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12 May 1993
Doc. 6835
1403-12/5/93-5-E
REPORT
on the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina
(Rapporteur: Mr REDDEMANN,
Germany, CDU/CSU)
I. Draft Resolution
1. The Assembly considers that the Vance-Owen peace plan, despite the considerable risks it entails, both for the immediate and the distant future, at present constitutes the only realistic possibility of bringing about a cease-fire and the start of a peace-process in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
2. It recalls that this plan had already been accepted by the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina and by representatives of the Bosnian Croat population and received the support of all parties to the conflict during the recent Athens summit (1-2 May 1993).
3. Therefore, the Assembly is dismayed at the refusal of the self-appointed Bosnian Serb "Parliament" to accept this peace plan.
4. It considers that the leadership of the Bosnian Serbs has, once again, demonstrated its total lack of interest in a peaceful solution to the conflict and continues to mock the international community.
5. The Assembly welcomes and endorses United Nations Security Council Resolution 824, in particular the establishment of safe areas.
6. The Assembly calls upon the governments of the Council of Europe member States, especially those represented on the United Nations Security Council, to urge the Security Council:
i. to ensure full application of the existing embargo against Serbia and Montenegro;
ii. to propose the creation of an international criminal court to judge war crimes as already advocated by the Assembly in Recommendation 1189 (1992);
iii. to enlarge the mandate of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), and to put sufficient means at its disposal, to ensure compliance with all relevant Security Council Resolutions and, in particular, effectively to protect the safe areas set up under Security Council Resolution 824 (1993).
7. The Assembly considers that there should be a fair sharing of the costs imposed by the conflict in former Yugoslavia and calls upon the governments of the member states of the Council of Europe and of states whose parliaments enjoy special guest status, to increase their financial contributions to the humanitarian relief operations and to the implementation of all relevant United Nations resolutions.
II. Explanatory Memorandum
by Mr REDDEMANN
1. On 5 November 1992, the Assembly adopted Recommendation 1198 (1992) on the crisis in the former Yugoslavia.
2. The Rapporteur has prepared a chronology of events concerning the former Yugoslavia during the past month, which is set out below. Resolution 824 of the United Nations Security Council, adopted on 6 May 1993, is appended.
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
APRIL
05 Yugoslav President Dobrica Cosic appealed to the European Community not to consider tightening sanctions on his country, saying it would only worsen problems in the Balkans.
08 Bosnian Serb army officers reacted with anger and defiance to NATO's decision to send warplanes to enforce a United Nations no-fly zone over Bosnia.
09 France welcomed a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court allowing German crews to join NATO patrols to enforce a United Nations no-fly zone over Bosnia.
The Yugoslav Government devalued the dinar by 98.4% to try to combat an economic crash caused by nearly two years of war and almost a year of United Nations economic sanctions.
12 The Yugoslav Government said it had protested to Croatia over jail sentences handed out to two Bosnian Serb journalists and demanded their immediate release.
It was reported that forty-one children have died waiting for heart operations in Belgrade hospitals in the last six months because of a shortage of medicine and equipment.
13 An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official urged warring factions to let the organisation provide humanitarian assistance to victims of Bosnia's civil war.
14 Food warehouses run by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in the former Yugoslav republics are almost empty and deliveries will stop unless donors act immediately.
16 Srebrenica's year of agony under siege reached its inevitable climax as Muslims negotiated to surrender the mountain town to their Serb foes.
16 The Bosnian Serb army delivered a strongly worded attack on the commander of United Nations troops in Bosnia, General Philippe Morillon, accusing him of pro-Muslim bias
United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd called for international sanctions against Yugoslavia to be tightened into a full blockade and for the appointment of an 'international co-ordinator' to insure sanctions are enforced.
17 The United Nations Security Council voted to tighten sanctions against the Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro (Resolution 820).
19 Yugoslavia appeared to be on the verge of exclusion from the United Nations' Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) after Turkey challenged its presence at a key meeting.
20 The commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, General Ratko Mladic, rejected a request by United Nations troops for a delay in demilitarising the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica.
21 Lord Owen began a last-ditch peace mission to Belgrade on Wednesday saying it was time for decisions to end the war in Bosnia.
Besides returning to the United Nations and the CSCE, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is also thinking of the European Community (EC) and the COUNCIL of EUROPE, said Yugoslav Foreign Minister, Vladislav Jovanovic. He added that one day it would also consider establishing contacts and some forms of co-operation with NATO. Criticising the EC for its overall attitude towards the Yugoslav crisis, Jovanovic said it could hardly be expected of a country to participate in the efforts for its own disappearance. This is what the EC has asked and is still asking of us, he pointed out.
25 Lord Owen warned Yugoslavs that fresh sanctions they face on Monday would last until there was "total peace" in Bosnia and acceptance of a United Nations peace plan by Bosnian Serbs.
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic joined talks between Lord Owen and Serbian leaders aimed at persuading the Bosnian Serb Parliament to sign a peace plan.
26 Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic demanded that Bosnian Serb legislators accept a United Nations-backed peace plan for Bosnia and stave off tough new economic sanctions against Yugoslavia, but Bosnia's Serbs defied international pressure and rejected the United Nations-sponsored plan to end the civil war in Bosnia.
27 Serb forces defied the international community by launching an attack in Muslim-held northwestern Bosnia just as tough new United Nations sanctions went into force against Yugoslavia.
Western European Security Council members urged exclusion of Yugoslavia from the Economic and Social Council, a United Nations institution directing policy on economic, cultural, educational and health issues.
Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic said that peace was "knocking at the door in Bosnia" if Bosnian Serbs relent and sign a United Nations-sponsored plan to end the civil war.
