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Good Evening, I have taken the liberty to enter into your homes to express my best wishes for you in the New Year. This coming year is full of promise. We must endeavor to consolidate the results of our common quest for peace, a venture in which you, and we the International Community, have a large stake. There are many positive results to our credit in the year that is coming to a close: increased freedom of movement, progress in economic reconstruction, as well as in the return of refugees and displaced persons, police restructuring, the holding of peaceful and democratic elections, the opening of airports and border crossings. I must pay tribute to those of us who lost their lives in the pursuit of peace in this country. Their example should be an inspiration for us to continue to face our task with renewed zeal. We have to look to the future. There is much that remains to be done. In these two years, you have grown used to seeing around you people who speak different languages and dress in odd outfits. People who are brazen enough to tell you what to do. But the good people of Bosnia do welcome us, because they know why we are here. We are here to help you overcome that very human instinct of exaggerating the differences that separate us from our neighbors, to thereafter exclude them, even violently, from our proximity. The establishment of common interests, as well as education in the values of tolerance and respect for others, are the only means to smooth over that instinctive drive and even overcome it entirely. In the six months that I have been living among you in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I have discovered a country, overwhelming both for its beauty and for the warmth of its people. I have made a point of acquainting myself with your views, both those of the old and of the young. Throughout this time, I have felt relieved to find out that the majority is confident about the future. Just a few days ago I found myself in an animated conversation with a few teenagers. I told them what I am telling you tonight: the future is in your hands. However, their reply left me dispirited. They feel prisoners of an imposing web of vested interest; helpless before the challenge of changing the current structures. When you are fifteen and your mindset should be about changing the world, this avowed impotence is a cause for concern. This is because it reveals that the youth, those who ought to take charge of the future, live in a morass of disenchantment and think that nothing will ever change. This is just not true. In Bosnia and Herzegovina things have changed, and they have changed for the better. All those youngsters should not feel disenfranchised. They should not feel that their future does not belong in this country. They should be stimulated to continue to work in their home country and change the things they do not like. You must not wait for others to come and do the job. You are the ones called to avoid the mistakes of the past, to remove those leaders that do not stand for the defense of your legitimate aspirations and interests. You have the most powerful weapon to make that happen: the power to vote. As this coming new year draws to a close, we shall have new elections. All of you will have the possibility of going to the polling stations to choose your future. Do not be fooled by those that tell you that they are the only salvation from imaginary threats. Do not be fooled by those who present you with false policies of exclusion and hatred. For that is what led this country into confrontation. You must cast your ballots for those who offer real solutions for the future of the country; for solutions that aim at reconciliation and integration. As High Representative, I have to take decisions now and in the future with your best interests in mind, should your leaders fail to take them. But the day will come when we are no longer here and you will have to demand from your representatives that they take those decisions. In truth, and in fact, the International Community is not here to substitute itself for your authorities. We are here to help you become the masters of your own destiny. To help you build a modern country, a country fully integrated in Europe. A prosperous and democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina that you shall consider your homeland; and its national diversities you will celebrate as your wealth, not as a reason for division. The Bosnia and Herzegovina that I am talking about will not be one of division or separation, but one of tolerance and cooperation. I am convinced that one day, in the not too distant future, whether you are Bosniak, Serb, Croat or belong to other peoples, you will all be proud of being Bosnian and European. Remember that the French General Charles De Gaulle and the German President Adenhauer walked the street of Paris together only five years after the World Conflict? Remember that shortly afterwards, the European Communities were established primarily to avert similar conflicts? The European Union is waiting for you, when you are ready, with wide open arms. That will be the best guarantee that peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina is irreversible. Let us work together to achieve that. And if this New Year's message touches your hearts, I shall feel rewarded. Happy 1998.
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