13 September 1999
Transcript: Remarks by President Clinton on East Timor
(Most important thing is to deploy peacekeeping force) (1010)
President Clinton welcomed the statement of Indonesian President
Habibie inviting the United Nations to send a security force into East
Timor, calling it a "a real tribute to the determination of the
friends of the people there, the Australians, the New Zealanders here,
all the people here at APEC who express solidarity."
In remarks to a press pool prior to the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting September 13, the President said:
"The most important thing is for President Habibie to make good on his
statement, get the details worked out, get the force in in a hurry."
The role of the U.S. military in the peacekeeping force, the President
said, will be to provide airlift, transportation, communications,
intelligence, and perhaps in engineering work. "Exactly what the
details would be have yet to be worked out and require more extensive
consultations with Congress," he said.
Following is the official transcript of the President's remarks:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Auckland, New Zealand)
For Immediate Release
September 13, 1999
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE PRESS POOL
Stamford Plaza Hotel
Auckland, New Zealand
THE PRESIDENT: Let me begin by saying that I welcome the statement of
President Habibie last night inviting the United Nations to send a
security force into East Timor. I think that this is a real tribute to
the determination of the friends of the people there, the Australians,
the New Zealanders here, all the people here at APEC who express
solidarity.
I think there are a couple of points I'd like to make about it. Number
one, it's important to get the details worked out and get this force
in in a hurry, in a way that it can be effective. Number two, if that
happens, then we can resume our work with the people of Indonesia, the
world's fourth largest country, to help their transition to democracy
and the restoration of prosperity there.
In terms of what our role would by in East Timor, we have had
extensive discussions with the Australians through our defense
channels and we've been asked to provide a limited, but important
function related to airlift, transportation, communications,
intelligence, and perhaps in engineering work. Exactly what the
details would be have yet to be worked out and require more extensive
consultations with Congress.
I made a number of calls before I left the country. Secretary Cohen
and Mr. Podesta are back there now working on this issue. But I hope
we can wrap it up. The most important thing is for President Habibie
to make good on his statement, get the details worked out, get the
force in in a hurry.
Q: Mr. President, will there be any U.S. ground troops in combat roles
in East Timor?
THE PRESIDENT: We've not discussed that, we've not been asked for
that. What -- I talked to Prime Minister Howard yesterday and I
stopped in Hawaii, as all of you know, and met with our
Commander-in-Chief there, Admiral Blair, and obviously I've talked to
Secretary Cohen and General Shelton. What we have been asked to do so
far relates to airlift, what countries are going to contribute to
troops -- someone needs to take them to the theater -- relates to
transportation, communications, intelligence, and the possibility of
some engineering work. All of that would require some presence on the
ground in East Timor, but no one has asked for any combat troops.
Q: Mr. President, these are troops that, by and large, have never
worked together before. It's not like the NATO kind of force. Do you
see for the United States any kind of coordinating role to keep the
peacekeepers together, to have a command structure for them?
THE PRESIDENT: We might be asked to provide some help on command and
control. But keep in mind, a number of these troops have worked
together. There is a group here in this part of the Asia Pacific
region that train together, that work together, that do exercises
together. So there is some experience here. But there will be some
work to be done, depending on how many countries come on the command
and control, and if we're asked to provide some technical assistance
there, of course, we'd be willing to help.
Q: Mr. President, how much control will the Indonesians have about the
makeup of the force? They've already said that they're uncomfortable
with the Australians being the leader.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that has to be worked out today. But my view is
that we should work with the Indonesians in a cooperative fashion.
Perhaps they should have some parallel presence even, but they should
not be able to say who is in or not in the force and what the
structure of the force will be. Otherwise it will raise all kinds of
questions about whether there will be integrity in the force and it
will also delay the implementation.
The truth is the Australians are willing to carry the lion's share of
the role. They're willing to put in a large number of people. They
have enormous military capacity. Our people have great confidence in
working with them. And so I don't think that we should be in a
position of having this thing delayed for days and days and days over
that, and I hope that it won't be when the talks occur today with the
Indonesians leadership.
Q: Mr. President, as a practical matter, what's the quickest you think
a deployment could occur -- 24 hours, 48 hours -- how quick?
THE PRESIDENT: I think we could begin to move quickly, but I think it
depends upon the meeting today with the Indonesians. Let's wait and
see what happens today, and then you ask me that question either late
today or tomorrow, I can give you a more intelligent answer.
Thank you all.
(end transcript)
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