MAY
01 All the parties concerned, meeting in Athens, at the invitation of the Greek
02 Government, formally agreed to the Vance-Owen peace plan.
06 The self-appointed Bosnian Serb "Parliament" refused to accept the result of the Athens summit and confirmed its previous decision to hold a referendum on 15 and 16 May 1993 on this issue.
United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 824 (see Appendix).
APPENDIX
Resolution 824 (1993) of the United Nations Security Council
concerning safe areas in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina
unanimously adopted on 6 May 1993
The Security Council,
Reaffirming all its earlier relevant resolutions,
Reaffirming also the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Having considered the report of the Mission of the Security Council to the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina (S/25700) authorised by Resolution 819 (1993), and in particular, its recommendations that the concept of safe areas be extended to other towns in need of safety,
Reaffirming again its condemnation of all violations of international humanitarian law, in particular, ethnic cleansing and all practices conducive thereto, as well as the denial or the obstruction of access of civilians to humanitarian aid and services such as medical assistance and basic utilities,
Taking into consideration the urgent security and humanitarian needs faced by several towns in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina as exacerbated by the constant influx of large numbers of displaced persons including, in particular, the sick and wounded,
Taking also into consideration the formal request submitted by the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina (S/25718),
Deeply concerned at the continuing armed hostilities by Bosnian Serb paramilitary units against several towns in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and determined to ensure peace and stability throughout the country, most immediately in the towns of Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zepa, Gorazde, Bihac, as well as Srebrenica,
Convinced that the threatened towns and their surroundings should be treated as safe areas, free from armed attacks and from any other hostile acts which endanger the well-being and the safety of their inhabitants,
Aware in this context of the unique character of the city of Sarajevo, as a multicultural, multi-ethnic and pluri-religious centre which exemplifies the vitality of coexistence and interrelations between all the communities of the Republic of Bosnia- Herzegovina, and of the need to preserve it and avoid its further destruction,
Affirming that nothing in the present resolution should be construed as contradicting or in any way departing from the spirit or the latter of the peace plan for the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Convinced that treating the towns referred to above as safe areas will contribute to the early implementation of the peace plan,
Convinced also that further steps must be taken as necessary to achieve the security of all such safe areas,
Recalling the provisions of Resolution 815 (1993) on the mandate of UNPROFOR and in that context acting under Chapter VII of the Charter,
1. Welcomes the report of the Mission of the Security Council established pursuant to Resolution 819 (1993), and in particular its recommendations concerning safe areas;
2. Demands that any taking of territory by force cease immediately;
3. Declares that the capital city of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo, and other such threatened areas, in particular the towns of Tuzla, Zepa, Gorazde, Bihac, as well as Srebrenica, and their surroundings, should be treated as safe areas by all the parties concerned and should be free from armed attacks and from any other hostile act;
4. Further declares that in these safe areas the following should be observed:
a. the immediate cessation of armed attacks or any hostile act against these safe areas, and the withdrawal of all Bosnian Serb military or paramilitary units from these towns to a distance wherefrom they cease to constitute a menace to their security and that of their inhabitants to be monitored by United Nations military observers;
b. full respect by all parties of the right of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) and the international humanitarian agencies to safe and unimpeded access to all safe areas in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and full respect for the safety of the personnel engaged in these operations;
5. Demands to that end that all parties and others concerned co-operate fully with UNPROFOR and take any necessary measures to respect these safe areas;
6. Requests the Secretary-General to take appropriate measures with a view to monitoring the humanitarian situation in the safe areas and to that end, authorises the strengthening of UNPROFOR by an additional fifty United Nations military observers, together with related equipment and logistical support; and in this connection, also demands that all parties and all others concerned co-operate fully and promptly with UNPROFOR;
7. Declares its readiness, in the event of the failure by any party to comply with the present resolution, to consider immediately the adoption of any additional measures necessary with a view to its full implementation, including to ensure respect for the safety of United Nations personnel;
8. Declares also that the arrangements pursuant to the present resolution shall remain in force up until the provisions for the cessation of hostilities, separation of forces and supervision of heavy weaponry as envisaged in the peace plan for the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, are implemented;
9. Decides to remain seized of the matter.
Reporting committee: Political Affairs Committee.
Budgetary implications for the Assembly: none.
Reference to committee: Reference No. 1866 of 10 May 1993.
Draft resolution adopted by the committee on 12 May 1993 by 32 to four with two abstentions.
Members of the committee: MM Reddemann (Chairman), Sir Dudley Smith (Vice-Chairman), Mrs Baarveld-Schlaman (Vice-Chairperson), MM Agnelli (Alternate: Ferrarini), Alvarez-Cascos (Alternate: Fabra), Andreotti, Antretter, Baumel, Björn Bjarnason, Bokov, Bratinka, Cimoszwicz, Efraimoglou, Espersen (Alternate: Mrs Severinsen), Lord Finsberg, MM Fiorini, Flückiger (Alternate: Bloetzer), Galanos (Alternate: Hadjidemetriou), Mrs Haller, Mrs Halonen, MM Hardy, Hellström (Alternate: Granstedt), Irmer, Kaspereit, Kelchtermans, Kenneally, König, Mrs Lentz-Cornette, MM van der Linden, Machete, Martins, Maruflu (Alternate: Dinçerler), Masseret, Mimaroglu (Alternate: Güner), Moya, Oehry, Pangalos, Panov, Psaila Savona, Schieder, Seeuws, Mrs Suchocka (Alternate: Iwinski), MM Szent-Ivanyi, Tarschys, Thoresen, Trabacchini.
NB. The names of those members who took part in the meeting are printed in italics.
Secretaries of the committee: MM Sorinas and Kleijssen