U.S. Department of State Dispatch Supplement
Securing a Peace Agreement for Bosnia
Volume 6, Number 5, December 1995
Published by the Bureau of Public Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Dispatch Supplement
Volume 6, Number 5
December 1995
Securing a Peace Agreement for Bosnia
ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE:
Negotiating the Dayton Peace Agreement
1. The Last Best Chance for Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina
-- The Balkan Proximity Peace Talks: A Defining Moment--President
Clinton
-- Eyes on Dayton: Bringing Peace to the Heart of Europe--Secretary
Christopher
-- The Promise of This Moment Must be Fulfilled--Secretary Christopher
-- Strengthening American Security Through World Leadership: Bosnia and
Beyond--Deputy Secretary Talbott
2. U.S. Leadership and the Balkan Challenge--Deputy Secretary Talbott
3. The Federation: An Essential Building Block of Peace in Bosnia and
Herzegovina--Secretary Christopher
Initialing the Agreement
4. Initialing of the Dayton Peace Agreement
5. The Dayton Peace Agreement: Building Peace With Justice--Secretary
Christopher
-- Culmination of Intense Diplomatic Negotiations--Secretary
Christopher
6. Agreement Reached on Peace in the Balkans--President Clinton
7. U.S. Support for Implementing the Bosnian Peace Agreement--President
Clinton
8. Peace in Bosnia--A Dividend of American Leadership--President
Clinton
9. Turning From the Horror of War to the Promise of Peace in the
Balkans--President Clinton
Fact Sheets and Chronology
10. Fact Sheet: Summary of the Dayton Peace Agreement
11. Fact Sheet: The Road to the Dayton Peace Agreement
12. Fact Sheet: NATO Involvement in the Balkan Crisis
13. Fact Sheet: Human Rights Issues in the Balkans
14. Chronology: The Balkan Conflict
[Box Item
General Framework Agreement for Peace In Bosnia and Herzegovina (The
Dayton Peace Agreement)
The texts of the agreement and related documents are available on the
World Wide Web through the Department of State Foreign Affairs Network
(DOSFAN) under the category of "Hot Topics: U.S. Policy on Bosnia" at:
http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu
The texts also are available at the DOSFAN Gopher site at:
gopher://dosfan.lib.uic.edu
The texts also will be printed in Dispatch Vol. 7, Supplement No. 1, and
will be available on "U.S. Foreign Affairs on CD-ROM" (USFAC) in the
March 1996 release. One-year subscriptions to USFAC, a quarterly
archive of U.S. foreign policy information, are available through the
U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-
7954, tel: (202) 512-1800. The cost is $81 (domestic) and $101.25
(foreign). Payment can be made by check (payable to the Superintendent
of Documents); GPO Deposit Account; or Visa or MasterCard--include
account number, expiration date, and authorized signature.
[Box End]
ARTICLE 1:
The Last Best Chance for Peace In Bosnia and Herzegovina
President Clinton, Secretary Christopher, Deputy Secretary Talbott
The Balkan Proximity Peace Talks: A Defining Moment
Opening statement by President Clinton at a press conference,
Washington, DC, October 31, 1995.
Good morning. I have just met with Secretary Christopher and our Bosnia
negotiating team, led by Ambassador Holbrooke. As you know, they are
preparing to leave for Dayton, Ohio, in just a few moments. There, the
presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia will start direct negotiations
which we hope will lead to a peaceful, lasting settlement in Bosnia.
I want to repeat today what I told President Tudjman and President
Izetbegovic when we met in New York last week. We have come to a
defining moment in Bosnia. This is the best chance we've had for peace
since the war began. It may be the last chance we have for a very long
time. Only the parties to this terrible conflict can end it. The world
now looks to them to turn the horror of war into the promise of peace.
The United States and our partners--Russia, Germany, France, and the
United Kingdom--must do everything in our power to support them. That is
what I have just instructed Secretary Christopher and our team to do in
the days ahead in Dayton. We will succeed only if America continues to
lead.
Already our military strength through NATO and our diplomatic
determination have advanced the possibility of peace in Bosnia. We can't
stop now. The responsibilities of leadership are real, but the benefits
are greater. We see them all around the world--a reduced nuclear threat,
democracy in Haiti, peace breaking out in the Middle East and in
Northern Ireland. In Bosnia, as elsewhere, when the United States leads
we can make progress. If we don't, progress will be much more
problematic.
Making peace in Bosnia is important to America. Making peace will end
the terrible toll of this war--the innocent lives lost, the futures
destroyed. For four years, the people of Bosnia have suffered the worst
atrocities in Europe since World War II-- mass executions, ethnic
cleansing, concentration camps, rape and terror, starvation and disease.
We continue to learn more and more even in the present days about the
slaughters in Srebrenica.
The best way--the only way--to stop these horrors is to make peace.
Making peace will prevent the war from spreading. So far, we have been
able to contain this conflict to the former Yugoslavia. But the Balkans
lie at the heart of Europe, next door to several of our key NATO allies
and to some of the new, fragile European democracies. If the war there
reignites, it could spread and spark a much larger conflict--the kind of
conflict that has drawn Americans into two European wars in this
century. We have to end the war in Bosnia and do it now.
Making peace will advance our goal of a peaceful, democratic, and
undivided Europe--a Europe at peace, with extraordinary benefits to our
long-term security and prosperity, a Europe at peace, with partners to
meet the challenges of the new century--challenges that affect us here
at home, such as terrorism and drug trafficking, organized crime, and
the spread of weapons of mass destruction. A peaceful, democratic,
undivided Europe will be that kind of partner.
In Dayton, our diplomats face a tremendous challenge. There is no
guarantee that they will succeed. America can help the parties negotiate
a settlement, but we cannot impose a peace. In recent weeks, thanks to
our mediation efforts, the parties to the war have made real progress.
The parties have put into effect a Bosnia-wide cease-fire. They have
agreed to the basic principles of a settlement. Bosnia will remain a
single state comprised of two entities--but, I repeat, a single state.
There must be free elections and democratic institutions of government
at the national and regional levels.
Now, beyond this, many difficult issues remain to be resolved. These
include the internal boundary between the Bosnia-Croat Federation and
the Serb Republic, the status of Sarajevo, the practical steps that need
to be taken to separate hostile forces, and the procedures for free
elections. Those are just a few of the difficult issues this team will
have to confront beginning today. I urge the parties to negotiate
seriously for the good of their own people. So much is riding on success
in Dayton, and the whole world is watching.
If the parties do reach a settlement, NATO must help secure it, and the
United States, as NATO's leader, must participate in such an effort.
Again I say, there is no substitute for American leadership. After so
many years of violence and bloodshed, a credible international military
presence in Bosnia is needed to give the parties confidence to live up
to their own agreements and give them time to begin the long, hard work
of rebuilding and living together again. NATO is the one organization
with the track record and the strength to implement a settlement.
As I have said many times, the United States--the source of NATO's
military strength--must participate. If we don't participate in the
implementation force, our NATO partners, understandably, would
reconsider their own commitments. We would undermine American leadership
of the alliance. We would weaken the alliance itself. And the hard-won
peace in Bosnia could be lost.
American troops would not be deployed--I say this again--would not be
deployed unless and until the parties reach a peace agreement. We must
first have a peace agreement. That is what I would urge the American
people and Members of Congress to focus on over the next few days.
Troops would, if going into Bosnia, operate under NATO command, with
clear rules of engagement and a clearly defined mission. They would not
be asked to keep a peace that cannot be kept, but they would make sure
we do our part in helping peace hold.
As the peace process moves forward, I will continue to consult closely
with the Congress. If a peace agreement is reached, I will request an
expression of support in Congress for committing United States troops to
a NATO implementation force. Our foreign policy works best when we work
together. I want the widest possible support for peace.
But it would be premature to request an expression of support now,
because we can't decide many of the details of implementation until an
agreement is clearly shaped and defined. Let me stress again: We are not
there yet; there are still difficult obstacles ahead. The focus on
Dayton must be on securing the peace. Without peace, there will be
nothing for us to secure.
Earlier this month in New Jersey, I had the privilege of spending time
with His Holiness Pope John Paul II. At the end of our meeting, the Pope
said something to me I would like to repeat. He said:
"You know, I am not a young man. I have lived through most of this
century. The 20th century began with a war in Sarajevo. Mr. President,
you must not let it end with a war in Sarajevo."
All of us must do our part to hear the Pope's plea. Our conscience as a
nation devoted to freedom and tolerance demands it. Our conscience as a
nation that wants to end this mindless slaughter demands it. Our
enduring interest in the security and stability of Europe demands it.
This is our challenge, and I am determined to do everything I can to see
that America meets that challenge.
(###)
Eyes on Dayton: Bringing Peace To the Heart of Europe
Statement by Secretary Christopher upon arrival at Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, November 1, 1995.
Good morning. Today, the eyes of the world are on Dayton, Ohio. We have
come to the heartland of America to try to bring peace to the heart of
Europe.
On behalf of President Clinton, let me extend my thanks to the people of
Dayton and the uniformed and civilian personnel of Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base. They have come together in just two short weeks to support
this critical effort. I know that their hopes and prayers, like those of
many millions around the world, are with the peacemakers.
I am here, at the instruction of the President, to ensure that the
United States does everything possible to bring about a successful
result at this conference. Later this morning, I will meet with the
presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. And then,
this afternoon, I will open this historic peace conference.
Today, we are embarking on a process that may be the last best chance
for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I hope that, someday, Dayton, Ohio,
will be remembered as the place where we seized this chance to stop the
killing and to start building a better future for the people of the
former Yugoslavia.
(###)
The Promise of This Moment Must Be Fulfilled
Statement by Secretary Christopher at the opening of the Balkan
Proximity Peace Talks, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio,
November 1, 1995.
Good afternoon. President Izetbegovic, President Tudjman, President
Milosevic, Prime Minister Bildt, Deputy Minister Ivanov, honored
colleagues: On behalf of President Clinton and the American people, I
welcome you to the United States for the start of these historic
proximity peace talks. My special thanks go to the people of Dayton,
Ohio, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for their magnificent support.
We have an urgent and important purpose today. We are here to give
Bosnia and Herzegovina a chance to be a country at peace, not a killing
field--a place where people can sleep in their homes, walk to work, and
worship in their churches, mosques, and synagogues without fear of
violence or death. We are here to prevent a wider war that would
undermine the security of Europe at a time when the whole continent
should finally be at peace.
The talks that begin here today offer the best chance to achieve peace
since this war began four years ago. If we fail, the war will resume,
and future generations will surely hold us accountable for the
consequences that would follow. The lights so recently lit in Sarajevo
would once again be extinguished. Death and starvation would once again
spread across the Balkans, threatening to engulf the region and possibly
Europe itself.
To the three presidents, I say that it is within your power to chart a
better future for the people of the former Yugoslavia. The United
States, the European Union, Russia, and others in the international
community will help you succeed. But while the world can and will help
you make peace, only you can ensure that this process will succeed. And
you must begin today. As President Clinton said yesterday, the "whole
world is watching." We must persevere until an agreement is reached and
the promise of this hopeful moment is fulfilled.
There are some who say these talks can only end in failure. They have
written off the Balkans as a region cursed by its past to a future of
endless hatred and retribution. I have heard those arguments before--in
the Middle East, where Arabs and Israelis are now ending an armed
conflict that has lasted 10 times as long as the one in the former
Yugoslavia. I have heard the same arguments applied to Northern Ireland,
where a centuries-old conflict may be nearing resolution. I have heard
them applied to South Africa, where former enemies have abandoned
apartheid to build a multi-ethnic democracy. I know that negotiations
can work when people have the courage and patience to make them work.
We have reached this moment because the international community took
firm measures to enforce its mandate in Bosnia and Herzegovina and
because, for the first time, all sides have agreed to a cease-fire, to
constitutional principles, and to a common set of institutions for a
single Bosnian state. We must all resolve to stay on the path that
brought us here. For each of us, the stakes are enormous.
For the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whatever their heritage, the
success of our efforts can mean an end to the killing and the beginning
of hope for a normal life. The people of Bosnia deserve a chance to live
as they once did--in harmony with their neighbors in a country at peace.
