Written Answers. - Government Position on Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Liz O'Donnell
Question:
88
Ms O'Donnell
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs
the Government's position on the continuing war in Bosnia/Hercegovina; if he will make a statement on the Government's position on the use of air strikes against Bosnian Serb military positions if they persist in refusing to allow Tuzla Airport to be opened for humanitarian air traffic and Canadian UNPROFOR troops to be replaced by better equipped reinforcements; the Government's position in the face of the intransigence of the Bosnian Serbs, following on the NATO Summit pledge to use such air strikes if Serbian forces continue to shell Sarajevo; the number of people who have been killed in the 600 days of the siege of Sarajevo; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Government's position on the continuing war in Bosnia was set out in my reply to Questions on 27 January. I also outlined the broad considerations which govern our approach to the use of air-power in Tuzla and elsewhere in Bosnia.
The UN Secretary-General has now outlined his approach on the reopening of Tuzla airport and on the rotation of the UNPROFOR contingents in Srebrenica and Zepa. He wishes to achieve these objectives through negotiations and with the consent of the parties. Should this consent not be forthcoming the objectives will be pursued by UNPROFOR supported, if necessary, by air-power. If military force is used against UNPROFOR, the Secretary-General will revert to the Security Council and seek its authorisation for additional troops and equipment which would be necessary to achieve the objectives.
I consider that the Secretary-General's approach is both prudent and measured. The prospects for the rotation of the troop contingents have improved in recent days. An advance party of Dutch troops has recently entered Srebrenica and Zepa without opposition. The Secretary-General hopes that the troop rotation can be completed before the end of February. Negotiations on the reopening of Tuzla are continuing.
I utterly condemn the ruthless and barbaric acts of violence against the population of Sarajevo which has continued for almost two years. These actions, for which no justifications can be offered, and none accepted, are designed to kill, maim and demoralise the civilian population of a beleaguered city in the heart of Europe.
The international relief organisations have indicated that it is very difficult to calculate precisely the number of people who have been killed in Sarajevo. But the systematic and callous onslaught directed against Sarajevo's population by heavy weapons, mortars and also by snipers' bullets, has clearly been at enormous cost to that city's population. I am aware that Bosnian Government sources estimate that 10,500 people have been killed, and perhaps 58,000, wounded in Sarajevo.
The death and suffering which has been inflicted on Sarajevo was, once more, graphically highlighted by the barbaric killings in the central market on 5 February. This left 68 people dead and scores more maimed and seriously injured.
Responsibility for this attack has not yet been determined by the United. Nations. But the UN Secretary General has concluded that the continued mortar attacks against civilian targets in Sarajevo, at least one of which has been established by the UN to be the work of Bosnian Serb forces, make it necessary to prepare urgently for the use of air strikes to deter further such attacks. He has therefore asked the Secretary General of NATO to obtain at the earliest possible date a decision by the North Atlantic Council to authorise the Commander in Chief of NATO Southern Command to launch air strikes, at the request of the UN, against artillery or mortar positions in or around Sarajevo which are determined by UNPROFOR to be responsible for attacks against civilian targets in that city.
The Council of Ministers of the European Union meeting in Brussels yesterday condemned the recent brutal shelling of civilians in Sarajevo. In the light of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the request of the Secretary General it supported an early meeting of the North Atlantic Council to consider measures to bring about the immediate lifting of the siege of Sarajevo. I understand that such a meeting is to take place shortly.
I hope that even at that late stage the parties to the conflict, in particular the Bosnian Serbs, will realise the futility of continuing the war, and that they will return to the negotiations on Thursday determined to find a negotiated solution.
