[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 96 (Tuesday, June 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H5761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    THE CONTINUING CRISIS IN BOSNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer] is recognized during 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to once again focus my 
colleagues' attention on the continuing crisis in Bosnia.
  Last week this House voted overwhelmingly to unilaterally lift the 
arms embargo against Bosnia and allow the Bosnian people to pursue 
their fundamental right to defend themselves.
  A front page article in Sunday's New York Times crystallizes for us--
indeed, if at this time we need any further clarification--the 
compelling reasons for lifting the embargo. The article can only lead 
one to conclude that the embargo is wrong and that it will never 
contribute to the cessation of hostilities, only the continued 
perpetration of aggression and genocide.
  The article quotes statements, from both American and European 
officials with access to intelligence reports, which confirm that the 
Federal Yugoslav Army is not only paying the salaries of many Bosnian-
Serb officers, but is also supplying their forces with fuel, spare 
parts, training, and ammunition.
  There are credible reports that the cross-border traffic is 
increasing as the combat resumes in Bosnia after a winter ceasefire.
  Moreover, several American analysts, according to the New York Times 
article, have stated that the Yugoslav Army provided the parts and 
technicians for maintaining the Bosnian-Serb air defenses that shot 
down an F-16 jet fighter on a NATO monitoring mission. Even if this 
were not so, the fact remains that the Bosnian-Serb air defense system 
continues to be electronically linked to the Yugoslav Army's computers 
and radar.
  American officials say they have evidence of regular conversations 
and consultations between the Yugoslav Army's general staff in Belgrade 
and the officers directing operations in Bosnia and that Bosnian-Serbs 
wounded in battle are flown by helicopter to Yugoslav military 
hospitals. This would certainly make sense in view of the fact that 
General Ratko Mladic, the commander of the Bosnian-Serb forces, was a 
career officer in the Yugoslav Army and was selected to led the Bosnian 
Serbs by Mr. Milosevic shortly before the conflict began. In addition 
the recently appointed commander of Serbian forces in Croatia, Lt. Gen. 
Mile Mrksic until a few weeks ago was serving on the general staff of 
the Yugoslav Army in Belgrade.
  Mr. Speaker, let me remind my colleagues that last year Serbian 
leader Slobodan Milosevic pledged to close the border between Bosnia 
and Serbia in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions against the 
former Yugoslavia. Despite reports to the contrary, he continues to 
insist that only nonlethal aid is being provided by Serbia to the 
Bosnian-Serb militants.
  Meanwhile, the West, headed by the contact group, and most recently 
by United States negotiator Robert Frasure, continues to negotiate with 
Mr. Milosevic toward the complete lifting of sanctions against the 
former Yugoslavia in exchange for Milosevic's recognition of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina. Milosevic continues to rebuff these overtures unless he 
can guarantee that once lifted, the sanctions cannot be reimposed under 
any circumstances.
  I ask my colleagues, should the West lift economic sanctions against 
a government that is sustaining the Bosnian-Serbs war effort, even as 
it pledges to do the opposite?
  Mr. Speaker, I contend that it is preposterous that the international 
community has even reached such a juncture. Last year the contact 
group--the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Russia--offered 
its final, take-it-or-leave-it peace plan with severe consequences for 
those who refused. The contact group assured Bosnia that if the Serbs 
plan, international sanctions against Serbia, would be tightened, more 
efforts would be made to afford greater protection of safe areas by the 
United Nations, and ultimately, the arms embargo would be lifted. The 
Government of Bosnia accepted, on time and without condition. The 
Bosnian Serbs, as we all know, effectively rejected the plan and 
continued to posture for more concessions which the international 
community has provided.
  The international community's arms embargo against the former 
Yugoslavia has been a de facto embargo only against Bosnia. The Serbian 
aggressors, from the beginning, have had all the firepower and material 
they needed from the Yugoslav Army.
  Mr. Speaker, we must redouble our efforts to ensure that the people 
of Bosnia have, at a minimum, the right to defend themselves. Building 
on the momentum of last week's vote, I urge swift consideration of H.R. 
1172, legislation I have cosponsored with Mr. Smith, which would lift 
the arms embargo against Bosnia.
  The Serbian aggressors are perpetrating genocide while the 
international community watches, indeed does more than watch. It 
facilitates the genocide by imposing and enforcing an arms embargo 
against the victims of the war--denying them their fundamental right 
recognized under international law--the right of self-defense. Not only 
do we refuse to assist, but we actively deny to the Bosnians the means 
by which they can defend themselves. I have no doubt that history will 
judge our European allies and ourselves critically.


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