For the nations at war, the stakes are clear as well. They have a choice
between two futures--a future of peace and integration or a future of
violence, poverty, and isolation from Europe and the world. We must
always remember: As this region is engulfed in flames and violence, a
new Europe is being built around it. Some of the fastest-growing
economies in Europe today are found in this region. The new democracies
of Central Europe are resolving disputes with their neighbors and
earning the right to be considered for membership in NATO and the
European Union.
When the Cold War ended, nobody imagined that once-vibrant cities such
as Sarajevo, Mostar, and Vukovar would be set so tragically apart from
Europe by the sight of tanks and the sound of gunfire. The door to
Europe and the West is still open to the nations of the region--if you
end this war peacefully and respect the human rights of your people. You
alone can choose your destiny.
The United States and the international community also have a vital
stake in sustaining progress toward peace. If war in the Balkans is
reignited, it could spark a wider conflict like those that drew American
soldiers in huge numbers into two European wars in this century. If this
conflict continues--and certainly if it spreads--it would jeopardize our
efforts to promote stability and security in Europe as a whole. It would
threaten the viability of NATO, which has been the bedrock of European
security for 50 years. If the conflict continues, so would the worst
atrocities Europe has seen since World War II. As President Clinton has
said, the "only way to stop these horrors is to make peace." We must,
and we will stay engaged to advance our interests and to uphold our
values.
The United States and its Contact Group partners will make every effort
to help you reach an agreement that will settle outstanding questions
over territory, constitutional arrangements, elections, and the return
of refugees. We have worked hard to create the right atmosphere for
progress at this site. And I know that Ambassador Holbrooke, Prime
Minister Bildt, and Deputy Minister Ivanov will continue to provide the
most effective and evenhanded mediation that is possible.
If peace is to endure, we must do more than separate the military
forces. For peace to last, several key conditions must be met.
First, Bosnia and Herzegovina must continue as a single state within its
internationally recognized borders and with a single international
personality. The principles to which the parties have agreed provide a
firm foundation for achieving that goal.
Second, the settlement must take into account the special history and
significance of Sarajevo and its environs. Sarajevo was the city where
the first of this century's two bloody world wars began. But 10 years
ago, it was also the city where the world came together to celebrate the
Olympics--a city of many communities living, working, and prospering
together in peace. It must have a chance to become that wonderful city
again. It deserves that chance.
Third, any agreement must guarantee that the human rights of all the
citizens of the region are respected. This terrible war has uprooted
people from every ethnic community. All must be able to return home or
receive just compensation. And it is vital that all those who have
committed atrocities are held accountable. Full investigation of all
such charges, regardless of where they occurred, must be undertaken
swiftly and firmly, and responsibility must be assigned.
Finally, we also believe that these talks must establish a process of
normalizing the status of Eastern Slavonia, as a part of Croatia and in
a peaceful manner.
If and when a formal agreement is reached--but only then--the United
States and its partners, including Russia, will provide military
personnel to help implement the peace. NATO is the only organization
with the resources and capacity to perform this task. It already has
begun planning for a robust peace implementation force.
For each nation participating in the implementation force, deploying
soldiers is a difficult and solemn choice. The American people and the
United States Congress are asking serious and appropriate questions
about U.S. participation in the implementation force. They will watch
very closely for signs that the parties are finally ready to lay down
their arms and begin a lasting, stable peace.
The United States will not send troops where there is no peace to keep.
Before we deploy, the parties must reach a peace agreement. They must be
prepared to stick to it. They must use the time when our troops are on
the ground to consolidate it. And the implementation force must have a
clear exit strategy.
The international community is also determined to help the people of the
region rebuild their institutions, their economies, and their lives. The
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will help organize
and supervise elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina--which ought to come
at the earliest possible date--to ensure that they are free and fair.
Under the leadership of the EU, a major effort to support the
reconstruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be launched. Lasting
security will depend on bringing the region's economy back to life.
In other words, once an agreement is signed, a multi-dimensional effort
will begin, to help ensure its success. It will be backed by soldiers,
diplomats, bankers, and engineers; by governments; and by private
organizations from countries around the world.
We know that Bosnia and Herzegovina will not easily recover from four
years of ethnic cleansing and destruction. Nothing we do will erase our
memory of the violence or bring back its victims. But if we succeed, we
can make it possible for the sons and daughters of those who have died
to live without fear. If we succeed, we can ensure that the sons and
daughters of America and Europe do not have to fight again in a larger,
more terrible war. If we succeed, we may yet realize our vision of a
Europe at peace, united, prosperous, and free. We must rise to the
challenge.
This will be a long journey, but it all starts here. Let us get to work,
and let us reaffirm our pledge to make it work.
(###)
Strengthening American Security Through World Leadership: Bosnia and
Beyond
Remarks by Deputy Secretary Talbott at a State Department Town Meeting,
Washington, DC, November 1, 1995.
On behalf of Secretary Christopher, let me welcome all of you to the
Dean Acheson Auditorium. Let me also thank Chic Dambach and Harry Blaney
of the Coalition for American Leadership Abroad for organizing this
event. I like the name of that organization for reasons that I'll come
to in a moment.
Over the past nine months, I've attended a number of the Town Hall
Meetings that Foreign Policy Associations and World Affairs Councils
have sponsored or supported--in Denver, Dayton, New York, Cleveland,
Wilmington, Milwaukee, and here in Washington. I have been particularly
impressed by the ability of these events to bring together diverse
constituencies: ethnic and religious groups; labor unions and business
organizations; and civic action groups ranging from the Girl Scouts to
the Grey Panthers, from the Sierra Club to the Salvation Army.
I urge all of you to expand these grass-roots efforts. I can't think of
a better way to increase the quantity and the quality of the American
people's interest in international affairs. And I can't think of a more
important time for meetings like this one--all across America.
I say that because today, 20 blocks from here, up Constitution Avenue,
there is a historic national debate underway on the floor of the U.S.
Congress. Its outcome will effect the future of America's role in the
world. The Congress is considering legislation that would slash the
foreign affairs budget of our government by almost 20% from last year's
levels, and that's on top of a more than 40% decline in real dollars for
our foreign affairs budget over the past decade.
The Senate has proposed cutting more than $600 million--a whopping 45%--
from our country's annual contributions to international organizations,
including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and the
International Atomic Energy Agency. Other proposed Senate cuts would
slash the State Department's operating budget, forcing us to close
dozens of embassies and consulates around the world.
Secretary Christopher has expressed his deep concern about the impact of
such cuts on the ability of this Department to serve you when you travel
abroad; or to make it easier for American businesses to engage
competitively and profitably in international trade and investment; or
to protect our cities against international crime, drug-trafficking, and
terrorism.
We are also facing the reluctance of some in Congress to ratify START II
and a raft of other important treaties, as well as a refusal to act on a
number of important ambassadorial nominations. Why is all this
happening? The answer, I'm sorry to say, is that it is fashionable in
some influential quarters to flirt with ideas that are isolationist in
their potential consequence, if not in their actual intent. And why is
that? The reason, I believe, is that with the end of the Cold War,
there's no longer a single, clearly identified, global villain and,
therefore, no longer a single, simple, bumper-sticker slogan to explain
America's role in the world. Instead, the world is more complex and,
therefore, so is the case for American engagement and leadership.
There's a resurgence of the view that we can no longer afford to bear
the burden of world leadership--or, to put it differently, that we can
now afford to go it alone in this new, more complicated world of ours.
Some legislators have even suggested diverting the money that we now
spend on foreign aid to the construction of a giant fence along our
borders. Ponder the symbolism of that misguided sense of priorities: The
instinct here is to wall us in and wall the world out; the instinct is
to build barriers to ensure that what happens elsewhere--far away or
right next door--does not affect us here in the United States.
This view is anathema to President Clinton and his Administration. We
believe that if the United States leads, the world will be a safer place
for Americans to live, work, travel, and trade. We believe that we face
historic opportunities not just to combat threats and enemies from
abroad but also to build a world that promotes our interests and
reflects our ideals.
The flip side of that conviction is just as important: If we do not
provide international leadership, then there is no other country on
earth that can or will step in and lead in our place as a constructive,
positive influence. America is not just another country; we are a global
power with global interests. If we do not lead the way in promoting
freedom, peace, and prosperity on a global scale, no one else will.
So the American Congress, and the American people, now face some
fundamental choices. At issue is whether we are prepared to do what it
takes--and that means spending what it takes--to have a foreign policy
worthy of our aspirations, our opportunities, and our interests as a
world leader--indeed, as the world leader.
Let me now zero in on a specific region where the choice between
engagement and isolation, between leadership and retreat, is
particularly stark--and particularly urgent: that is, in the former
Yugoslavia. I want to use the remainder of my remarks to address the
question, much in debate, of why we must lead both in the negotiation of
a Bosnian peace settlement and in the implementation of an agreement.
Bosnia matters to everyone here today--and to everyone in this country.
It matters because Europe matters to America. This is not the first time
that we've sent our soldiers and diplomats across the Atlantic in a time
of crisis, and it probably will not be the last. Three times before in
this century, we Americans have joined our European allies in pursuit of
a common goal--twice in hot wars, once in a cold one. Each time we did
so for reasons that reflected not just our generosity and our sense of
obligation to others but that also reflected a hard-headed, forward-
looking calculation of our own needs and safety. That same combination
of international responsibility and national self-interest underlies our
involvement in Central Europe and the Balkans today.
We have made significant and promising strides in meeting several
challenges there. To cite just one example: The interim accord reached
on September 13 by the governments of Macedonia and Greece was an
important step toward reducing suspicions and normalizing relations
between those two countries. But that encouraging development--indeed,
peace throughout the area--is still threatened by the simmering conflict
in the former Yugoslavia. If the fighting in Bosnia resumes, it could
lead to an unraveling of all the progress we've seen and helped bring
about elsewhere in the region. It could plunge the entire area into war.
That clear and present danger has about it an aspect of deja vu. The
worst of the 20th century might be said to have begun with a series of
bad-news stories datelined Sarajevo more than 80 years ago: the Balkan
wars of 1912 and 1913, followed by the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand in 1914 and all that followed. Now there is a very real danger
that we will inadvertently close out the century with gruesome symmetry,
by permitting a third Balkan war. Such a conflagration could all too
easily spread beyond the Balkans.
History and geography have conspired to make Bosnia the most explosive
powder keg on the continent of Europe. The Drina River, which flows
through the now-famous town of Gorazde and along the border between
Bosnia and Serbia, traces one of the world's most treacherous fault
lines. The three communities that live there--Serbs, Croats, and
Muslims--bear the legacies of two empires, three religions, and many
cultures.
That means if the warfare among them breaks out anew and then continues
unabated, it might extend to several points of the compass, drawing in
other nations to the north, south, and east. Albania could intervene to
protect the ethnic Albanians who live in the southern Serbian province
of Kosovo. Warfare there could unleash a massive flow of refugees into
Macedonia, destabilizing that fragile country and, potentially, draw-
ing in, on opposite sides, Greece and Turkey--two NATO allies that are
also regional rivals. A widening of the war might also see Hungary
tempted to come to the rescue of ethnic Hungarians in the Vojvodina
region of northern Serbia.
Bosnia matters outside of Europe as well. The entire Islamic world, from
Morocco to Indonesia, is watching to see how events unfold. Muslims
everywhere are waiting to see whether their co-religionists in Bosnia
will be accorded the same rights and protections as other Europeans. The
answer to that question could have an impact on the future of moderate,
pro-Western leaders such as Prime Minister Ciller of Turkey and Prime
Minister Bhutto of Pakistan. Other less-friendly forces in the Middle
East and Persian Gulf see the Balkans as a target of opportunity. Iran's
repeated offer to send "peacemakers" to Bosnia is hardly motivated by
altruism.
An ongoing conflict in the Balkans would jeopardize our efforts to
promote stability and security in Europe as a whole; it would undermine
our ability to consolidate the gains made possible by the triumph of
democracy and market economics at the end of the Cold War. If the
fighting in Yugoslavia resumes--and if it escalates and spreads--it
would put increasing strain on relations between the United States and
Russia. A third Balkan war will undermine both of our overarching
objectives in the region. Those two objectives are, first, to promote
integration between East and West and, simultaneously, to contain and
deter the forces of disintegration that have been unleashed by the
collapse of communism in the East.
