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SPEECH OF THE HIGH REPRESENTATIVE
Speech by the High Representative, Carlos Westendorp, to the Peace Implementation Council
Bonn, December 9, 1997
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- It is just two years since the guns fell silent over Bosnia; two
years since the international community extinguished the flames of the
most brutal war in Europe for almost half a century.
- Our purpose here today is to take stock of what we have achieved in
the last twenty four months, especially in recent months; to agree on
our strategy in the months ahead; and to pledge decisive action to carry
it out.
- There have, inevitably, been many areas where progress has not been
as rapid as we would all have liked. I shall come to those in a moment.
The progress so far.
- But before I do so, let me say something about what has been
achieved.
- First and most important, Bosnia remains at peace. The guns are
silent. The armies are under control. Every day that passes is one more
day without war, one more day without bloodshed, one more day without
new lives being wrecked and families torn asunder.
- Normal life is, slowly, returning to Bosnia. Sarajevo is steadily
recovering the status and feel of a thriving community. Two years ago
the city resounded to shells and gunfire. Now it rocks to the beat of
U2.
- There are growing transport links both within the country and with the
outside world. Last week the buses started to run again between Sarajevo
and Banja Luka.
- International airlines now fly in and out of Sarajevo. Banja Luka
airport has just re-opened. It will, I hope, be followed soon by Mostar
and Tuzla.
- Border crossings across the Una and Sava rivers to Croatia were
re-opened in September.
- Building on the inheritance from my predecessor, Carl Bildt, we have
intensified our efforts in the last six months. A new, reinforced
commitment by the international community has allowed us to bring real
progress to peace implementation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- In the field of security, special police (armed paramilitary militias)
have been classified as armed forces by SFOR and are now subject to the
strict controls contained in Annex 1A of the Dayton Agreement.
- Almost 6,600 heavy weapons have been neutralised by the parties in
compliance with the arms control provisions of the Peace Agreement. Most
have been physically destroyed.
- The Standing Committee for Military Matters has been established and
is helping to build desperately needed trust between the former warring
armies.
- Bosnia is becoming, slowly, a more democratic place. Municipal and RS
assembly elections have been held within the last three months. They
have taken place peacefully and in an orderly manner, under the guidance
of Ambassador Frowick and his team from the OSCE. The turnout - at
between 70 and 85% - would have done credit to most Western democracies.
And the latest results show some loosening of the grip of hardline
parties.
- A major cause of the war in Bosnia was irresponsible, nationalist
media. The persistence of this approach led me to take firm action in
October, in accordance with the Sintra Declaration and supported by
SFOR, to suspend media outlets which consistently flouted standards of
professionalism and pluralism. I am currently working out new media
regulations for the whole of Bosnia designed to break single party
control in each entity over radio and television.
- Police restructuring and integration are accelerating in the
Federation. Agreements were recently signed to begin restructuring in
the Republika Srpska. Large quantities of illegal weaponry have been
confiscated by the United Nations International Police Task Force and
SFOR in both Entities. Furthermore, both have implemented stringently a
ban on illegal checkpoints. Freedom of movement has dramatically
improved.
- Returns of refugees and displaced persons continue and the number of
communities allowing ethnic minority returns is growing. Authorities in
the Central Bosnia Canton recently agreed on a joint plan for returns,
encouraging initially Croats and Bosniaks to return to their homes of
origin and to cross ethnic fault lines preventing their return.
The economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina is growing stronger.
Industrial production and GDP in the Federation have risen dramatically,
along with wages, while unemployment has fallen sharply. The start of
economic recovery in the Republika Srpska should be greatly facilitated
by improved political stability and a firmer engagement of the Entity's
authorities in the peace process following the recent National Assembly
elections.
- After four years of war, we have achieved a great deal in just two
years of peace. None of this would have been possible without the
dedicated work of the international community in Bosnia.
- I would like to extend my thanks:
- to the commanders and soldiers of SFOR, drawn from 36 nations
around the world, who have carried forward the work of IFOR with great
skill;
- to the OSCE, who have supervised three sets of some of the most
complicated elections in the world with great professionalism;
- to the UN, IPTF, UNHCR, ECMM and to the other international
organisations and non-governmental organisations and all their staff.
- All work with great commitment and dedication, many of them far from
their homes, in difficult, sometimes dangerous conditions.
