YouSaid · the spoken record

Sacirbey

lines on the record: 379
first: 1992-11-13
most recent: 2000-10-26
sittings or episodes: 32
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“The legal and constitutional requirement for compliance with the Tribunal applies to all equally, and our central Government has already acted in full consistency with this principle by surrendering to the Tribunal all indicted persons who are under our control, regardless of whether they are Serbs, Croats or Bosnian Muslims. Some have, inadvertently or otherwise, buttressed - that is, given moral support - to the position of the non- compliant by arguing that somehow the Tribunal is not impartial. The argument seems to be based solely upon numbers, because the largest number of indicted individuals are ethnically Serbs while the smallest number are Bosnian Muslims. First, this is not an issue of ethnicity or collective ethnic guilt. We reject group guilt.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“I was a direct negotiator and signatory of the Dayton/Paris Peace Agreement, and there is no doubt that full compliance is mandated not only by international law - by this very Council, the Peace Agreement and the aforementioned Paris and London Conferences - but also, most relevantly, by our new Constitution, adopted in Dayton and Paris by all the parties. I certainly would not have agreed to and signed the Peace Agreement otherwise. That is also the reason why I have no doubt, as the Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in expressing this position without reservation before this Council.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“Fifthly, I would like to mention an issue with respect to which there does not appear to be consensus between all the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This Security Council draft, numerous other resolutions and presidential statements, as well as the Dayton/Paris Peace Agreement, call for full cooperation and compliance with the Tribunal and its orders. As the latest report of the Tribunal outlines, the level of cooperation and compliance varies substantially from country to country in the region, as well as between the relevant authorities within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unfortunately, while the orders and demands of the Tribunal are clear, and their priority under international law is Without doubt, the authorities of the Republika Srpska take the view that their local constitution rejects compliance.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“One point: in order to make the already agreed upon arrangements truly effective, transparency and credible reporting are absolutely decisive. We believe that effective inspections are essential and that public reporting of compliance or non-compliance is absolutely determinative under the terms of the Peace Agreement. Fourthly, we welcome the continuing role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in supervising the forthcoming municipal elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There appears to be full agreement by all to this role. We can now only strive for prompt execution of these elections and for all, including the relevant international actors, to promote the standard of free and fair elections called for by the terms of the Dayton/Paris Peace Agreement.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“However, I am certain that refugees of all ethnic backgrounds do not believe that they, in fact, have a choice as long as they cannot in actuality return to their homes of origin. We would understand the language promoting return to homes of origin or to homes of choice to be, in fact, based upon the principle of first securing the real opportunity to return to one's home of origin. Otherwise, such language could be misappropriated to deny a real choice and actually to further rather than reduce the consequences of "ethnic cleansing". T hirdly, I would like to bring to the Council's attention our full support for the call under the terms of the Dayton/Paris Agreement for regional arms control and military stabilization. We believe this to be a cornerstone for peace and security in our region.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“Recently, under the sponsorship of the Office of the High Representative and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a gathering of numerous refugee and minority organizations representing individuals of all ethnic backgrounds - Bosnian Muslims, Serbs, Croats and others - met under the newly coined title Coalition for Return. They have developed a comprehensive agenda to promote the realization of their universally accepted right of return to their homes. I was honoured to be requested by the Coalition to represent their views in relevant international forums. In this context as well, we welcome the calls in the draft resolution before us for return of refugees and for the opportunity of refugees to choose their destination upon return.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“Unfortunately, significantly less progress - some might argue even no real progress - has been achieved on the elements of the Peace Agreement that constitute the reintegration of the country and the real basis for real peace. I am certain that the Council would agree with me that we cannot substitute superficiality for substance, and that would be exactly the case if more effort - sincere effort - was not made to ensure freedom of movement, freedom of the media, democracy, respect for human rights and, most critically, the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes. A house with a roof, but without walls or a foundation, is either a mirage or a moment of suspended animation just before collapse.