[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 98 (Friday, July 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7311-S7314]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

     COMMEMORATING THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF SREBRENICA

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today, July 11, marks the 
second anniversary of the fall of the so-called safe area of 
Srebrenica, one of the three eastern enclaves in Bosnia.
  By most estimates, following the fall of Srebrenica over 8,000 Muslim 
refugees fleeing the Serb forces simply disappeared. Many of these 
refugees were old men, women, and children, killed in acts of inhuman 
cruelty.
  Even today, 2 years later, the vast majority of these people are 
still unaccounted for.
  Others from Srebrenica were luckier--forced to flee their homes as 
part of a brutal policy of ethnic cleansing.
  I am still haunted by an image from a picture that I saw in the 
newspaper shortly after the fall of Srebrenica. It was a picture of a 
young woman, a refugee from Srebrenica, around 20 years old, who 
climbed a tree, tied a rope around her neck, and hung herself. A 
photographer captured her lifeless body as it hung from the tree.
  Mr. President, I look at that picture and I think: What kind of 
nation are we if we can not see to it that the people who practiced 
rape, practiced genocide, practiced ethnic cleansing, are not brought 
to justice? We know who these people are. We know where they live.
  The fact is, of the 74 war criminals indicted by the International 
War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague, only 9 have been apprehended.
  Where is the conscience of the world?
  I first wrote to the President about this issue on September 11 of 
last year, following a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, at which administration witnesses provided testimony to the 
effect that there were no capable international or national 
institutions in Bosnia with both the authority and the ability to 
apprehend indicted war criminals.
  The President responded to this letter that ``although the peace will 
not be complete until indicted war criminals are brought to justice,'' 
IFOR would not hunt down war criminals, and that U.S. policy would be 
to ``continue our efforts to press all parties to turn over indicted 
war criminals to the Tribunal.''
  In the months since then we have seen how willing the parties to 
Dayton have been to turn over indicted war criminals.
  When the IFOR mandate ended and IFOR was replaced by SFOR, I took up 
this issue with Secretary Perry, writing him on December 4 last year--
again, following a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee--
that I believed that it was essential that the follow-on force have 
clear, unambiguous authority for apprehending war criminals or to 
provide more effective support to other authorities in carrying out 
this task.
  I received a response from the Department of Defense on February 18 
of this year that again stated that the administration shared my 
concern on the importance of this issue, but that no additional efforts 
to apprehend war criminals would be forthcoming.
  I also took this question up with the other Democratic and Republican 
women of the Senate. The nine of us sent a letter to the President on 
March 3 of this year in which we requested that the President:

       . . . look at this problem as a top priority and indicate 
     to us precisely how the international community might ensure 
     the arrest and extradition to The Hague of those responsible 
     for crimes against humanity.

  The President responded to us on April 11. His letter stressed the 
role of

[[Page S7312]]

the International Tribunal in ``establishing accountability for war 
crimes and crimes against humanity . . .'' The President also stated 
that:

       I share your sense of urgency and my Administration is 
     committed to assisting the Tribunals in the apprehension and 
     extradition of those indictees who remain at large. We are 
     currently examining a variety of options in this regard.

  Frankly, I found the President's response to be inadequate. And in 
mid-April I wrote to both the President and the Secretary General of 
the United Nations urging an aggressive stand to see that indicted war 
criminals are brought to justice.
  As I stated in my April 21 letter to the President, it is my belief 
that:

       Unless the United States takes a position of aggressive 
     leadership on this issue in the international community, we 
     run the risk that future historians will conclude that the 
     lessons of current U.S. foreign policy are that crimes 
     against humanity, genocide, and the use of rape as an 
     instrument of war are acceptable--and that those who 
     perpetrate these crimes can do so with impunity.

