurgency ends. But he made clear the United States
wants to see a negotiated solution to the civil
conflict:
/// BERGER ACT TWO ///
We don't think there is a military solution to
the guerrilla war in Colombia. Nor does
President Pastrana. That is why he has embarked
upon such a vigorous peace initiative. He has
taken risks in doing that. There is a deeper
level of dialogue and engagement than there has
been before. It's going to be a long process.
This has been a 40-year insurgency. But we don't
see there being a military solution.
/// END ACT ///
President Clinton late Tuesday invoked national
security considerations to waive human rights
conditions set by Congress for the aid package though
Mr. Berger insisted President Pastrana is committed to
human rights reform in the military and will fulfill
the U-S terms over time.
Mr. Clinton's one-day trip to Colombia next Wednesday
will be the first visit by a U-S President in a decade
and it is intended as a visible show of support for
Mr. Pastrana and "Plan Colombia" - his more than seven
billion dollar national renewal program. (Signed)
NEB/DAG/TVM/PT
24-Aug-2000 17:24 PM EDT (24-Aug-2000 2124 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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