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“You, the sponsors of and implementers of the Dayton/Paris Agreement, can see the facts on the ground well enough to know who deserves your condemnation and challenge, and who, on the other hand, deserves your support - especially now, more than ever before. None of us deserves generalizations. We understand that the language in this draft resolution supports precise identification of those who are in compliance and those who are not, and that assistance will be distributed accordingly - also, of course, taking need into consideration. Secondly, progress is being made in the establishment of the new institutions of the central Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the accommodation of the old institutions.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“First, although economic recovery and reconstruction have moved forward, the general and explicit promises of assistance remain too frequently unrealized. Our country is in such need of rebuilding that any unkept promise is both pragmatically and symbolically painful. At the same time, in agreement with the draft resolution, we are - at least some of the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina are - in favour of assistance being conditioned on fulfilment of the obligations contained in the Peace Agreement. In fact, we call for conditionality as a tool to compel compliance and implementation. However, failure by some authorities within Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot excuse the international community from neglecting its promises to all of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“Because of the length and detail of the draft before us, I will not go through it issue by issue. Instead, I would only like to highlight a few key issues that deserve special comment or attention. Let me start by thanking the Member States, organizations and individuals behind the civilian, economic and military implementation of the Peace Agreement. The efforts are noteworthy and, in the overwhelming number of instances, deserve our thanks and praise. The results of the combined efforts of the international implementers, on the one hand, and of the signatories on the other are, unfortunately, not reflective of the efforts, or of the best wishes of our friends, or of the longing of all the Bosnian people, nor necessarily of the terms of the Dayton/Paris Agreement. In particular, we must highlight the following.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“First of all, I am here to represent, with fidelity and integrity, all of Bosnia and Herzegovina and, in particular, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole. I take this responsibility most seriously. Secondly, the Dayton/Paris Peace Agreement is still the foundation of the peace process and our stated positions are guided by this Agreement. Finally, and most critically, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as adopted under the Dayton/Paris Peace Agreement, is the most basic foundation for our expressed Views. On the basis of these criteria, I would like to express our general satisfaction with the draft resolution before the Council and to reaffirm that our Government has expressed support for the commitments outlined generally therein.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“In this month, the last month of the year 1996, let me express our appreciation for the fashion in which you, Sir, have handled the workings of the Security Council, obviously under quite demanding circumstances. At the same time, let me also take the opportunity to express our appreciation for the work of His Excellency Ambassador Wisnumurti of Indonesia for the most able fashion in which he handled his tasks as President of the Council last month. We received the draft resolution before the Council only late yesterday and, as a consequence, although we have forwarded the draft to our Presidency for its review, I have not received specific instructions nor could I reasonably anticipate any specific instructions on the matter. Therefore, my comments on the draft are based on the following principles.”
1996-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3723 (1996) · source
“I hope to God this is a real comfort to the victims lest our souls be damned. I note that the Jewish survivors of the holocaust were able to look forward only by knowing that their tormentors would be pursued by the most unforgetting justice indefinitely in the courts and in our common historical recollection. And a moment of horror is now upon me. What about the hundreds, maybe thousands, of victims, still missing, who were recently rounded up around towns like Banja Luka, confined to concentration camps and forced to labour until death overtakes them? What of the two missing French pilots? Have these living ghosts even heard of the Peace Agreement? Will it make any difference to them? Will they survive to rejoice?I ask all representatives to labour for their safety and for our mutual salvation.”
1995-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3595 (1995) · source
“We also think of the many United Nations peace- keepers and persons from non-governmental organizations who sacrificed, sometimes even their lives, to minimize injustice while more decisive measures were awaited year after year. We think of the three martyred American diplomats. We think of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina still in their homes and we could all see their expressions of joy and commitment to peace as they celebrated the news yesterday. At the same time I worry that the thousands of refugees and displaced persons and the victims of crime may feel that they have in fact been abandoned as well as forgotten. I pledge - we must pledge ourselves - to ensure that the right of refugees to return does in fact become a real opportunity to return; that justice is not only evoked but secured by supporting the War Crimes Tribunal.”
1995-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3595 (1995) · source
“After all, we and the countless forgotten victims as well as the new generation yearning for real peace deserve this minimum after having been disappointed on so many other occasions. On a more personal note, sitting here today and during the last few critical moments of bringing the Dayton talks to an end, I reflect on the many who are affected or who have affected this outcome today and the Peace Agreement reached yesterday. I reflect upon the past and present members of the Council from Ambassador Diego Arria, the former Permanent Representative of Venezuela, to Ambassador Albright, who fought nobly to free the hands of the victim and I also note my special appreciation for the solidarity and statement of support that we received from the victims of genocide in Rwanda through their Permanent Representative in the Council.”
1995-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3595 (1995) · source
“No sanctions can be lifted until such compliance is committed to and exhibited. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia cannot be admitted as a Member of the United Nations and other relevant international institutions until there is such compliance. This is the minimum that we can do to support the efforts of the Prosecutor, Judge Richard Goldstone, the Tribunal Justices and others associated with the war crimes Tribunal at The Hague. Less would be betrayal. Bosnia and Herzegovina will not betray justice and the opportunity for real, durable peace dependent upon this elementary piece of justice. The last thing that we ask of the Council is that it commit itself also to the same.”
1995-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3595 (1995) · source
“Suspension of sanctions is only one step necessary for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) to be brought back, fully, into the family of nations. Sanctions cannot be fully terminated until the Peace Agreement is fully implemented. Moreover, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia must reverse its current course and exhibit a commitment to respect the national and minority rights of the people of Kosovo, Sandzak, and Vojvodina. This should go hand in hand with the introduction of compliance with human rights and democratic standards in all of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Finally, the commitment to peace and justice - a new page turned - can only be ascertained from the willingness of both Belgrade and the Bosnian Serbs to comply fully with the international war crimes Tribunal.”
1995-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3595 (1995) · source
“We are prepared to do our part for the cause of peace and commit ourselves not only to our defence but to those standards which will in fact increase stability in the region. We will be in Bonn. The sanctions regime with respect to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) is a self-inflicted wound. Ours is not. None the less, we wish them a quick recovery. We also look forward to the improvement of mutual relations. We should, however, make sure that it is understood that this is only a reprieve and not an exoneration. Failure to fully honour the peace, its implementation and our sovereignty and territorial integrity will result in the immediate reversal and re-imposition of sanctions.”
1995-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3595 (1995) · source
“However, the defence of tomorrow's peace will ultimately be left to the Bosnians when all the negotiators have turned their attention elsewhere and the foreign peace-keepers have left our country. By securing Bosnia's capability to defend itself, we also lessen the qualitative, quantitative and durational commitment for foreign peace-keepers. This is one of the most significant objectives of equipping the Bosnian defensive forces. In concert, we do also place our hopes in regional disarmament. However, assuming the highest standard of commitment to disarmament and cooperation from our neighbours, the Bosnians would still have to increase the number and quality of weapons to produce the goal of regional balance.”
1995-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3595 (1995) · source
“This day - the day of the lifting of the arms embargo on Bosnia and Herzegovina - should have come much, much sooner. If it had, peace would also have come earlier - at a lower cost to the international community, its principles and its most prized institutions; at a lower cost to justice and, most important, at a lower cost to the thousands - the millions - of Bosnia's victimized. But this is not just a lesson of history. We must, today, look forward and secure the means to safeguard the Peace Agreement reached in Dayton yesterday. Weapons in the hands of the victim will not be used to correct yesterday's wrongs, but rather to deter a resumption of the aggression and crimes. Yesterday's wrongs and crimes must be redressed by the institutions of law and justice, in particular the International War Crimes Tribunal.”
