PRESIDENT Clinton has said that for the peace process to succeed in Northern Ireland, "there has to be a genuine cessation of violence and all the parties have to, be on the line with one another not to start killing again either in Northern Ireland or Great Britain."
Speaking at his first press conference since being re elected, Mr Clinton rejected criticism of his trip to Northern Ireland by a Republican opponent and said: "I will continue to do whatever I can to be of assistance to the Irish and British governments as long as they are working for peace in Northern Ireland and to the other, parties committed to the peace process."
America could not make a greater contribution, he said, than to have a man of Sen George Mitchell's calibre there doing what he was doing.
Mr Clinton said he stayed "In close touch with Prime Minister Bruton and Prime Minister Major" and that Mr Mitchell "keeps us informed". "I very much hope that in the next four years we can make some contribution to the ultimate resolution" of the problem, he said.
President Clinton also said that he had not yet decided if US troops would be part of any new NATO force in Bosnia. He would decide that after he had studied a NATO report on what was needed in Bosnia to ensure fighting would not break out again.
He presented his new chief of staff, Mr Erskine Bowles, a North Carolina investment banker and golfing friend. Mr Bowles has previously served as a deputy chief of staff.
Asked about a possible role for, his wife, Hillary, in the second term, Mr Clinton gave a vague response that she would continue herb work on behalf of children and families. She had not been given any indication by special prosecutor Mr Kenneth Starr that she was the target of his investigations, he added.