[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 26 (Monday, June 30, 1997)]
[Pages 921-922]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders on Bosnia

June 20, 1997

Dear Mr. Speaker:  (Dear Mr. President:)

    In my report to the Congress of December 20, 1996, I provided 
further information on the deployment of combat-equipped U.S. Armed 
Forces to Bosnia and other states in the region in order to participate 
in and support the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-led 
Stabilization Force (SFOR), and on the beginning of the withdrawal of 
the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR), which completed its mission 
and transferred authority to the SFOR on December 20, 1996. I am 
providing this supplemental report, consistent with the War Powers 
Resolution, to help ensure that the Congress is kept fully informed on 
continued U.S. contributions in support of peacekeeping efforts in the 
former Yugoslavia.
    We continue to work in concert with others in the international 
community to encourage the parties to fulfill their commitments under 
the Dayton Peace Agreement and to build on the gains achieved over the 
last 18 months. It remains in the United States national interest to 
help bring peace to Bosnia, both for humanitarian reasons and to arrest 
the dangers the fighting in Bosnia represented to security and stability 
in Europe generally. Through American leadership and in conjunction with 
our NATO allies and other countries, we have seen real and continued 
progress toward sustainable peace in Bosnia. We have also made it clear 
to the former warring parties that it is they who are ultimately 
responsible for implementing the Peace Agreement.
    The United Nations Security Council authorized member states to 
establish the follow-on force in United Nations Security Council 
Resolution 1088 of December 12, 1996. The SFOR's tasks are to deter or 
prevent a resumption of hostilities or new threats to peace, to 
consolidate IFOR's achievements and to promote a climate in which the 
civilian-led peace process can go forward. Subject to this primary 
mission, SFOR will provide selective support, within its capabilities, 
to civilian organizations implementing the Dayton Peace Agreement. The 
parties to the Peace Agreement have all confirmed to NATO their support 
for the SFOR mission. In particular, the leaders of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina have indicated that they welcome NATO's planned 18-month 
SFOR mission to be formally reviewed at 6 and 12 months with a view to 
shifting the focus from stabilization to deterrence, reducing the 
force's presence and completing the mission by June 1998. The first such 
review is to be conducted on June 26, 1997.
    United States force contribution to SFOR in Bosnia currently is 
approximately 8,500, roughly half the size of the force deployed with 
IFOR at the peak of its strength. Many of the U.S. forces participating 
in SFOR are U.S. Army forces that were stationed in Germany. Other 
participating U.S. forces include special operations forces, airfield 
operations support forces, air forces, and reserve personnel. An 
amphibious force is normally in reserve in the Mediterranean Sea, and a 
carrier battle group remains available to provide support for air 
operations.
    All NATO nations and 21 others, including Russia, have provided 
troops or other support to SFOR. Most U.S. troops are assigned to 
Multinational Division, North, centered around the city of Tuzla. In 
addition, approximately 2,800 U.S. troops are deployed to Hungary, 
Croatia, Italy, and other states in the region in order to provide 
logistical and other support to SFOR.
    Since the transfer of authority from IFOR to SFOR on December 20, 
1996, U.S. forces sustained a total of two fatalities, neither of which 
was combat-related. Four American service members were also injured in 
accidents. As with the U.S. forces, traffic accidents, landmines, and 
other accidents were the primary causes of injury to SFOR personnel.
    A U.S. Army contingent remains deployed in the Former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia as part of the United Nations Preventive 
Deployment Force (UNPREDEP). This U.N. peacekeeping force observes and 
monitors conditions along the border with the Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia and Albania, effectively contributing to the stability of the 
region. Several U.S. Army support helicopters are also deployed to 
provide support to U.S. forces and UNPREDEP as required.

[[Page 922]]

Most of the approximately 500 U.S. soldiers participating in these 
missions are assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor, 1st Armored 
Division. A small contingent of U.S. military personnel is also serving 
in Croatia in direct support of the Transitional Administrator of the 
United Nations Transitional Administration in Eastern Slovenia.
    I have directed the participation of U.S. Armed Forces in these 
operations pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct U.S. 
foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive, and in 
accordance with various statutory authorities. I am providing this 
report as part of my efforts to keep the Congress fully informed about 
developments in Bosnia and other states in the region. I will continue 
to consult closely with the Congress regarding our efforts to foster 
peace and stability in the former Yugoslavia.
    Sincerely,
                                            William J. Clinton

Note: Identical letters were sent to Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, and Strom Thurmond, President pro tempore of the 
Senate. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.