YouSaid · the spoken record

Ahmed Ali

lines on the record
19
first
1994-04-27
most recent
1994-04-27
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “In case these efforts fail to produce the desired results, we shall seek to convene an urgent session of the General Assembly with a view to seeking peace with justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for convening this meeting. We appreciate your decision to chair this meeting personally. We are conscious of your country's strong advocacy of the application of principles of equity and justice in the resolution of conflicts. I conclude in the hope that under your wise leadership we shall move forward in finding a just and honourable solution to this tragic conflict and in ensuring permanent security for the besieged people of Gorazde.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  2. “The Ministers expressed support for the convening of an international peace conference on former Yugoslavia and have determined that the Organization of the Islamic Conference Contact Group on Bosnia and Herzegovina should be invited to participate fully in that conference. They also decided to intensify efforts in the Security Council and with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) towards the fulfilment of these objectives. Islamic Conference ambassadors in New York have been mandated to pursue the objectives of the declaration effectively, in particular with respect to the modification of resolution 713 (1991) to enable the Bosnian Government to exercise its right to self-defence.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  3. “The Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Contact Group on Bosnia and Herzegovina met this morning in an emergency session. The Ministers adopted a declaration which strongly condemns the brutal Serbian aggression against Gorazde, and expresses deep regret over the inability of the United Nations to preserve the inviolability of the safe areas. The Foreign Ministers declared that resolution 713 (1991) does not apply to the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that the arms embargo against the Bosnian Government is unjust, illegal and in direct contradiction of Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. The Ministers also demanded full and complete withdrawal of Serbian heavy weapons from Gorazde, and called for the strengthening of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR).”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  4. “This peace process must secure the full participation and support of the Islamic countries. The failure of the world community to arrest and reverse the aggression in Bosnia and Herzegovina will have far-reaching consequences for the future of world peace and stability. If that aggression remains unchecked, smaller and weaker nations and States, all those which are militarily vulnerable, will lose their confidence in the ability of the United Nations collectively to safeguard their security, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Failure to reverse the Serbian aggression would encourage predatory Powers to defy the world community and to violate accepted international norms. Force could become the sole currency of international relations; chaos would be its companion.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  5. “A political solution to the crisis in the Balkans must preserve the sovereignty, the independence and the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It must be based on the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The recent agreement signed between the Bosnian Government and the Croats on the creation of a federation is a positive signal. It shows that peace may be possible despite the bitterness created by the bloodshed. This agreement offers a starting point for an overall peace settlement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Security Council should use its authority and influence to persuade the Bosnian Serbs to accept this agreement on a federation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A new political process enjoying the support of the Security Council could create a momentum towards a comprehensive peace agreement.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  6. “We welcome the voices raised in the United States Congress and elsewhere calling for the unilateral provision of military help to the Bosnians. The world should not reconcile itself to a "Greater Serbia". We must remember the consequences of Munich over half a century ago. Then too, appeasement did not prevent war. A durable political settlement in Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot be anchored to an acceptance of the consequences of aggression. The argument that the "realities" created by the use of force should provide the framework for peace is morally flawed. It has also been proved to be politically unacceptable, because principles and truth cannot be applied selectively; much less are they divisible.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  7. “The right of individual and collective self-defence is enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. No resolution of the Security Council can abrogate or override that provision of the Charter. To those who oppose lifting this unjust arrns embargo against the Bosnians, we ask: If they had been subjected to the same atrocities as the Bosnian Muslims, if their women had been systematically gang-raped, if they had been ejected from their homes, villages and towns, would they not be entitled to fight the aggressor? Or is the right of self-defence available only to certain selected people? On behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Pakistan will propose that the Security Council adopt a resolution declaring that the provisions of resolution 713 (1991) do not apply to the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  8. “Why should the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina be denied arms for self-defence? When resolution 713 (1991) was adopted by the Council the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not exist. The embargo was designed to restrain the aggressive intentions of the army of the former Yugoslavia, which was about to launch an attack on Croatia. It is against that same army that Bosnia now requires the means for self-defence. It is a travesty that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be prevented from acquiring arms because of an embargo that was imposed to halt aggression by the very party it now confronts in combat. There is no principle of law, no principle of justice, that can justify preventing the victim of blatant aggression from acquiring the means to defend itself.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  9. “Pakistan also feels that consideration should be given to authorizing air strikes not only against the offending Serbian artillery and tanks but also against the command and control centers from which the orders emanate to rain death and destruction on innocent people in the "safe areas". The best deterrence against further violence would be the threat of air strikes directly against Serbian war criminals who are conducting their vicious war from their headquarters in Pale. The people of Bosnia and Herzegovina will remain vulnerable to Serbian attacks so long as they are denied the means of self-defence. The arms embargo imposed by resolution 713 (1991) is unjust. It has enabled the well-armed Serbs to prosecute their war of aggression against the defenceless Bosnian Muslims.