[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S20-S21]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PROTESTS IN BELGRADE

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I think it is important today as we 
see a transference of power in Congress after duly-held elections that 
we pause to support the people who are standing, as we speak, in a 
frozen public square in Serbia, who are trying to have the same rights 
that we enjoy today in America. I think we must stand with the people 
of Serbia who have for 8 weeks been standing in the freezing cold to 
demand the results of their recent elections be implemented.
  Mr. President, the world watches in awe at the display of popular 
sovereignty in the former Yugoslavian Republic of Serbia. In 8 weeks it 
has built from a few thousand to over 400,000 people who have risen up 
in peaceful opposition to the regime of Slobodan Milosevic on whom the 
Clinton administration has pinned part of its hopes in the Balkans.
  We cannot help but admire the courage, the bravery, the commitment of 
the young people and the young at heart who are standing up for 
democracy. They are trying to bring about change through moral suasion 
and the strength of their convictions. As they do that, they remind the 
world that all governments everywhere borrow power from the people they 
serve, and the people can take that power back when they determine that 
they must.
  We have had many debates on this floor regarding the future in that 
most unfortunate part of the world. Today, we have tens of thousands of 
Americans on the ground in and around Bosnia to try to keep a tenuous 
peace, to keep the military factions apart that only recently were at 
war.
  We are in Bosnia at great cost. Our Balkans policy is confused. We 
have spent $5 billion and the meter is still running. Our troops will 
be on the ground for at least another year. At the same time, in 
neighboring Serbia, we are seeing the best example of peaceful self-
determination. The people of Serbia are united on the principle of fair 
and democratic elections. The Milosevic regime is hanging on to an Old 
World order that will not remain. It will not remain because of the 
strength of the people.
  The United States should not stand idly by. The administration needed 
President Milosevic to reach the peace agreement in Dayton. So there 
has been a tendency to turn a blind eye to his faults, his protection 
of war criminals, his antidemocratic actions. But it is clear the 
people of Serbia are rising up and they are saying, ``No more.'' 
Because the administration helped create this situation in the Balkans, 
I think we have a special responsibility to exercise our influence on 
President Milosevic to honor the will of the Serbian people.
  Last month, representatives from the Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe were invited to Serbia to investigate the 
election crisis. They attempted in vain to persuade President Milosevic 
to accept the municipal election results in 14 of 19 of Serbia's 
largest cities.
  The people are protesting to send a clear message that their votes 
matter and that no regime has the right to nullify the will of the 
people, from whom all governments borrow power.
  Mr. President, we pray that President Milosevic will accept the will 
of his people. We pray that this crisis will be resolved peacefully, 
and we pray that democracy will triumph in Serbia.
  Mr. President, I am urging President Clinton today to speak out with 
a clear, strong voice that the United States stands behind the Serbian 
people and that the results of the free elections that were held should 
be implemented. It is time for the peaceful demonstrators in Belgrade, 
in their fight for a self-determined nation and freedom, to prevail. I 
urge the President to use his influence with President Milosevic to 
stand down and let the results of those elections go forward.
  Mr. President, we are beginning a new session of Congress. We had 
elections, and now we are implementing the will of the people. It has 
been thus for over 200 years in this country. Maybe some of us take 
that right for granted--the right to vote and the right to know that 
our vote will be counted fairly.
  Mr. President, it is the time for Americans to ask everyone in the

[[Page S21]]

world to salute the people who are standing today, this very minute, 
freezing in Republic Square in Belgrade, standing for the right to do 
what we have done in the last few hours in Congress, and that is have a 
peaceful transition of power after duly held elections.
  Mr. President, the people of Serbia have spoken. It is time that all 
the people in the world stand behind them so that their spoken word 
will prevail.

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