A continuation of the war also would threaten the viability, even the
survival, of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO is the anchor
of American engagement in Europe and the linchpin of transatlantic
security. We and most of the people of Europe see NATO as the keystone
of the architecture of European security. As such, NATO must be as
successful in dealing with the new security challenges in Europe as it
was in its nearly half-century-long mission of deterring Soviet
aggression.
The alliance can no more ignore the conflagration in the Balkans than an
architect can ignore a fire raging in one wing of a building on which he
is working. The United States is the leader of the alliance; therefore,
the United States must lead in Bosnia. Merely hoping that the fire there
will burn itself out or that someone else will put it out is not just
wishful thinking. It would be, if it were the basis of policy, extremely
irresponsible and deeply harmful to our interests.
Such an attitude of standing aside and passing the buck would put us in
triple jeopardy: It would poison our bilateral relations with Britain,
France, and other European states that have troops on the ground in
Bosnia; it would discredit both the alliance and our leadership of it;
and it would undermine the foundation of a peaceful post-Cold War Europe
in which we have much of our own security and prosperity invested.
Leadership cannot be a sometime thing, and it is not cost-free. If we
want to continue to derive the benefits of our unique position--and they
are legion--we must share with those who follow our lead the costs and
risks of engagement--and sometimes that means of bold action.
As we ponder those costs and risks, let us also consider those
associated with inaction, particularly inaction or inadequate action in
the face of systematic atrocities: mass rape, concentration camps,
massacres, forced deportation of entire villages. How many of us, four
years ago, had ever heard of Srebrenica? Today, it is a household word.
It is not just a place name, it is a synonym for man's inhumanity to
man. The Yugoslavs may not have invented the phrase "ethnic cleansing,"
but they have inscribed it into the glossary of this century--right
there next to "final solution"--as an administrative euphemism for
genocide.
One of the great strengths of our country's foreign policy is that when
it is at its best, it is rooted as solidly in American idealism as it is
in American pragmatism. The world continues to look to us for leadership
not just because of our economic and military might but also because,
despite our initial reluctance to undertake what George Washington
described as "foreign entanglements," we as a people have at crucial
moments been willing to do the right thing.
Doing the right thing in the Balkans has been especially difficult.
There were, for a long time, severe limits on what we--the United States
and the international community--could do to make peace until the
parties themselves were prepared to do so. But there is no question what
doing the right thing means today, and today is surely a crucial moment.
It means using a combination of diplomatic skill and the credible threat
of force to keep the parties at the negotiating table. It means
deterring them from returning to the battlefield and to the killing
fields. It means, in short, putting an end to genocide and, to the
maximum extent possible, bringing to justice the perpetrators of crimes
against humanity. By the way--this, I believe, is a very important
point--the unacceptability of "ethnic cleansing" in the Balkans, by that
or any other name, is not just an issue of moralpolitik, it is also an
issue of realpolitik.
The concept of ethnic cleansing captures the practical, concrete essence
of the catastrophe that has befallen that troubled and troublesome
neighborhood of the global village. Too many leaders of the former
Yugoslav republics have tried to define statehood and citizenship and
international boundaries in terms of ethnic homogeneity-- ethnic purity-
-and thus have sought to "purify" or cleanse the state of "impure"
elements. Hence the dream of Greater Serbia, which is a nightmare for
all non-Serbs, whether they live in Serbia proper or amidst ethnic Serbs
in neighboring states. Equally noxious is the dream of an ethnically
"pure" Croatia that would deny the legitimate rights of Muslims and
ethnic Serbs.
I stress this point because there is more at stake here than just the
Balkans. If aggressive, exclusionary nationalism triumphs in the former
Yugoslavia, it would be a disaster not only in that region but ominous
for the former Soviet empire, where similar dark forces of what might be
called Balkanization are vying with those of freedom to fill the vacuum
left by the collapse of communist totalitarianism.
If there is to be a post-Cold War peace in Europe--and not a cold peace
but a real one--it must be based on the principle of multi-ethnic,
pluralistic democracy. Since the United States is one of the first and
certainly one of the greatest examples of that principle, we have a
stake in seeing that it ultimately prevails in Europe and elsewhere.
So, ladies and gentlemen, for all these reasons, ending the war in
Bosnia is unquestionably in the national interest of the United States.
We have been working toward that objective since the beginning of the
Administration, but only recently have our efforts shown real promise.
President Clinton has long pressed for the vigorous use of NATO airpower
as a necessary component of peace-making. The fall of Srebrenica in
early July was a turning point. It galvanized the willingness of the
international community to do more to protect the UN-designated safe
areas and punish continuing Serb aggression. The London Conference in
late July streamlined the mechanism for backing diplomacy with real
force: no more "dual key;" no more pin-prick air strikes.
Seizing the moment, President Clinton undertook a new diplomatic
initiative. First Tony Lake, then Dick Holbrooke worked the diplomatic
front. Meanwhile, U.S. and NATO warplanes, no longer grounded by the
dual key, reinforced more emphatically than before the message that the
time had come to stop the killing and start talking about the terms for
a lasting political settlement.
Since then, Dick Holbrooke and his team have made real progress. They
have worked in close cooperation with the other members of the Contact
Group--Britain, France, Germany, and Russia--and with the support of
other troop-contributing nations.
In early September, the foreign ministers of Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia
agreed on a set of basic principles for a political settlement. Most
significantly, each of the parties has accepted the continuation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina as a single, multi-ethnic state within its
current, internationally recognized borders. Within that state, the
parties have agreed that there will be two constituent entities. They
have also agreed to work out mechanisms to ensure respect and equality
for all the citizens of Bosnia.
Today, the negotiations move up to the next level. Secretary Christopher
just returned on Monday night from the Middle East--another region that
American leadership is helping to move from war to peace. Five hours
from now, he will welcome the Presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia
to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Representatives of
the other Contact Group countries, along with the envoy of the European
Union, will be there, too.
Secretary Christopher will present the parties with a draft peace
agreement as well as with detailed constitutional and territorial
proposals for a future Bosnian state. The package includes a separation-
of-forces agreement, a proposal for national elections, and an agreement
on the return of refugees. Obviously, there is still a long way to go.
If--and it's still a big "if"--the Dayton talks are successful and the
three heads of state agree on a peace settlement, then the tough work of
implementation will begin. There, , too, the United States must lead.
After four years of brutal war, there is, to put it mildly, little trust
left among the Muslim, Croat, and Serb communities in Bosnia. It will
require an armed international presence to give the parties the
confidence that they need to carry out the settlement. The mission of
the international force will include verifying and, if necessary,
enforcing compliance with the commitments that the parties will have
undertaken in whatever agreement emerges from the Dayton talks.
There is only one organization that can give the parties the necessary
assurance to implement a peace, and that is NATO. That is why President
Clinton, President Chirac, Prime Minister Major, and other leaders have
agreed that if the parties choose the path of peace, then the United
States, France, and the United Kingdom will participate with their
allies in a NATO-led implementation force--IFOR.
Let me stress, as President Clinton has, that IFOR will be deployed only
if the parties agree to a real peace. Let me also note that although
this will be a NATO-led operation, we are also seeking to find ways for
other nations that are not members of the alliance to participate as
well. Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Ukraine,
Pakistan, and Bangladesh have expressed an interest in contributing.
On Monday of last week, Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin reached a
landmark agreement: Russian and U.S. forces will participate together in
the implementation of a Bosnian peace. Last Friday, Bill Perry and his
Russian counterpart, Pavel Grachev, hammered out many of the details.
Russia and the United States will each contribute several thousand
soldiers to a special operations unit under the command of U.S. Army
Gen. George Joulwan. That unit will provide vital engineering,
reconstruction, road-building, bridge repair, mine-clearing, and heavy-
lift services. It represents the most concrete example of U.S.-Russian
military cooperation in the post-Cold War era. It is welcome in its own
right and also as a precedent for the future.
In conclusion, I would like to return to the issue I put before you at
the outset of these remarks: We are, as I said earlier, now in the midst
of a historic debate about America's role in the world. Bosnia is one
test of where we stand, but there will be many others in the months and
years to come.
President Clinton is convinced that the United States has the heart, the
brains, and the muscle to exercise international leadership and to do so
on behalf of our interests and our values. But whether the President's
views win out in the end against those who advocate retreat will depend
in no small measure on how these questions are debated beyond the floor
of the Congress and beyond the Washington Beltway. It will depend on how
they are addressed in Town Hall Meetings and gatherings such as this one
across America. Which is to say, my colleagues from whom you will be
hearing today and I are all counting on you and the groups represented
here to make sure that we, as a nation, ask the right questions--and
that we come up with the right answers.
(###)
U.S. Leadership and the Balkan Challenge
Deputy Secretary Talbott
Remarks at the National Press Club, Washington, DC, November 9, 1995
Thank you, Bud [Karmin]. And thanks to all of you for the chance to be
here today. I have been to many of these events over the years, and I am
glad to return for the first time in an official capacity. I do so to
discuss with you the American effort to bring peace to the former
Yugoslavia. Let me begin with an update on the Dayton talks.
I was out there on Monday to meet with Dick Holbrooke's team, with Carl
Bildt and the Contact Group, and with the leaders of the parties to the
conflict. Most of the draft documents that comprise the overall peace
agreement are now in the hands of the parties. Those include detailed
constitutional and territorial proposals for a future Bosnian state, a
separation-of-forces agreement, a plan for national elections, and an
agreement on the return of refugees. There are, every day, numerous,
intensive meetings on virtually every aspect of the prospective
settlement. President Tudjman returned to Dayton last night. We hope to
use his presence to make some progress on the problem of Eastern
Slavonia. Secretary Christopher will be going to Dayton tomorrow to
provide further high-level support for the process.
That's it. The lid is back on until about this time tomorrow, when you
can tune in with Nick Burns for your next glimpse into what we're
trying, for solid diplomatic reasons, to keep as tightly under wraps as
possible.
What I'd like to do now is step back and look at the larger question of
what's at stake in Dayton. That means having a clear sense of the
consequences for our country and for the world if the talks were to fail
and the Balkans were to be plunged back into war. Then I'd like to look
ahead to the challenge we will face if the Dayton talks succeed.
Many of you have pointed out that the Administration has a tough job of
persuasion here on the home front--up on the Hill but beyond the Beltway
as well. We know it. It's not self-evident to the American people why a
conflict nearly 5,000 miles from here matters enough to justify a heavy
investment of our treasure, prestige, and military resources.
So let me start right there. Bosnia matters to Americans because Europe
matters to America. War in Bosnia threatens the peace of Europe--
particularly, though not exclusively, those parts of Europe that are
emerging from Soviet-era dictatorships. And that means it threatens the
transatlantic community of which we are a part--and of which we are a
leader.
The conflict in the Balkans is a direct consequence of the end of the
Cold War. During that nearly half-century-long struggle, we were
concerned about the spread of communist order. Now that the Cold War is
over, we face a very different threat: the spread of post-communist
disorder.
That danger exists in part because of where the former Yugoslavia is. It
is on a fault line between East and West, between Europe and Asia. If
warfare breaks out anew and continues unabated, it could suck in other
nations to the north, south, and east. Albania could intervene to
protect the ethnic Albanians who live in the southern Serbian province
of Kosovo. Fighting there could cause a massive flow of refugees into
Macedonia, destabilizing that fragile, newly independent country and,
perhaps, drawing in, on opposite sides, Greece and Turkey. A widening of
the war might also tempt Hungary to come to the rescue of ethnic
Hungarians in the Vojvodina region of northern Serbia.
Meanwhile, the entire Islamic world is watching. Muslims everywhere are
waiting to see whether their co-religionists in Bosnia will be accorded
the same rights and protections as other Europeans. The answer to that
question could have an impact on the future of moderate, pro-Western
leaders such as Prime Minister Ciller of Turkey and Prime Minister
Bhutto of Pakistan. Other forces in the Middle East and Persian Gulf see
the Balkans as a target of opportunity. Iran's repeated offer to send
"peacekeepers" to Bosnia is hardly motivated by altruism.
Then there is the fate of NATO. A continuation of the war would threaten
the viability of an organization that is vital to us and to Europe. If
we were to adopt a posture of standing aside with our fingers crossed
behind our backs, we would harm our bilateral relations with Britain,
France, and other allies that have troops on the ground in Bosnia. We
would also discredit the alliance as a whole and our role in it.
