[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S722-S724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PROGRESS IN BOSNIA

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, one of the most important foreign policy 
issues with which the Congress must deal in the coming months is 
continued American involvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  Last December, President Clinton announced his decision that the 
United States should maintain ground troops in an international force 
that will replace SFOR, whose mandate expires in June. Soon, he will 
ask the Congress for the funding to support this operation.
  I support the President's decision as being squarely in the national 
self-interest of the United States. As I have said on many other 
occasions, the stability of southeastern Europe depends on the ability 
of the Bosnians, working with the international community, to create a 
self-sustaining, peaceful, democratic system in their country.
  Failure to achieve this goal would inevitably restart the violence 
that produced the worst bloodletting in Europe since World War II, and 
would almost certainly ignite the ethnic tinderbox that is smoldering 
in neighboring countries. Other potential Radovan Karadzics cannot be 
encouraged to believe that they can get away with similar crimes. The 
devil's work of the mass murderers, ethnic cleansers, and rapists in 
Bosnia must not be allowed to stand in that country or, worse still, to 
be repeated there and elsewhere.
  Moreover, as President Clinton said in his State of the Union 
address, staying the course in Bosnia is a test of American leadership 
in Europe in general, and in NATO in particular. It was American 
military involvement in the fall of 1995 and our diplomatic leadership 
in crafting the Dayton Accords that ended the carnage in Bosnia.
  Make no mistake about it: we are the indispensable country in the 
European security equation, as Bosnia demonstrates. Although our 
alliance partners are shouldering the lion's share of the economic and 
military burden in Bosnia, without our participation on the ground and 
in the air, SFOR and any post-SFOR force would be impossible.
  The task in Bosnia is complex and will take several more years to 
complete. President Clinton himself admitted his error in thinking that 
nearly four years of horrific violence could be remedied in one year, 
or even two-and-a-half years.
  But our commitment to assisting the Bosnians, of course, is not open-
ended. Rather than tieing our exit to an artificial date, we should--
and will--link it to the completion of clearly defined criteria, such 
as the establishment of a functioning national government and other 
national institutions, seated elected local governments, free media, 
and a free-market economy. I have every confidence that the 
Administration will spell out these benchmark criteria in detail in its 
request for U.S. participation in the international force after this 
June.
  I had the opportunity to accompany the President to Bosnia before 
Christmas--my fourth journey in recent years to that troubled land. The 
trip confirmed the impressions that I gained in a longer trip last 
summer: we have made significant progress in implementing the military 
and civilian provisions of the Dayton Accords.
  I scarcely need to add the caveat that much still remains to be done 
to put Bosnia back on firm footing. Today I have several concrete 
policy proposals to further that end.
  To put them into context, I would like to review in some detail the 
significant progress that has been made in the last nine months in 
implementing both the military and civilian provisions of the Dayton 
Accords.
  Mr. President, I believe that even the most skeptical observer has to 
admit that the situation in Bosnia has improved greatly since Dayton, 
and with an increased tempo in the last nine months.
  Thanks to our magnificent troops in IFOR and SFOR and those of allied 
and partner countries, a stable military environment has been created 
and the warring parties separated. No fewer than three hundred thousand 
troops from all sides have returned to civilian life.
  Nearly seven thousand heavy weapons have been destroyed, and an 
additional two thousand six hundred put into supervised cantonments.
  A joint Muslim-Croat Federation Defense Force has been created, 
although below the top command much more integration remains to be 
accomplished. The American Train and Equip Program to create a 
defensive Federation capability is in full swing. I visited its 
headquarters last summer, and was impressed with its trainers and its 
Muslim and Croat students.
  Progress has also been made in creating non-political local police 
forces, both in the Federation and in the Republika Srpska. Integrated 
police forces are operating in eight major locations around the 
country, including the pivotal northern town of Brcko, whose future 
will be determined in March by an international arbitrator.
  The International Police Task Force or IPTF has had its share of 
problems, perhaps unavoidable given the fact that no fewer than forty 
countries are contributing officers to it. Recent reforms, however, in 
which Americans have played a prominent role, have strengthened its 
professionalism. A new Federation Police Academy has been opened near 
Sarajevo to train new recruits from all religious groups.
  Last fall, I called for our European allies to contribute forces from 
their paramilitary formations to create a gendarmerie in Bosnia as a 
vital middle layer--under SFOR control--between the local police and 
SFOR. Although there was an initial, predictable negative public 
reaction from Europe, I am told that several of our partners are now 
actively considering the idea. These European gendarmes could provide 
the security for newly elected municipal governments, guarantee safety 
for minority refugee returns, and take over the lead-role in capturing 
indicted war criminals.