- I should like to pay a special tribute to the twelve men and women
who died in the helicopter accident of 17 September. They included five
from my office, among them my able Deputy and dear friend Gerd Wagner.
- Their sacrifice reminds us of the seriousness of the task we are
about.
The challenges
- What war destroys in the blink of an eye, peace takes years,
decades even, to repair. I am more keenly aware than most of the great
gap which sometimes exists between expectations abroad and hard reality
on the ground in Bosnia. We must remember that in addition to repairing
the damage of war, Bosnia , like its neighbours, is also coming to terms
with life after Communism, with all the difficult adjustments in
thinking and outlook that that entails. So we must be careful not to
demand of Bosnia feats which we never expected of other countries in
Central and Eastern Europe whose problems, relatively speaking, were
rather less onerous. Their transition towards democracy and the market
economy was not, as it was in Bosnia, brutally interrupted by war.
- Having said that, however, you would expect me to be candid with
you, and I shall be. The fact remains that despite the advances we have
made, in many, many areas the peace process is now seriously blocked.
Let me put it another way: it is precisely because we are moving ahead,
that we are encountering new obstacles in our way. Those who, more or
less openly, cherish secession or reunification with neighbouring
countries try to obstruct, delay or minimize the process of building the
common institutions. In an opposite direction work those who, nostalgic
for the pre-war situation, refuse to accept the new realities brought up
by Dayton and desperately cling to the old structures they dominate.
Both are equally wrong. Both are equally dangerous to the peace
process. The more we press on, the more they dig in their heals. But our
obligation and our determination is to stick firmly to Dayton. There is
no valid alternative.
- The task we face is huge. Two years after the war, the State of
Bosnia and Herzegovina still has:
- no permanently located, properly functioning common institutions;
- no new flag;
- no common licence plate;
- no common passport;
- no currency of its own;
- no legal definition of citizenship;
- no law adopted on foreign investment;
- no adopted permanent laws on a customs code and customs tariffs;
- no full definition or adequate protection of human rights;
- no strong, multi-ethnic, country-wide political parties, and no
structured civil society. Extremist leaders, although their influence is
declining, continue to intimidate the population, to sow discord, and to
frustrate economic and political reconstruction;
- Bosnia has no established public corporations; in particular, the
Transportation Corporation, which covers railroads, is not operating.
- In addition, property laws block the return of hundreds of
thousands of refugees and displaced persons to their pre-war homes. The
police continue, by and large, to fall far below even basic standards of
professional conduct. Human rights violations remain endemic, despite
improvements in some areas.
- Corruption and revenue evasion remain a serious problem. I
believe that the Bosnian people are entitled to much greater
transparency and accountability throughout their government, and I have
announced proposals to promote this.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina is still unable to finance its common
institutions or service its external debt on time, implement common
policies on foreign trade, issue common banknotes, achieve transparency
and good governance in the use of public funds, establish effective
institutions to curb corruption, and dissolve or integrate pre/Peace
Agreement institutions. The lack of an economic policy framework is
preventing an IMF Standby agreement and World Bank adjustment lending
and renders the country vulnerable to financial crisis.
- Last but not least, far too many war crimes indictees still remain
at large. I welcome the fact that the total number brought before the
Court is now 20, most of whom have been delivered to The Hague since
April. But let us be clear: there can be no lasting peace with freedom
and justice in Bosnia while so many war crimes indictees remain at
liberty. In particular, Radovan Karadzic, whose malign influence
contaminates the entire social, political and economic atmosphere in the
country.
The way ahead
- A formidable amount of work remains ahead of us. It is clear that
the full implementation of the Dayton Agreement will require a long-term
effort by the international community in Bosnia. We must think not in
terms of exit strategies, but of long-term engagement, with gradual
disengagement as improving circumstances allow. The faster the
progress, the sooner we will be able to leave matters in the hands of
the people of Bosnia and those they elect, in free and fair elections,
to lead and to represent them.
- The overriding requirement, before we can even contemplate how to
tackle the remaining challenges, is to preserve the stable and secure
environment in which peace can grow. This means that an international
military presence in Bosnia beyond next June 1998 is in my view
indispensable. Without it, we risk the return to war, the ruin of all
that has been achieved so far and the unleashing of a new cycle of
horror and bloodshed. So I welcome the emerging consensus for a
military presence to continue beyond next summer. Plainly it is for you,
the nations which contribute to SFOR, to determine the size of any such
force. But I appeal to you to ensure that it should be readily available
and effective enough to respond to events on the ground.
