[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.