1995-11-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3595 (1995) · source
“On the other hand, if Belgrade is not sincere, we will all lose, but Belgrade will in fact lose the most. For this reason, we emphasize that the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina must and will wait for a sincere partner in Belgrade in the process of mutual recognition and peace. Consequently, we believe the Security Council must, and should, also wait for a sincere Belgrade.”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“But let us be clear on this point: we do not ask for anything more than the legal recognition by the Belgrade regime of our sovereignty and territorial integrity and what the United Nations has already recognized in the context of our membership in this Organization. On the other hand, we will not accept anything less and others cannot degrade our legal status by self-serving and dangerous definitions of our sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Belgrade regime can choose to recognize the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within its internationally-recognized borders without condition, or it can choose to do nothing. Similarly, if it is sincere in supporting the peace process in the region, then the border sealing must also be sincere. We can all benefit from this sincerity. But Belgrade will in fact reap the greatest rewards.”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“Finally and most recently, while the basketball team of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the recent European championship, it ended its participation by signalling to the crowd the sign of the Chetnik Serbs - those that in fact conduct aggression and "ethnic cleansing" against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This same basketball team has also promised to give some of its medals to the leadership of the so-called Krajina and the so-called Karadzic Serbs. Obviously, when taking inventory of the consequences, the result is less than clear.”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“Effectively, his strategy is to declare a recognition that promotes the advancement of an ethnically pure Greater Serbia, rather than one that confirms the most basic elements of sovereignty and territorial integrity. In the meantime, let us take inventory of what the Security Council's actions in easing sanctions with respect to Serbia have achieved so far. Terrorist actions and the strangulation of the people of Sarajevo and other Bosnian towns and cities continue. More than ever before, the Belgrade regime and the Bosnian Serbs have been obstinate with respect to peace movements. The targeting of United Nations officials, troops and other workers has increased.”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“The fence-sitting attitude of some in trying to secure Belgrade's cooperation has not only served to encourage Mr. Milosevic and his cohorts to be even more obstinate and ambiguous, but has in fact encouraged Mr. Milosevic and others to try to dictate the terms of peace. In particular, Mr. Milosevic believes now that he can define the international legal nature of the Bosnia and Herzegovina that he is to recognize and in such a fashion make his recognition not only ambiguous but in fact counter-productive. Mr. Milosevic is positioning himself to recognize a Bosnia and Herzegovina devoid of sovereignty and only contained in temporary international borders that would be subject to change at will by Belgrade.”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“No matter how accurate this answer is now, it cannot be the basis ultimately for a successful political process to find peace. Belgrade cannot be allowed effectively to dictate the peace process because no attractive alternatives are perceived. Otherwise, this entire current approach is not only likely to fail, but could in fact become counter- productive. If Belgrade wishes to secure further sanctions relief or even to maintain the current easing of sanctions, it must be made to understand that the border closure must be real, that the recognition of its neighbours - including the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia - must be unambiguous, and that its support for the peace process must be sincere and not just a tactical step.”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“As an example, the United States F-16 and its American pilot, Scott O'Grady, may have been shot down by anti-aircraft systems of the so-called Bosnian Serb army, but this anti-aircraft system was controlled by an air- defence system linked directly through Belgrade. And the list of inconsistencies is continually growing. So, one might ask why the Security Council should continue to support for an additional 75 days the process of sanctions relief for what appears to be a double game on the part of the Belgrade regime and in particular the porous border-sealing with respect to the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Maybe the most honest answer is that this is the least worst of a set of bad options available in support of a negotiated settlement.”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“In View of the current, as well as the potential additional rewards offered to it, we should expect the Belgrade regime to enter into mutual recognition with its neighbours, to shut off support and supplies for the Karadzic Serbs and thereby to promote the peace process. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite seems to be occurring. Instead, the Belgrade regime is rounding up draft-age men and sending them back to serve in the so-called Krajina and Bosnian Serb armies. Belgrade continues to pay the salaries of the troops, and especially the officers, of the so-called Krajina and Bosnian Serb armies. Belgrade continues to provide further strategic support - including weapons, fuel and coordination - for the so-called Krajina and Bosnian Serb armies.”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“We note this one incident among several that have occurred over the past few days, for it seems to represent a growing tendency to test the Security Council's will to see the "no-fly zone" over the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina implemented and, to our dismay, has in fact failed to elicit an adequate response. We particularly note the plight of the civilian population of the Bihac region because, over the past several days, several unfortunate civilians have lost their lives as a consequence of malnutrition and a lack of essentials. This includes a three-year old boy who, at the time of his death, weighed no more than 15 pounds.”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“It is with pleasure and confidence that we see you, Sir, taking over the job of President of the Security Council. At the same time, let me not forget the contributions of your predecessor, the Permanent Representative of Germany, especially in the very able manner in which he handled the responsibilities of the presidency of the Council during the month of June. Before I continue with my presentation, I should like to alert the Council to the following information, which has just come to our attention. A few hours ago, one jet of the Serbian forces besieging the Bihac area engaged in an air-to-ground assault upon the Bihac "safe area".”
