ACCESSION NUMBER:292366

FILE ID:AEF404

DATE:07/01/93

TITLE:CLINTON'S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TALKS ON IRAQ, U.N. (07/01/93)

TEXT:*93070104.AEF  SUB:U.N.  CO:WNET:LAKE/IRAQ/UNI-VS. MULTILATERAL,#CC(FR),JS,HRs

*AEF404   07/01/93 *



CLINTON'S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TALKS ON IRAQ, U.N.

(FR) (U.S. acted unilaterally pursuant to U.N.)  (600)

By Charles W. Corey

USIA Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- While the United States, like any other sovereign nation,

reserves its right to act in its unilateral self-interest, it "prefers to

act" in concert with other international partners, President Clinton's

national security adviser told an African television audience June 30.



Anthony Lake made that point in comments to African reporters in Dakar and

Harare on a Worldnet "Dialogue" program, broadcast from Washington by the

United States Information Agency.



Lake cited the U.S. missile attack on Iraq's intelligence headquarters in

Baghdad June 26 as an example of when unilateral action was warranted.

"When there are attacks on Americans -- and the plot to attack President

Bush in Kuwait was such an attack -- then the United States will respond

unilaterally."



Referring to that attack, he further explained, "The United States very

carefully said that it was acting pursuant to Article 51 of the United

Nations Charter, because we believe in international law."



Article 51 reads, "Nothing in the present charter shall impair the inherent

right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs

against a member of the United Nations...."



While unilateral action was taken in this case, Lake noted that in other

1ypes of situations, multilateral action would be preferable.



"The fact is," he explained, that "in this extraordinary new world -- the

greatest opportunities for our diplomacy involve multilateral action, and

many American interests are synonymous with the interests of many African

nations and many other nations around the world.



"That is why we are seeing an extraordinary increase now in the importance

of the United Nations and in the importance specifically of United Nations

peace-keeping operations, which we are now supporting.



"In short, the United States must and will act unilaterally when it must,"

he stressed, "but we are more and more interested in acting multilaterally

and in leading multilateral efforts to resolve our international problems."



Like the United States, he said, "an extraordinary number of African nations

are also participating in international peace-keeping operations -- not

just in Africa but far beyond" that continent.



Citing an example, he said:  "There are troops from Namibia...halfway around

the world in Cambodia -- where those troops are supporting democracy in

Cambodia, just as the United Nations helped bring about the birth of

democracy in Namibia.  It really is one shrinking world."



Asked if he sees any conflict between U.S. national interest and that of the

United Nations, Lake said:  "Since we are a member of the Security Council

-- and therefore have an opportunity to help shape its resolutions and

ultimately can vote no -- all Security Council resolutions are resolutions

that ultimately we have agreed to and believe are in our interest.  Again,

as I said,...increasingly -- in a smaller and smaller world -- our

interests are bound up with the interests of other nations.



"Don't misunderstand me," he further stressed, "when I say we will act

alone,  it is because all nations must act alone when their interests

require it.  But our preference is to act with others.



Asked about conflict resolution and prevention, Lake said:  "This is

something that we are very interested in, and we hope..., very much, that

the OAU can do more in this regard.  I think we have been encouraged by the

OAU's efforts, for example, in Rwanda, to take more of a leadership role

there, and we hope very much that it happens in the future."



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