  We would, moreover, put at risk all the gains of the Dayton process 
if we do not bring these war criminals to justice.
  The President responded to me on June 19, stating that, ``My foreign 
policy team is examining several options to assist and enhance the 
ability of the Tribunal to bring indicted war criminals into custody.''
  Mr. President, I will ask that copies of those portions of this 
correspondence that I feel my colleagues will find most useful be 
printed in the Record at the end of my remarks.
  Finally, to provide additional tools to the administration in the 
apprehension of war criminals, in May of this year Senator Lautenberg, 
Lugar, Leahy, D'Amato, Mikulski, and myself introduced the War Crimes 
Prosecution Facilitation Act of 1997. This legislation, which has since 
been included in the committee-passed Senate Foreign Operation 
Appropriations bill, conditions United States financial assistance to 
the states and entities of the former Yugoslavia with their cooperation 
with the war crimes Tribunal.
  Mr. President, I do not know what humiliations and deprivations this 
woman whose picture I saw in the paper suffered. Perhaps she saw a 
loved one killed. Perhaps she was raped. All I know is that she could 
take no more.
  In the memory of this nameless young woman, and in the memory of the 
countless thousands of others who were killed, tortured, and raped, we 
must make sure that peace and justice are restored in Bosnia.
  And the bottom line is that there can be no peace and justice in 
Bosnia without the prosecution of those who committed crimes against 
humanity.
  What happened in Srebrenica was not unique to the war that tore the 
former Yugoslavia apart. In town after town, village after village, 
atrocities were committed by all sides in a brutal civil war.
  Unlike the countless other villages and towns wiped off the map in 
the campaigns of ethnic cleansing, however, the fall of Srebrenica--and 
the brutal atrocities carried on while the international community 
stood passively by--at long last galvanized the international community 
to end the war and bloodshed in Bosnia. What we saw in Srebrenica 
shamed the international community to action, and led to the 
negotiation of the Dayton accords.
  Today, 2 years after Srebrenica and a year-and-a-half since Dayton, 
should be a day to look back at our accomplishments of the past 2 years 
and say that we have upheld our vow of ``never again.''
  Instead, it is a day when we must admit that we have not done enough 
to honor the memory of the young women whose photograph I referred to 
earlier, or the other victims of ethnic cleansing in the former 
Yugoslavia.
  The horrors that tore Yugoslavia apart--the ethnic cleansing, the 
genocide, the rapes--have been well documented. The perpetrators of 
these horrors are well known. Yet only 9 of the 75 indicted war 
criminals in the former Yugoslavia have been apprehended and are in 
custody.
  The rest remain at liberty, their whereabouts known, and many working 
in jobs with the police, government, and leading businesses in the 
former Yugoslavia. Many live and work within minutes of NATO camps 
manned by U.S. troops.
  Despite its efforts to amass evidence, lead investigations, and issue 
indictments, at almost every turn the Tribunal has been stymied by the 
failure of the international community to apprehend indicted war 
criminals and bring them to justice.
  Estimates are that up to 20,000 women in Yugoslavia were 
systematically raped as part of a policy of ethnic cleansing and 
genocide. In Srebrenica, for example, one woman told of Serb soldiers, 
dressed as U.N. peacekeepers, who came in a factory where refugees were 
gathered and dragged away two girls aged 12 and 14 and a 23-year-old 
woman. After several hours the three returned. They were crying, naked, 
and bleeding. One said, ``We are not girls anymore.''
  According to the U.N. Commission of Experts, the victims of rape in 
Bosnia included girls as young as 6 and women as old as 81. Many women 
and girls were subjected to gang rapes while being held in detention 
camps. And, tragically, for many of the women of ex-Yugoslavia rape was 
merely a prelude to further torture and then death.
  I believe the use of rape as an instrument of genocide and ethnic 
cleansing is a war crime of the highest order. And the failure to 
assure that those who have been indicted for rape as a war crime are 
apprehended, extradited, and made to stand trial, does a grave 
injustice not just to the women of Srebrenica, but to women around the 
world.
  The administration has asserted that rape as a war crime must not be 
allowed to stand and that the peace in this troubled area ``will not be 
complete until indicted war criminals are brought to justice.''
  Ultimately, it would be a hollow and cynical gesture to claim outrage 
over rape as a war crime but then to act as if the issue is not 
important enough to merit the commitment or resources to see that those 
who committed these crimes are apprehend and prosecuted.
  Our commitment to Bosnia, after all, is not just about Bosnia. It is 
also about the principles that guide us and our conduct in the world. 
It is about what we, as Americans, value.
  Yesterday, with the arrest of one indicted war criminal by SFOR, and 
the death of another who resisted arrest, the international community 
took a long-delayed step in the right direction in seeing that the 
perpetrators of these crimes against humanity are brought to justice.
  I hope that the actions of SFOR in Prejidor yesterday sends a clear 
signal to those indicted war criminals who remain at large that today, 
on the anniversary of the fall of Srebrenica, the international 
community is serious about bringing them to justice.
  Although I believe that the capture of indicted war criminals is 
primarily the responsibility of the governments of the former 
Yugoslavia, yesterday's action illustrate the important role that SFOR 
has to play in this process as well.
  The SFOR mandate clearly states that if SFOR patrols, including U.S. 
troops, encounter indicted war criminals and the tactical situation 
permits they are to arrest them and extradite them to The Hague.
  But we have also heard stories of SFOR commanders telling their 
troops that if they encounter an indicted war criminal they should 
leave the area immediately and take no action.
  I can think of no better way to honor the memory of Srebrenica then 
if today SFOR turns over a new leaf, and vows to pursue its mandate 
vigorously and to the maximum degree possible.
  If indicted war criminals are not brought to justice, the 
international community will have betrayed the legacy of Nuremberg, the 
victims of the war that tore Yugoslavia apart, and women worldwide. 
This will also set a dangerous precedent that will give encouragement 
to others elsewhere in the world who may consider the use of rape and 
genocide as tools of war.
  In the aftermath of the Holocaust 50 years ago, the civilized world 
vowed that we would never again allow crimes against humanity to 
blacken our history.
  In the aftermath of the tragedy of Srebrenica 2 years ago, we vowed 
that we would bring peace and justice to Bosnia.
  Today, on the second anniversary of the fall of Srebrenica the 
international community must vow to redouble its

