    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [January 11, 1996]
    [Pages 45-46]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 45]]

    Address to the People of Bosnia
    January 11, 1996

        To all the people of Bosnia, let me say I look forward to being with
    you tomorrow in a land where the waste of war is finally giving way to
    the promise of peace. As I visit with American peacekeeping forces
    stationed in Bosnia, I urge you to seize that promise, to turn the peace
    agreement signed one month ago from words into deeds.
        For nearly 4 years, the war that tore Bosnia apart dramatized your
    differences. But for all that divides you, so much more unites you. Of
    course you are proud to be Muslims or Croats or Serbs. But all of you
    are also citizens of Bosnia, bound together by marriage and culture, by
    language and work, by shared love in a place you all call home. I
    believe that deep down you all want the same things: To live and raise
    your families without fear, to make a better life for your children. If
    these desires are ever to become reality, there must be peace.
        The United States and countries all around the world have sent you
    the men and women of our Armed Forces to help safeguard the peace so
    many of you have wanted for so long. Our troops are well prepared and
    heavily armed, but they come in peace. Their mission is to supervise the
    withdrawal of your armies behind the agreed separation line, to help
    assure that war does not break out again, to create a more secure
    climate throughout Bosnia so that you can rebuild your towns and roads,
    your factories and shops, your parks and playgrounds.
        We can help you do all these things, but we cannot guarantee that
    the people of Bosnia will come together and stay together as citizens,
    equal citizens, of a common land with a shared destiny. Only you can do
    that, with the courage of an open mind and the generosity of an open
    heart.
        After so many lives lost and futures destroyed, I know that
    rebuilding a sense of community and trust may be the very hardest task
    you face. But you have a responsibility to try--not because other
    nations want you to do it, not even because your leaders want you to do
    it--you must do that for yourselves and especially for your children. It
    is said that every child is the chance for a new beginning. Now this
    peace gives to all the children of Bosnia and to all of their families
    the chance for a new beginning. Seize this chance for peace.
        We don't have to imagine what the future will look like if you
    don't; we have seen that in the sorrow and suffering you have endured
    already over the past 4 years. But just imagine the future if you do
    seize this moment, if you do rebuild your land and your lives together.
    For so much of your history you found strength in your diversity.
    Muslims, Croats, and Serbs flourished side by side in Sarajevo, in
    Tuzla, in Mostar, and throughout Bosnia. Some of you prayed in churches,
    some in mosques, some in synagogues. But you lived and worked together,
    building schools and libraries, trading goods and services, creating
    plays and music. You were neighbors and friends and families, and you
    can be again if you seize the best chance for peace you have had, and
    what could be the last chance for peace you will have for a long, long
    time.
        I speak to you today on behalf of the American people, who know from
    our own experience the hard work it takes to forge a community from a
    nation of so many different groups. More than a century ago, we fought a
    fierce Civil War over race and slavery. Still today we struggle with the
    legacy of that war and the challenge of our present makeup when we have
    so many races and religions and ethnic groups all over America. But we
    have learned that there are great benefits which come from finding
    common ground. Our Nation is stronger and the lives of our people are
    more peaceful, more prosperous, more filled with hope when we bridge the
    valley of our differences to become a real community. Together with
    nations from all corners of the world, we have come here to Bosnia to
    help you do the same.
        So, people of Bosnia, you have ended your war, but now you must
    build your peace. I believe the greatest struggle you face is not among
    Muslims and Serbs and Croats; it is between those who embrace peace and
    those who reject it, those who look to the future and those who are
    blinded by the past, those who open their arms and those who still
    clench their fists. So each and every one of you must choose. You have
    seen the horror of war; you know the promise of peace. Choose peace.

    [[Page 46]]

        May God bless all the people of Bosnia.

    Note: This address was videotaped at 10:04 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at
    the White House for later broadcast on the U.S. Information Agency
    WORLDNET, and it was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    January 12. A tape was not available for verification of the content of
    this address.