[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: GEORGE W. BUSH (2001, Book I)]
[June 27, 2001]
[Pages 734-735]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 734]]

Message to the Congress on the National Emergency With Respect to the 
Western Balkans
June 27, 2001

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

[[Page 735]]

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 Albanian 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 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 Albanian 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.

Note: The Executive order and related proclamation of June 26 are listed 
in Appendix D at the end of this volume.