  In fact, slowly but surely the indicted war criminals are already 
being rounded up. Nearly one-third of the seventy-nine individuals 
under open indictment have been taken into custody in the War Crimes 
Tribunal in the Hague.
  Last month, for the first time American SFOR troops carried out a 
capture operation, seizing a notorious Bosnian Serb who as the sadistic 
commander of a prison camp called himself the ``Serb Adolf'' and 
reveled in his grisly murder of Muslims. He is one of only a handful

[[Page S723]]

of individuals in Bosnia indicted for genocide.
  NATO Secretary-General Solana has publicly pledged to arrest such war 
criminals when NATO troops find them, but proceeding with careful 
preparation so as to avoid undue risk. I welcome his statement and urge 
an acceleration of the process, to be taken over as soon as possible--
as I just mentioned--by a European gendarmerie.
  Contrary to popular belief, Mr. President, many refugees and 
displaced persons have returned home--more than 400,000 in fact. The 
number of minority returnees represents only a small fraction of the 
total, but even here there has been notable progress in several cities 
in the past few months.
  Mr. President, there are other positive signs emanating from Bosnia. 
Thanks to pressure from SFOR, the Bosnian media have been restructured. 
The hate-filled television broadcasts of the Karadzic forces have been 
put under the oversight of the High Representative, and the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Equally 
important, the internationally funded Open Broadcast Network now 
reaches eighty percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  The economic life of the Federation is rapidly improving, although a 
huge amount remains to be rebuilt. GDP grew by 53% in 1996 and 35% last 
year, and unemployment has been cut in half, from 90% to 44%.
  A central factor in the economic resuscitation of the Federation has 
been international assistance, and our USAID is generally acknowledged 
to have been the most efficient national agency in delivering emergency 
assistance in a variety of ways. I have personally seen the targeted 
programs of USAID contractors helping minority refugees to return and 
rebuild their own houses. Moreover, USAID assistance has created over 
11,000 jobs and provided sixty-eight million dollars in loans to one 
hundred forty medium-sized Bosnian enterprises.
  From all international sources more than 230 miles of roads have been 
rebuilt throughout Bosnia and twenty-one key bridges repaired and made 
functional again.
  Economic progress in the Republika Srpska has lagged far behind that 
of the Federation, primarily because the Karadzic-dominated government 
in Pale obstructed implementation of the civilian parts of the Dayton 
Accords. I will return shortly to the issue of how best to assist the 
Republika Srpska to get back onto its feet.
  Progress has been uneven in fleshing out the institutions of 
government mandated by Dayton. While all national and entity-level 
institutions have been created, the joint presidency is a fractious and 
hamstrung organization, and tax, customs, and banking bodies are still 
not fully functioning.
  We clearly must put more pressure on the various parties to make the 
system work, and recent events give me some confidence that this is 
beginning to happen. The High Representative for Bosnia, the impressive 
Spanish diplomat Carlos Westendorp, has been given additional powers by 
the international community, and he is using them. Last month, fed up 
with stalemate among the representatives of the three major religious 
groups, Mr. Westendorp imposed a common currency on the country. When 
the three groups seemed deadlocked on a common national license plate, 
he forced the issue, and an agreement was reached. Most recently, when 
they failed to agree on the design of a national flag, Mr. Westendorp 
made the choice and imposed it on them.
  In contrast to the grudging pace of reform at the national level, 
there has been quite remarkable progress at the entity and local levels 
of government.
  Democratic elections have been held with turn-outs averaging more 
than seventy percent. The trend has been toward marginalizing the 
ethnic extremists, who have either been voted out of office or removed 
