Washington, 10 October 1997 (RFE/RL) - The White House says U.S. President Bill Clinton wants to congratulate an American who shared today's Nobel Peace Prize for working for a treaty to ban landmines, but adds that Clinton has no plans to sign the treaty for the United States.
Press spokesman Michael McCurry says Clinton remains confident that the U.S. policy of opposition to aspects of the treaty is the right course. McCurry also says Clinton feels no pressure to reverse the U.S. position because of the award to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and its American coordinator Jody Williams.
Clinton said after rejecting the treaty in September that signing it would compromise the safety of U.S. troops, but that he was ordering the Defense Department to develop alternatives that would let the U.S. eliminate anti-personnel landmines from its arsenal by 2006.
Press spokesman Michael McCurry says Clinton remains confident that the U.S. policy of opposition to aspects of the treaty is the right course. McCurry also says Clinton feels no pressure to reverse the U.S. position because of the award to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and its American coordinator Jody Williams.
Clinton said after rejecting the treaty in September that signing it would compromise the safety of U.S. troops, but that he was ordering the Defense Department to develop alternatives that would let the U.S. eliminate anti-personnel landmines from its arsenal by 2006.