[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
[November 21, 1995]
[Pages 1776-1778]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Announcing the Bosnia-Herzegovina Peace Agreement and an 
Exchange With Reporters
November 21, 1995

    Good morning. About an hour ago I spoke with Secretary Christopher 
in Dayton, Ohio. He informed me that the Presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, 
and Serbia have reached a peace agreement to end the war in Bosnia, to 
end the worst conflict in Europe since World War II.
    After nearly 4 years of 250,000 people killed, 2 million refugees, 
atrocities that have appalled people all over the world, the people of 
Bosnia finally have a chance to turn from the horror of war to the 
promise of peace.
    The Presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia have made a historic 
and heroic choice. They have heeded the will of their people. Whatever 
their ethnic group, the overwhelming majority of Bosnia citizens and the 
citizens of Croatia and Serbia want the same thing. They want to stop 
the slaughter; they want to put an end to the violence and war; they 
want to give their children and their grandchildren a chance to lead a 
normal life. Today, thank God, the voices of those people have been 
heard.
    I want to congratulate America's negotiating team, led by Secretary 
Christopher and Ambassador Holbrooke, for their extraordinary service. 
Their determination, along with that of our European and Russian 
partners, along with NATO's resolve, brought the parties to the 
negotiating table. Then their single-minded pursuit of peace in Dayton 
made today's agreement a possibility and eventually a reality.
    The people of Bosnia, the American people, indeed people throughout 
the world, should be very thankful for this event today. The peace

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plan agreed to would preserve Bosnia as a single state, within its 
present borders and with international recognition. The state will be 
made up of two parts, the Bosnian Croat Federation and the Bosnian Serb 
Republic, with a fair distribution of land between the two. The capital 
city of Sarajevo will remain united.
    There will be an effective central government, including a national 
parliament, a presidency, and a constitutional court, with 
responsibility for foreign policy, foreign trade, monetary policy, 
citizenship, immigration, and other important functions. The presidency 
and the parliament will be chosen through free democratic elections, 
held under international supervision. Refugees will be allowed to return 
to their homes. People will be able to move freely throughout Bosnia. 
And the human rights of every Bosnian citizen will be monitored by an 
independent commission and an internationally trained civilian police. 
Those individuals charged with war crimes will be excluded from 
political life.
    Now that the parties to the war have made a serious commitment to 
peace, we must help them to make it work. All the parties have asked for 
a strong international force to supervise the separation of forces and 
to give them confidence that each side will live up to their agreements. 
Only NATO can do that job. And the United States as NATO's leader must 
play an essential role in this mission. Without us, the hard-won peace 
would be lost, the war would resume, the slaughter of innocents would 
begin again, and the conflict that already has claimed so many people 
could spread like poison throughout the entire region.
    We are at a decisive moment. The parties have chosen peace. America 
must choose peace as well. Now that a detailed settlement has been 
reached, NATO will rapidly complete its planning for the implementation 
force known as IFOR. The plan soon will be submitted to me for review 
and for approval. As of now, we expect that about one-third of IFOR's 
force will be American. The rest will come from our NATO partners and 
from other nations throughout the world.
    At the same time, once the agreement is signed, the international 
community will initiate a parallel program to provide humanitarian 
relief, to begin the job of rebuilding, to help the thousands of 
refugees return to their homes, to monitor free elections, in short, to 
help the Bosnian people create the conditions of lasting peace.
    The NATO military mission will be clear and limited. Our troops will 
take their orders only from the American general who commands NATO. They 
will have authority to meet any threat to their safety or any violation 
of the peace agreement with immediate and decisive force. And there will 
be a reasonable timetable for their withdrawal.
    I am satisfied that the NATO implementation plan is clear, limited, 
and achievable and that the risks to our troops are minimized. I will 
promptly consult with Congress when I receive this plan, and if I am 
fully satisfied with it when I see it in its final form, I will ask 
Congress to support American participation.
    The central fact for us as Americans is this: Our leadership made 
this peace agreement possible and helped to bring an end to the 
senseless slaughter of so many innocent people that our fellow citizens 
had to watch night after night after night for 4 long years on their 
television screens. Now American leadership, together with our allies, 
is needed to make this peace real and enduring. Our values, our 
interests, and our leadership all over the world are at stake.
    I ask all Americans in this Thanksgiving week to take some time to 
say a simple prayer of thanksgiving that this peace has been reached, 
that our Nation was able to play an important role in stopping the 
suffering and the slaughter.
    May God bless the peace and the United States.
    Q. Mr. President, Congress seems deeply skeptical of sending 
American troops to Bosnia right now. How are you going to turn that 
around, and how soon would American forces have to go into Bosnia?
    The President. Well, first of all, I believe it's important for the 
Congress to have a chance to review this peace agreement and to receive 
the assurances from the leaders of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia that they 
intend to do everything in their power to make sure the agreement is 
implemented in good faith and with peaceful intent and absolutely 
minimal violence. I think that will be an imperative part of this 
endeavor.
    I will work with the leaders of Congress to establish a schedule for 
implementing that. I have placed calls to the Speaker, the majority 
leader of the Senate, and the minority leaders of the Senate and the 
House shortly before I came out here. I was only able to reach the

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Speaker. The others were in transit, but I will speak to them all today. 
And I will work with them to establish a schedule for consultation with 
Congress that will begin as soon as I approve the final NATO plan.
    I have had extensive briefings on this plan. And as I said, I am 
satisfied that based on what we knew at the time I was briefed, we had a 
clear, limited, achievable mission that minimized the risks to not only 
the uniformed forces of the United States but others who would 
participate as well. When I see the final plan, if I remain of that 
opinion, I will immediately consult with Congress and we will have an 
agreed-upon schedule for consultations, which I think will begin 
immediately in terms of the detail of the peace agreement itself. And 
that is the responsibility that I have to bear, and I intend to assume 
it.
    Now, we have assured Congress that there will be no complete 
deployment until they have a chance to be heard on this issue. The only 
things that will be done in the preliminary period, assuming that things 
go forward as we anticipate today and you hear what I think you will 
hear shortly from the three Presidents, is that there will be some 
preliminary planning done in the Bosnia area, which is absolutely 
essential and which we have already fully disclosed to the Congress. But 
beyond that, the Congress will have a period of weeks before the final 
formal signing ceremony, which would trigger the involvement of NATO's 
forces. So that's what I expect will happen.
    Let me say that I know you will have other questions about the 
details of this peace agreement, how it was reached, the number of 
eleventh hours that came and passed. And even last night at midnight, 
when I had my last conversation with Secretary Christopher, we were not 
sure whether there would be peace this morning. When I got up and we 
began to work on this, we were not sure there would be peace. As often 
happens in a process like this, as I think happened in the Middle East, 
something stirred among the leaders themselves and they decided that 
they should not let this moment pass for the benefit of their people.
    So I believe we'll be able to answer all the other questions in the 
days ahead, and the people in Dayton will be able to answer more of your 
questions when they have their press conference. The main thing is, I 
ask all Americans to remember what we have seen and heard and read about 
for the last 4 years and remember what the implications were not only 
for our consciences but for the prospect that that conflict could 
spread.
    The fact that these leaders have voted to bring an end to this and 
to give the people of Bosnia a peaceful Christmas and a peaceful future 
is something for which we should be very, very thankful.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 11:40 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to President Alija Izetbegovic of 
Bosnia-Herzegovina, President Franjo Tudjman of Croatia, and President 
Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia.