[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 26 (Monday, June 29, 1998)]
[Pages 1180-1181]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders on the Deployment of United States 
Military Forces for Stabilization of the Balkan Peace Process

June 19, 1998

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

    In my last 6-month report to the Congress 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), which began its mission and assumed authority from the 
NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) 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 2 years. It remains in the U.S. national interest to help bring 
peace to Bosnia, both for humanitarian reasons and to halt 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 increasingly rapid progress 
toward sustainable peace in Bosnia. We have helped foster more 
cooperative pro-Dayton leadership in Bosnia-Herzegovina, resulting in 
much improved performance by the parties in fulfilling their 
responsibilities to implement the Dayton 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. On June 15, 1998, the Security 
Council extended the authorization for the SFOR for an additional period 
terminating June 21, 1999. The mission of SFOR is to deter resumption of 
hostilities and stabilize the security environment to facilitate the 
civilian implementation process.
    The SFOR has successfully deterred the resumption of hostilities by 
patrolling the Zone of Separation, inspecting and monitoring heavy 
weapons cantonment sites, enhancing and supervising Entity Armed Forces 
(EAF) demining work, and, within existing authorities and capabilities, 
providing support to international agencies.
    The primary way SFOR supports the civilian implementation effort is 
by contributing to a secure environment. The SFOR works closely with the 
International Police Task Force (IPTF), which was established on 
December 21, 1995, under Security Council Resolution 1035. With SFOR 
support, the IPTF has successfully created indigenous public security 
capabilities by reforming and training the local police. Both the SFOR 
and the IPTF, as a result, enhance public security in ways that promote 
civil implementation of the Peace Agreement. This collective approach 
works to make the implementation process progressively more self-
sustaining without exceeding the SFOR's current level of intensity and 
involvement.
    By contributing to a secure environment, the SFOR has fostered 
greater progress by civilian implementers, including helping to restore 
road, rail, and air transportation links, reforming racist and 
nondemocratic media, and supporting international preparations for

[[Page 1181]]

supervision of the national elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina in September 
1998. In addition, the SFOR has contributed to efforts to bring 31 
persons indicted for war crimes into custody in The Hague.
    The U.S. force contribution to SFOR in Bosnia is approximately 
7,800--roughly one-third of the number of U.S. troops deployed with IFOR 
at the peak of its strength. The U.S. forces participating in SFOR 
include U.S. Army forces that were stationed in Germany and the United 
States, as well as special operations forces, airfield operations 
support forces, air forces, and reserve component personnel. An 
amphibious force under U.S. control is normally available as a strategic 
reserve in the Mediterranean Sea, and a carrier battle group remains 
available to provide support for air operations.
    All NATO nations and 20 others, including Russia and Ukraine, 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 3,000 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 December 1997, U.S. forces 
have sustained no fatalities.
    A U.S. Army contingent remains deployed in the Former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as part of the United Nations Preventive 
Deployment Force (UNPREDEP). This U.N. peacekeeping force, which 
includes some 350 U.S. soldiers, observes and monitors conditions along 
the borders with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Albania. The 
UNPREDEP continues to play a key role in preventing the spillover of 
ethnic conflict from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) into FYROM 
and the region. In doing so, it has helped FYROM become a bulwark 
against the southward spread of the conflict in the FRY. Several U.S. 
Army helicopters are also deployed to provide support to U.S. forces and 
may support UNPREDEP as required on a case-by-case basis. The Security 
Council voted December 4, 1997, to authorize an extension of the 
UNPREDEP mandate through August 31, 1998. We are currently exploring 
options regarding the extension of UNPREDEP's mandate in light of the 
growing violence and instability in Kosovo.
    A small contingent of U.S. military personnel also served in Croatia 
in direct support of the Transitional Administrator of the United 
Nations Transitional Administration in Eastern Slovenia (UNTAES). These 
personnel were redeployed when the UNTAES mandate expired on January 15, 
1998; a follow-on U.N. civilian police operation continues in the 
region.
    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 letter was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
June 22.