Another point: If the fighting in Yugoslavia resumes--and if it
escalates and spreads--it would put increasing strain on relations
between the United States and Russia, and it would do so at a time of
ferment and uncertainty in Russian domestic politics. In short, a new
eruption of fighting in the Balkans would undermine our twin strategic
objectives in Europe. Those are, first, to advance integration between
East and West and, second, to restrain post-communist disintegration in
the East.
So those are the stakes. High stakes justify--indeed, require--bold
action. We must, of course, be hard-headed in assessing the costs and
risks that come with such action. But we must be just as tough-minded in
recognizing the costs and risks that we will incur if we choose
inaction--particularly inaction, or inadequate action, in the face of
atrocities like mass rape, concentration camps, massacres, and forced
deportations. As recently as August, the Bosnian Serb authorities in
Banja Luka made local Muslims wear special white arm bands and marked
their homes with white cloth, all as a prelude to "ethnic cleansing."
That administrative euphemism, coupled with the deja vu of the arm
bands, makes clear what we have been up against in Bosnia: In a word--
and it is the right word--it is genocide in our time, genocide on the
continent of Europe.
At issue here is not just an outrage against humanity but a challenge to
American interests and American leadership. Far away peoples look to us
and count on us not just because of our economic strength and the power
of our armed forces, but also because of what we stand for--and what
we're prepared to act against.
Taking decisive action in the Balkans has been especially difficult.
There were, for a long time, severe limits on what the international
community could do to make peace until the parties themselves were
prepared to do so. But there is no question what is required today. It
is a combination of diplomatic skill and the credible threat of force to
keep the parties at the negotiating table, and that means keeping them
from returning to the battlefield--not to mention the killing fields. It
also means putting an end to genocide and bringing to justice the
perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
That is why we fully support the work of Judge Richard Goldstone and the
United Nations War Crimes Tribunal. We have dispatched 23 officials of
our government to work as prosecutors and researchers for the Tribunal,
and we are fighting on Capitol Hill to preserve its funding. We are also
making an energetic, systematic effort to provide the war crimes
investigators and prosecutors with the facts they need to do their work.
Even when relevant information comes from intelligence or other
classified sources, we'll find a way to get it to Judge Goldstone in a
timely and useful manner. John Shattuck, our Assistant Secretary for
human rights, is now traveling across Bosnia. This is his fourth trip
there in two months. His mission is to mobilize the full resources of
the U.S. Government in the investigation of atrocities and to gather
additional material that we will provide to the Tribunal.
Let me add that all of us recognize the crucial, sometimes heroic role
that the press has played in informing the world about the horror in the
Balkans. You, like we, have lost colleagues. Even with a cease-fire in
place, covering the situation remains dangerous, as we were all reminded
by the ordeal of David Rohde. In talking to Mr. Rohde yesterday,
President Clinton and Secretary Christopher made it clear that we intend
to hold Serb officials to their commitments that Western journalists as
well as Western diplomats will have access to the suspected sites of
human rights violations.
The War Crimes Tribunal has already issued 46 indictments, including
three more this morning, and Judge Goldstone, who will be in Washington
next week, has told us to expect dozens more to come soon. We have made
it clear that no indicted war criminals will be involved in
negotiations, in the signing of agreements, or in subsequent elections.
The peace process will not impede the investigation of atrocities or the
prosecution of those responsible. Indicted war criminals like Dr.
Karadzic and General Mladic should recognize that amnesties and
immunities are not on the table in Dayton or anywhere else. If we or any
other responsible members of the international community apprehend them,
they will get a quick, one-way trip to the courtroom at Churchill Plein
#1 in The Hague.
Let me say a few more words about "ethnic cleansing" in the Balkans and
why that phenomenon, by that or any other name, is not only an issue
of moralpolitik, it is also an issue of realpolitik. Even when the
phrase "ethnic cleansing" means "merely" mass deportation rather than
mass murder, it captures the essence of what is most insidious--and most
contagious--about the catastrophe that has befallen the former
Yugoslavia.
Too many leaders of those republics-turned-independent-states have tried
to define statehood, citizenship, and international boundaries in terms
of ethnic homogeneity and ethnic purity. Hence the dream of Greater
Serbia, which is a nightmare for all non-Serbs, whether they live in
Serbia proper or amid ethnic Serbs in neighboring states.
Equally unacceptable is the idea of an ethnically "pure" Croatia that
would deny the legitimate rights of Croatian Muslims and Serbs. We have
given President Tudjman a clear, unambiguous message, and we have given
it to him in Dayton as well as in Zagreb: If Croatia wants the benefits
of membership in the community of market democracies--if it wants to
enjoy international respectability--then it will have to ensure the non-
Croats in its population have the full rights and protections of
citizenship. Our support for Croatia is contingent on Croatia's
continuing support for the Bosnian Federation. Moreover, we will, along
with our allies, do everything we can to discourage the irredentist
fantasies of any leader in the Balkans. I stress this point because if
aggressive nationalism triumphs in the former Yugoslavia, it will not
only be devastating in that region--it will be ominous elsewhere as
well, especially to the north and to the east.
Throughout the former Soviet empire, dark forces similar to those that
have convulsed the Balkans are vying with those of freedom and tolerance
to fill the partial vacuum left by the collapse of communist rule. Just
to cite one example: The lethal syndrome we often call Balkanization
could just as well be termed Caucasusization. The peoples of Georgia,
Azerbaijan, and Armenia have suffered in much the same way as the people
of the Balkans. If there is to be a post-Cold War peace in Europe--and
not a cold peace, but a real one--it must be based on the principle of
multi-ethnic democracy.
The United States is one of the first and one of the greatest examples
of that principle. What' s more, the civic behavior and constitutional
structures associated with pluralism are conducive to regional peace and
international trade. Hence, it is in our interest that multi-ethnic
democracy ultimately prevails in Europe and elsewhere.
Can those values and institutions ever take hold in the former
Yugoslavia? I realize there is a lot of skepticism if not cynicism on
that point. Many assert, or at least imply, that the conflict among
Serbs, Croats, and Muslims is, quite simply, insoluble; that the region
is a permanent and hopeless quagmire--a word intended to have, in our
ears, cautionary echoes of Vietnam. Listen carefully and you will
sometimes hear in the current debate a hint that there is something in
the air or the water of the Balkans that dooms those wretched people to
slaughter each other. That's often the subliminal message, I believe, of
the cliche about "ancient hatreds."
Having lived in Yugoslavia for two years--and having seen how the South
Slavs could live harmoniously with each other--I find this view wrong-
headed in the extreme. There was nothing predestined about the horror
that has been raging in the Balkans for the past four years. It was
foolish, demagogic local politics, along with short-sighted
international diplomacy, that helped trigger, in the late 1980s and
early 1990s, the third Balkan war of this century.
By the same token, it will take sound, far-sighted diplomacy, including
plenty of American leadership and statesmanship, to head off a
resumption and escalation of that war now. That task will be hard enough
without encumbering ourselves with the excess baggage of historical, not
to mention ethnic, determinism.
Let' s remember, as we put our shoulder to the wheel in the Balkans,
that patience and persistence have paid off in other areas that were
long believed to be in the "too hard" category--the Middle East,
Northern Ireland, and South Africa. There's hope for the former
Yugoslavia, too.
Why is that hope realistic today when it seemed so forlorn only a few
months ago? President Clinton has pressed for the vigorous use of NATO
air power as a necessary component of peacemaking since the early days
of his Presidency. But it took 2 1/2 years for the pieces of the puzzle
to come together in a way that would permit that strategy to work.
The murderous Serb capture of Srebrenica in early July was a turning
point. It moved the international community to take a quantum leap in
what it was willing to do to protect the United Nations-designated safe
areas and to punish continuing Serb aggression. As Secretary
Christopher's urging, the London Conference in late July streamlined the
mechanism for backing diplomacy with real force: no more cumbersome
"dual key" arrangements; no more pinprick air strikes.
Seizing the moment, President Clinton undertook a new diplomatic
initiative. Secretary Christopher, Tony Lake, and Dick Holbrooke worked
the diplomatic front. Meanwhile, U.S. and NATO warplanes, no longer
grounded by the dual key, reinforced much more convincingly than before
the message that the time had come to stop the killing and start talking
about the terms for a lasting political settlement.
Since then, our negotiating team has made real progress. The parties
have accepted the continuation of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a single, multi-
ethnic state within its current, inter- nationally recognized borders.
Within that state, the parties have agreed that there will be two
constituent entities. That arrangement will, we believe, make it
possible for fratricidal passions to cool. The people of Bosnia need
time to recover from the disintegration that they've been through--and
to rediscover first the possibility, then the advantages, of
integration.
If--and it's still a big "if"--the Dayton talks succeed, and the three
heads of state agree on a peace settlement, then the tough work of
implementation will begin. There, too, the United States must lead. That
means we must be willing to send troops. Let me walk you through the
logic of why that is true.
After four years of brutal war, there is, to put it mildly, little trust
left among the different communities in Bosnia. Peace will require an
armed international presence to give the parties the confidence that
they need to carry out the settlement and to begin the long, hard work
of rebuilding and living together again.
Only one organization can enforce a peace, and that is NATO. Both the
parties to the conflict and our NATO allies have made clear that they
are counting on significant U.S. participation in the implementation
force. Without our being there, the force as a whole won't be there, in
which case there will be no peace, and we will face the array of
consequences I have outlined here.
Let me stress, as President Clinton did again yesterday in meeting with
congressional leaders, two points: first, the implementation force will
be deployed only if the parties agree to a real peace, and second, the
force will be militarily formidable. It will be capable not only of
defending itself but also of compelling the parties to the peace
agreement to live up to the commitments embodied in the peace
settlement.
We believe that 12 months is a reasonable period of time for the
implementation force to accomplish its mission. While this will be a
NATO-led operation, other nations, not members of the alliance, will
also participate. So far, more than a dozen states--including Poland,
Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Ukraine, and Pakistan--have
expressed an interest in contributing.
So has Russia. Yesterday, Bill Perry and Pavel Grachev, his Russian
counterpart, met in Brussels to hammer out the details of a joint
operation. It will represent the most concrete example of U.S.-Russian
military cooperation in the post-Cold War era. It is welcome in its own
right and also as a precedent for the future--a future in which we hope
that Russia and the U.S., and for that matter Russia and NATO, will find
numerous ways to work together in building an undivided Europe.
Let me conclude by expanding on that last point: The conflict in the
former Yugoslavia has gone on for far too long; it has been the cause of
far, far too much carnage, too much misery, too much frustration, too
much tension between us and our partners--old and new. All of us wish
that something like the Dayton talks could have taken place a year ago,
better yet two years ago--better still three or four. But we are where
we are, and we must make the best of what we have before us today.
And what we have today is an opportunity, far from certain and still
fraught with danger but, nonetheless, real, to turn Bosnia from a
synonym for past failures and an evil portent for the future into
something positive. Bosnia could yet turn out to be a demonstration,
however belated, of international resolve to meet the first major
challenge to the collective security of post-Cold War Europe.
Taking advantage of this opportunity and passing this test will require
steadfastness in our diplomatic efforts and in our military commitment.
But success will also require public and congressional support. And to
muster and sustain that support, we had better have the best possible
answers to the toughest possible questions--starting with yours right
now.
Thank you very much.
(###)
ARTICLE 3:
The Federation: An Essential Building Block of Peace in Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Secretary Christopher
Statement at the signing of the Agreement Implementing the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio,
November 10, 1995
Thank you. Let me say a few words about what has been achieved here
today.
The Federation is an essential building block of peace in Bosnia and
Herzegovina as a whole. In the peace agreement we are discussing, the
Federation will be one of Bosnia's two constituent parts. For a
settlement to endure, the Federation must be functioning and strong.
A year and a half ago, the United States helped to mediate the agreement
that created the Federation. That agreement saved countless lives by
ending the fighting between the Bosniac and Croat communities of Bosnia
and Herzegovina. Until today, however, many serious obstacles to
implementation remained, including the slow development of common
institutions, restrictions on the freedom of movement within the
Federation, and the continued division of Mostar. Today, the parties
have adopted a plan to resolve each of these problems.