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  10. “After considerable delay - for which we hold no one responsible - our troops will be ready for deployment within the next few weeks. We hope our contingent will be deployed for the effective protection of Gorazde and other "safe areas" in accordance with resolution 836 (1993) of the Council. We are gratified that the NATO Council has also responded positively to the Secretary-General's proposal to extend the authorization for air strikes and exclusion zones to the other United Nations declared "safe areas" - Tuzla, Zepa, Bihac and Srebrenica. The threat to these "safe areas" will persist unless the Serbs are required to surrender their heavy weapons to United Nations control.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  11. “The ultimatum issued by NATO to the Serbs on 22 April is a first step in what we hope will be a fresh political process to promote peace with justice in Bosnia. We must ensure that the Serbs strictly observe a cease-fire in Gorazde and withdraw their troops from this safe area immediately, as stipulated in the ultimatum. The humanitarian convoys to Gorazde must get through; their obstruction should bring forth the air strikes threatened by NATO. We urge the Secretary-General to take expeditious action to expand the deployment of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Gorazde, to ensure security and relief for its people. Pakistan offered 3,000 troops for UNPROFOR last July for the protection of the "safe areas".”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  12. “They see that in many regions of the world - in Kosovo, in Jammu and Kashmir, in Azerbaijan, in Palestine - Muslims are being subjected to aggression, repression and discrimination. They are seen as the targets of violence, even in some of the most enlightened societies. The consequences of allowing this perception to persist is self-evident. The conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not merely a challenge that confronts Europe or the Islamic world. It is, first and foremost, a challenge to the principles and norms on which the present edifice of inter-State relations has been built. At the beginning of this Century, the world was engulfed in a bloody war sparked by a killing in Sarajevo. We must not allow history to repeat itself.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  13. “Quite rightly, the Bosnians chose to resist, to fight, rather than accept a process which would have meant their eventual obliteration as a people. I believe that we are entitled to ask: why has the world's conscience not become aroused by the horrors of Bosnia and Herzegovina? Why has the world not acted before now to stop the atrocities and crimes that we have all seen with our own eyes on television? Is it because the victims happened to be Muslims? Has the world reverted to this kind of tribalism? Do we feel hurt and pain only when the victims are our own kith and kin, of our own race or religion? Many people in the Islamic countries see what is happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina not as an isolated instance but as part of a pattern.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  14. “What has happened over the past two years in Bosnia and Herzegovina will remain a dark chapter in the history of modern civilization. A small, peaceful State - a sovereign Member of the United Nations - has been physically torn apart by the use of force, genocide and ethnic cleansing. The world has watched this tragedy unfold on television. And the world has failed to come to the help of a defenseless people. Instead of upholding the values of human rights, democracy and self-determination - which triumphed in the Cold War - the Geneva negotiations advocated pragmatic solutions which compromised the basic principles of justice and humanity. The Co-Chairmen asked the Bosnian Government to accept and accommodate the consequences of aggression and genocide, to legitimate the Serbian use of force and ethnic cleansing.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  15. “We have asked for action, consistent with the United Nations Charter; we have asked for sincere implementation of the Council's resolutions. Unfortunately, in dealing with this war, the Security Council has not covered itself with glory. The Security Council has been prevented from fulfilling its responsibilities under the Charter. It has failed to halt, much less reverse, the Serbian aggression. It has chosen, for many long months, to avoid enforcement action. It has acted in a piecemeal fashion. It has done too little, too late. The Council's decisions, reached through a curious process of informal consultations, have played into the hands of the Serbian strategy of creeping territorial expansion. Its indecision has encouraged Serbian war criminals to persist in their campaign of grotesque atrocities.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  16. “I have come before this Council to convey the deep sense of dismay and anguish felt by the people of Pakistan, and indeed by the entire Islamic world, over the tragedy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our people ask: how is it that we have allowed this genocide to be committed against defenseless Muslims? They ask: what are we doing to punish those responsible for the rape of 40,000 thousand Muslim women and young girls in Bosnia and - Herzegovina? Our people demand that we, their Governments, act to stop the Serbian aggression, halt the killing of the Bosnian Muslims. The Islamic countries wish to respond to these legitimate expectations of their peoples. We want to do so in accordance with international legality. During this cruel conflict, Pakistan and other Muslim countries have sought redress through the Security Council.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  17. “In this vicious war, the Serbs have resorted to cold-blooded murder of men, women and children; the routine torture of thousands of innocent people; the systematic rape of thousands of Muslim women; the deliberate shelling of civilian and residential buildings, including hospitals; the wanton slaughter of helpless men, women and children by tanks and artillery; the blockade of humanitarian convoys; and, lastly, the destruction of mosques and other Islamic structures. Who would have suspected that such inhuman behavior could take place in this day and age? Who would have believed that this could happen on the very continent which prides itself on its commitment to the values of human rights and the rule of law?”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  18. “As in the past, they may go back on their commitments. In this war, the Serbs have pursued their cruel objectives not only by aggression and genocide but also by deception and duplicity. Unfortunately, the United Nations has been as vulnerable to Serbian bullying as to Serbian duplicity. Therefore, let us not relapse into complacency about Gorazde, or about the future course of the brutal conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we have witnessed a combination of aggression and atrocities that has few parallels in our blood-drenched twentieth century.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source

  19. “"An event has happened, upon which it is difficult to speak, and impossible to be silent". These words by Edmund Burke capture our sentiments about the siege of Gorazde. Pakistan has welcomed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ultimatum to the Serbs surrounding Gorazde. We had hoped that the Security Council would act well before the Serbs started the slaughter in Gorazde. It could have saved hundreds of lives and prevented much human suffering and tragedy. Seventy thousand innocent men, women and children are crowded into a small part of the city. They remain virtually at the mercy of the brutal aggressor. It must be hoped that the Serbs will observe the cease-fire and that the troops once withdrawn from Gorazde will not be redeployed. But there is no certainty that they will continue to comply with NATO's demands.”

    1994-04-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3370 (1994) · source