[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 170 (Tuesday, October 31, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16347-S16348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        BOSNIAN SERB ATROCITIES

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the 
resolution that was passed, the sense of the Senate, last Friday 
unanimously by this body, speaking in the strongest terms to President 
Milosevic, who is, even as we speak, on his way to the United States to 
begin peace talks. I wanted to talk about it this morning because we 
did not really have a chance to debate it fully last Friday.
  I wanted to pass it last Friday because I wanted the message to be on 
the record over the weekend about the continuing reports of atrocities, 
murders, and robberies taking place right now in the former Yugoslavia 
in the northwest area around Banja Luka. I want to highlight this, Mr. 
President, because we are hosting three Presidents Wednesday for peace 
talks, and there are still atrocities being reported in this area. I 
ask, how can we sit down at a peace table with three warring factions 
when the war is still going on?
  So today I am going to talk about the sense-of-the-Senate resolution 
that was passed, and I am going to ask President Milosevic when he sets 
foot in the United States to announce that these atrocities will stop, 
that neutral people will be able to go in and get an accounting for as 
many as 2,000 men that have not yet been heard from.
  A U.N. report released 2 weeks ago charges that Bosnian Serbs are 
still conducting a brutal campaign of ethnic expulsion. Despite the 
cease-fire, Bosnian Serbs have been subjecting non-Serbs to untold 
horror, murder, rape, robbery, forcing people from their homes, and 
other atrocities.
  According to the Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, John 
Shattuck, since mid-September and intensifying between October 6 and 
12, many thousands of civilians in northwest Bosnia were systematically 
forced from their homes by paramilitary units, sometimes abetted by 
local police who were either too scared or unwilling to intervene, and 
in some instances by Bosnian Serb Army officials and soldiers.
  These unfortunate events implore us to move with extreme caution 
regarding American involvement in this conflict. The intentions of the 
parties involved, now more than ever, call for prudent, not 
precipitous, judgment. Examples of ethnic cleansing persist in 
northwest Bosnia according to the U.N. reports based on interviews with 
refugees before and after the October 12 cease-fire.
  Assistant Secretary John Shattuck has now gained access into that 
area. As many as 2,000 men have been separated from the main group of 
refugees. U.N. officials are trying to determine their fate amid fears 
that they may have been executed or sent to the front lines as forced 
slave laborers. The United Nations also reports that during the latest 
wave of expulsions, Moslems from Bosanski Novi near Banja Luka, were 
rounded up at the bus station. Draft-age men were separated from the 
rest and were held for 5 days without food or water. The U.N. spokesman 
in Zagreb reported that many refugees have been given just a few 
minutes to flee their homes and that girls as young as 17 have 
reportedly been taken to the woods and raped. Elderly, sick, and very 
young refugees have been driven to remote areas and forced to walk long 
distances on unsafe roads and cross rivers without bridges.
  The United Nations has condemned this barbaric treatment of civilians 
in the strongest possible terms. According to the U.N. High 
Commissioner for Refugees, more than 2,000 Moslems and Croats have been 
forced from their homes since mid-September in Bosnian-Serb-controlled 
areas. Only about 10,000 are believed to remain, which before the war 
was home to a half million Moslems and Croats. And what is most 
distressing is the evidence we have seen of recent atrocities committed 
by the Serbs after the cease-fire was signed on October 12. It appears 
that, as a result of recent Bosnian and Croatian advances, the Serbs 
have lost ground. In an attempt to consolidate their control, they are 
engaged in a campaign of systematic and widespread abuse aimed at 
cleansing the territory they still hold of remaining Croats and 
Moslems.
  With peace talks scheduled to begin in the United States tomorrow and 
with the President having clearly indicated his intention to send as 
many as 20,000 American troops into the heart of this conflict, these 
new reports of Serbian atrocities are of grave concern and should give 
us pause.
  For the Bosnians, this latest outrage by the Serbs must seem to be a 
dreadful repeat of what happened last summer during the Serb conquest 
of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia. In that episode, thousands of men were 
taken out and executed by firing squad, according to survivors, and, in 
fact, the reports just this weekend in the Washington Post confirmed 
new sightings of mass graves where thousands of people are buried. 
These sightings were made from satellite photos taken by our 
intelligence sources. So we know the horrible stories of what happened 
at Srebrenica, as reported by refugees, is, in fact, unfortunately and 
sadly true.
  But what is even more unfortunate, Mr. President, is that things like 
this may continue as we speak, and we must do something about it. We 
must learn from what happened in Srebrenica and recognize that they 
could be doing it right now, and we must protest.
  In fact, Mr. President, the Senate did protest. We passed a 
resolution that says the following:

       It is the sense of the Senate that the Senate condemns the 
     systematic human rights abuses against the people of Bosnia 
     and Herzegovina. With peace talks scheduled to begin in the 
     United States on November 1, 1995, these new reports of 
     Serbian atrocities are of grave concern to all Americans.
       The Bosnian Serb leadership should immediately halt these 
     atrocities, fully account for the missing, and allow those 
     who have been separated to return to their families. The 
     International Red Cross, the United Nations agencies, and 
     human rights organizations should be granted full and 
     complete access to all locations throughout Bosnia and 
     Herzegovina.

  This resolution was passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate last 
Friday. We must act now to make sure that these atrocities are stopped 
and that neutral sources are able to verify that they have stopped and 
account for the 2,000 missing men.
  President Milosevic is going to set foot in Wright-Patterson Air 
Force Base very shortly today. He should immediately announce--and we 
call on him to immediately announce--that these forces of terror have 
been stopped, that these atrocities have been stopped. And to show his 
good will in these peace talks, he should immediately allow for an 
accounting of the missing people in Bosnia right now. That would be the 
very first and best step he could make to show that he is, indeed, 
sincere about wanting to bring peace to this area.

[[Page S16348]]

  Mr. President, the Senate spoke forcefully. I hope we are being 
heard. If we can stop even one murder from happening, it will be worth 
it.
  I wanted to draw attention to the very strong statement that the 
Senate made last week. I hope that we can use this opportunity, as 
President Milosevic comes into our country, to ask him to show his good 
faith by saying that people will be accounted for and the atrocities 
will stop.
  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  Mr. CRAIG addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho [Mr. Craig] is 
recognized.

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