YouSaid · the spoken record

Badawi

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20
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1994-04-27
most recent
1994-04-27
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “United Nations resolutions must be complied with and a comprehensive peace settlement achieved before consideration can be given to lifting these sanctions. On 10 December 1988, when the then United Nations Secretary-General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of United Nations peacekeeping operations, he stated: "We are now at a time of extraordinary hope and promise for the United Nations. After a long period when the spectre, and too often the grim reality of war has darkened our planet, there is a new mood of understanding and common sense, a new determination to move away from international conflict and devote ourselves instead to the immense task of building a better world." Six years later that hope and optimism are in tatters, epitomized by the continuing atrocities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

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

  2. “Many people of Serbian origin support the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its struggle to preserve the independence and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its policy of multi-ethnicity. This is a struggle the United Nations must support. The world, as we see it, is moving towards pluralism. The United Nations cannot be party to a strategy that would dismember Bosnia and Herzegovina into ethnic parts and entities, mostly in the possession of the Serbs in the pursuit of a Greater Serbia. It is equally important that so long as the Serbs do not heed the call of the international community, nor adhere to United Nations resolutions, the existing sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro must be tightened and not relaxed or removed, as proposed by some. Relaxation will contribute to the appeasement of the Serbian aggressors.”

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

  3. “We must seriously caution against any simplistic solutions based on territorial division. We cannot ignore the fact that 10 the Bosnians have owned for centuries the land and property taken away by force in the last two years. No international conference can serve to legitimize the Serbian acquisition of territory by force. And no Government of Bosnia-Herzegovina can accept such a proposal. There must be peace with honour and justice. Any comprehensive peace settlement must reflect the multi-ethnic and heterogenous composition of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina should not be carved out along ethnic lines, as demanded by the Serbian aggressor. The Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina enjoys the support of all Bosnians, and not the Bosnian Muslims alone.”

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

  4. “There have been a number of efforts which have brought no results except to increase the pressure on the Bosnians to accept so-called realities on the ground, which means territories acquired through Serbian aggression. Is the new Contact Group of the same type? What is the position of the United Nations in a Contact Group which is constituted on an exclusive basis? If a Contact Group is to be formed, let us consult the Bosnians, the aggrieved party. Also as an OIC grouping, we would need to insist that we also be part of any grouping to be constituted by the United Nations. The peace conference should not be allowed to be manipulated by the Serbs in pursuit of their Greater Serbia. The Serbs must be made to understand that their military acquisitions cannot be countenanced by the world at large.”

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

  5. “In the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the proposed international conference must involve the parties to the conflict, the major Powers, the United Nations and others, such as the OIC and UNPROFOR troop-contributing countries. The conference could be preceded by informal consultations between and among the interested and concerned parties. In this regard, we welcome the recent Washington initiative forging agreements between and among the Bosnians and between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. We have also noted the recent initiative of some countries to move the peace process forward through the establishment of a Contact Group. We have many questions over this initiative.”

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

  6. “Even if the Security Council and the major Powers fail to deter Serbian aggression, they must not handicap Bosnia and Herzegovina's ability to defend itself. Malaysia welcomes the proposal for an international conference to find a comprehensive solution to the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is necessary, however, that the fundamental premises remain right and valid. In order to achieve peace, the international community must contribute to the peace process by setting in place the structures as well as the necessary conditions. The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) succeeded because there was a comprehensive peace plan. The plan itself was adopted following an international conference which involved all relevant and interested parties.”

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

  7. “We strongly maintain that the arms embargo against the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina is illegal and unjust, and undermines Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. We join in the increasing international calls, including calls in the United States, to allow the Bosnians their right to acquire arms in defence of the rights of the individual and collective self-defence, as provided for in Article 51 of the Charter. The arms embargo must be lifted immediately to enable a sovereign Member State to defend itself from Serbian aggression. Bosnia and Herzegovina is more than just the six safe areas identified in resolutions 824 (1993) and 836 (1993). The territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina must be respected and maintained.”

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

  8. “In this regard, Malaysia attaches importance to the work of the international war crimes Tribunal, which has to determine the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity. There is enough evidence to put on trial, even now, Serbian leaders for their atrocities. We are disappointed that some countries have hindered the Tribunal from beginning its work early. These countries have been cynical about the work of the Tribunal and have cited scarcity of finances. May I state at this juncture that the Malaysian Government has decided to contribute $2 million towards defraying the cost of the Tribunal's work. Like my colleagues in the OIC, I wish to reiterate that resolution 713 (1991) does not apply to Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

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

  9. “When 200,000 people have been killed and thousands of women raped, others terrorized to humiliate and break the human spirit, how can anyone with a conscience and a sense of morality not take sides? How can the United Nations not take sides to support the Bosnian victims? Should not the United Nations support the victims? Are we as members of the international community still not clear which side we are on? Do we need to hide or disguise our feebleness of action or our hidden motives by insisting that Bosnia and Herzegovina is undergoing a civil war? We feed the Serb war machine and contribute to its seeming invincibility as we stick our heads in the sand and fail to recognize evil actions as they happen before us.”

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

  10. “It is clear that the only message that the Serbs understand is the credible threat of force and enforcement. Serb supply lines and command centres must become targets of UNPROFOR, if the Serbs are to learn the heavy and high costs of aggression and terrorism. At the same time, all offers to UNPROFOR, especially from the OIC members must be accepted. Muslim countries, such as Iran, have indicated readiness to contribute troops. We cannot accept the premise that certain offers cannot be accepted for historical reasons. If Russia's offer, despite its historical support for the Serbs, can be accepted, there is no reason to reject offers from OIC members. There is a false notion maintained by certain countries of not wanting to take sides.”

