U.S DEPARTMENT OF STATE 95/08/02 DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
Subject: U.S DEPARTMENT OF STATE 95/08/02 DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
I N D E X
Wednesday, August 2, l995
Briefer: David Johnson
FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
Acting Secretary Tarnoff Mtg. w/EU Representative Carl
Bildt ...................................................3-4
Vote to Lift Arms Embargo .................................6-7
Outcome of NAC Meeting ....................................7
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB #115
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1995, 1:10 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
[...]
Q David, on another subject. What is going to be going on
today with the EU mediator in Bosnia, Carl Bildt?
MR. JOHNSON: He is going to be meeting today with Acting Secretary
Peter Tarnoff, among others. He's going to be accompanied by other
European Union allied representatives, we expect, from the United
Kingdom, France, and Germany.
The purpose of our meeting with him is to discuss the offer of
sanctions relief for Serbia in exchange for recognition of Bosnia-
Herzegovina and tighter border control.
I'd note for you that although he's going to be accompanied by some
EU Contact Group members, this is not a Contact Group meeting.
Q No Russian representative?
MR. JOHNSON: Not expecting one. This is a meeting that was
requested to meet with us.
Q I'm not certain why it has to be discussed in a group in
Washington. Isn't that the sort of thing that is handled by the Contact
Group, usually in Europe?
MR. JOHNSON: We're an important country in the Bosnian context.
Mr. Bildt has asked to come and meet with officials here. We're going
to be meeting with him. I don't see anything terribly unusual about
that.
Q What time is the meeting?
MR. JOHNSON: The meeting with Mr. Tarnoff is later this afternoon,
I believe somewhere in the 4:00-5:00 period.
Q At what level are they coming from the other countries?
MR. JOHNSON: I'll look into that. I don't have a list of
participants.
[...]
Q Bosnia.
MR. JOHNSON: If you wish.
Q I don't, but -- the vote yesterday, David, was over the two-
thirds margin. That's two-thirds in both houses. First, what is the
plan of the Administration now with regard to the legislation favoring
the unilateral lift of the arms embargo? And then I have a follow-up.
MR. JOHNSON: The Administration's position has not changed. We
oppose unilateral lift. We believe that its only consequence could lead
to the Americanization of the war. We don't believe that we have a lot
of good choices in Bosnia, but we believe the best choice among those
that are available is to strengthen UNPROFOR and to try to help our
allies who are there on the ground do a better job.
We've taken several steps over the last several days in order to
put that into action, including one just taken yesterday at the North
Atlantic Council, and we plan to pursue that -- that is, the
strengthening of UNPROFOR as the best option available in order to
address the situation in Bosnia.
Q Mr. Zotov, the Russian representative to the Contact Group,
expressed his hope that the Administration would be able to delay the
implementation if, indeed, the veto -- I take it there will be a veto --
if the veto were overridden. And General Philippe Morillon yesterday
was very saddened by the news of this vote. He had come to lobby in the
Congress and around town. Do you have any comment on either one of
their statements?
MR. JOHNSON: No, I think the Administration's statements on its
position on the unilateral lifting of the arms embargo is quite
sufficient.
Q Did the North Atlantic Council come out the way the United
States wished it to come out in terms of widening the Gorazde rule?
MR. JOHNSON: I think we achieved a very important objective
yesterday, and that is that we did widen the protection of the safe
areas. We were pleased with the outcome of the NAC meeting and the
statement made by the Secretary General yesterday, and we believe that
that action can help contribute to producing a situation which would
bring the parties back to the table for a negotiated settlement, which
we've made clear all along we believe is the only possible durable
outcome to this conflict.
[...]
(The briefing concluded at 1:26 p.m.)
END
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