[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 50 (Monday, December 18, 1995)]
[Pages 2184-2186]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Signing Ceremony for the Balkan Peace Agreement in Paris

December 14, 1995

    President Chirac, President Izetbegovic, President Tudjman, 
President Milosevic, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali, Secretary General 
Solana, High Representative Bildt, Prime Minister Filali, Prime Minister 
Chernomyrdin, Prime Minister Major, Prime Minister Gonzalez, Chancellor 
Kohl: Let me begin, on behalf of the people of the United States, by 
thanking all of those whose labor and wisdom helped to keep hope alive 
during the long, dark years of war, the humanitarian relief workers, the 
United Nations forces from Europe and beyond. Had it not been for their 
dedication and their sacrifice, the toll of the war in Bosnia would have 
been even greater.
    And I thank those whose work helped make this moment of peace 
possible, beginning with our host, Prime Minister Chirac, for his vigor 
and determination; Prime Minister Major, who was a full partner in the 
development of the rapid reaction force and our NATO cooperation; and 
our friend, Chancellor Kohl, who has taken so many of the refugees and 
who now is sending German troops beyond his border in this historic 
common endeavor. I thank the leaders of the strong NATO and the 
determined negotiating team of Russians, Europeans, and Americans.
    All of you have brought us to this bright new day, when Bosnia turns 
from the horror of war to the promise of peace. President Izetbegovic, 
President Tudjman, President Milosevic, by making peace you have 
answered the call of your people. You have heard them say, ``Stop the 
war. End the suffering. Give our children the blessings of a normal 
life.''
    In this chorus for peace today we also hear the hallowed voices of 
the victims, the children whose playgrounds were shelled in the killing 
fields, the young girls brutalized by rape, the men shot down in mass 
graves,

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those who starved in the camps, those who died in battle, the millions 
taken from their homes and torn from their families. Even from beyond 
the grave there are victims singing the song of peace today. May their 
voices be in our minds and our hearts forever.
    In Dayton, these three Balkan leaders made the fateful choice for 
peace. Today, Mr. Presidents, you have bound yourselves to peace. But 
tomorrow you must turn the pages of this agreement into a real-life 
future of hope for those who have survived this horrible war. At your 
request, the United States and more than 25 other nations will send you 
our most precious resource, the men and women of our Armed Forces. Their 
mission, to allow the Bosnian people to emerge from a nightmare of fear 
into a new day of security, according to terms you have approved in a 
manner that is evenhanded and fair to all.
    The international community will work with you to change the face of 
Bosnia: to meet human needs; to repair and to rebuild; to reunite 
children with their families and refugees with their homes; to oversee 
democratic elections, advance human rights, and call to account those 
accused of war crimes.
    We can do all these things, but we cannot guarantee the future of 
Bosnia. No one outside can guarantee that Muslims, Croats, and Serbs in 
Bosnia will come together and stay together as free citizens in a united 
country sharing a common destiny. Only the Bosnian people can do that.
    I know the losses have been staggering, the scars are deep. We feel 
even today that the wounds have not healed. But Bosnia must find a way, 
with God's grace, to lay down the hatreds, to give up the revenge, to go 
forward together. That is the road--indeed, that is the only road--to 
the future.
    We see from Northern Ireland to the Middle East, from South Africa 
to Haiti, people turning from hatred to hope. Here in Europe countries 
that for centuries fought now work together for peace. Soon the Bosnian 
people will see for themselves the awesome potential of people to turn 
from conflict to cooperation. In just a few days troops from all over 
Europe and North America and elsewhere; troops from Great Britain, 
France and Germany; troops from Greece and Turkey; troops from Poland 
and Lithuania; and troops from the United States and Russia, former 
enemies, now friends will answer the same call and share the same 
responsibilities to achieve the same goal, a lasting peace in Bosnia 
where enemies can become friends.
    Why would they do this? Because their hearts are broken by the 
suffering and the slaughter; because their minds recoil at the prospect 
of needless spreading war in the heart of Europe. But they--we--do so in 
the face of skeptics who say the people of the Balkans cannot escape 
their bloody past, that Balkan hearts are too hard for peace.
    But let us remember this war did violence not only to Bosnia's 
people but also to Bosnia's history. For Bosnia once found unity in its 
diversity. Generations of Muslims, Orthodox, Catholics, and Jews lived 
side by side, and enriched the world by their example. They built 
schools and libraries and wondrous places of worship. Part of the 
population laid down their tools on Friday, part on Saturday, and part 
on Sunday. But their lives were woven together by marriage and culture, 
work, a common language, and a shared pride in a place that then they 
all called home. Now, if that past is any guide, this peace can take 
hold. And if the people of Bosnia want a decent future for their 
children, this peace must take hold.
    Here in this City of Light, at this moment of hope, let us recall 
how this century, marked by so much progress and too much bloodshed, 
witness to humanity's best and humanity's worst, how this century began 
in Bosnia. At the dawn of the century, when gunfire in Sarajevo sparked 
the first of our two World Wars, the British Foreign Secretary, Sir 
Edward Gray, said these words: ``The lamps are going out all over 
Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetimes.''
    But they were lit again, by an extraordinary generation of Europeans 
and Americans. The torch of freedom they carried now shines more 
brightly than ever before on every continent. That torch can shine on 
Bosnia again, but first it must warm the hearts of the Bosnian people.
    So I say to all the people of the Balkans on behalf of all of us who 
would come to see this peace take hold: You have seen what war has 
wrought. You know what peace can

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bring. Seize this chance and make it work. You can do nothing to erase 
the past, but you can do everything to build the future. Do not let your 
children down.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:50 p.m. in the Salon des Fetes at the 
Elysee Palace. In his remarks, he referred to President Jacques Chirac 
of France, U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, NATO Secretary 
General Juan Solana, High Representative of the Balkan peace conference 
Carl Bildt, Prime Minister Abdellatif Filali of Morocco, Prime Minister 
Viktor Chernomyrdin of Russia, Prime Minister John Major of the United 
Kingdom, Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez of Spain, and Chancellor Helmut 
Kohl of Germany.