As it is implemented, today's agreement will bring the Federation to
life. It will create common political and economic institutions that
will unite the two communities. It will be a model for inter-ethnic
cooperation and renewed trust in a country that is sorely in need of
both.
This agreement was negotiated under the auspices of the U.S. and German
delegations in Dayton. It certainly could not have been reached without
the determination of President Izetbegovic and of President Tudjman.
The Contact Group and the European Union were also our full partners.
Like the United States, the EU is dedicated to the idea that one
community can be forged from many disparate parts. We share the
conviction that Europe's post-Cold War peace must be based on the
principle of multi-ethnic democracy.
The agreement finally gives the Federation the authority to govern
effectively. The central government of Bosnia and Herzegovina will keep
the powers it needs to preserve the country's sovereignty, including
foreign affairs, trade, and monetary policy. It will transfer most of
its other responsibilities, including police, courts, tax collection,
health, and education to the Federation. The new structures the
agreement creates will replace all of the separate, local Croat and
Muslim authorities on Federation territory.
The agreement commits the Federation to respect the human rights of all
who live within it regardless of their ethnic background and to allow
them to move about its territory freely.Federation authorities will
develop and implement a comprehensive plan to permit refugees and
displaced persons to return to their homes.
The agreement provides for the sharing of revenues and a joint customs
administration. Internal customs check points, which had marred the
Federation before, will be removed. Finally, the parties have agreed to
the reunification of the city of Mostar under a single administration.
Of course, the true test of this agreement will lie in the way it is
carried out. The parties have agreed to report to the United States,
Germany, and the EU every two weeks on the progress they are making. We
will monitor that progress carefully, and we stand ready to help them
however we can.
It will not be easy. But today, we can celebrate another moment of hope
in this long, hard process of building the Federation. The parties have
understood that peace means more than the absence of war. It requires
practical cooperation and the mutual recognition of shared interests. In
the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the ugly alternative is starkly
symbolized by the shattered bridge that once united the city of Mostar.
It is certainly harder to build bridges than it is to tear them down.
And some people, of course, still believe that the conflict between
Muslims, Croats, and Serbs is insoluble. By making the Federation work,
the communities this agreement unites are showing that view to be
cynical and false. After all, until recently, the peoples of Bosnia-
Herzegovina lived together in peace. They deserve a chance to do so
again.
If the Federation can succeed as a multi-ethnic democracy, then so can
Bosnia-Herzegovina as a whole. A comprehensive peace remains our
fundamental challenge here in Dayton. The agreement we signed today is
an important first step and a sign that progress is possible when the
parties are determined to achieve it.
(###)
ARTICLE 4:
Initialing of the Dayton Peace Agreement
Following are remarks by Secretary Christopher; the Presidents of
Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; Representatives of the
European Union; and the Contact Group and negotiating team members at
the signing ceremony, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio,
November 21, 1995.
Secretary Christopher. President Izetbegovic, President Milosevic,
President Tudjman, former Prime Minister Carl Bildt, Deputy Minister
Ivanov, General Shalikashvili, Deputy Secretary White, Senator Jim
Jefforrds, honored colleagues, guests, ladies and gentlemen: Three weeks
ago, the people of the United States welcomed all of us to Dayton and
urged that the three Presidents seize this last best chance for peace in
the former Yugoslavia.
Today, you will leave Dayton with a comprehensive agreement in hand. On
this Thanksgiving weekend, our joint work has made it possible for the
people of Bosnia to spend New Year's Day in peace for the first time in
four years. In a moment, the three Presidents will initial the
agreement. They have come a long way in the last 20 days, and their
initialing here today will signal their determination to stay on the
path of peace.
To the three presidents, I especially want to thank you for your hard
and skillful work over the last 20 days. You have cooperated splendidly
and given a great deal of attention to these tough problems.
I will witness the agreement on behalf of the United States, as will
Carl Bildt on behalf of the European Union and Deputy Minister Ivanov on
behalf of the Russian Federation. The agreement will also be witnessed
by the heads of the other Contact Group missions: Ambassador Jacques
Blot of France; Wolfgang Ischinger of Germany; Pauline Neville-Jones of
the United Kingdom.
Before we begin today, I want to pay a special tribute on behalf of the
United States and the other delegations here to the people of Dayton and
especially to the people of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. With
very little time to prepare for this immensely complicated endeavor, the
people of the base provided us with marvelous support from the very
beginning. They created exactly the right atmosphere for success. Our
choice of Wright-Patterson Air Base here in Dayton turned out to be
better than we could possibly have expected, and we are grateful to all
of you.
Now let's proceed with the initialing of the agreement.
[All parties initial the agreement.]
Secretary Christopher. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached a day that
many believed would never come. After three weeks of intensive
negotiations here in Dayton, the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, and Serbia have agreed to end the war in the former Yugoslavia.
They have agreed that four years of destruction is enough. The time has
come to build peace with justice.
Today's agreement would not have come without the vision and leadership
of President Clinton. The diplomatic and military strategy that he
launched this summer has borne fruit. I'm gratified at the result and
determined that it should be put into effect.
We've come to this hopeful moment because the parties made the
fundamental choice that lasting peace can be achieved here, and they've
done the things that peace requires. We're here because the
international negotiating team successfully led the parties to this
agreement.
Assistant Secretary Holbrooke and his team took a hard and exacting task
and succeeded in a way that will be long-remembered and admired. I also
want to recognize the tireless efforts of somebody who couldn't be here
today, my friend and colleague, National Security Adviser Tony Lake, who
played a very important role all through this endeavor. The European
Union and the members of the Contact Group--Germany, France, the United
Kingdom and Russia--were with us at every critical step of this long
negotiating process.
No one thought that these negotiations would be easy, and all of us here
on the stage can testify to the fact that they were not. Nevertheless,
we got what we wanted--a comprehensive settlement, and one that must now
be implemented. The hard-won commitments that have been initialed today
address the wrenching and fundamental issues for which the war was
fought and which must be resolved if peace is to endure.
Today's agreement assures the continuity of the single state of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, with effective federal institutions, a single currency,
and full respect by its neighbors for its sovereignty. The city of
Sarajevo, which has gripped the attention of the world for such a long
time, will no longer be divided. It will be unified under the Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Checkpoints and closed bridges will no longer
divide the families of that city. All of Bosnia's people will have a
right under these agreements to move freely throughout the country.
Refugees and displaced persons will have a right to return to their
homes or to receive just compensation. Free and democratic elections
will be held next year.
The agreement contains strong human rights provisions. It confirms the
parties' obligations to cooperate fully in the investigation and
prosecution of war crimes. The agreement excludes indicted war criminals
from public office, or military office, in this new government.
The agreement requires the parties to withdraw their armed forces to
agreed positions, and it also provides for important confidence-building
measures among the parties. The parties have pledged to cooperate fully
with a NATO-led peace implementation force and to ensure the safety of
its personnel, and it sets the stage for a comprehensive program of
reconstruction so necessary in that beleaguered country.
Today's agreement certainly does not erase the stark memories of the
past nor does it guarantee that the fabric of the society of Bosnia will
be easily restored. But, still, it is a victory for all of us. It is a
victory for people of every heritage in the former Yugoslavia. It offers
tangible hope that there will be no more days of dodging bullets, no
more winters of freshly dug graves, no more years of isolation from the
outside world.
The agreement is a victory for all of those who believe in a multi-
ethnic democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Securing that goal will
require an immense effort in the days ahead. But that effort can now
begin now that the war that has torn the country apart has finally come
to an end.
The agreement was a victory for all those in the world who believe that
with determination a principled peace is possible. That conviction was
shared by three brave American diplomats who gave their lives in pursuit
of peace in Bosnia--Bob Frasure, Joe Kruzel, and Nelson Drew. We honor
their memories here today. I'm so pleased that their families are able
to be with us in the audience today.
But the victory achieved here will not be secure unless we all get to
work to ensure that the promise of this moment is realized. The parties
have put their solemn commitments on paper. In the coming days and
weeks, they'll have to put these commitments into practice, extending
them to every mayor, every soldier, every police officer on the
territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The United States and the international community will have to work hard
to help them succeed. It is profoundly in our self-interest to do so.
As we move forward, we must be both realistic and clear-eyed. We should
not assume that the people of the former Yugoslavia have resolved all of
their historic differences, but we should also remember that we have now
an opportunity to put behind them the horrors of the last four years.
The war was waged against civilians; it is they who are the real winners
today. The American people should be proud of their help in achieving
this result today. The war in Bosnia has been a challenge not only to
our interests but to our values. By our leadership here, we have upheld
both.
I trust that one day we'll look back at this time and say: Dayton was
the place where fundamental choices were made. This is the place where
the parties chose peace over war, dialogue over destruction, reason over
revenge; and this is where each of us has accepted the challenges to
make the choices made here meaningful and to put them into effect so
that they will endure.
Thank you very much. Now, I would like to introduce former Prime
Minister Carl Bildt.
Prime Minister Bildt. Presidents, Mr. Secretary: It is easy to start a
war but difficult to conclude a peace. What has been achieved here in
Dayton has been achieved not without difficulty, but the important thing
is that it has been achieved. Important as that achievement here of
Dayton is, we must understand that it represents but the beginning of
peace. We must all be deeply aware of the challenges and the
difficulties in the days and the weeks and the months and the years that
lie ahead of us. We'll meet in a short time in Paris to sign these
agreements, and after that we will meet in London to discuss how the
difficult parts of this comprehensive peace package can be properly and
fully implemented.
Because implementation is now the key to true peace in Bosnia and the
region--to take Bosnia to free and fair elections during the next year;
to let all of those who have been forced to flee to other countries or
to inside the region, or inside Bosnia, have the possibility of
returning to their homes, to disarm and demobilize; to start to rebuild
a ruined economy; to secure human rights for each and everyone; to build
that reconciliation that is the road to a future in harmony in Bosnia:
All of this will certainly be difficult. It will also require a massive
effort by the international community to both secure the immediate
military implementation and to help with the decisive political,
humanitarian, and economic implementation. It is those tasks that are
the true keys to the real possibilities of an enduring peace.
The 15 nations of the European Union have already outlined a broad and
comprehensive program of help and assistance and support for all of
Bosnia and for cooperation with all of the region. We are fully prepared
to make our contribution to making this peace work, but decisive will,
of course, be the extent to which all parties themselves are fully
prepared to continue along the path set here in Dayton and to be
confirmed in Paris and London.
I wish to pay tribute to all those that have made the agreement here
possible. First and foremost, of course, to the three presidents--
President Izetbegovic, President Milosevic, and President Tudjman--and
their entire delegations. Without your common determination, without
your statesmanship, nothing would have succeeded.
Also to the American team, so ably led by Secretary Christopher and
Assistant Secretary Holbrooke. Dick, if I might say that--on an official
occasion like this--you did a great job. You deserve a lot of credit for
it. You will be given that officially, but, here, a more personal
tribute from us who have been working with you and with your entire
impressive and very nice team as well; to the colleagues in the Contact
Group, to all the people here at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
Packey's Sports Bar--never to be forgotten--and to all of the people in
Dayton.
War is a terrible thing. Peace is difficult to build. Let the memories
of all of the horrors of war be the force that takes us through the
challenges of peace during the weeks, the months, the days of peace that
are now ahead of us.
Deputy Foreign Minister Ivanov [through interpreter, delayed audio of
interpretation]. achieve solutions corresponding to the present
realities and to the interests of peace.
These decisions, however, will become historic only when they are
implemented. The parties have taken upon themselves obligations and must
strictly abide by them.
Russia intends to continue to actively contribute to the peace process
in Bosnia; in particular, with regard to the implementation of civilian
aspects of the settlement. The decision of Russia's participation in
fulfilling the military aspects of this agreement will be made by us
later and will take into account all the existing conditions. In this
regard, Russia reserves its position in regards to Annex 11(b), which
deals with issues of military implementation.
It is important that simultaneously with the adoption of the peace
agreements, the issue of sanctions is being settled. This will
contribute to stabilization in this region. The agreements have been
difficult to achieve. They don't answer all the questions, but these are
the agreements which we could reach today. It will be even more
difficult to achieve these agreements.
Russia, together with other members of the Contact Group, is ready to do
everything necessary for the earliest achievement of the comprehensive
peaceful settlement of Bosnia. Just now President Yeltsin made an
address on Russian TV where he stressed that Russia would like to see
Bosnia become a democratic, prosperous state, where all the peoples
inhabiting it could live in peace. We shall actively contribute toward
this goal.
