[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 38 (Tuesday, April 12, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: April 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
THE NEW WORLD ORDER CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED THROUGH THE ACTIONS OF A
UNITED INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer] is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on Sunday and again yesterday, selective
airstrikes were launched by NATO, responding to a request by the United
Nations to act against those besieging Gorazde and endangering the
lives of U.N. personnel, in addition to tens of thousands of civilians.
I believe most of us, and I know I, fully support that effort.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Bosnia, it has been clear that
Serb militants would only respond to the credible threat of force. They
have, in my opinion, cynically flouted international principles and
used the negotiating table to gain militarily on the ground.
They feel they do not have to pay a price for aggression and, yes,
even atrocities, which amount, in many respects, to genocide.
This NATO action, I believe, is measured, limited, and necessary. We
have threatened in the past and urged the aggressors and all others to
cease the hostilities and come to the negotiating table. For too long,
however, Serb militants have ignored the West, the United Nations and
international law, all in pursuit of the greater gain.
Recent actions by the Serbian militants are a test of whether the
international community is prepared to take further measures to ensure
that U.N. resolutions and principles are upheld. If the militants do
not cease, and if they act against U.N. forces anywhere in Bosnia, the
international community should continue to respond resolutely.
We should reiterate, Mr. Speaker, our call for the Bosnian Serbs to
withdraw, to withdraw from all areas surrounding all United Nations
designated safe havens, just as they have done for Sarajevo.
Mr. Speaker, a former President of the United States, George Bush,
after a meeting with the then-president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail
Gorbachev, said that we had entered into a new world order. Let us all
hope that that observation was correct, but let us also recognize, if
there is to be a new world order, it will only be accomplished through
the actions of a united international community committed to the
objective that it will not allow or countenance either the commission
of atrocities and violations of international law or the accretion of
land or assets through armed aggression. It is armed aggression down
through the centuries that has led to the loss of life of millions of
innocents, of millions of citizens, who, caught up by fate in a
conflict not of their making, lost their lives, their property, their
children and their futures.
I congratulate our President. I congratulate the United Nations. It
is essential that the international community say in this instance to
the Serbs, but in other instances to other aggressors:
``That is not part of the new world order.''
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