Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994 / June 7

U.S. claims filed to roughly 3,000 with a total amount transferred or contributed by all coun- asserted value of over $205 million. The first tries. We have transferred a total of about $124 panel of UNCC Commissioners recently sub- million in such matching funds thus far. mitted its report on an initial installment of indi- Iraq can rejoin the community of civilized vidual claims for serious personal injury or nations only through democratic processes, re- death. The Governing Council of the UNCC spect for human rights, equal treatment of its was expected to act on the panel’s recommenda- people, and adherence to basic norms of inter- tions at its session in late May. national behavior. Iraq’s government should rep- With respect to corporate claims, the United resent all of Iraq’s people and be committed States Government filed its first group of claims to the territorial integrity and unity of Iraq. The with the UNCC on May 6. The filing consisted Iraqi National Congress (INC) espouses these of 50 claims with an asserted value of about goals, the fulfillment of which would make Iraq $1 billion. The United States Government con- a stabilizing force in the Gulf region. tinues to review about 100 claims by U.S. busi- I am fully determined to continue efforts to nesses for future submission to the UNCC. The achieve Iraq’s full compliance with all relevant asserted value of U.S. corporate claims received U.N. Security Council resolutions. Until that to date is about $1.6 billion. time, the United States will maintain all the United Nations Security Council Resolution sanctions and other measures designed to 778 permits the use of a portion of frozen Iraqi achieve full compliance. oil assets to fund crucial U.N. activities con- I am grateful for the support by the Congress cerning Iraq, including humanitarian relief, of our efforts. UNSCOM, and the Compensation Commission. Sincerely, (The funds will be repaid, with interest, from WILLIAM J. CLINTON Iraqi oil revenues as soon as Iraqi oil exports resume). The United States is prepared to trans- NOTE: Identical letters were sent to Thomas S. fer to a U.N.-managed escrow account up to Foley, Speaker of the House of Representatives, $200 million in frozen Iraqi oil assets held in and Robert C. Byrd, President pro tempore of U.S. financial institutions, provided that U.S. the Senate. This letter was released by the Office transfers do not exceed 50 percent of the total of the Press Secretary on June 7.

Exchange With Reporters During a Meeting With Mayor Jacques Chirac of Paris, France June 7, 1994

The President. Good morning. How are you? Anything we can do to stop the fighting, in It’s a wonderful city. It’s wonderful to be back. my judgment, is a good thing. Bosnia France Q. Mr. President, do you think that the Bos- Q. Mr. President, how would you qualify the nian Muslims should accept Akashi’s proposal relationship between France and the United for a 4-month ceasefire? States today, as you are in Paris? The President. Well, we’d very much like to The President. I think it’s very good. And see a cessation of the fighting, and we’re work- I think it will get better. ing on it. Ambassador Redman is here today, and I hope to have a chance to talk to him Bosnia about it. I think I should defer any other com- Q. Mr. President, on Bosnia, is the French ments until I get a chance to get a direct brief- Government applying any kind of pressure on ing. But we’re trying to work out our schedule Washington to apply pressure on the Bosnian so I can see him today and get a firsthand Government to accept the peace plan that is account. proposed——

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The President. Well, I wouldn’t characterize The President. Not particularly. They’ve ar- it in that way. We’re having discussions—I just gued about the armistice setup for some years talked with the mayor about it. And I intend on and off. I don’t—we’re not in a good position to meet with the Prime Minister and the Presi- there, as you know. Our relationships with them dent today and, of course, to speak to the As- are not the best now because of this problem. sembly. But all of us want to try to bring an And we’re proceeding with the United Nations end to the fighting and have a settlement which as we should. But I don’t—this doesn’t add any can be a part of a comprehensive resolution particular extra element to it. to this.

North Korea NOTE: The President spoke at 10:51 a.m. in the Q. [Inaudible]—the North Koreans didn’t U.S. Ambassador’s residence. In his remarks, he show up to the armistice meeting today, do you referred to Yasushi Akashi, Special Representative see that as a provocation? of the United Nations Secretary-General for the The President. Excuse me, I didn’t—— Former Yugoslavia, and Charles E. Redman, U.S. Q. The North Koreans didn’t turn up to the Special Envoy to the Conference on the Former armistice meeting today. Do you see that as Yugoslavia. A tape was not available for a provocation? verification of the content of this exchange.

Remarks With Prime Minister Edouard Balladur of France and an Exchange With Reporters in Paris June 7, 1994

The President. The Prime Minister and I had lasting settlement there. We intend to be as a very good meeting, and we just had a wonder- supportive as we can. We can work on the ful lunch. cease-fire, and we have to await the final results We discussed a large number of topics. But of the contact group on the territorial rec- the things I think I should emphasize are first, ommendations. our common commitment to complete the On balance, I felt it was a very good meeting. GATT round and to continue the work of broad- I reaffirmed the support of the United States ening and expanding trade as a way of pro- for a stronger, a more integrated, more involved moting economic growth; second, our desire to Europe in terms of security, political, and eco- use the G–7 meeting which is coming up as nomic affairs. And in that regard, the last point a way of dealing with some of the difficult ques- I would like to make is how pleased I am that tions that the wealthier countries have to face 19 other nations have agreed to join France in a global economy, the questions of labor and the United States and the other NATO standards, of environmental protection, the nations in the Partnership For Peace. This is question of how to generate new jobs for our people. These are questions, in many ways, that very encouraging. We should have some joint advanced economies have never seriously dis- exercises before the end of the year, which will cussed with one another. We are attempting to put us on the road to a more united Europe, do that. in a very important security dimension. We also, of course, discussed our common So these are the things that we discussed. concerns in the area of foreign policy. And we We discussed other things as well, but these reaffirmed our determination to work together are the highlights from my point of view. I’d very closely on the question of Bosnia to try like to now have the Prime Minister say what- to first encourage both sides to support Mr. ever he wishes to say, and then perhaps we Akashi’s proposal for a cease-fire and secondly can answer a question or two. to support the work of the contact group in Prime Minister Balladur. The President of the attempting to come up with an appropriate divi- United States has just said, with great precision, sion of territory, which can be the basis of a exactly what we actually talked about. And I,

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