[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 27, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H3685-H3686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




EXECUTIVE ORDER BLOCKING PROPERTY OF PERSONS WHO THREATEN INTERNATIONAL 
    STABILIZATION EFFORTS IN THE WESTERN BALKANS--MESSAGE FROM THE 
          PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 107-91)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on International Relations and ordered to be printed:

To the Congress of the United States:
  Pursuant to section 204(b) of the International Emergency Economic 
Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. 1703(b) (IEEPA), and section 301 of the National 
Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1631, I hereby report that I have exercised 
my statutory authority to declare a national emergency in response to 
the unusual and extraordinary threat posed to the national security and 
foreign policy of the United States by (i) actions of persons engaged 
in, or assisting, sponsoring, or supporting, extremist violence in the 
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, southern Serbia, the Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), and elsewhere in the Western Balkans 
region, and (ii) the actions of persons engaged in, or assisting, 
sponsoring, or supporting acts obstructing implementation of the Dayton 
Accords in Bosnia or United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 of 
June 10, 1999, in Kosovo. The actions of these individuals and groups 
threaten the peace in or diminish the security and stability of the 
Western Balkans, undermine the authority, efforts, and objectives of 
the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and 
other international organizations and entities present in those areas 
and the wider region, and endanger the safety of persons participating 
in or providing support to the activities of those organizations and 
entities, including United States military forces and Government 
officials. In order to deal with this threat, I have issued an 
Executive order blocking the property and interests in property of 
those persons determined to have undertaken the actions described 
above.
  The Executive order prohibits United States persons from 
transferring, paying, exporting, withdrawing, or otherwise dealing in 
the property or interests in property of persons I have identified in 
the Annex to the order or persons designated pursuant to the order by 
the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of 
State. Included among the activities prohibited by the order are the 
making or receiving by United States persons of any contribution or 
provision of funds, goods, or services to or for the benefit of any 
person designated in or pursuant to the order. In the Executive order, 
I also have made a determination pursuant to section 203(b)(2) of IEEPA 
that the operation of the IEEPA exemption for certain humanitarian 
donations from the scope of the prohibitions would seriously impair my 
ability to deal with the national emergency. Absent such a 
determination, such donations of the type specified in section 
203(b)(2) of IEEPA could strengthen the position of individuals and 
groups that endanger the safety of persons participating in or 
providing support to the United Nations, NATO, and other international 
organizations or entities, including U.S. military forces and 
Government officials, present in the region. The Secretary of the 
Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is authorized to 
issue regulations in exercise of my authorities under IEEPA to 
implement the prohibitions set forth in the Executive order. All 
Federal agencies are also directed to take actions within their 
authority to carry out the provisions of the order, and, where 
appropriate, to advise the Secretary of the Treasury in a timely manner 
of the measures taken.
  I am enclosing a copy of the Executive order I have issued. The order 
was effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on June 27, 2001.
  I have issued the order in response to recent developments in the 
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, southern Serbia, and elsewhere 
in the Western Balkans region where persons have turned increasingly to 
the use of extremist violence, the incitement of ethnic conflict, and 
other obstructionist acts to promote irredentist or criminal agendas 
that have threatened the peace in and the stability and security of the 
region and placed those participating in or supporting international 
organizations, including U.S. military and Government personnel, at 
risk.
  In both Macedonia and southern Serbia, individuals and groups have 
engaged in extremist violence and other acts of obstructionism to 
exploit legitimate grievances of local ethnic Albanians. These groups 
include local nationals who fought with the Kosovo Liberation Army in 
1998-99 and have used their wartime connections to obtain funding and 
weapons from Kosovo and the ethnic Albanian diaspora. Guerrilla attacks 
by some of these groups against police and soldiers in Macedonia 
threaten to bring down the democratically elected, multi-ethnic 
government of a state that has become a close friend and invaluable 
partner of NATO. In March 2001, guerrillas operating on the border 
between Kosovo and Macedonia attempted to fire upon U.S. soldiers 
participating in the international security presence in Kosovo known as 
the Kosovo Force (KFOR). Guerrilla leaders subsequently made public 
threats against KFOR.

  In southern Serbia, ethnic Albania extremists have used the Ground 
Safety Zone (GSZ), originally intended as a buffer between KFOR and 
FRY/Government of Serbia (FRY/GoS) forces, as a

[[Page H3686]]

safe haven for staging attacks against FRY/GoS police and soldiers. 
Members of ethnic Albanian armed extremist groups in southern Serbia 
have on several occasions fired on joint U.S.-Russian KFOR patrols in 
Kosovo. NATO has negotiated the return of FRY/GoS forces to the GSZ, 
and facilitated negotiations between Belgrade authorities and ethnic 
Albania insurgents and political leaders from southern Serbia. A small 
number of the extremist leaders have since threatened to seek vengeance 
on KFOR, including U.S. KFOR.
  Individuals and groups engaged in the activities described above have 
boasted falsely of having U.S. support, a claim that is believed by 
many in the region. They also have aggressively solicited funds from 
United States persons. These fund-raising efforts serve to fuel 
extremist violence and obstructionist activity in the region and are 
inimical to U.S. interests. Consequently, the Executive order I have 
issued is necessary to restrict any further financial or other support 
by United States persons for the persons designated in or pursuant to 
the order. The actions we are taking will demonstrate to all the 
peoples of the region and to the wider international community that the 
Government of the United States strongly opposes the recent extremist 
violence and obstructionist activity in Macedonia and southern Serbia 
and elsewhere in the Western Balkans. The concrete steps we are 
undertaking to block access by these groups and individuals to 
financial and material support will assist in restoring peace and 
stability in the Western Balkans region and help protect U.S. military 
forces and Government officials working towards that end.
                                                        George W. Bush.
The White House, June 27, 2001.

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