In conclusion, on behalf of the Russian delegation, I would like to
express deep appreciation to the U.S. Administration for its hospitality
and excellent working conditions. In particular, we express our
appreciation to you Mr. Secretary of State for your personal
contribution to the achievement of the agreement. Thank you.
President Milosevic. Presidents, Mr. Christopher, ladies and gentlemen:
Due to the successful conclusion of the negotiations in Dayton, this day
will enter into the history as the date of the end of the war in the
area of the former Yugoslavia. In a civil war like this one in Bosnia
there are no winners, and there could be no winners; all are losers.
Only peace is a victory.
The solutions achieved here include painful concessions by all sides.
However, without such concessions, it would be impossible to succeed
here, and peace would be impossible. Therefore, no party should regret
the concessions which were given. Starting with the present day, the war
in Bosnia should be left to the past, while peace and future
cooperation, understanding and economic and cultural development should
enter the scene of the area. I would like to avail myself of this
opportunity to emphasize that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia shall
continue with the same persistence with which it struggled for peace and
equality of peoples in the area during the past years to promote
cooperation and development on equal basis in the best interests of all
countries and people in the region.
Mr. Christopher, I would like to express my gratitude to the people and
the Government of the United States of America--the President, the
American negotiating team headed by Richard Holbrooke, and to you,
personally, for the great efforts the United States invested in the
achievement of peace, expressing at the same time the expectation that
the United States shall take part in the implementation of the agreement
in the same way as they contributed to the achievement of the agreement.
I thank the representatives of the Russian Federation and the
representatives of the European Union for their constructive
cooperation. I would like to pay special tribute to the people of
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the citizens of Dayton for their
cordial hospitality and moral support, which they gave to the success of
the proximity talks. Thank you.
President Izetbegovic. Presidents, Secretary Christopher, Ambassador
Holbrooke, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends: Today is a historic day
for Bosnia and for the rest of the world. For Bosnia because the war, we
hope, will be replaced by peace and for the rest of the world because
the suffering of Bosnia and everything that followed it has been a moral
question of the first rate--and moral questions concern every man and
every woman in the world.
The documents that we have just signed guarantee the sovereignty and
integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and development of an open society
based on tolerance and freedom. This we consider as the main and
greatest result of the just-completed negotiations. We are thoroughly
committed to honor and fulfill the obligations stemming from them. We
plead to America, Europe, the Islamic world, and all the countries in
the world to support us in this important and noble task.
This support and help are especially expected from the United States of
America--from the President of the United States, from the Congress, and
from the American people. Don't hesitate, since by doing so you help to
relieve the suffering of many people and to quell the fire of a
dangerous spot that presents a constant threat to the region and to the
world.
And to my people I say, this may not be a just peace, but it is more
just than a continuation of war. In the situation as it is and in the
world as it is, a better peace could not have been achieved.
God is our witness that we have done everything in our power so that the
extent of injustice for our people and our country would be decreased.
President Tudjman. Mr. Secretary of State, Mr. Co-Chairman of these
peace talks, distinguished presidents, ladies and gentlemen: Let me
express my satisfaction with the fact that we have finally reached a
solution promising lasting peace in Bosnia--that is, in the former
Yugoslavia--after five years of crisis, four years of war, and more than
three years of intensive negotiations. The dramatic character of these
negotiations in which the solution has been reached when everyone
thought that the negotiations had failed also symbolizes all the
complexity and difficulty of this crisis--certainly, the major crisis to
affect Europe after World War II.
The Republic of Croatia has done everything in order to avoid war, and,
when it unfortunately did break out, we have spared no effort in seeking
a peaceful settlement. At this conference, we have also contributed in
every possible respect to achieve a solution.
Thanks to the efforts of the organizers and host, as well as the other
members of the Contact Group, we have reached an agreement which we
believe will bring about the complete cessation of war in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia.
I would like to emphasize my conviction that this agreement will result
in further strengthening of the federation between the Croats and
Bosniacs in accordance with the Washington agreement. In particular, we
look forward to the peaceful integration of the remaining occupied areas
of Croatia and to complete normalization of relations among all the
states emerged from the former Yugoslavia and their people on the ground
on mutual recognition. I believe that the implementation of these
agreements will result in lasting peace and create conditions necessary
for the establishment of a new international order in this part of the
world.
Aware of the complexity of the situations in my letter to President
Clinton a few years ago, I expressed the opinion that only respectable
forces such as NATO would have political and military strength needed
for the implementation of peace. Therefore, I strongly support the
expected arrival of NATO and U.S. forces. And I assure you that the
Republic of Croatia will spare no effort to cooperate with them and
provide them with all necessary assistance in fulfilling their noble
task.
For all these reasons, let me express my gratitude to the United States
of America--President Clinton and Vice President Gore--and all member
states of the Contact Group. In particular, I would stress your role,
dear Mr. Christopher, and that of your co-workers, headed by Mr.
Holbrooke, in organizing these negotiations. Thank you for your efforts,
best evidenced by the several last working nights which, as we see, have
resulted in this historic agreement. Thank you.
Assistant Secretary Holbrooke. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Fourteen weeks
ago--it seems like 14 years--President Clinton launched five of us on a
mission to turn Bosnia from war toward peace. Within a week, we had
suffered the greatest imaginable tragedy--the loss of three cherished
colleagues and friends on Mt. Igman. But they are with us in spirit
today, and we would not be here today without their efforts and their
contribution.
The agreements and territorial arrangements initialed today are a huge
step forward, the biggest by far since the war began. But ahead lies an
equally daunting task: implementation. On every page of the many
complicated documents and annexes initialed here today lie challenges to
both sides to set aside their enmities, their differences, which are
still raw with open wounds. They must work together.
On paper, we have peace. To make it work is our next and our greatest
challenge. A challenge is, of course, also an opportunity. The Contact
Group and many other nations will be there to help, but the peoples of
Bosnia must do it for themselves.
On a personal note, I want to thank my colleagues on our traveling team:
Gen. Wes Clark, Roberts Owen, Chris Hill, Gen. Don Kerrick, Jim Pardew,
Rosemary Pauli-Gikas, and the entire support team for their putting up
with impossible hours, long separations from their family, and, if I
understand what I read in the papers correctly, an occasionally
impossible boss. Also, the augmented team in Dayton and the best support
and guidance from Washington throughout--from Vice President Gore; from
Warren Christopher, my colleague and friend for 19 years; from Bill
Perry; Tony Lake, a colleague and friend for over 30 years; Madeleine
Albright; John Shalikashvili; and, of course, the incredible support we
have gotten from the people of Dayton and, above all, from the Wright-
Patterson Air Force Base, headed by General Viccellio and his team.
It's been a long and winding road for all of us, and it's not over yet--
far from it. The immense difficulties and the roller-coaster ride we
have lived through in Dayton in the last 21 days, and especially in the
last few days, only serves to remind us how much work lies ahead. Let us
pledge, therefore, that this day in Dayton be long-remembered as the day
in which Bosnia and its neighbors turned from war to peace. Thank you.
I'd like to ask Jacques Blot, Pauline Neville-Jones, and Wolfgang
Ischinger--from France, the United Kingdom, and the Federal Republic of
Germany--if they would join me, and I'd like to ask each of them to say
a few words. Come up together, please.
Ambassador Ischinger. Presidents, Mr. Secretary: On behalf of the German
Government, it is my privilege to congratulate the three presidents and
their delegations and all of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the
peace agreement reached today.
After so many months of war and suffering, we move today from war to
peace. This is a moment of joy and great relief for all of us. In
Germany, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Bosnia are sharing this
moment of joy with us today.
My government expresses its firm support for this comprehensive
agreement. We will actively participate in the complex tasks of
implementation which lie ahead. In particular, we are proposing to
launch the arms control negotiations provided for in this agreement with
a conference to be held in Bonn in the coming weeks.
Today's success can be sealed only if the entire peace package will be
faithfully implemented by all of the parties in the weeks and months
ahead. That is our common challenge.
Today's success is also a success for the Contact Group, which has been
able to make significant contributions to the agreement which has just
been initialed. My special tribute goes to Carl Bildt, the negotiator of
the European Union. Our thanks go to our American hosts--to you, Mr.
Secretary, to Dick Holbrooke, to all the members of his very able team,
and to the people of Dayton, Ohio, for the gracious hospitality which we
have been offered here in Dayton for three full weeks. Thank you very
much.
Ambassador Blot [through interpreter]. Presidents, Mr. Secretary of
State: With our permission, as a small contribution, I would like to
speak French.
With the contribution of all the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina who
have suffered so much, France is very satisfied to see that the
agreements concluded today [inaudible] have gone toward peace. We would
like to pay tribute and the courage to all those who have chosen the--.
. . . [audio difficulties/interpretation not broadcast.]
[Interpretation, continuing]... We would like to hail your personal
efforts, Mr. Presidents. Since the beginning of the war, France has
spared no effort to help Bosnia and Herzegovina to find peace again.
With other European countries, France has undertaken a number of
actions. France participated in the actions of the Contact Group. Here,
Mr. Secretary, in Dayton, France has given its support. [audio
difficulties/inaudible]
[Interpretation continuing ... by their signature in the conference to
which they are invited by the President of France in December. It is
important that each community understands that without cooperation,
nothing will be realized. Very quickly it will be also necessary to take
action to help ensure that each community, especially in Sarajevo, will
be assured that its security has become real.
France will bring its contribution to the implementation of the
agreements reached in Dayton and to be signed in Paris in the military
field, where its forces will participate at the NATO operations or with
its partners at the European Union for the civilian aspects of it. And
France [audio difficulties] to do everything that will ensure the
identity of a united political, cultural, democratic Bosnia and
Herzegovina which will, like all the other states of the former
Yugoslavia, find its place in Europe.
Ms. Pauline Neville-Jones. Mr. Secretary, Presidents, ladies and
gentlemen: I'd like to add my thanks to those of the previous speakers
for the generous hospitality shown us here by the base commander and
also by the people of Dayton. We have been made to feel very welcome for
the important work that we've carried out here.
I would also like to congratulate the presidents for having signed and
the United States Administration for the energy and the determination
that has been shown in leading these talks to success. Everybody who's
been involved in them knows that they were not easy.
I think this positive outcome demonstrates the importance of the Contact
Group process. Dick (Holbrooke), with whom other members of the Contact
Group have been working closely for a long time, I'd like to thank you
personally for the contribution that you have made. I think everybody
knows how important it's been. It's been a privilege, Mr. Secretary, to
work with your colleague.
This agreement is a landmark in the history of Bosnia, and if it is
implemented, it will open the way to a prosperous and secure future for
the people of that country in both entities. It is a huge opportunity,
but it does depend upon implementation. These agreements are not self-
implementing.
We look to the Bosnian parties to comply with their obligations. They
know that, for they have undertaken to cooperate with the international
community actively. We welcome that, and we want to help because the
opportunity there is to restore this country to normality and to set it
on a new path. It is at the end of the day only the people of Bosnia who
can achieve that outcome.
I'd like to say on behalf of the United Kingdom that we will play a full
part in that process. We shall play, for one thing, a central role in
the NATO-led international implementation force that I hope will shortly
be able to deploy. We, as you know, already have troops in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. We have, indeed, suffered loss of life. We want to make
good on that investment with the help of the people of Bosnia.
My government will also contribute to reconstruction and to development.
We want to develop a direct and dynamic relationship between Bosnia and
the European Union, and we will do that with our European partners.
I'd just like to say in conclusion that the British Government will host
a conference at ministerial level in London, probably on 8-9 December,
concerned with the implementation of the peace settlement that has been
initialed today. We shall do that in the presence of Bosnian
representatives. The object will be to get agreement in the
international community on the future program for implementation of the
civilian aspects of the Dayton Agreement.
Mr. Secretary, Presidents, ladies and gentlemen: I just want to say one
other thing, which is that, for me personally, this has been a very
great privilege to have been able to make some small contribution to the
conclusion of this important settlement that was initialed today. Thank
you.
