DATE=8/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-BALKANS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-265464
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton - speaking in Los Angeles in
advance of his Democratic convention address -
defended his administration's record on foreign policy
including his decision to send U-S troops to Bosnia
and Kosovo. VOA's David Gollust has details from Los
Angeles.
TEXT: The administration's Balkans policy has been an
early campaign issue, with Republicans including
Presidential nominee George W. Bush criticizing Mr.
Clinton and by extension Vice President Gore for
making open-ended commitments of U-S troops without a
clear exit strategy.
In an address here to the National Democratic
Institute - a party-affiliated policy study group --
Mr. Clinton said the alternative to allied action
would have been wider ethnic chaos in Central Europe:
///CLINTON ACTUALITY///
If the cause of freedom had been lost in those
countries and the principle of ethnic cleansing
had been upheld, we would be paying for it along
with free people across the world for a very,
very long time (applause).
///END ACT///
Mr. Clinton said that with Kosovo holding its first
free elections later this year, the only vestige of
the Balkans undemocratic past is Serbia.
There, he said the United States is encouraging
opposition elements to mount a unified challenge to
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic despite the
evident shortcomings of the election process in that
country:
///CLINTON ACT TWO///
Even if he steals the coming Presidential
election - he undoubtedly will try to do that -
he will lose what legitimacy he has left with
the Serbian people. But whatever may happen, he
has utterly failed to build a greater Serbia
based on ethnic cleansing and exclusion.
///END ACT///
In an address that mentioned neither the Vice
President or Mr. Bush by name, Mr. Clinton said he
hoped his successor - whoever he is - will continue
effort to battle poverty and AIDS in Africa.
Mr. Clinton - who visits Nigeria next week - cast that
country and its transition to democracy as a key to
broader peace and economic development on the
continent:
///CLINTON ACT THREE///
If democracy takes root in Nigeria, it will lift
up an entire region. So we'll do our part to
help with trade and investment, support for
Nigeria's peacekeepers, and its efforts to
insure that the vast wealth it has accumulated
and squandered in the past finally benefits its
people.
///END ACT///
The President said he was grateful for bipartisan
support in Congress on emergency aid to Colombia -
which he also visits later this month -- as well as
for permanent normal trade relations with China, and
measures to lower trade barriers to goods from
impoverished states in Africa and the Caribbean.
(Signed)
NEB/DAG/KBK
14-Aug-2000 21:14 PM EDT (15-Aug-2000 0114 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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