Subject: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING (April 28, 1995)
Topic: std
From: hristu@arcadia.harvard.edu (Dimitrios Hristu)
 
Subject: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING (April 28, 1995)

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                      U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
                        DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

                              I N D E X

                      Friday, April 28, 1995


                                       Briefer:  Nicholas Burns
                                                 Phillip Wilcox

[...]

FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
Bosnia
Contact Group Meeting in Paris ..........................12-13
Discussions with France re: UNPROFOR Troops .............15
Situation in Sarajevo ...................................13-14
Contingency Planning for UNPROFOR Withdrawal ............16
Senator Dole's Proposed Legislation re: Arms Embargo ....18

[...]



                       U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
                         DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

                                                DPC #61

                  FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1995, 12:49 P.M.
                 (ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)


[...]

     Q     Nick, can you tell us anything about the meetings that are  
going on today about Bosnia?  There was a meeting this morning and I  
believe the Secretary attended and General Shalikashvili also, and I  
gather there's a meeting at the White House also.  What is going on?

     MR. BURNS:  Bosnia is a constant source of attention and  
preoccupation in this Administration, as you would imagine, given the  
events on the ground in Bosnia.  I can't confirm each and every meeting  
that does take place, however, and we're not in the habit of doing that.   
But I can tell you that we're following the situation very closely.  The  
Secretary is following the situation in Sarajevo closely.

     Ambassador Bob Frasure is in Paris today for a meeting of the  
Contact Group.  I checked just before I came out here.  We do not yet  
have a report from him.  Perhaps I'll have something later in the day,  
but I don't now.

     Q     Does the U.S. Government think that some of the comments by  
senior French officials, that they would like to withdraw from Bosnia,  
are serious or are they electioneering?  Is there a real threat that the  
troops might be withdrawn, and that the U.S. might have to help them  
withdraw?

     MR. BURNS:  We take France's comments seriously, because France is  
a close ally, and the French contingent, I believe, is the largest  
contingent in Bosnia and one of the most important.  For a number of  
weeks now we've been discussing with the French Government bilaterally  
but also within the Contact Group their concern which Foreign Minister  
Juppe has made very clear -- their concerns that the cease-fire needs to  
be extended, that the political negotiations need to be put forward, and  
that the safety of the troops in UNPROFOR has to be upgraded.  The  
French have lost two troops in the last two weeks.

     So we understand their concerns, and we share them.  We believe,  
however, that it is in the continued interest of the West to maintain  
UNPROFOR on the ground.  As you know, we have long felt that UNPROFOR  
could in many instances be more a more assertive institution.  It is  
obviously a highly imperfect institution, but it is also an institution  
and a body that is feeding up to 1.5 million people.  That has by all  
accounts limited the casualties throughout the warfare, and that is  
playing a useful role.

     So our efforts at the Contact Group and in New York in Ambassador  
Albright's discussions on this issue are to try to find a way to keep  
UNPROFOR going.

     The current preoccupation of the Contact Group is to discuss the  
possibility of extending the cease-fire that is due to expire in a  
couple of days.  It's also to try to see if we can pursue with Belgrade  
our continued discussions about a recognition by Belgrade of Bosnia in  
return for limited sanctions relief.

     So those two issues -- the package deal and also the issue of the  
extension of the cease-fire -- are the focus of today's discussions and  
have been the focus of the diplomacy for a couple of weeks now.

     Q     Do you know what the situation is in Sarajevo Airport?

     MR. BURNS:  The situation in Sarajevo in general is quite grim.  As  
I understand it, the last road into the city, the Mt. Igman road, has  
been closed by the Bosnian Serb forces.  This effectively seals the city  
to all but uniformed UNPROFOR troops, and the Bosnian Serbs continue to  
bar humanitarian flights into Sarajevo airport and to prevent civilians  
from traveling on U.N. planes.

     I guess we're two days now before the end of the cease-fire period,  
and I note that the U.N. today said that the situation is slipping  
towards a full-scale war.  That was the U.N. spokesman.  The U.N.  
spokesman noted that there are many areas of very heavy military  
activity.

     What we are attempting to do through our diplomacy and using our  
influence is to try to extend that cease-fire, so that the fighting that  
is now occurring throughout the region can be contained in the future  
and a larger war can be avoided.  That is the focus of our diplomacy.

     Q     Is this the U.S. judgment -- the situation is slipping?

     MR. BURNS:  That is not the U.S. judgment.  I was simply noting the  
judgment of the United Nations officials on the ground.  As you know, we  
have a diplomatic mission in Sarajevo, led now by a Charge d'Affaires,  
and we're receiving reports from that mission, but I was simply quoting  
a U.N. judgment.

     Q     Do the Serbian activities serve as an indicator of their  
attitude, which is that they're not going to cooperate?