[[Page S7313]]

commitment to take immediate strong action to see that the indicted war 
criminals are brought to justice.
  If not, as I stated in my letter to the President on April 21, 1997, 
we run the risk that future historians will look back on current U.S. 
policy and conclude that the ethnic cleansing and the use of rape as an 
instrument of war is acceptable--and that those who perpetrate this 
crime can do so with impunity. This would be a tragic betrayal of our 
history, our principles, and the people of Srebrenica.
  I ask that the correspondence to which I earlier referred be printed 
in the Record.
  The correspondence follows:


                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                    Washington, DC, March 3, 1997.
     Hon. William Jefferson Clinton,
     President of the United States, The White House, Washington, 
         DC.
       Dear Mr. President: We, the women of the United States 
     Senate, welcome your recent statement that you believe that 
     the establishment of a permanent international institution 
     for the prosecution of those who have committed war crimes 
     should be a high priority for the international community, 
     and to express our concern that those indicted for genocide, 
     systematic rape and other war crimes by the International 
     Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia are apprehended 
     and tried.
       The Tribunal has clearly established that, for the first 
     time in history, the organized, systematic rape of thousands 
     of women was employed as an instrument of war, and that 
     genocide was used to ``ethnically cleanse'' areas of 
     conflict. These, we believe, are war crimes of the highest 
     order.
       Investigators have documented rapes of over 50,000 women 
     and girls and the use of rape as a weapon in a brutal 
     campaign of ethnic cleansing. The war that tore Bosnia apart 
     is one more chapter in the reprehensible book of genocide.
       Those who ordered and perpetuated these crimes must be 
     brought to justice. The War Crimes Tribunal has publicly 
     indicted 75 people, including 5 for genocide, but only 6 of 
     the indicted suspects are in custody and many war criminals 
     remain at large.
       We understand your decision and concerns about the use of 
     U.S. troops to apprehend indicted war criminals in the former 
     Yugoslavia. Like you, we consider the safety of U.S. troops 
     to be of the highest priority and would not support their 
     security being compromised. We are sure that you will also 
     agree that, to ensure the peace they have worked so hard to 
     preserve does not dissolve as soon as they depart, it is 
     critical that the international community take action to 
     assure that war criminals not be allowed to continue to elude 
     justice.
       We, the women of the Senate, ask that you look at this 
     problem as a top priority and indicate to us precisely how 
     the international community might ensure the arrest and 
     extradition to the Hague of those responsible for crimes 
     against humanity. We believe that it is critically important 
     that the United States aggressively exercise its leadership 
     in the international community to ensure that the indicted 
     are brought to justice.
       We look forward to hearing your thinking and plans on this 
     very important matter.
           Sincerely,
         Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Mary L. Landrieu, Carol 
           Moseley-Braun, Olympia J. Snow, Susan M. Collins, Kay 
           Bailey Hutchison, Barbara A. Mikulski, Patty Murray.
                                                                    ____



