[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 19, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S6424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE ATTACK ON HARIS SILAJDZIC

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to deplore in the strongest 
possible terms the brutal assault last Saturday on former Bosnian Prime 
Minister Haris Silajdzic.
  For more than 4 years, I have protested the bloody aggression by 
Serbia and its Bosnian Serb proxies against the Republic of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina. Even today Senator Lieberman, Senator Lugar, and I are 
introducing a resolution calling upon our Government to give stronger 
support to the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, 
including making it an urgent priority for IFOR to detain and bring to 
justice persons indicted by the tribunal.
  But, Mr. President, it was not Bosnian Serbs under the direction of 
the war criminals Karadzic and Mladic who attacked Haris Silajdzic. Nor 
was it carried out by the notorious Bosnian-Croat thugs from 
Herzegovina.
  No, the attack was carried out by Bosnian Muslims belonging to the 
ruling party of democratic action, the SDA, of Bosnian President 
Izetbegovic. Former Prime Minister Silajdzic was making an election 
campaign speech in the Bihac area of northwestern Bosnia when about 100 
young toughs waving SDA flags reportedly began terrorizing citizens at 
the rally. Some of them struck Prime Minister Silajdzic on the head 
with a metal bar, opening a bloody wound on his temple. He was rushed 
off to a hospital.
  Many of my colleagues and I regard Haris Silajdzic as the single best 
hope for a multireligious democracy in Bosnia. For years he has fought 
against the vicious tribalism that unscrupulous politicians have used 
to stir up hatreds, even as he has tirelessly struggled to keep his 
embattled country alive.
  Undaunted earlier this year after he was forced out of the prime 
ministership, Haris Silajdzic founded the party for Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, a coalition of Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Serbs, and Bosnian 
Croats whose vision rises above the pathetic provincialism of the 
ethnic and religious-based parties intent on fragmenting the country.
  The reaction of the ruling SDA in Sarajevo was, sad to say, typical 
of people who learned their politics at the foot of the old Yugoslav 
league of Communists.
  Mr. Silajdzic has been harassed at every turn. Knowing of his broad 
international contacts, the authorities made it impossible for him to 
place telephone calls abroad. For example, when I have wanted to talk 
with him during the past few months, I have had to phone his home from 
Washington. And our conversations are routinely cut off in mid-
sentence.
  This is the treatment that President Izetbegovic's government accords 
a former prime minister with a worldwide reputation for bravery and 
integrity.
  Moreover, Haris Silajdzic's multi-religious party for Bosnia and 
Herzegovina has been systematically denied a level playing field in the 
campaign for national elections, which according to the Dayton accords 
must take place by September 14.
  They have found it excruciatingly difficult to get television time 
with which to spread their message of tolerance and democracy. I have 
already described how the SDA hoodlums broke up their campaign rally 
last weekend.
  Mr. President, I would submit that the Bosnian people have no better 
friend in this Congress than this Senator. But let me be absolutely 
clear: The patience of even the strongest supporters of Bosnian 
independence has limits.
  President Izetbegovic and his party must understand that we have not 
sent young American fighting men and women at the head of an 
international force thousands of miles from home merely to make it safe 
for a power-hungry, narrow-minded Bosnian Muslim clique to mimic the 
vicious, antidemocratic behavior of their Bosnian Serb oppressors.
  The clock is ticking on the implementation of the Dayton accords. 
There are still many fundamental problems to solve. Until now the 
record of the Bosnian Government, though far from perfect, has been 
better than that of Serbia and Croatia and their respective Bosnian 
proxies.
  But this latest outrage against Haris Silajdzic is a terrible step in 
the wrong direction. I call upon President Izetbegovic to take heed: 
Either get your party to clean up its act, or the United States of 
America may have to reconsider its Bosnian policy.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  Mr. SIMON addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.

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