[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 11, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S780-S781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       PARTIAL LIFTING OF SANCTIONS AGAINST SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise this evening to urge the United 
States to vote at the United Nations against renewing the partial 
lifting of sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro in return for their 
alleged blockade against the Bosnian Serbs.
  The 100-day probation period for blockade enforcement expires 
tomorrow, January 12, 1995. A positive action in the U.N. Security 
Council is necessary to renew the waiver. The language of the U.N. 
resolution granting the waiver stipulates the need for effectively 
implementing the closure of the border between Serbia and Montenegro 
and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I repeat, effectively 
implementing--not trying in a half-hearted way or even trying with good 
intentions. Mr. President, the standard of effectively implementing 
simply has not been met.
  On November 18, 1994, I sent a detailed letter to Secretary of State 
Christopher in which I outlined my concerns on this issue. Yesterday--
nearly 8 weeks later--I finally received an answer from Assistant 
Secretary of State Sherman. I hope that this inexcusable tardiness in 
responding to my request and desire is not indicative of a desire on 
the part of the State Department to keep this vital issue out of the 
public eye.
  Mr. President, the contents of Assistant Secretary Sherman's letter 
have only increased my fear that the administration is allowing a new 
overall concept for Bosnia--with which I profoundly disagree--to 
dictate its interpretation of the facts on the ground.
  What about the stipulated U.N. standard of effectively implementing 
the border closure? Assistant Secretary Sherman writes:

       On the whole, looking across the 100-day period, we believe 
     it legitimate to say that the border has been effectively 
     closed in the sense that it has become steadily less porous 
     as loopholes were identified and sealed.

  That, Mr. President, is a remarkably creative definition of 
``effective implementing.''
  I remember back in the early 1980's, we went from talking about tax 
increases to revenue enhancements. This 
 [[Page S781]] makes that euphemism sound ridiculous. It says 
``effectively implementing,'' and he writes, ``On the whole, looking 
across the 100-day period, we believe,'' and the key point is ``that it 
has become steadily less porous.'' I assume that means therefore it has 
been effectively implemented, in their view. The fact is that the 
border is more than 300 miles long. It traverses some of the most 
rugged, mountainous country in Europe, and it would be difficult to 
police even with a large force of monitors.
  In actuality, however, Mr. President, fewer than 200 monitors have 
been deployed. Assistant Secretary Sherman admits the monitoring 
mission ``is still not staffed as fully as we would like.''
  Most of the crossing points are not monitored 24 hours a day. 
Controls on so-called ant trade--carried on by private vehicles that 
smuggle in fuel for a Bosnian Serb war machine--are, quite frankly, 
laughable.
  Perhaps the most ridiculous piece of information is that along parts 
of the Montenegro-Bosnian border, the United Nations has been relying 
on the Yugoslav Army, that is the Serbian Army troops, to monitor the 
so-called blockade. Now, call me cynical, Mr. President, but I am 
uncomfortable with involving Mr. Milosevic's troops in the honor 
system.
  The ultimate proof of the ineffective closure of the border is that 
the Bosnian Serb aggressors have had no difficulty in securing fuel 
with which to continue their attacks, such as last month's offensive in 
the Bihac area.
  Even the price of fuel on the civilian market in Serbian-controlled 
parts of Bosnia has not risen appreciably, an indication that there are 
no serious shortages of fuel. It is still coming in.
  Mr. President, the whole blockade charade has proven once again that 
Mr. Milosevic is the shrewdest politician in the former Yugoslavia. 
Through his blockade gambit he hopes to weaken the Bosnian Serb leader 
Karadzic, but not significantly to hamper the Bosnian Serb Army. Our 
British and French allies and the Russians, eager for peace in Bosnia 
at any time, want to throw Milosevic a bone of renewed sanctions 
relief, perhaps even to lessen the sanctions further.
  Worst of all, it now appears the United States is sliding toward the 
appeasement position of the British and the French. Assistant Secretary 
of State Holbrooke, speaking 2 days ago in Sarajevo, indicated that we 
have retreated from holding the Bosnian Serbs at the ladder of the 
contact group's peace plank. Now, apparently, we see the plan only as a 
basis for negotiation. That is, we have prepared to allow the Bosnian 
Serbs to hold on to some of the fruits of their military aggression and 
the vile ethnic cleansing they have been undertaking.
  Mr. President, we should have none of this. The United States should 
vote against the extension of the U.S. sanctions waiver. Or, put 
another way, we should keep the sanctions on, the economic sanctions. 
Such a vote would not only be a moral statement but also a proper 
reaction to this nonexistent blockade that has provided cover for 
Milosevic and our European allies.
  Mr. President, although I do not have any real expectation that the 
administration is going to listen to me any more than they have 
listened to me in the past on this, or to Senator Dole or to Senator 
Lieberman or others, I do want the Record to show that there is no 
serious implementation of the blockade on the part of the Serbian 
Government; no cooperation from the Government of Serbia, Mr. 
Milosevic's government; no effective means to monitor whether it is 
underway; and no proof based upon the availabilities of the commodities 
that are supposedly being blocked, such as fuel for the war machine, 
that suggests that it is working, it is being tried, it is being 
implemented, it is effective.
  Therefore, it seems to me, Mr. President, the only logical and 
consistent vote we should cast in the United Nations Security Council 
tomorrow is one that eliminates the extension of the waiver and puts 
back in place the full economic blockade on Serbia.
  Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their willingness to give me 
this time. I yield the floor.


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