Assistant Secretary Holbrooke. Mr. Secretary, in your name and on behalf
of the President of the United States, the people of Dayton and this air
base, we're about to close the proceedings. Before we do, I wonder if we
could ask the three presidents to stand up and for us to join them
standing and express our appreciation for what they've done in Dayton
and our hopes for the future.
Secretary Christopher. Ladies and gentlemen, the next step in this
important process will be a peace conference to be held in Paris some
time in mid-December. That will be an important formal step in this
process that was launched here today by the initialing of these
agreements.
We appreciate all of your attendance here today to help us mark this
important occasion. Thank you very much for coming, and now the meeting
is adjourned.
(###)
ARTICLE 5:
The Dayton Peace Agreement: Building Peace With Justice
Secretary Christopher
Remarks at the initialing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, Wright-
Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, November 21, 1995
President Izetbegovic, President Milosevic, President Tudjman, Mr.
Bildt, Deputy Minister Ivanov, General Shalikashvili, Deputy Secretary
White, honored colleagues and guests: We have reached a day many
believed would never come. After three weeks of intensive negotiations
in Dayton, the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia
have agreed to end the war in the former Yugoslavia. They have agreed
that four years of destruction is enough. The time has come to build
peace with justice.
Today's agreement would not have come without the vision and leadership
of President Clinton. The diplomatic and military strategy that he
launched this summer has borne fruit. I am gratified at the result and
determined to see that it is implemented.
We have come to this hopeful moment because the parties made the
fundamental choices that lasting peace will require. And we are here
because our international negotiating team successfully led the parties
to agreement. Assistant Secretary Holbrooke and his team took on a hard,
exhausting task and succeeded in a way that will long be remembered and
admired. I also want to recognize the tireless efforts of my friend and
colleague, National Security Adviser Tony Lake. The European Union and
the members of the Contact Group--Germany, France, the United Kingdom,
and Russia--were with us every critical step of the way.
No one thought these negotiations would be easy, and all of us on this
stage can tell you they were not. What we wanted was a comprehensive
settlement, and that is what we have achieved. The hard-won commitments
we will initial today address the wrenching and fundamental issues over
which the war was fought.
Today's agreement assures the continuity of a single state of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, with effective federal institutions, a single currency, and
full respect by its neighbors for its sovereignty. The city of Sarajevo,
which has gripped the world's attention for the last four years, will no
longer be divided. It will be reunified under the Federation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina. Checkpoints and closed bridges will no longer divide
its families. All Bosnia's people will have the right to move freely
throughout the country. Refugees and displaced persons will have the
right to return home or to obtain just compensation. Free and democratic
elections will be held next year
The agreement contains strong human rights protections. It confirms the
parties' obligation to cooperate fully in the investigation and
prosecution of war crimes. It excludes indicted war criminals from
military or government office.
The agreement requires the parties to withdraw their forces to agreed
positions and provides for important confidence-building measures among
them. The parties have pledged to cooperate fully with a NATO-led peace
implementation force and to ensure the safety of its personnel. And it
sets the stage for a comprehensive program of economic reconstruction.
Today's agreement certainly does not erase memories of what has come
before or guarantee that the fabric of Bosnia's society will easily be
restored. But still, it is a victory for us all. The agreement is a
victory for people of every heritage in the former Yugoslavia. It offers
tangible hope that there will be no more days of dodging bullets, no
more winters of freshly dug graves, and no more years of isolation from
the outside world.
The agreement is a victory for all those who believe in a multi-ethnic
democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Securing that goal will require an
immense effort in the days ahead. But that effort can now begin as the
war that has torn Bosnia apart finally comes to an end.
The agreement is a victory for all those in the world who believed that
with determination, a principled peace is possible. That conviction was
shared by the three brave American diplomats who gave their lives in
pursuit of peace in Bosnia--Bob Frasure, Joe Kruzel, and Nelson Drew. We
honor their memories. I am so pleased that their families are with us
today.
But this victory will not be secure unless we all get to work to ensure
that the promise of this moment is realized. The parties have put a
solemn set of commitments on paper. In the coming days and weeks, they
will have to put them into practice--extending them to every mayor,
every soldier, every police officer in their territory. The United
States and the international community will continue to help them
succeed. It is profoundly in our self-interest to do so.
As we move forward, we must be realistic and clear-eyed. We should not
assume that the people of the former Yugoslavia have resolved all their
differences. But we should also remember that we can now begin to leave
behind the horrors of the last four years. This war was waged against
civilians; it is they who are the real winners today. The American
people should be proud of that achievement. The war in Bosnia has been a
challenge to our interests and our values. By our leadership here, we
have upheld both.
I trust that one day, people will look back on Dayton and say: This is
the place where the fundamental choices were made; this is where the
parties chose peace over war, dialogue over destruction, and reason
over revenge; this is where each of us accepted the challenge to make
those choices meaningful and to make them endure. Thank you.
[Box Item]
Culmination of Intense Diplomatic Negotiations
Remarks to the press by Secretary Christopher following the initialing
of the Dayton Peace Agreement, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton,
Ohio, November 21, 1995.
Good afternoon again. Today's event, obviously, marks the culmination of
a diplomatic process that has gone on for several weeks--indeed, several
months. I marked the beginning of it about the time of the London
Conference.
We pursued the diplomatic initiative very aggressively after that. Tony
Lake's trip to the capitals of Europe, followed by NATO action to
determine that there would be decisive air action if there were further
attacks on safe areas; the attack on Sarajevo responded to by a very
strong air campaign; shuttle diplomacy then commenced by Ambassador
Holbrooke and the American team, aided by the Contact Group and others.
That is what has brought us to today.
Throughout this period, we followed a series of principles, and I think
you will find them reflected in the agreement--throughout the agreement-
-when you have an opportunity to study it more fully.
First, there should be a single Bosnian state, with a single
international personality, and a commitment to its internationally
recognized borders; a federal government representing all the people of
Bosnia with foreign policy powers and other national government powers;
democratic elections to be held next year; and strong guarantees of
human rights.
Finally, let me say that diplomacy is about more than technicalities and
paper. Diplomacy is about people. We ought to concentrate on the fact
that there will be a different kind of winter in Sarajevo this winter--a
different kind of winter in Bosnia. The starving and suffering, the
hunger, the cold, the freezing--those, we hope, are things of the past.
This agreement determines that that can be made a thing of the past.
There will be considerable national debate commencing in the United
States. It is important that the people of America remember the stark,
terrible images of the last four years of people dying and freezing,
people hungry, people in camps. Those are the things that we should have
in our mind when we engage on this national debate which will determine
whether the United States continues to play its leadership role in the
world.
[End Box Item]
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ARTICLE 6:
Agreement Reached on Peace In the Balkans
President Clinton
Statement in the White House Rose Garden, Washington, DC, November 21,
1995
Good morning. About an hour ago, I spoke with Secretary Christopher in
Dayton, Ohio. He informed me that the Presidents
of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia have reached a peace agreement to end the
war in Bosnia--to end the worst conflict in Europe since World War II.
After nearly four years of 250,000 people killed, 2 million refugees,
and atrocities that have appalled people all over the world, the people
of Bosnia finally have a chance to turn from the horror of war to the
promise of peace.
The Presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia have made a historic and
heroic choice. They have heeded the will of their people. Whatever their
ethnic group, the overwhelming majority of Bosnia citizens and the
citizens of Croatia and Serbia want the same thing. They want to stop
the slaughter; they want to put an end to the violence and war; they
want to give their children and their grandchildren a chance to lead a
normal life. Today, thank God, the voices of those people have been
heard.
I want to congratulate America's negotiating team, led by Secretary
Christopher and Ambassador Holbrooke, for their extraordinary service.
Their determination, along with that of our European and Russian
partners, along with NATO's resolve, brought the parties to the
negotiating table. Then their single-minded pursuit of peace in Dayton
made today's agreement a possibility and, eventually, a reality.
The people of Bosnia, the American people, indeed, people throughout the
world should be very thankful for this event today. The peace plan
agreed to would preserve Bosnia as a single state within its present
borders and with international recognition. The state will be made up of
two parts--the Bosnian Croat Federation and the Bosnian Serb Republic--
with a fair distribution of land between the two. The capital city of
Sarajevo will remain united.
There will be an effective central government, including a national
parliament; a presidency; and a constitutional court, with
responsibility for foreign policy, foreign trade, monetary policy,
citizenship, immigration, and other important functions.
The presidency and the parliament will be chosen through free democratic
elections, held under international supervision. Refugees will be
allowed to return to their homes, people will be able to move freely
throughout Bosnia, and the human rights of every Bosnian citizen will be
monitored by an independent commission and an internationally trained
civilian police. Those individuals charged with war crimes will be
excluded from political life.
Now that the parties to the war have made a serious commitment to peace,
we must help them to make it work. All the parties have asked for a
strong international force to supervise the separation of forces and to
give them confidence that each side will live up to their agreements.
Only NATO can do that job, and the United States as NATO's leader must
play an essential role in this mission. Without us, the hard-won peace
would be lost, the war would resume, the slaughter of innocents would
begin again--and the conflict that already has claimed so many people
could spread like poison throughout the entire region.
We are at a decisive moment. The parties have chosen peace. America must
choose peace as well. Now that a detailed settlement has been reached,
NATO will rapidly complete its planning for the implementation force
known as IFOR. The plan soon will be submitted to me for review and for
approval. As of now, we expect that about one-third of IFOR's force will
be American. The rest will come from our NATO partners and from other
nations throughout the world.
At the same time, once the agreement is signed, the international
community will initiate a parallel program to provide humanitarian
relief, to begin the job of rebuilding, to help the thousands of
refugees return to their homes, to monitor free elections--in short, to
help the Bosnian people create the conditions of lasting peace.
The NATO military mission will be clear and limited. Our troops will
take their orders only from the American general who commands NATO. They
will have authority to meet any threat to their safety or any violation
of the peace agreement with immediate and decisive force. And there will
be a reasonable timetable for their withdrawal.
I am satisfied that the NATO implementation plan is clear, limited, and
achievable and that the risks to our troops are minimized. I will
promptly consult with Congress when I receive this plan, and, if I am
fully satisfied with it when I see it in its final form, I will ask
Congress to support American participation.
The central fact for us as Americans is this: Our leadership made this
peace agreement possible and helped to bring an end to the senseless
slaughter of so many innocent people that our fellow citizens had to
watch night after night after night for four long years on their
television screens. Now American leadership--together with our allies--
is needed to make this peace real and enduring. Our values, our
interests, and our leadership all over the world are at stake.
I ask all Americans during this Thanksgiving week to take some time to
say a simple prayer of thanksgiving that this peace has been reached,
that our nation was able to play an important role in stopping the
suffering and the slaughter. May God bless the peace and the United
States.
(###)
ARTICLE 7:
U.S. Support for Implementing The Bosnian Peace Agreement
President Clinton
Address to the nation, Washington, DC, November 27, 1995
Good evening. Last week, the warring factions in Bosnia reached a peace
agreement as a result of our efforts in Dayton, Ohio, and the support of
our European and Russian partners. Tonight, I want to speak with you
about implementing the Bosnian peace agreement and why our values and
interests as Americans require that we participate.
Let me say at the outset that America's role will not be about fighting
a war; it will be about helping the people of Bosnia to secure their own
peace agreement. Our mission will be limited, focused, and under the
command of an American general.
In fulfilling this mission, we will have the chance to help stop the
killing of innocent civilians, especially children, and, at the same
time, to bring stability to Central Europe, a region of the world that
is vital to our national interests. It is the right thing to do.
From our birth, America has always been more than just a place. America
has embodied an idea that has become the ideal for billions of people
throughout the world. Our founders said it best: America is about life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In this century especially, America has done more than simply stand for
these ideals. We have acted on them and sacrificed for them. Our people
fought two world wars so that freedom could triumph over tyranny. After
World War I, we pulled back from the world, leaving a vacuum that was
filled by the forces of hatred. After World War II, we continued to lead
the world. We made the commitments that kept the peace, that helped to
spread democracy, that created unparalleled prosperity, and that brought
victory in the Cold War.
Today, because of our dedication, America's ideals--liberty, democracy,
and peace--are more and more the aspirations of people everywhere in the
world. It is the power of our ideas--even more than our size, our
wealth, and our military might--that makes America a uniquely trusted
nation.