                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                   Washington, DC, April 21, 1997.
     Hon. William Jefferson Clinton,
     President of the United States, The White House, Washington, 
         DC.
       Dear Mr. President, Thank you for your letter of April 11 
     regarding the deep concern shared by the women of the Senate 
     that only 7 of the 75 indicted war criminals in the former 
     Yugoslavia have been arrested and extradited to The Hague to 
     stand trial. Unfortunately, I was deeply disappointed with 
     the substance of your response.
       In our March 3 letter, the women of the Senate asked that 
     you view this issue as a priority and that the United States 
     provide leadership in ensuring that the international 
     community take steps to secure the necessary trials. The 
     essence of your response appears to be that the 
     administration continues to examine ``a variety of options.''
       As you may recall, in an October 10, 1996, letter you 
     assured me that the administration ``will continue to assist 
     the War Crimes Tribunal and we will continue to look at all 
     other possible ways to help detain and deliver war criminals 
     to The Hague . . . the peace will not be complete until 
     indicted war criminals are brought to justice.''
       In the seven months that have passed between your letter to 
     me of October 10 and your letter of April 11, not one 
     additional indicted war criminals has been arrested or 
     extradited to The Hague, and the United States has undertaken 
     no concrete steps to see that they are brought to justice.
       The failure of U.S. leadership makes a mockery of the 
     Tribunal's efforts, and continued procrastination and 
     obstruction in bringing indicted war criminals to justice 
     threaten to undermine both the Tribunals effectiveness and 
     the Dayton peace process as well. Mr. President, justice 
     delayed is justice denied.
       If, as you stated to me in your letter last October 10, 
     ``We cannot tolerate genocide, ethnic cleansing and the use 
     of rape as instruments of war,'' then it would appear that 
     current U.S. policy regarding the apprehension of indicted 
     war criminals in the former Yugoslavia is woefully 
     inadequate. In fact, current U.S. policy not only allows 
     those who perpetuated genocide, ethnic cleansing, and rape 
     to remain at liberty, but, as a recent Human Rights Watch/
     Helsinki report notes, it allows them to occupy positions 
     of authority in running police forces, towns, and 
     businesses in former Yugoslavia.
       The International War Crimes Tribunal for the former 
     Yugoslavia has clearly established that, for the first time 
     in history, the organized, systematic rape of thousands of 
     women was employed as an instrument of war, and that genocide 
     was used to ``ethnically cleanse'' areas of conflict during 
     the tragic conflict in ex-Yugoslavia.
       Between 1991 and 1993, the United Nations Commission of 
     Experts documented 800 victims of rape by name, 1,673 who 
     were referred to but not named, and 500 cases of rape with an 
     unspecified number of victims. The youngest documented victim 
     was 5 years old, the oldest 81. The Commission also noted 
     that, due to the social stigma of rape, investigation and 
     documentation were difficult, and estimates are that up to 
     50,000 women in ex-Yugoslavia were systematically raped as 
     part of a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide. The use of 
     rape as an instrument of genocide and ethnic cleansing, I 
     believe, are war crimes of the highest order. Those 
     responsible must be apprehended and tried.
       Acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the 
     Security Council established the ad hoc International 
     Tribunal in 1993 to prosecute violations of international law 
     in the territories of the former Yugoslavia. This Tribunal 
