US position and proposed actions concerning the Yugoslav crisis - address by Assistant Secretary for European and Canadian Affairs Thomas M.T. Niles - Transcript

US Department of State Dispatch, August 17, 1992

Mr. Chairman, now more than 1 year old, the Yugoslav crisis has come to dominate foreign policy news. The images and the reporting from that unhappy land remind us of past tragedies in Europe and pose serious questions about the nature of post-Cold War Europe.

From the outset of the crisis, in June 1991, the United States has taken a leading role in seeking to find a peaceful solution while deterring Serbian aggression and providing urgently needed humanitarian relief. Today, I would like briefly to review our position and outline the actions we propose to take, particularly as regards the humanitarian nightmare in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

In his August 6 statement, the President laid out a six-point program which we are following.

* We are working, through a new UNSC [UN Security Council] resolution, to ensure, through the use of all necessary means, the delivery of humanitarian aid and the opening of any and all detention centers to international inspection and the guarantee of proper treatment, medical care, and nourishment of those detained.

* We are establishing immediately full diplomatic relations with Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, further to support their governments.

* We are working with the international community to place monitors in neighboring states to help assure strict compliance with the UN sanctions against Serbia-Montenegro.

* We are engaging in preventative diplomacy to preclude the conflict from spreading into Kosovo, Vojvodina, the Sandzak area, or Macedonia.

* We are proposing that the international community place monitors in neighboring states to limit the risk of the conflict spreading.

* And we are consulting with our allies in NATO on all aspects of the crisis and how NATO might be of assistance to the United Nations.

Our experience over the past year has shown that none of this will be easy. The determination of [Serbian] President Milosevic to create "greater Serbia," despite the cost in lives and property and the devastation of Serbia's economy, poses an enormous challenge to the international community. We must be firm in our refusal to accept the results of the Serbian aggression and, working with our allies, stand for the rule of law and respect for human rights.

Delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Bosnia-Hercegovina is proving to be a major challenge. Fighting continues to disrupt aid deliveries. On August 4, UNPROFOR [UN Protective Force] had to shut down the Sarajevo airlift because of heavy fighting. Fortunately, it re-opened on August 8, but no one can predict when renewed fighting will force it to close again. On August 5, UNPROFOR had to halt a land convoy on the outskirts of Sarajevo because of security concerns - this was only the second sizeable convoy attempted recently. And we have seen repeated, failed attempts to get international aid to Gorazde and other besieged Bosnian cities. As we plan ahead - and we must - we see winter coming: a further serious complication with as many as 2 million refugees on the move in former Yugoslavia. Many of the land routes we would like to use now - but can't because of fighting - will, in addition, be blocked by snow. Many refugees who can survive outdoors today cannot survive in freezing temperatures, which start about November, so there is considerable urgency in this situation.

Because of continued fighting now, because the conditions for aid delivery may worsen, and because we know we will face enormous problems from the weather, we need to be prepared for the worst contingencies. Obviously, we hope that conditions can be created to enable us to deliver humanitarian supplies without the use of force. However, our experience to date indicates that more may be needed to demonstrate the determination of the world community to aid the people of Bosnia in this difficult time. Thus, as President Bush announced August 6, we are working with our allies and other members of the UN Security Council to secure a new UN Security Council resolution which would authorize the use of all necessary measures to deliver humanitarian aid. We hope we will obtain a consensus quickly which will allow us to proceed with the necessary planning and deliveries.

We are also seeking as part of that resolution a demand for access to any and all detention centers in the former Yugoslavia by the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and other neutral humanitarian organizations. As a matter of principle, it is absolutely vital to reveal the truth. And this applies equally to all sides. The Serbs, again, appear to be the primary, but probably not the sole, abusers. This is part of a consistent pattern of Serbian abuses of the human rights of other groups, whether in Kosovo, in Croatia, or in Bosnia.

On August 4, we proposed and we obtained a statement by the President of the Security Council which endorsed our demand for access to all detention facilities and reminded those involved that they may well be held individually responsible for breaches of the Geneva Conventions. Adoption of the proposed resolution would strengthen that demand.