With the Cold War over, some people now question the need for our
continued active leadership in the world. They believe that, much like
after World War I, America can now step back from the responsibilities
of leadership. They argue that to be secure, we need only to keep our
own borders safe and that the time has come now to leave to others the
hard work of leadership beyond our borders; I strongly disagree.
As the Cold War gives way to the global village, our leadership is
needed more than ever, because problems that start beyond our borders
can quickly become problems within them. We are all vulnerable to the
organized forces of intolerance and destruction; terrorism; ethnic,
religious, and regional rivalries; the spread of organized crime;
weapons of mass destruction; and drug trafficking. Just as surely as
fascism and communism, these forces also threaten freedom and democracy,
peace and prosperity. And they, too, demand American leadership.
Nowhere has the argument for our leadership been more clearly justified
than in the struggle to stop or prevent war and civil violence. From
Iraq to Haiti, from South Africa to Korea, from the Middle East to
Northern Ireland, we have stood up for peace and freedom because it is
in our interest to do so, and because it is the right thing to do.
Now, that doesn't mean we can solve every problem. My duty as President
is to match the demands for American leadership to our strategic
interest and to our ability to make a difference. America cannot and
must not be the world's policeman. We cannot stop all war for all time,
but we can stop some wars. We cannot save all women and all children,
but we can save many of them. We can't do everything, but we must do
what we can.
There are times and places where our leadership can mean the difference
between peace and war and where we can defend our fundamental values as
a people and serve our most basic, strategic interests. My fellow
Americans, in this new era there are still times when America and
America alone can and should make the difference for peace. The terrible
war in Bosnia is such a case. Nowhere today is the need for American
leadership more stark or more immediate than in Bosnia.
For nearly four years, a terrible war has torn Bosnia apart. Horrors we
prayed had been banished from Europe forever have been seared into our
minds again. Skeletal prisoners caged behind barbed-wire fences; women
and girls raped as a tool of war; defenseless men and boys shot down
into mass graves, evoking visions of World War II concentration camps;
and endless lines of refugees marching toward a future of despair.
When I took office, some were urging immediate intervention in the
conflict. I decided that American ground troops should not fight a war
in Bosnia because the United States could not force peace on Bosnia's
warring ethnic groups--the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims. Instead, America
has worked with our European allies in searching for peace, stopping the
war from spreading, and easing the suffering of the Bosnian people.
We imposed tough economic sanctions on Serbia. We used our air power to
conduct the longest humanitarian airlift in history and to enforce a no-
fly zone that took the war out of the skies. We helped to make peace
between two of the three warring parties--the Muslims and the Croats.
But as the months of war turned into years, it became clear that Europe
alone could not end the conflict.
This summer, Bosnian Serb shelling once again turned Bosnia's play-
grounds and marketplaces into killing fields. In response, the United
States led NATO's heavy and continuous air strikes, many of them flown
by skilled and brave American pilots. Those air strikes--together with
the renewed determination of our European partners and the Bosnian and
Croat gains on the battlefield--convinced the Serbs, finally, to start
thinking about making peace.
At the same time, the United States initiated an intensive diplomatic
effort that forged a Bosnia-wide cease-fire and got the parties to agree
to the basic principles of peace. Three dedicated American diplomats--
Bob Frasure, Joe Kruzel, and Nelson Drew--lost their lives in that
effort. Tonight, we remember their sacrifice and that of their families.
And we will never forget their exceptional service to our nation.
Finally, just three weeks ago, the Muslims, Croats, and Serbs came to
Dayton, Ohio, in America's heartland, to negotiate a settlement. There,
exhausted by war, they made a commitment to peace. They agreed to put
down their guns; to preserve Bosnia as a single state; to investigate
and prosecute war criminals; to protect the human rights of all
citizens; to try to build a peaceful, democratic future. And they asked
for America's help as they implement this peace agreement.
America has a responsibility to answer that request; to help to turn
this moment of hope into an enduring reality. To do that, troops from
our country and around the world would go into Bosnia to give them the
confidence and support they need to implement their peace plan. I refuse
to send American troops to fight a war in Bosnia, but I believe we must
help to secure the Bosnian peace. I want you to know tonight what is at
stake, exactly what our troops will be asked to accomplish, and why we
must carry out our responsibility to help implement the peace agreement.
Implementing the agreement in Bosnia can end the terrible suffering of
the people--the warfare, the mass executions, the ethnic cleansing, the
campaigns of rape and terror. Let us never forget that a quarter of a
million men, women, and children have been shelled, shot, and tortured
to death. Two million people--half of the population--were forced from
their homes and into a miserable life as refugees. And these faceless
numbers hide millions of real personal tragedies; for each of the war's
victims was a mother or daughter, a father or son, a brother or sister.
Now the war is over. American leadership created the chance to build a
peace and stop the suffering. Securing peace in Bosnia will also help to
build a free and stable Europe. Bosnia lies at the very heart of Europe,
next-door to many of its fragile new democracies and some of our closest
allies. Generations of Americans have understood that Europe's freedom
and Europe's stability is vital to our own national security. That's why
we fought two wars in Europe; that's why we launched the Marshall Plan
to restore Europe; that's why we created NATO and waged the Cold War;
and that's why we must help the nations of Europe to end their worst
nightmare since World War II--now.
The only force capable of getting this job done is NATO--the powerful,
military alliance of democracies that has guaranteed our security for
half a century now. And as NATO's leader and the primary broker of the
peace agreement, the United States must be an essential part of the
mission. If we're not there, NATO will not be there. The peace will
collapse; the war will reignite; and the slaughter of innocents will
begin again. A conflict that already has claimed so many victims could
spread like poison throughout the region, eat away at Europe's
stability, and erode our partnership with our European allies.
America's commitment to leadership will be questioned if we refuse to
participate in implementing a peace agreement that we brokered right
here in the United States, especially since the presidents of Bosnia,
Croatia, and Serbia all asked us to participate and all pledged their
best efforts to the security of our troops.
When America's partnerships are weak and our leadership is in doubt, it
undermines our ability to secure our interests and to convince others to
work with us. If we do maintain our partnerships and our leadership, we
need not act alone. As we saw in the Gulf war and in Haiti, many other
nations who share our goals will also share our burdens. But when
America does not lead, the consequences can be very grave, not only for
others, but eventually for us as well.
As I speak to you, NATO is completing its planning for IFOR, an
international force for peace in Bosnia of about 60,000 troops. Already,
more than 25 other nations, including our major NATO allies, have
pledged to take part. They will contribute about two-thirds of the total
implementation force, some 40,000 troops. The United States would
contribute the rest, about 20,000 soldiers.
Later this week, the final NATO plan will be submitted to me for review
and approval. Let me make clear what I expect it to include, and what it
must include, for me to give final approval to the participation of our
armed forces.
First, the mission will be precisely defined with clear, realistic goals
that can be achieved in a definite period of time. Our troops will make
sure that each side withdraws its forces behind the front lines and
keeps them there. They will maintain the cease-fire to prevent the war
from accidentally starting again. These efforts, in turn, will help to
create a secure environment, so that the people of Bosnia can return to
their homes, vote in free elections, and begin to rebuild their lives.
Our Joint Chiefs of Staff have concluded that this mission should and
will take about one year.
Second, the risks to our troops will be minimized. American troops will
take their orders from the American general who commands NATO. They will
be heavily armed and thoroughly trained. By making an overwhelming show
of force, they will lessen the need to use force. But unlike the UN
forces, they will have the authority to respond immediately and the
training and the equipment to respond with overwhelming force to any
threat to their own safety or any violations of the military provisions
of the peace agreement.
If the NATO plan meets with my approval, I will immediately send it to
Congress and request its support. I will also authorize the
participation of a small number of American troops in a NATO advance
mission that will lay the groundwork for IFOR, starting sometime next
week. They will establish headquarters and set up the sophisticated
communication systems that must be in place before NATO can send in its
troops, tanks, and trucks to Bosnia.
The implementation force itself would begin deploying in Bosnia in the
days following the formal signature of the peace agreement in mid-
December. The international community will help to implement arms
control provisions of the agreement so that future hostilities are less
likely and armaments are limited, while the world community--the United
States and others--will also make sure that the Bosnian Federation has
the means to defend itself once IFOR withdraws. IFOR will not be a part
of this effort.
Civilian agencies from around the world will begin a separate program of
humanitarian relief and reconstruction, principally paid for by our
European allies and other interested countries. This effort is also
absolutely essential to making the peace endure. It will bring the
people of Bosnia the food, shelter, clothing, and medicine so many have
been denied for so long. It will help them to rebuild--to rebuild their
roads and schools, their power plants and hospitals, their factories and
shops. It will reunite children with their parents and families with
their homes. It will allow the Bosnians to freely choose their own
leaders. It will give all the people of Bosnia a much greater stake in
peace than war, so that peace takes on a life and a logic of its own.
In Bosnia, we can and will succeed because our mission is clear and
limited and our troops are strong and very well-prepared. But, my fellow
Americans, no deployment of American troops is risk-free, and this one
may well involve casualties. There may be accidents in the field or
incidents with people who have not given up their hatred. I will take
every measure possible to minimize these risks, but we must be prepared
for that possibility.
As President, my most difficult duty is to put the men and women who
volunteer to serve our nation in harm's way when our interests and
values demand it. I assume full responsibility for any harm that may
come to them. But anyone contemplating any action that would endanger
our troops should know this: America protects its own. Anyone--anyone--
who takes on our troops will suffer the consequences. We will fight fire
with fire--and then some.
After so much bloodshed and loss, after so many outrageous acts of
inhuman brutality, it will take an extraordinary effort of will for the
people of Bosnia to pull themselves from their past and start building a
future of peace. But with our leadership and the commitment of our
allies, the people of Bosnia can have the chance to decide their future
in peace. They have a chance to remind the world that just a few short
years ago, the mosques and churches of Sarajevo were a shining symbol of
multi-ethnic tolerance; that Bosnia once found unity in its diversity.
Indeed, the cemetery in the center of the city was just a few short
years ago a magnificent stadium which hosted the Olympics--our universal
symbol of peace and harmony. Bosnia can be that kind of place again. We
must not turn our backs on Bosnia now.
And so I ask all Americans, and I ask every Member of Congress--
Democrat and Republican alike--to make the choice for peace. In the
choice between peace and war, America must choose peace.
My fellow Americans, I ask you to think just for a moment about this
century that is drawing to a close and the new one that will soon begin.
Because previous generations of Americans stood up for freedom and
because we continue to do so, the American people are more secure and
more prosperous. All around the world, more people than ever before live
in freedom; more people than ever before are treated with dignity; more
people than ever before can hope to build a better life. That is what
America's leadership is all about.
We know that these are the blessings of freedom, and America has always
been freedom's greatest champion. If we continue to do everything we can
to share these blessings with people around the world, if we continue to
be leaders for peace, then the next century can be the greatest time our
nation has ever known.
A few weeks ago, I was privileged to spend some time with His Holiness,
Pope John Paul, II, when he came to America. At the very end of our
meeting, the Pope looked at me and said,:
"I have lived through most of this century. The 20th century began with
a war in Sarajevo. Mr. President, you must not let it end with a war in
Sarajevo."
In Bosnia, this terrible war has challenged our interests and troubled
our souls. Thankfully, we can do something about it. I say again, our
mission will be clear, limited, and achievable. The people of Bosnia,
our NATO allies, and people all around the world are now looking to
America for leadership. So let us lead. That is our responsibility as
Americans. Goodnight, and God bless America.
(###)
ARTICLE 8:
Peace in Bosnia: A Dividend Of American Leadership
President Clinton
Remarks to the Committee for American Leadership in Bosnia, Washington,
DC, December 6, 1995
I want to welcome this distinguished group of Americans to the White
House. Each of you has worked very hard throughout your career to
preserve and to project America's leadership around the world. Today you
have joined across partisan lines to make a strong case for America's
leadership in Bosnia, and I thank you for that.
I welcome the support that you and others, including Presidents Bush and
Ford, have shown for our troops and our efforts to secure peace in
Bosnia. All of you represent a spirit that has helped keep our country
strong. Regardless of party or political differences, you've stood up
for America's leadership on behalf of our interests and our values.
Many of you have been working for peace in Bosnia since that terrible
war began. Now that the Balkan leaders have made a commitment to peace,
you know that we