[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2680 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2680

 To authorize such sums as may be necessary for a Balkan Stabilization 
Conference as convened by the United States and to express the sense of 
    Congress that the President should convene such a conference to 
consider all outstanding issues related to the execution of the Dayton 
Accords and the peace agreement with Serbia that ended Operation Allied 
                                 Force.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 6, 2000

Mrs. Hutchison introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize such sums as may be necessary for a Balkan Stabilization 
Conference as convened by the United States and to express the sense of 
    Congress that the President should convene such a conference to 
consider all outstanding issues related to the execution of the Dayton 
Accords and the peace agreement with Serbia that ended Operation Allied 
                                 Force.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Balkans Peace and Prosperity Act of 
2000.''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Dayton Peace Accords and the peace agreement that 
        concluded Operation Allied Force in Kosovo halted Serbian 
        aggression towards its neighbors and its own people.
            (2) Efforts to restore the economy and political structure 
        in Bosnia and Herzegovina have achieved limited success in 
        accordance with the Dayton Agreement.
            (3) Similar efforts in Kosovo continue with very limited 
        success one year after the conclusion of Operation Allied Force 
        in June 1999.
            (4) The Dayton Agreement explicitly left certain issues 
        unresolved, including but not limited to the status of the city 
        of Brcko and other matters.
            (5) Progress towards democratization and economic 
        prosperity in both Bosnia and Kosovo is often hampered by 
        continuing disputes among local authorities and between local 
        authorities and the international community.
            (6) There are questions about the equitable allocation of 
        resources among the European allies and the United States in 
        the execution of the Operation Allied Force peace agreements.
            (7) Other issues which are fundamental to the future 
        stability of the Balkan region remain unresolved, including but 
        not limited to the future status of Kosovo, the desire of other 
        Serb provinces for greater autonomy and the status of displaced 
        persons who cannot return to pre-war homes.
            (8) The international community has spent tens of billions 
        of dollars in military and rebuilding funds yet the prospects 
        for long-term peace and self-sustained stability remain 
        distant.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE NEED FOR A BALKAN STABILIZATION 
              CONFERENCE.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United States should take the lead in convening a 
        Balkan Stabilization Conference to evaluate progress on 
        implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords regarding Bosnia and 
        the peace agreement with Serbia that ended Operation Allied 
        Force;
            (2) a Balkan Stabilization Conference would serve a 
        critical purpose of reviewing progress to date and considering 
        such modifications to those agreements as may be appropriate to 
        foster stability, self-sustained peace, improved self-
        determination by the inhabitants of the region, and the 
        eventual reduction in the levels of outside peacekeepers; and
            (3) the potential for a successful review conference would 
        be maximized if it included the parties to the Dayton and 
        Operation Allied Force peace agreements, including 
        representatives of NATO, the Balkan ``Contact Group'', and 
        other affected regional parties.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS FOR A BALKAN STABILITY INITIATIVE.

    Of the amounts authorized in this Act for operations in the 
Balkans, such sums as may be necessary not to exceed $10 million are 
provided for the planning and execution of the conference described in 
Section (2).
                                 <all>