     was an innovation that renewed the hope that, after the many 
     conflicts during the past half-century in which international 
     law was routinely flouted and justice was denied to the 
     victims of crimes against humanity, the legacy of Nuremberg 
     would be fulfilled.
       Instead, the Tribunal has been stymied by the international 
     community's failure to arrest war criminals. Today only seven 
     of the seventy-five indicted individuals are in custody. The 
     Office of the Prosecutor continues to amass evidence, lead 
     investigations, conduct searches, issue indictments, and hold 
     in absentia hearings. But the failure of the international 
     community to take action to arrest those indicted and bring 
     them to trial in The Hague puts at risk not only the 
     credibility and effort of the Tribunal, but the concept of 
     international law and justice as well.
       The failure of the international community to take actions, 
     moreover, has not been caused by any difficulty in locating 
     the indicted war criminals, or, even, in many cases, any 
     potential danger in making arrests.
       In fact, it is my understanding that the whereabouts of 
     over 40 of the 68 unextradited indicted war criminals are 
     well known. Let me present several examples:
       The camp commanders of the Omarska concentration camp, 
     where systematic rape of Bosnian women was a regular part of 
     a campaign of oppression, were working openly last year in 
     the local police force in Prijedor in Republika Srpska. 
     (Source: Coalition for International Justice (CIJ), 
     Washington Post)
       Zeljko Mejakic, the commander of the Omarska camp indicted 
     for rape and crimes against humanity was the deputy commander 
     of the Omarska police station for much of last year. (Source: 
     Boston Globe)
       Predrag Kostic, a camp guard at Omarska indicted for crimes 
     against humanity, is frequently sighted at the ``Express'' 
     restaurant in Prijedor (Source: CIJ, New York Times).
       Radovan Karadzic, indicted for genocide following the Serb 
     attack on Srebrenica and whose current home in Pale is well 
     known, is building a house in Koljani (near Banja Luka) and, 
     according to stories in the Associated Press, ``makes little 
     effort to conceal his daily movements.'' (Source: Human 
     Rights Watch, AP)
       Stevan Todorovic, indicted for a series of atrocities, 
     lives in Donja Slatina, a three-minute drive away from Camp 
     Colt--a 1,000-troop, U.S.-manned SFOR base. To commute to his 
     job with Bosnian state security, Todorovic drives past the 
     base on a road regularly traveled by NATO patrols. (Source: 
     Washington Post)
       Drago Josipovic, indicted for his role in the execution of 
     Muslim civilians, is a chemical engineer at the local Vitezit 
     explosives factory and lives in his family house in the 
     village of Santici. (Source: CIJ)
       Radovan Stankovic, a member of the Serb paramilitary unit 
     Pero Elez, and who was in charge of a detention facility 
     where women were regularly raped, works as a policeman in 
     northwest Bosnia. According to a story in Reuters, his 
     whereabouts are well-known to the International Police Task 
     Force and U.N. officials. (Source: Reuters)
       Blagoje Simic, who has been indicted for failing to halt 
     the torture and abuse of Muslim and Croat civilians, 
     continues to serve as municipal president in Bosanski Samac. 
     Simic was quoted in a Boston Globe article as saying, ``I'm 
     not uncatchable. But I think that someone important still 
     hasn't ordered those arrests to be done.'' Asked who that 
     might be by the Globe reporter, Simic replied ``President 
     Clinton.'' (Source: Boston Globe)
       These are but a handful of the indicted war criminals who 
     have been regularly seen by credible journalists, 
     representatives of non-

