BOSNEWS digest 485 - 1/12/95

From: Davor <[email protected]>

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

From: Davor <[email protected]>

BOSNEWS Digest 485

CONTENTS

[01] General Joulwan: "NATO to Keep Peace in Bosnia"

November 29, 1995 BRUSSELS, Belgium

Military planners are confident the mission in Bosnia can be done in a year but stress that's a target rather than a rigid timetable. At the same time US officials privately expressed concerns that while the military mission is ready, organization of the civilian effort to rebuild Bosnia is lagging behind. NATO is prepared to send 60,000 troops, including 20,000 Americans, into Bosnia beginning late December.

"My goal as the supreme allied commander is ... to prevent mission creep," said U.S. Gen. George Joulwan. "NATO will do what it was sent in there to do, and not to do those things that could be better done by civilian agencies."

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman said Wednesday he hopes the number of troops in Bosnia can be reduced from the initial 20,000 before the year-long mission is completed.

US officials say NATO's political arm is expected to approve Thursday the deployment of advance peacekeeping teams to Bosnia. They are expected to give provisional approval to the entire peace enforcement mission on Friday.

The action order expected to be approved by NATO Thursday will give Joulwan a free hand to send small advance teams of troops into Bosnia as soon as he wants. But the deployment will likely wait until President Clinton is briefed on the final plans Saturday during a scheduled stop in Germany to meet with the U.S. troops bound for Bosnia.

A 10-strong US military team to prepare for the arrival of 20,000 American troops arrived Wednesday in the central Bosnian town of Tuzla, the designated headquarters of the US contingent.

[02] Dec 14. Set As a Date for Bosnia Accord Signing

November 29, 1995 SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Negotiators reportedly agreed Wednesday that the US-brokered Bosnia peace package would be signed Dec. 14. NATO, meanwhile, was poised to order in an advance guard of 2,600 troops as early as next week to police the peace pact. Diplomatic sources in Paris said the date had been chosen for signing the peace deal initialled on Nov. 21 in Dayton, Ohio.

In Brussels, NATO diplomats said its top policy-making body would give final approval Thursday or Friday for putting in 2,600 troops early next week at the start of the most dangerous mission ever undertaken by the alliance.

[03] A US Diplomatic Team in Sarajevo

November 29, 1995 VIENNA, Austria

A US diplomatic team is in Sarajevo for follow-up talks with the Bosnian government on the new peace agreement. The team is headed by Chris Hill, who assisted Richard Holbrooke, at the peace talks for Bosnia last week.

Mr. Hill says his team wants to discuss with the Bosnian government some of the issues discussed at the peace talks in preparation for the agreement to be signed in Paris December 14th. He has visited Belgrade and will go to Zagreb after he and his team complete their talks in Sarajevo.

[04] More Details...

November 29, 1995 WASHINGTON, United States

The UNs' Peacekeeping mandate in the former Yugoslavia expires thursday night. The mandate is expected to be extended so peacekeepers can remain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Macedonia.

Although peacekeepers are preparing to leave Bosnia anyway, they are expected to be authorized to remain there until mid-January or until NATO's peace implementation force is fully in place. UN officials in Zagreb say the UN peacekeeping mandate in Croatia is also likely to be extended until mid- January. This will provide time for the UN and the Croatian government to work out details of a peacekeeping presence only in the Eastern Slavonia region. UN military experts believe between eight thousand and nine-thousand peacekeepers will be needed there during the transition period.

On Wednesday Defense Secretary William Perry said that in addition to the 20-thousand American troops who will go to Bosnia as part of the NATO-led force, another five thousand will be in Croatia, and seven thousand more involved in support operations in Italy, Hungary and other countries in the region.

Elements of the US Army's First Armored Division now training in Germany will begin arriving in Bosnia within a day or two of the signing of the peace accord in Paris. US officials say half the American force will be in position within three weeks, after the signing of the peace accord, with the entire deployment process to be finished within six to eight weeks.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Defense Secretary William Perry, and Military Joint Chief of Staff Chairman General John Shalikashvili go to Congress today to try to build support for the US lead role in Bosnian peacekeeping.