by the High Representative from positions in towns in both the 
Federation and the Republika Srpska.
  Then last month, Mr. President, a stunning and heartening development 
took place in Bosnia. A non-nationalist Bosnian Serb named Milorad 
Dodik was elected Prime Minister of the Republika Srpska.
  I met Mr. Dodik last August in Banja Luka. He seems genuinely to 
believe in a unified, multi-ethnic Bosnia, and his behavior during the 
four years of violence was exemplary. In fact, his razor-thin victory 
in the Republika Srpska parliament was made possible by the support of 
sixteen Muslim and several Croat deputies.
  Nominated for his position by Republika Srpska President Plavsic, 
Prime Minister Dodik has crafted a program that goes beyond that of his 
patron:
  He has pledged to implement Dayton fully, including completing the 
unification of the police forces of the Republika Srpska and of the 
Federation.
  He has said he will seek an equitable solution to the refugee 
problem.
  He has said that when he is firmly in power he will turn over all 
Serbs suspected of war crimes to the international tribunal in the 
Hague. In fact, the tribunal may soon open an office in Banja Luka.
  He has guaranteed equal rights for all citizens.
  He has called for the separation of religion and politics.
  He has come out for independent media, pledging publicly to 
reorganize Bosnian Serb Radio and Television ``in accordance with the 
requirements of the Office of the High Representative . . . to develop 
into a professional, independent, and responsible network, open to 
everybody.''
  Moreover, Prime Minister Dodik--himself a successful businessman--has 
set as a top priority the privatization and restructuring of the 
economy of the Republika Srpska. Central to this is his determination 
to eliminate the widespread corruption that has kept the Karadzic gang 
in power by eliminating their ability to tax, to impose customs 
duties--and then to siphon off the money for their personal use. He has 
already replaced the corrupt Karadzic appointees who ran the state-
owned industries.
  In an immediate measure to exert his control, Dodik is moving the 
Republika Srpska capital from Pale to Banja Luka, a measure that was 
officially approved by the Republika Srpska Parliament on January 31st 
by a wide margin.
  Moreover, the Republika Sprska Parliament has voted to annul thirty-
three laws passed by the Karadzic-dominated parliament after President 
Plavsic dissolved that body last summer.
  My colleagues should understand that we must keep a sharp eye on 
Dodik--if for no other reason the fact that he is also being supported 
by Yugoslav President Milosevic--but there is no doubt whatsoever that 
Dodik is a vast improvement over the Pale gang that is actively 
resisting him.
  The jury is still out as to who will emerge victorious, but, Mr. 
President, the very facts of Dodik's record, his parliamentary victory, 
and his reform program are an eloquent rebuttal to the many superficial 
and utterly erroneous statements about Bosnian history that we have 
often heard in this country, even on the floor of this chamber.
  We have repeatedly heard the refrain of how ``those people in Bosnia 
have never gotten along,'' how ``they have fought each other for five 
hundred years,'' and how ``they are incapable of living together.''
  I hope that as we go forward in Bosnia, we can finally dispense with 
these tired cliches, which, in essence, have been an excuse not to deal 
with the real world.
  Mr. President, in my twenty-five years in the Senate my colleagues 
have called me many things, but ``starry-eyed'' is not one of them. In 
taking note of the progress that has been achieved in Bosnia, I do not 
for one minute believe that we are on the edge of victory, or even that 
the final goal of a multi-ethnic, democratic, free-market Bosnia is 
certain to be achieved.
  But I do think that a sober, objective reading of the current 
situation gives cause for some optimism that we have turned the corner.
  In conclusion, I would like to offer a six-point plan to correct some 
missteps-steps and to keep up the positive momentum in Bosnia.
  First, in the very near future we must secure the commitment of 
several of our allies to contribute troops to create the European 
paramilitary