1995-07-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3551 (1995) · source
“Instead, we offer mutual cooperation in the most urgent task before our Government and the United Nations: to alleviate the humanitarian situation, loosen the stranglehold on our population and cities and lift the terrorism targeting civilians and United Nations personnel alike. I think we all know that this is the last chance. And based upon experience we will continue to hope for the best, but must frankly anticipate the least as we consider our options.”
1995-06-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3543 (1995) · source
“Serbian terrorist tactics produce further concessions while the United Nations mission is further reduced to irrelevance. The exclusion zone around Sarajevo is violated by the Serbians and ignored by those who are obligated to enforce it. Now we look forward to deployment of the rapid-reaction capability. It is the expectation of my Government that this mission will seek to reverse the negative process and enable the United Nations mission in our Republic once again to be fully and faithfully implemented. In this context, we have given our consent to this new deployment. We could express notions of scepticism and even cynicism.”
1995-06-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3543 (1995) · source
“But time has shown that there really never was a real dilemma. The day of reckoning has come, and manufactured arguments have been exposed, running down the side of the wall like cheap paint in the midst of a rain storm. Even the half-measures that the United Nations mission has offered, which helped sustain our people at one time, have now almost totally evaporated. Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Zepa, Gorazde and Bihac are denied any level of humanitarian assistance. Their populations are constantly targeted and murdered, and the stranglehold is allowed to tighten without response. Furthermore, Serbian forces no longer just hold our civilians hostage to their war aims, but have now become so emboldened as to take United Nations personnel as human shields.”
1995-06-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3543 (1995) · source
“Still, we also do not wish here to seem ungrateful or, especially, insensitive, by not taking the care to point out that most of those who sought to help our citizens, especially those courageous men and women of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) and so many other organizations, offered their help with the purest of motives. Unfortunately, it appears that their good will and commitment to mankind, combined with our desperation for food and other essentials, was taken advantage of by more calculating political forces. We were all lectured that there was a choice between humanitarian assistance and the United Nations mission on the one hand and real remedies to bring about real peace and justice on the other.”
1995-06-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3543 (1995) · source
“None the less, we once again stress our appreciation even for those half-measures, while continuing our call for real remedies. Maybe we were naive. Maybe by rejecting those half- measures, by demanding our full rights and by calling upon the world Powers to meet their clear responsibilities in the face of aggression and genocide, we would have ultimately forced a true remedy. However, we could not afford to be so callous, so calculating with the most urgent physical needs of our population, even if some intended by giving us bread to muffle the screams of agony and cries for justice of those who continued to be "ethnically cleansed", shelled and murdered.”
1995-06-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3543 (1995) · source
“It is indeed an honour to be before the members of the Council, particular you, Sir, who, as President of the Council for this month, have performed so brilliantly in your task. We also take this opportunity to thank your predecessor, the Permanent Representative of France, His Excellency Mr. Jean-B ernard Merimee, for his most able performance last month, when I was still one of the United Nations colleagues of Council members. As a sovereign country facing a most brutal aggression and endeavouring to defend our peoples from premeditated genocide, we have welcomed the assistance of the United Nations mission in our Republic. Yes, this assistance was largely symptomatic relief and, as a whole, has been a poor substitute for a real remedy addressing our victimization at the hands of a relentless aggressor.”
