U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING (May 1, 1995)

From: hristu@arcadia.harvard.edu (Dimitrios Hristu)

Subject: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING (May 1, 1995)

[...]

FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

Expiration of Cease-fire Agreement ........................4,8

Recent Hostilities in Croatia .............................4,8

Recent/Upcoming Contact Group Meetings ....................4,6-9

--Work on Proposal for Continuation of Ceasefire/

  Limited Sanctions Relief for Belgrade ...................4-5

--Discussions on UNPROFOR Troops ..........................5-7

Ambassador Frasure Mtg. in Belgrade .......................5-6

Possibility of Foreign Ministers Meeting ..................6

Concern about Possible Serbian Counteroffensive ...........9

Report of Bosnian-Serb Attempts to Reclaim Equipment ......9

[...]

[...]

Q Do you have an update on the situation on the ground in Bosnia and also I guess in Croatia there has been some significant fighting?

MR. BURNS: I do. As you know, the agreement that had been engineered several months ago to introduce a cease-fire expired this morning on the ground in Bosnia. There have been some serious hostilities that have broken out in Croatia. The U.N. official, Mr. Akashi, is in the region arguing, urging, the parties to agree to a new cease-fire. The Contact Group met on Friday in Paris, and I expect that the Contact Group will be in session again this week in London and Paris in two meetings, probably Wednesday and Friday, to work on our proposal for a cease-fire, a continuation of the cease- fire, and our proposal for a limited sanctions relief for Belgrade in return for Belgrade's recognition of Bosnia.

Ambassador Frasure was in Belgrade over the weekend. He had a meeting with Mr. Milosevic. He put forward again the outlines of this proposal. It's a proposal in which the Contact Group believes very strongly. We are united on this proposal, and we hope very much that in the coming weeks it will be possible to work out an agreement along these lines.

We are obviously worried about the fact that the cease-fire has not been extended, and the fact that there is renewed fighting. It's a dangerous situation and we would urge all parties to show restraint and to return to the negotiating table and turn away from the fighting.

Q Any word from France, Russia, or any of the other U.N. participants in UNPROFOR as to their next move now the truce has officially lapsed?

MR. BURNS: Well, as I said, the Contact Group is united on this issue. They are together, the five countries of the Contact Group. They will be meeting twice more this week, and so I don't want to speak for those governments, but we are pleased that we are getting good cooperation from them.

Q What I was asking was have they consulted us about the withdrawing of their troops? Has that issue been brought up, and especially to our government, as they did speak about getting out if the cease-fire was not re-established or extended? Have we heard anything from them yet?

MR. BURNS: I don't believe we have anything new, Bill. That issue has been brought up publicly by the French several weeks ago, after the death of the two French peacekeepers, and we have had lengthy discussions with the French Government and within the Contact Group about the need to strengthen UNPROFOR, to improve conditions, and improve safety conditions for the peacekeepers, and to work on diplomatic steps to renew and invigorate the diplomatic process, and that is what the Contact Group discussed in a very long session on Friday.

As I said, there are meetings planned for Wednesday and Friday of this week to continue those discussions.

So I don't want to anticipate any dramatic progress here because we're talking about Bosnia. We're talking about an extraordinarily complex situation, but we are working hard. Certainly, the fact that the cease-fire has now expired has animated all of the international community to try to engage together to see what we can do to resolve this conflict.

I would just remind you, though, that the burden of responsibility rests with the parties on the ground and especially with the Bosnian Serbs who are responsible for the recent acts in Sarajevo that have made it almost impossible for normal diplomatic business to be carried out in Sarajevo, and because the Bosnian Serbs have taken steps to really counteract and act in violation of so many of the U.N. resolutions in the area.

So I think the burden of responsibility that the international press and the international community places on parties ought to be centered on the Bosnian Serbs.

Q With regard -- let me follow a little further -- with regard to the Bosnian Serbs, have they said anything to the Contact Group or to our representatives about desiring to have UNPROFOR continue to stay on the ground doing its humanitarian work and its peacekeeping work?

Have they had a policy that goes beyond the cease-fire ending?

MR. BURNS: I don't believe we've had extensive contacts at all with the Bosnian Serbs in quite some time. There were some contacts when Ambassador Frasure and Mr. Steiner were at the airport arguing with Bosnian Serbs about whether or not they can go into Sarajevo.

But I think the focus of our diplomatic attention has been on the Bosnian Government. Certainly, we would encourage the Bosnian Government to agree to an extension of UNPROFOR. It's also been with the Government in Belgrade. I told that Ambassador Frasure was in Belgrade over the weekend and had a meeting with Mr. Milosevic.

Steve.

Q Does it now seem likely that the Foreign Ministers will get together soon -- the Contact Group Foreign Ministers?

MR. BURNS: I think our view is -- the United States view -- the Contact Group needs to meet this week, and there are two meetings scheduled this week. They have to review the package that's on the table which, of course, is the Contact Group Map and Plan and the proposal for limited sanctions relief in return for recognition of Bosnia.

