Subject: BosNet REPORT - Action Council: Balkan Watch From: Nermin Zukic ------------------------------------------------------------------------- B o s N e t - June 6, 1995 ========================================================================= To subscribe to BosNet-B (in Bosnian language), please send a message to LISTSERV@novell.business.uwo.ca, containing: SUB BOSNET-B _________________________________________________________________________ BosNet in English is also available on Usenet as BIT.LISTSERV.BOSNET To unsubscribe send mail to LISTPROC@DOC.IC.AC.UK, WITHOUT the subject: UNSUB BOSNEWS. DIGEST is default, report problems to BosNews@doc.ic.ac.uk _________________________________________________________________________ BALKAN WATCH Action Council for Peace in the Balkans July 5, 1995 A Weekly Review of Current Events Volume 2.25 Extended Week in Review June 25-July 4, 1995 PRESIDENT CLINTON plans to divert $50 million from the current defense budget to help support and finance the Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) in Bosnia. He has also reaffirmed a U.S. commitment to provide close air support for the force. About 90 U.S. soldiers arrived in Croatia this Tuesday to provide logistical support for the U.N. Reaction Force. Members of Congress from both parties have expressed their unwillingness to help pay for the force, which many have characterized as an "investment in failure." On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich wrote to Clinton to express their opposition to his decision to fund the force in circumvention of the clear will of the Congress. In June, the two had written to Clinton to warn him that Congress was unlikely to approve new funding for the RRF. The Administration argues that the force is the best hope for saving the U.N. mission in Bosnia, although senior officials in closed-door briefings with Congressional staffers Wednesday gave the likelihood of success as only 10 to 15%. European officials initially touted the forces as a tool for robust enforcement of UNPROFOR's mandate. Since then, they have steadily downplayed expectations for the force, which they now say will merely respond to direct attacks on U.N. personnel. U.N. officers commanding the force have even dropped "Rapid" from the mission's official title. Senators Dole and Joseph Lieberman are expected soon after this week's Congressional recess to introduce a bill to lift the arms embargo against the Bosnian Government no later than twelve weeks after an UNPROFOR withdrawal begins or is requested by the Bosnian Government. NATO APPROVED on Wednesday a contingency plan for withdrawing UNPROFOR from Bosnia. The complex plan calls for 60,000 NATO troops, including 25,000 Americans. The operation could cost $2 billion and last six months. Funding arrangements and rules of engagement have yet to be determined. The operation will be under the overall command of Gen. Leighton Smith, U.S. commander of NATO forces in Southern Europe. The two most senior theater commanders will be the current heads of UNPROFOR in the former Yugoslavia and the U.N. Reaction Force. The German Parliament approved a plan to send Tornado fighter planes and 1,500 personnel to Italy and Croatia in support of the force. THE BOSNIAN ARMY continued its efforts to lift or ease the Serbian siege of Sarajevo. The Army made modest gains against the Bosnian Serb forces, including the capture of two strategic points north and south of the city. It is in position to block three Serbian supply routes. Authorities in Belgrade escalated their program of rounding up thousands of draft-aged men in Serbia, most of them refugees, and busing them directly to the front lines in Bosnia to fight alongside the Bosnian Serb forces. The authorities are also prohibiting draft-age men from entering Serbia from Bosnia and Croatia. BOSNIAN SERB FORCES INCREASED their attacks against civilian targets. The attacks included a five-minute barrage into Sarajevo to "celebrate" Belgrade's victory Sunday in the European basketball championship. Bosnian Serb forces used extremely powerful 550-pound "flying bombs" to attack the city's television center and nearby apartment blocks Wednesday. Five persons were killed and dozens wounded, including several Western journalists. U.N. officials blamed the Bosnian Government for the attack by claiming that the Bosnian Serb forces were merely retaliating for Bosnian Government efforts to lift the siege of the city. Bosnian Serb forces attacked U.N. convoys crossing Mt. Igman into Sarajevo over the weekend and early this week. French troops fired back, but their mortar counterattacks were limited and did not deter the Bosnian Serb forces. U.N. officials informed the Bosnian Serb forces Sunday that U.N. convoys would begin carrying humanitarian aid in addition to U.N. supplies over Mt. Igman. Bosnian Serb spokesmen called the U.N. plans "unacceptable". The first deaths from starvation in Bihac were reported by U.N. officials Sunday. THE BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT declared that it will no longer deal with U.N. Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi. The Bosnian Government informed the U.N. Security Council that it was reviewing its approval of UNPROFOR's presence in Bosnia. It pointed out that the U.N. was not allowing NATO to enforce the no-fly zone or fulfilling its mandates to protect "safe areas" and enforce weapons exclusion zones. The U.N. announced Friday that it may suspend the Sarajevo airlift permanently due to Bosnian Serb objections. The airlift has not operated for three months. EUROPEAN UNION AND U.N. MEDIATORS Carl Bildt and Thorvald Stoltenberg met with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic Saturday to discuss a proposed deal in which Milosevic would recognize Bosnia-Herzegovina's borders in exchange for a further suspension of U.N. sanctions. Bildt said Sunday that Milosevic would also have to ease Bosnian Serb restrictions on aid deliveries in Bosnia before the U.N. would consider sanctions relief. The two mediators met Monday with Croatian Serb leaders, who repeated their demand that the Croatian Army withdraw from key positions near the nationalist Croatian Serb stronghold of Knin before bilateral talks resume. Western officials admit that the Contact Group has all but collapsed, and that Bildt is now the primary international mediator. THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION said it will today support a 75-day extension of the U.N. Security Council's suspension of certain sanctions against Serbia. Officials justified the position by citing Belgrade's compliance with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's pledge to cut off military aid to the Bosnian Serbs. However, the position flies in the face of new evidence and U.S. officials' admissions that Milosevic has not in fact cut off=97and has even tightened control over=97his proxies in Bosnia and Croatia. Records recently captured by the Croatian Army indicate that as many as 300 Croatian Serb officers formerly stationed in Western Slavonia are being paid directly by Belgrade. In addition, the Bosnian Serb anti-aircraft missile system that shot down a U.S. F-16 last month was part of an integrated air defense system that is headquartered in and maintained by Belgrade. LEADERS OF ROMANIA'S ETHNIC HUNGARIAN MINORITY Sunday condemned the country's new education law. The law, backed by the largely nationalist governing coalition, would sharply limit Hungarian-language teaching available to the two million ethnic Hungarian citizens. GREEK AND ALBANIAN OFFICIALS Monday pledged closer bilateral military cooperation during a two-day visit to Tirana by Greek Defense Minister Gerasimos Arsenis. Greece, facing international criticism for its harsh policies toward Macedonia, including a crippling economic blockade, has labored in recent months to strengthen relations with Albania and Bulgaria. ----------------------- QUOTES OF THE WEEK "You can certainly notice the shooting." -- EU mediator Carl Bildt, on his first visit to Sarajevo (Reuters 6/25/95) "If you want to be listened to, you must first be respected." -- French President Jacques Chirac, advocating a new round of diplomacy in the former Yugoslavia (Reuters 6/27/95) "I am ...disturbed that our country, which has been the beacon of hope to freedom-loving people around the world, should even be contemplating refusing to give the Bosnians the tools with which to defend themselves. How much more, Mr. President, do the Bosnians have to suffer?... There is no moral equivalence in this conflict. The Government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina...gave absolutely no provocation to the Bosnian Serbs, who have torn this small country apart." Senator Joseph Biden (6/28/95) "Let us hope that the last resort comes before the last Bosnian dies." -- Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic, on the Contact Group's insistence that the arms embargo against Bosnia be lifted only as a last resort (Reuters 7/2/95) --------------------------- CALENDAR Jul. 5: Second Anniversary of U.S. troop deployment to Macedonia. Jul. 8: Third anniversary of the CSCE (now OSCE) decision to exclude Serbia from summit meetings. Balkan Watch is a publication of the Action Council for Peace in the Balkans PO Box 28268, Washington, DC 20038-0268 Phone: (202) 737-1414 Fax: (202) 737-1940 E-mail: AmComSaBos@aol.com