Subject: BosNet NEWS - ACSB Hotline: Sept. 1, 95 From: Nermin Zukic ------------------------------------------------------------------------ B o s N e t - Sept. 4, 1995 ======================================================================== Also available on Usenet as BIT.LISTSERV.BOSNET ________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send mail to DOC.IC.AC.UK, WITHOUT the subject: UNSUB BOSNEWS. Default format is set to DIGEST, if you have problems please contact moderator(s). ________________________________________________________________________ ACSB INTERNET HOTLINE Friday, September 1, 1995 ON THE GROUND IN THE BALKANS: NATO suspended airstrikes against Bosnian Serb positions on September 1 to see if the Bosnian Serbs would comply with demands that they remove their heavy weapons from the exclusion zones around Sarajevo and Gorazde. U.N. Rapid Reaction Force units on Mt. Igman continued to stand ready to fire back at Serb artillery threatening Sarajevo. Heavy fighting broke out around the U.N.-declared "safe area" of Bihac on September 1. U.N. spokesmen reported that more than 300 explosions were heard that day. Croatian news agencies reported that Bosnian Serb forces had launched an artillery and infantry assault on the town of Bihac. A major goal of the rounds of NATO airstrikes that ended on September 1 was to bring the Bosnians and the Bosnian Serbs to the negotiating table to accept the Clinton Administration's partition plan. Therefore, airstrikes were suspended without appreciable destruction of Serbian weaponry. NATO did practically nothing to impede the Serbs' ability to continue to hold Bosnian territory around Brcko and Banja Luka, which would be under Serbian control under the new map. However, it did damage Serbian positions around Sarajevo and Tuzla, where the plan's sponsors want the Serbs to give up territory. ACSB fully supports NATO's overdue decision to launch strategic - rather than pinprick air strikes against Bosnian Serb forces in response to their attacks on Bosnian "safe areas". It is vital, however, that the Clinton Administration direct this resolve to reverse Serbian aggression, not reward it through a de facto carve-up of Bosnia. The danger remains that it will continue to rush forward with its current initiative, which would appease Serbia and only nominally preserve Bosnia's sovereignty. ON THE DIPLOMATIC FRONT: The U.S. announced September 1 that the foreign ministers of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia would meet next week in Geneva to discuss preparations for an international conference on the Clinton Administration's new peace initiative. The initiative is based upon four main elements: partition of Bosnia, with 49% going to Bosnian Serb forces and 51% to the Bosnian Federation; mutual recognition between Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia; the establishment of a framework to resolve outstanding conflicts between Croatia and Serbia; and, if all agree to the plan, termination of sanctions against Serbia and a package of economic and military aid for Bosnia. ACSB believes this plan is fundamentally misguided in its approach and damaging to U.S. interests in its consequences. It freezes Serbian gains on the ground at the very moment that the aggressor forces are beginning to weaken. Ending the arms embargo and using air power to protect "safe areas" would produce a more just and sustainable settlement by creating a balance of power on the ground. It tells Serbian leaders that their genocidal aggression against non-Serbs in Bosnia will be allowed to stand, and that the brutal oppression and disenfranchisement of non-Serbs in Kosovo and elsewhere within Serbia's own borders can proceed apace. It also undermines U.S. and NATO credibility by failing to halt the worst aggression in Europe since the formation of the alliance nearly half a century ago. ON THE HILL: Representatives and Senators are still prepared to override President Clinton's veto of the Dole-Lieberman bill to terminate the U.S. arms embargo against Bosnia. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, in an August 30 statement, said that, in light of the NATO air campaign over Bosnia, he may reconsider his decision to bring the bill to an early vote. He noted, however, that a few days of airstrikes do not make up for years of policy failure. Senator Lieberman stated, "Ultimately, the only way any peace agreement can be sustained is for the people of Bosnia to have the ability to defend themselves." Senators D'Amato, Gramm, McCain, and Moynihan are also urging swift action. The next scheduled update is Tuesday, September 5. ________________________________________________________________________ Opinions expressed/published on BosNews/BosNet-B do NOT necessarily always reflect the views of (all of the members of) Editorial Board, and/or moderators, nor any of their host institutions. Zeljko Bodulovic Dzevat Omeragic Davor Wagner Nermin Zukic