[[Page S7314]]

     governmental organizations, and others throughout the former 
     Yugoslavia. In fact, the U.S. State Department spokesperson 
     commented on March 14 of this year that: ``There are a number 
     of indicted war criminals who live in Croatia who have not 
     been turned over to the War Crimes Tribunal. And there are 
     certain individuals that we're watching very closely. We've 
     told the Croatian government that we know who these people 
     are. They've been named by the tribunal as indicted war 
     criminals. We know where they live.''
       It has become clear that neither Serb authorities within 
     Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina nor Croat 
     authorities in the Federation are meeting their obligations 
     to hand over indicted war criminals--and that the United 
     States is doing very little to force them to meet these 
     obligations.
       Regular reports about the whereabouts of several indicted 
     war criminals indicate that many lead remarkably open lives. 
     Last fall the Coalition for International Justice published a 
     comprehensive report on the whereabouts, jobs, and everyday 
     habits of 37 of the indicted war criminals. Earlier this 
     year, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki issued a report documenting 
     that many of the people running the towns, police forces and 
     businesses of the Serbian portion of Bosnia are the same 
     people who orchestrated the horrors of ethnic cleansing. In 
     case you have not had the opportunity to see them, I have 
     attached copies of both these reports.
       The United States, unfortunately, must bear a large share 
     of the blame for the fact that indicted war criminals remain 
     at large in the former Yugoslavia.
       In the letter to my office last October 10, you stated that 
     ``IFOR will detain indicted war criminals and hand them over 
     to the International Tribunal if they are encountered by IFOR 
     personnel during the normal course of their duties and the 
     tactical situation permits.'' (This mandate regarding war 
     criminals, I understand, has been subsequently extended to 
     SFOR.) Even if we rule out some of the reported war 
     criminal sightings as false, it defies credulity to 
     suggest that so many people in the former Yugoslavia 
     except for SFOR have had regular contact with indicted war 
     criminals.
       The SFOR rules of engagement regarding war criminals appear 
     to be interpreted so narrowly that it seems that an indicted 
     war criminal would, in effect, have to actively seek out and 
     surrender to SFOR if SFOR troops were to arrest them.
       Indicted war criminals must be arrested and brought to 
     trial if the Tribunal is to have meaning as the ultimate 
     international arbiter of guilt or innocence in the commission 
     of war crimes. If indicted war criminals are not brought to 
     justice, the international community will have betrayed both 
     the legacy of Nuremberg and the victims of the war that tore 
     Yugoslavia apart. This failure will also set a dangerous 
     precedent that will give encouragement to others elsewhere in 
     the world who may consider the use of rape and genocide as 
     tools of war.
       In addition, it is my firm belief that the continued 
     presence of indicted war criminals in former Yugoslavia will 
     set the stage for the renewal of violence, bloodshed, and 
     civil war when SFOR departs next year. We will have 
     sacrificed all the gains of the Dayton process because we 
     will have chosen to compromise with war criminals.
       I once again call upon you to take an aggressive stand to 
     see that the indicted war criminals are brought to justice. 
     Specifically, I encourage you to:
       Examine the feasibility of the United States and SFOR 
     taking a more active role to apprehend indicted war criminals 
     still at large as well as cooperating more closely with the 
     United Nations, the International Civilian Police Task Force, 
     and civilian authorities in the former Yugoslavia on this 
     issue;
       Investigate appropriate additional sanctions, which can be 
     enforced either unilaterally or through the United Nations 
     system for the Republika Srpska and Croatia, unless and until 
     they cooperate fully with the Tribunal;
       Explore the necessity of any additional U.S. assistance to 
     the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former 
     Yugoslavia; and,
       Move quickly to implement the permanent international body 
     with the power, authority, and resources to investigate, 
     apprehend, and bring war criminals to trial that you spoke of 
     earlier this year.
       I would also appreciate your clarification of the SFOR 
     rules of engagement for detaining war criminals.
       Mr. President, you have been called upon to serve the 
     United States at a time of great international change and 
     uncertainty. Unless the United States takes a position of 
     aggressive leadership on this issue in the international 
     community, we run the risk that future historians will 
     conclude that the lessons of current U.S. foreign policy are 
     that crimes against humanity, genocide, and the use of rape 
     as an instrument of war are acceptable--and that those who 
     perpetrate these crimes can do so with impunity. Mr. 
     President, I know that you share my belief that leaving such 
     a legacy would be unacceptable.
       I look forward to hearing your thoughts and plans on this 
     very important matter.
           Sincerely yours,
                                                 Dianne Feinstein,
     U.S. Senator.
                                                                    ____



                                              The White House,

                                        Washington, June 19, 1997.
     Hon. Dianne Feinstein,
     U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Dianne: Thank you for writing again regarding indicted 
     war criminals in the former Yugoslavia. I continue to share 
     your concerns. My foreign policy team is examining several 
     options to assist and enhance the ability of the Tribunal to 
     bring indicted war criminals into custody.
       We are increasing pressure on the parties by linking 
     multilateral and bilateral economic assistance to their 
     compliance with their obligation under the Dayton Accords to 
     turn over indicted war criminals. In addition, we have begun 
     working with the UN and its International Police Task Force 
     (IPTF) in Bosnia to improve the performance of the IPTF in 
     identifying indictees and their whereabouts.
       We continue to work closely with the Tribunal, especially 
     the Office of the Chief Prosecutor, by providing a wide range 
     of assistance, including legal and investigative support. The 
     United States also provides the Tribunal intelligence and 
     information pursuant to Section 555 of the Foreign 
     Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs 
     Appropriations Act of 1997. On May 2 we contributed $450,000 
     to the Tribunal's forensic exhumations program in the former 
     Yugoslavia.
       I have also nominated David Scheffer as Ambassador-at-Large 
     for War Crimes Issues. If confirmed, Mr. Scheffer will 
     coordinate our work in this area and focus on the tasks that 
     are critical to the success of both the Yugoslav and Rwanda 
     War Crimes Tribunals. Finally, knowing our mutual concern for 
     this grave issue, I have asked Robert Gelbard, my Special 
     Representative for Implementation of the Dayton Accords, to 
     give you a confidential briefing as soon as possible on our 
     specific plans to re-energize this critical component of the 
     Dayton peace process.
       Thanks again for your letter and your continuing support 
     for our efforts to bring peace and justice to the people of 
     the Balkans.
           Sincerely,
     Bill.

                          ____________________