I think it's our strongly-held view that those proposals have to be narrowed in discussions with the parties; there has to be some reasonable expectation that any kind of ministerial meeting would be productive and that it would end up with concrete results.

There's always an opportunity to talk with allies about Bosnia. It's the Contact Group and it's through bilateral channels. We'll be active in that channel this week. So I wouldn't say it's likely, Steve. I think it just remains to be seen whether or not a ministerial can be useful to the process. I think that's where we would put our emphasis.

Q Are there revisions underway of the Map and the whole limited sanctions-lifting? You said it has to be looked at. That's been on the table for a good long time now.

MR. BURNS: No. I don't want to indicate that we are changing the Map and Plan in any way. What we are doing is trying to introduce again to Belgrade, as well as to the other parties, the Bosnian Government in Sarajevo, the idea that we ought to be working on a new cease-fire. Also we ought to be working on Belgrade to accept the proposition that a move by Belgrade to recognize the Bosnian Government would be met with limited sanctions relief. That is not a new proposal. It's been on the table for a number of months, but there has been a lot of new discussions about that proposal, and most recently over the weekend.

There are proposals in which the Contact Group has great faith, and we believe it's the right way to proceed. So we don't want to give up on these ideas. We want to continue to press them with the parties.

Q Following up on that, Nick. The meeting this weekend with Ambassador Frasure, in Belgrade, was he given any kind of positive response to this renewed overture? Do you have any reason to expect their answers will be different?

MR. BURNS: It's hard to say. I think it was a full exchange that Ambassador Frasure had with Mr. Milosevic.

I think the proof will be in the pudding in the days and weeks ahead to see what kind of cooperation we get. There have been so many twists and turns in this and so many meetings that I'm extremely reluctant to predict any kind of sense of optimism or any definite progress, but we're certainly not going to give up.

We think that UNPROFOR ought to remain on the ground because it's helping to feed over 1 million people, near 1.5 million people every day. And however imperfect it is, it has a role to play, and so we stand by UNPROFOR. We also think that the Contact Group has a responsibility to try to keep the diplomatic process going. So that's where our focus is now.

[...]

Q Nick, I don't want to beat a dead horse here but going back to Bosnia, there are reports today that there are peacekeepers that have been blockaded in their barracks in Sarajevo. There are reports of peacekeepers being injured in a cross-fire in Croatia, reports of a possible violation of the "no-fly" zone in Croatia. It just seems now that the fragile cease-fire, as it was, has gone away; peacekeepers are even in more danger; that they are unable to do their job. Going back with the same, shopping the same plans the Contact Group has not been successful with in the past seems sort of fruitless.

MR. BURNS: The cease-fire did expire today, but the cease-fire had certainly broken down over the last couple of weeks. There has been a Bosnian Government military offensive. There have been some counterattacks and counteroffensives and a lot of violence. And you refer to the situation around Sarajevo, which didn't start to worsen today, it's been worsening for two to three weeks.

So it's not a surprise to see the activity that we've seen today, although no one is pleased by it. Laura, at this point the United States believes that we simply can't walk away from the situation in Bosnia, no matter how frustrating it has been to everybody concerned over the last four years. We do have interests there.

We certainly have humanitarian interests in trying to make sure that people have enough to eat and that people have some reasonable assurance that the international community might be able to work out means to protect them.

Obviously, that regime is ragged and has broken down, over the last couple of months and certainly over the last couple of weeks, our ability to protect people. But it's a serious responsibility which we have to pursue.

You're right that some of the diplomatic proposals that are now being offered have been on the table for quite some time. But we think there is reason to believe that we ought not to give up now; that we ought to persist in our efforts, and we ought to do the best job that we can diplomatically to try to help the situation and add something positive. Understanding that it is an extremely difficult situation; that conditions seem to be worsening and deteriorating, and we're concerned about it.

Q Two follow-ups to Laura. One, there was a report this morning, Nick, that the Bosnian Serbs were trying to reclaim some of their equipment that had been impounded by the U.N. around Sarajevo. Question one.

Question two: Any new information bearing on the Serb counteroffensive?

MR. BURNS: On question two, I don't have any new information. As we've discussed before, one of the great concerns that the Contact Group has and certainly the United States has is that the Serbs might decide to unleash a counteroffensive to the Bosnian Government offensive that's been underway for a couple of weeks.

That is one of the reasons, going back to Laura's question, that, despite the difficulties, we think it's important that the international community not give up and not walk away, but that we remain engaged, and we're going to do that.

Q And what about this attempt to get their equipment back which would presage some kind of offensive action?

MR. BURNS: I have not seen that particular report, Bill. Mr. Akashi, though, is in Sarajevo today, and I hope that -- I'm sure that he's having comprehensive discussions with all sides about the breakdown and conditions there. Thank you.

(The briefing concluded at 1:39 p.m.)

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