- I am determined that we should make more rapid progress in the
coming months in rebuilding civil society in Bosnia. At Sintra in May,
the Steering Board adopted a more assertive approach. The High
Representative was charged to pursue deadlines for outstanding
decisions, and to take and to recommend measures in the case of
non-compliance.
- I believe that this course has proved to be right. But the time has
passed to rely solely on appeals to the authorities in Bosnia and
Herzegovina to live up to their commitments under the Peace Agreement.
Too often, declarations of willingness and good faith have proved to be
of face value only.
The role of the High Representative
- We need to act - quickly and firmly - to clear away the most
serious obstacles to further progress within Bosnia on the issues I have
set out. The task ahead of us is paramount. And our time is limited. We
must not lose time. We shall never be as strong in Bosnia as we are
today. Never again will we have the support in such large measure of our
peoples. Let us take advantage of both that strength and support to use
the coming months to complete the bulk of our job.
- Let there be no misunderstanding. I am not seeking from this
Council a new or revised mandate. Not yet. But what I will need from
you is your full support in the more vigorous exercise of my existing
mandate in order to clear the boulders strewn across our path.
- I intend to exercise to the full the final authority in theatre,
given to me under Annex 10 of the Peace Agreement, to break the log-jam
in a number of key areas where other approaches have been exhausted.
- I intend to do this, for example, by resorting to decisions on the
following issues:
- timing, location and chairmanship of meetings of the common
institutions;
- interim measures to take effect when parties are unable to reach
agreement, which will remain in force until the Presidency or Council of
Ministers has adopted a decision on the issue concerned, consistent with
the Peace Agreement;
- measures to suspend enforcement of legislation which does not comply
with the Peace Agreement;
- other measures to ensure implementation of the Peace agreement
throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Entities, as well as the
smooth running of the common institutions. Such measures may include
dismissal from office of officials who are absent from meetings without
good cause or persistently block the implementation of the Peace
Agreement.
- I reserve the right to return to the Steering Board to recommend
further action should the parties fail to comply with any of these
decisions.
- It goes without saying that all these efforts, and the requirements
which the international community places upon me, require adequate
resources if they are to succeed. I appeal to this Council, in
determining the work it wishes to see carried out by the High
Representative and his staff, to take full account of this point. It is
especially important that member countries should meet promptly and in
full their obligations to meet the budget of my Office. We need good
people to be seconded to us. But we also need funding to employ staff
with the necessary skills and to provide the facilities they need in
order to perform effectively.
Conclusion
- Mr. Chairman, it is perhaps inevitable that at this stage in the
implementation of Dayton, there should be those who say it is time for
us to abandon our work, to abandon Bosnia and its people to their fate.
There are those who talk grandly and from afar of partitioning the
country, of dividing it into ethnic enclaves and departing. They seem to
believe that such an approach would allow NATO and the international
community to escape with its prestige and honour intact.
- I have to say that I have neither the time nor the appetite for
such defeatist talk. And I say that with especial emphasis in this room,
where so many nationalities are represented who have learned to put
their differences aside and to work together for peace. The
international community would pay a high price in terms of lost
credibility if it abrogated its responsibilities in the way some are
suggesting it should. But many Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs could pay with
their lives. A new war would begin every bit as bloody as the one we
came to stop; and no sooner had we withdrawn than the calls for us to
return would begin, with new costs, both human and financial.
Partitioning the country would mean conniving at the horrors of ethnic
cleansing, and would send a disastrous signal to extremists elsewhere in
the region and the world.
- And honour? Where would the honour lie in all of that?
- The hard truth is that we have to see through the task we have
begun. The stakes are high. For Europe, and its institutions. For the
future of NATO. For the international community, and its capacity to
respond to such crises in the future.
- But the stakes are higher for no one than the peoples of Bosnia
themselves, who look forward to a future without war, to a return to a
normal, peaceful existence for their families and their children.
- We owe it to them, and to ourselves, to see this job through. With
your help and support, you may count upon my determination to do so.
OHR Speech of the High Representative 21 August 1997
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