1995-06-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3543 (1995) · source
“Larry Jones, from Feed the Children, an organization also active in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now, he was helping his immediate neighbours, after having helped Bosnians in the past. I note his comment on the day of the explosion. He said "I haven't seen anything like this since I left Sarajevo." The people in Sarajevo are in no position to offer any real material help, but we do offer our most sincere condolences and desire for recovery to the families and all the people of Oklahoma City. Those who carried out this crime must suffer the damnation of this world and the next.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“Once again, though, I should like to take the opportunity to thank the Council for the small but significant step it has taken today. Finally, allow me to take a moment to address my most dear colleague, Ambassador Madeleine Albright, on behalf of our people and Republic. Most Bosnians did not know where Oklahoma was before the attack on that city and its people. Actually, I did, from the time when I was in Bosnia. For me, Oklahoma City was the first home that I ever had in the United States. I know the people there to be generous, warm and open. They help their neighbours in need, whether those neighbours are across the street or halfway around the world. One of the emergency workers immediately on the scene of the explosion, filmed on CNN, was Mr.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“Our common search for peace, though, is most definitely made more fruitful and less dangerous and counter-productive to the extent that the United Nations in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the region as a whole is more committed to, and better capable of, executing its mandate. I trust also that some bright soul will not, purposely or otherwise, undermine the real objective by constantly redefining the mandate so that expectations are always lowered. Instead, the execution and implementation of the mandate must be brought up to the proper and intended level. The sum of the equation that we must derive in order to secure peace, unfortunately, is not variable, and therefore we cannot cheat - I emphasize that we cannot cheat - in the very demanding task required of us to reach our solution.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“However, until this comes about, the one variable that we must maximize, or at least prevent from being marginalized, is the commitment to, and capacity and execution of, the United Nations mandate in our Republic and, indeed, in the Republic of Croatia and elsewhere. This will both serve to save lives and to maximize the positive pressure upon the Karadzic Serbs to accept peace. There are also other variables in the search for peace in our country. We will continue to use all our capacity, including the right and means to defend our population, territorial integrity and sovereignty. We will use these variables responsibly, and we here reassert our unabridgable right to obtain the means to defend ourselves.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“Unfortunately, the Council sometimes gives them hope, when in its resolutions and statements it calls on the one hand for peace negotiations and cease-fires, but on the other hesitating to offend them, does not recognize our Government's commitment to the plan and, once again, does not demand their acceptance. The two latest French victims, the other United Nations personnel, and the countless Bosnian civilians who have been killed since August 1994 are the casualties of this Serbian refusal to accept, and commit to, the Contact Group peace plan. Of course, the most critical variable in this equation for peace is the Serbian acceptance and implementation of this plan.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“When they kill one of your courageous young men, we also feel as if they have murdered one of us. Do not mistake our political differences as insensitivity to your sacrifices. Do not mistake our stoic faces for indifference. It is just, Mr. Ambassador, and all Council members with young men and women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that after three years we have all become traumatized and numb. We are all under attack, Blue Helmets or not." We have accepted the Contact Group peace plan, with all its painful imperfections and injustices. The Karadzic Serbs continue to believe that they can successfully resist, and even bully the Security Council into abandoning the Contact Group plan in favour of the reality, the status quo of their conquest and "ethnic cleansing".”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“Once again I extend my deepest condolences to the families concerned and to the French Government and people over the death of two young Frenchmen. Similarly, though, with their death another part of Sarajevo has also died. The city they were hoping to protect is our city, my city. The people they were looking to defend are our citizens - actually, members of my family, my friends, the future of our country. The Holiday Inn entrance in front of which this one brave corporal was setting up the barricade is the entrance that I use when I am in Sarajevo and staying at that hotel. I say to you, Mr. Ambassador, "Forensic evidence may be inconclusive, politicians may speculate and some may even slander, but when the Serbians shoot at you, they also shoot at us.