     MR. BURNS:  I think they indicate a certain attitude that they  
don't have a lot of respect for the U.N. resolutions that are supposed  
to govern military and diplomatic activity in the area, and it's  
certainly an indication of a point of view which we firmly oppose.  You  
know our point of view.  We think that Sarajevo -- access should be open  
to Sarajevo for diplomats and for the citizens of Sarajevo, and we think  
the fighting should be stopped.  So there's a very wide gap, obviously,  
between our position and the Bosnian Serb position.

     Q     The fact that there is then such a gap, the United States and  
its allies have always used at least as a potential source of pressure,  
airstrikes.  Are we at this stage of frustration where airstrikes might  
be considered?

     MR. BURNS:  That is a question that UNPROFOR and NATO alone have  
the responsibility for.  So I think I would leave that question to them.   
Everyone concerned is frustrated by the situation and angry about the  
situation, particularly some of the incidents that have taken place over  
the last couple of weeks in Sarajevo pertaining to American officials.   
And by the continued Bosnian Serb shelling of cities -- the enclaves  
where innocent people are being killed and wounded.

     That is a message that we have given to them and will continue to  
give to them, but it should stop.

     Q     Thank you, Nick.  All reports that I've seen in the last  
couple of weeks say that the Muslims -- the Bosnian Muslims do not wish  
to have the cease-fire either re-established or extended.  I take it  
it's the same with the Bosnian Serbs.

     Nick, have we got any new information?  Have we made any new  
contacts there in Sarajevo to talk with Mr. Silajdzic and others about  
their role in this?  They've been on the offensive now for a month, and  
I understand there are three major areas of fighting in the country, and  
further the Department of Defense verified what was said here a couple  
of days ago in this room about a massive Bosnian Serb offensive coming  
soon.

     But basically the question is, do the Muslims want to play ball  
with us?

     MR. BURNS:  We've made our position known to the Bosnian  
Government, and that is we think the cease-fire is worth extending, and  
we hope that military activity can be limited so that people's lives can  
be preserved.  I mean, we've made that clear to both sides during the  
last couple of weeks.

     Q     Have they responded recently -- I mean, in the last few days  
-- to say yes or no or we'll wait?

     MR. BURNS:  I can't tell you about our recent diplomatic contact.   
As you know, Ambassador Frasure was not able to get into Sarajevo last  
weekend to have discussions with the Bosnian Government, and our mission  
there is carrying out discussions, but I don't have any recent  
information to give you about them.

     Q     Let me finish this.  Is there any opening from any other  
diplomatic channel -- from the Russians, from the French, or anybody  
else -- to indicate that this cease-fire can be re-established?

     MR. BURNS:  The Russians, the French, the United States, the  
Germans, and others are all together trying to find a way to extend the  
cease-fire.  I think we have an international agreement in the Contact  
Group that the cease-fire should be extended.  That's taking place today  
in Paris.  Unfortunately, since I don't have a readout on those talks, I  
can't give you a lot more.

     Q     Nick, a follow-up on the political director-level talks in  
Paris today.  Is there also on the agenda the question of a Foreign  
Ministers' level meeting?

     MR. BURNS:  That has been proposed in the past, and it has been  
proposed just in recent weeks; not by the United States but by others.   
It's our view that it was appropriate to meet, first, at the Contact  
Group level -- the representatives level; in this case, Ambassador  
Frasure's level.  For any meeting to take place, we think it's got to be  
well prepared and there's got to be some reason to think it can produce  
something of concrete value to the process and be successful.  At this  
point, the United States felt that it was important to get the Contact  
Group's reps in the room together to look at the full range of options  
that are on the table, and to do that first.

     Q     Would the United States agree to a Foreign Ministers meeting  
if the French pulled the peacekeepers out?

     MR. BURNS:  I can't say, Barry.  The French --

     Q     (Inaudible) of course, if you're going to have a Foreign  
Ministers level meeting.

     MR. BURNS:  We would very much like to convince the French  
Government and others that UNPROFOR should stay, and that the French  
contingent and other contingents should stay.  We've made point very  
clear to all the participating governments over the last couple of  
weeks.

     Q     Nick, what is the status of contingency planning for the  
withdrawal of troops should that become necessary?  What American  
personnel are on the ground preparing for such an eventuality, if any?

     MR. BURNS:  As you know, there has been contingency planning  
carried out in NATO.  There have been discussions with the U.N. about  
the possibility, if it should become necessary, to extricate UNPROFOR  
from the Balkans.  The United States has participated in those  
discussions.

     I believe there's an 80-person contingency team that is on the  
ground in the region preparing contingency plans.  I can check on the  
exact number; there are about 15 American communications specialists and  
technicians with that team.  But we can check on the exact figure for  
you.

     Yes, Betsy.
[...]

     (Press briefing concluded at 1:38 p.m.)

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