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

  11. “Enforcing the peace and protecting lives must mean for the United Nations that its mandate also includes preventive defence. The Serb challenge in combining diplomacy and military strategy against the United Nations and NATO must be met, measure for measure. The limits and resolve of the United Nations and NATO have been tested by the Serbs and they know exactly how to avoid NATO fire power. Instead of the United Nations, it is the Serbs who have effectively taken advantage of the stick-and-carrot approach to serve their purpose. It is time, indeed, that the United Nations and NATO recognized this fact and acted accordingly. UNPROFOR must be well-equipped and well-armed to serve as an effective deterrent to the Serbs, who have, it must be noted, continued to be well-armed.”

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

  12. “We are aware, too, of dedicated United Nations officials thoroughly distressed and dispirited, who like us see the slaughter and cannot understand why the United Nations remains helpless. Our meeting here coincides with the extension of the mandate of UNPROFOR. My Government would be deeply disappointed if we were to take only technical decisions. Extending the mandate of UNPROFOR by six months fails to address the need to review the mandate even over the objections of certain major countries. We believe that UNPROFOR is clearly a United Nations peacekeeping operation which involves peace enforcement as well. UNPROFOR must be armed and equipped accordingly to enforce the peace and protect the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

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

  13. “UNPROFOR in practice has been reduced to protecting the food supply. Even that has often been disrupted with impunity by groups of Serbs. Surrendered weapons have been removed with ease by Serbs while UNPROFOR has literally stood helpless. It seems to me that UNPROFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina is like a policeman on the beat, armed with only a baton to protect a locality terrorized by thugs. No wonder he fails in his role. Malaysia has to date sent 1,500 soldiers to Bosnia as part of UNPROFOR. We have to explain to our people why they are there. The answers are not easy, given the inability of UNPROFOR to keep or enforce the peace. We are prepared to lose lives if we must, but only in protecting the lives of others.”

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

  14. “Indeed, on 23 April, after the NATO ultimatum was issued and following clear violations by the Serbs, the United Nations official on the ground arrogated to himself the right not to take the necessary action even as NATO was insisting on justified airstrikes. In fact, just weeks before the Serbian onslaught on Gorazde, United Nations officials downplayed the imminent attack, notwithstanding the early warnings of the Bosnians. What is the role of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) as mandated by Security Council resolutions, in particular resolutions 824 (1993) and 836 (1993)? Is UNPROFOR there to protect itself or to protect the victims of Serb aggression, rape, genocide and "ethnic cleansing"? UNPROFOR is there as a peace- keeping operation but peace is neither kept nor enforced.”

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

  15. “They have, among other things, exposed the break-down in the chain-of-command and between principled stand, responsibility and the need for action. We can only conclude that, between the United Nations machinery, as reposed in the Secretary-General, the Security Council and NATO, there has been a clear deflection of responsibility. It has raised the question in many quarters as to who is actually in charge. When we talk to the United Nations the finger is pointed at NATO, and when we refer to the latter, we are told that the United Nations is responsible. Despite clear violations of United Nations resolutions by the Serbs, no effective action has been taken against them.”

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

  16. “Seven hundred lives have been lost and over 2,000 people have been injured and 20,000 displaced. And yet nothing has been done to avert a repetition of the events. Have we not learnt anything from the Bosnian tragedy so far? In Cambodia, we were quick to accuse the Khmer Rouge of mass slaughter. Why are we silent with the Serb marauders? In the words of the late President Nixon, as recently reported and just now quoted by my friend, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, the killing in Bosnia and Herzegovina "would not have lasted as long as it did had the victims been not Muslims but predominantly Christians or Jews". The Gorazde events have placed the Security Council, the major Powers and the machinery of the United Nations, reposed in the Secretary-General, in an untenable position.”

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

  17. “It is evident even in this country, where the media have highlighted the deep concerns of the people over the humiliation of the United Nations by the Serbs. Even confidence in the office of the Secretary-General has been affected. The people of Malaysia recall, in contrast, the decisive collective action taken by the Security Council and the major Powers during the Gulf War. In that instance, the major Powers, driven by an early identification of their national interests, were prepared to rush pell-mell into action, even to the extent of going beyond mandates given by the Security Council. There was never the recourse to such cumbersome and confusing United Nations processes that we now see in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the slaughter in Sarajevo, there is now Gorazde.”

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

  18. “We are disturbed and appalled by their inability to take swift and effective action on the basis of effective collaboration between the Security Council, the Secretary-General and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). If Gorazde is an example of the fate of a "safe area", there is little comfort for others such as Brcko. Also in the case of Gorazde, the exclusion zone is less than that envisaged in resolution 913 (1994). How safe are these areas when Serbian heavy artillery has not been withdrawn to Serbia as demanded in resolution 752 (1992)? In my country, people question the motivation of the major Powers as well as the actions of the Secretary-General and his officials. This collective disappointment is not felt just in Malaysia but everywhere.”

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

  19. “The people, Government and Parliament of Malaysia cannot understand at all how the United Nations and the Security Council, representing the international community, could be placed in such a helpless position, wherein virtually nothing has been done to stop the relentless and bloody activities of the Serbs. Two hundred thousand Bosnians have died, thousands of women have been raped and millions lost in the destruction of property since the Serbs went on the onslaught two years ago. With particular reference to Gorazde, we find it beyond belief that the response of the United Nations and this Council has been so feeble.”

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

  20. “I am happy to see you, Sir, presiding over our meeting here today. The Malaysian Government is aware of the active role played by the Government of New Zealand, and of your personal commitment and that of Ambassador Keating to finding a solution to the tragic situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have been sent by the Government of Malaysia, in response to the decision of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to come to New York with some of my OIC colleagues to express clearly how unhappy we are about the way the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has unfolded.”

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