[[Page S724]]

gendarme force for Bosnia, which I described earlier, to handle a 
variety of civilian security tasks. This is eminently do-able and would 
provide a tremendous boost to Dayton implementation.
  Second, although we will almost certainly reduce the size of the 
American troop commitment in the post-SFOR force from the current eight 
thousand five hundred, the President must make clear to the American 
public that he is prepared to raise that number again if our commander 
on the ground in Bosnia certifies that the security situation warrants 
it.
  Third--and this may not sit well with some of my colleagues--I 
believe that if a continued American troop presence in Bosnia is an 
important national interest, as it manifestly is--then I think this 
priority should be reflected in a supplemental appropriation that does 
not reprogram other military funding. In other words, we should not 
sacrifice readiness elsewhere to pay for Bosnia. Both are essential, 
and we can afford both.
  Fourth, we should support Republika Srpska Prime Minister Dodik by 
speedily providing assistance to his central government and to 
localities that implement Dayton, but not provide it in an 
indiscriminate way. What do I mean by that?
  I mean that henceforth in order to receive American USAID assistance, 
all Bosnian municipalities, both in the Republika Srpska and in the 
Federation, by a reasonable date-certain would have to join the Open 
Cities Program to welcome returning minority refugees, seat their 
municipal councils that were legally elected last September, and deny 
sanctuary to indicted war criminals.
  I would also design USAID reconstruction projects that designate for 
returning minority refugees housing units or jobs in rebuilt factories.
  Let me underscore, Mr. President--and this is key--my plan means not 
providing assistance to localities until they comply. The date-certain 
must be reasonable, but firm.
  The restrictions I propose are not intended to undercut Prime 
Minister Dodik, whom I support. But we must be clear: the American 
policy goal is not just to have a rhetorically friendlier Republika 
Srpska government, but is rather to help build a multi-ethnic, 
democratic Bosnia.
  Fifth, as a specific corollary of this last point, we should force 
the Bosnian Muslim SDA Party, the senior partner in the Federation 
government, to welcome returning Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat 
refugees back to Sarajevo and to enact legislation to enable non-
Muslims to reclaim their former apartments in ``socially owned,'' that 
is, public housing.
  I have advocated these steps for months. Last week, under pressure 
from our talented Special Envoy Ambassador Bob Gelbard, Bosnian 
President Izetbegovic finally agreed to admit twenty thousand Serbs and 
Croats and to introduce the property legislation. We must now hold him 
to his word, using assistance as a lever.

  The Bosnian Muslims, the principal victims of the carnage of the last 
four years, know that they have no stronger defender in Congress than 
me. But they must also realize that all groups in Bosnia--Muslims, 
Croats, Serbs, and others--deserve equal treatment as the country is 
rebuilt and made healthy again. I cannot stress this point enough.
  Sixth, in the preparations for the pivotal Bosnian national elections 
next September we should greatly increase our support for the non-
nationalist, multi-ethnic parties in the Federation and the Republika 
Srpska.
  Until now, this task in the field has been handled principally by the 
U.S. National Democratic Institute, which has done superb work.
  We should now pressure the OSCE to involve the multi-ethnic parties 
in the work of the Provisional Election Commission, which sets the 
ground rules.
  For example, until now, incredible as it may sound, only the 
nationalist parties have had access to voters' lists!
  Mr. President, Bosnia has come a long way since the horrifying days 
only two-and-a-half years ago when daily mortar attacks and snipers 
terrorized Sarajevo and Mostar, when thousands were brutally murdered 
in Srebrenica and elsewhere, and when women were degraded in bestial 
rape camps.
  Much work remains to be done, but there is light at the end of the 
tunnel. A peaceful, democratic Bosnia is central to the peace of 
Europe, and therefore to America's national interest. And American 
leadership is absolutely essential to the rebuilding of the country.
  For all these reasons, I am confident that in the coming weeks when 
the Congress is called upon to support an extension of the American 
commitment to Bosnia, it will respond affirmatively.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.

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