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“But do you realize that the United Nations, your authority, the dignity of your countries and, most critically, your men and women, and not just the Bosnians, are under the direct assault of these Serbians? War is being waged upon you and all of us, and the faster you backpedal to avoid this war, the more relentless the Karadzic Serbs become in pursuing you and cornering you." I should like here to address my dear colleague and friend Ambassador Merimee, the Permanent Representative of the French Republic. When I watched the television scenes of the young French corporal, Eric Hardouin, fatally wounded while helping erect an anti- sniper barricade in front of the Holiday Inn in Sarajevo, I was shocked and revolted and, ultimately, frozen in a combination of fear and anger.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“Let me just briefly quote from a New York Times Service article of 20 April 1995, under the headline "Test in Bosnia: Limits of UN Humiliation", which stated: "The airlift to Sarajevo lies at the heart of the UN mission here - it provides more than 80 percent of the aid to the city. But it is obvious by now that the airlift has also come to demonstrate how the world's collective authority is vulnerable in Sarajevo to the whim of a Serb who is, in the end, a member of a rebel army holding 70 percent of a State recognized by the United Nations." (International Herald Tribune, 20 April 1995, p. 5) Some speak of the necessity for the United Nations to be impartial, and others have pressed this argument to its limits to profess neutrality. I say to members of the Security Council "Excellencies, that is your interpretation.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“Not only are United Nations/NATO air-to-ground support and air strike missions curtailed, not only are UNPROFOR planes fired upon regularly, but now the Serbians are actually dictating to the United Nations who can fly in United Nations planes. As of today, it seems that even members of the Contact Group are no longer welcome to fly in them. Bosnians are not allowed; American and other diplomats are removed from flights; and even United Nations civilian officials are denied the right to land at Sarajevo, as their planes face the threat of being shot at, and actually are shot at. The United Nations and NATO have gone from losing control of the skies to becoming the victims of nothing less than air terrorism.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“But how is the Secretary-General to respond constructively to our previous concerns and grievances when there is a rash of new Serbian provocations and UNPROFOR withdrawals and surrenders in the face of those provocations? The Serbians go into a United Nations weapons- collection point in an occupied suburb of Sarajevo and, with UNPROFOR soldiers standing by, they fire mortars into the civilian areas of Sarajevo. The response from the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to such outrageous and murderous action is supposed to be air strikes. Instead, the United Nations soldiers on the scene are relegated, degraded, to the role of witnesses to potential murder. Now the Serbians control the skies, the same skies that have been declared subject to a United Nations/NATO- enforced "no-fly-zone".”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“As we have stated, the search for peace in our Republic is a multi-variable equation, and while we seem to be coming up to the mark on one variable, we are unfortunately falling away from another: the alarming acceleration of the erosion of the mandate of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), and specifically of the political will to see that mandate implemented. When UNPROFOR's mandate was renewed three weeks ago, we hoped that the process of erosion had been stemmed or even reversed. Obviously, that was not the case. We still await, with a ray of positive anticipation, the Secretary-General's report with respect to the concerns expressed in our letter of 29 March 1995 (S/ 1995/245) and cited in resolution 982 (1995).”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“Certainly, the sealing of the border is a critical step. Also, abandonment by the Belgrade regime of its perverse and illegal ambitions is a prerequisite. A commitment to peace is not consistent with evading recognition of one's neighbours' territorial integrity and sovereignty and with the persistent resort by Milosevic to this matador diplomacy. The cape of deceit and double-talk must be set aside and the dagger must be sheathed once and for all. And, of course, we must be very frank about this: Mr. Milosevic does not out such a capable and elegant figure as a matador except to some international political leaderships that have become only too willing to play the role of the bull.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source
“We will be in contact with the ICFY Mission to facilitate implementation of this provision, and we remain prepared, certainly, for the fullest of cooperation. We should also take note that the provision relating to the current easing of sanctions with respect to the FRY - that is, Serbia and Montenegro - is scheduled to expire by 5 July this year. This is a most appropriate expression of the Security Council's intention not to be dictated to by the deserving object of its sanctions and not to provide it with an alibi for its continuing culpability. Also, this time-frame is long enough to test the efficacy both of the border closure and monitoring mechanisms and of the Belgrade regime's sincerity. It is up to Mr. Milosevic now. Of course, the search for peace in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a multi-variable equation.”
1995-04-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3522 (1995) · source