Former president would welcome mediator role

CINCINNATI ­ Former President Clinton, who has expressed interest in negotiating a Middle East peace settlement, also has his eye on race relations in Cincinnati.

Clinton told The Cincinnati Enquirer for a story yesterday he would welcome an invitation to mediate discussions with black activists who are promoting a boycott of the city.

"If you think it would help, I would be glad to come," Clinton said Saturday after speaking at an AIDS conference at Columbia University in New York. "I would like to come but I can't invite myself. Maybe I should call the mayor's office."

Mayor Charlie Luken, a fellow Democrat, was vacationing in San Francisco and could not be reached for comment.

Clinton said he had planned to offer his help earlier, but learned of the mediated settlements that ended a Justice Department investigation of the Cincinnati police and a racial-profiling lawsuit against the city.

"I thought it had all been settled," Clinton said.

Attorney General John Ashcroft signed the Justice Department agreement last month. The lawsuit still needs approval from a federal judge.

The Justice Department investigation and collaborative mediation followed racial unrest that peaked in April 2001 when an unarmed black man was fatally shot by a white police officer, sparking three days of riots.