In a statement last Friday, I welcomed that day's international conference on Bosnia and insisted that it was imperative that the London Conference be constructive, as the so-called safe areas depended upon it.
The British Prime Minister opened the Bosnia Conference with a "strong warning" to Serb forces not to attack UN "safe areas". As he uttered those words mortar fire rained down on the people of Sarajevo. His words; and those of other leaders who attended the conference, clearly demonstrate to us all the dreadfully inept and inadequate response of the international community to the murderous mayhem that is plaguing Bosnia.
For world leaders to issue strong warnings is just not good enough. World leaders should hang their heads in shame. Warnings, words, waiting and inaction are of little use. The horrible reality of events in Bosnia demands urgent action. The hand-wringing helpnesses and utter inaction of the UN and the EU is disgraceful in the light of the latest affronts to humanity by the murderous Serbs. The situation in Bosnia, perpetrated by the Serbs whilst the world stands by and watches, is deplorable and shameful. Without doubt, the future of the UN and Europe to prevent the aggression of the Serbs is something that will never be forgotten or rectified.
Ireland, through the ineffectiveness of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dick Spring, and the Government will remain guilty by association so long as the Irish Government stands by and shuts its eyes to the horrendous atrocities, including murder, rape and their inhuman behaviour. Ireland must step out from the dithering crowd of world governments.
I ask the Government to at least take the lead in securing the effective implementation of the 1993 UN mandate, or give back to the Bosnian people the fundamental right to defend themselves, the fundamental right to exist. Resolution 836 (1993), June 4 1993, clearly outlines that UN policy is to protect the safe areas by using force.
The Council decides to extend the mandate of UNPROFOR to enable it to protect the safe areas of Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zepa, Gorazde, Bihac and Srebrenica, and to use force in self-defence or in deterring attacks against the safe areas ... to promote the withdrawal of military and paramilitary units other than those of the Government of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Hundreds of thousands of Bosnians are being hunted from their homes into safe areas and then subjected to the daily terror of bombardment from Bosnian Serb artillery, unprotected by the UN and crippled by an arms embargo. How do the UN respond? They dispatch additional troops to protect the troops that are supposedly protecting the enclaves. The Tánaiste, who has taken the credit for his involvement in establishing the safe areas, is emphatic that the arms embargo should not be lifted. However, Deputy Spring has never lobbied or called for the essential political protection of these safe areas. The Tánaiste's complete lack of action on this issue is disgraceful. He must come out from behind the skirts of his EU colleagues and make a clear decisive stance on behalf of Ireland. Currently we observe while the major world powers, the US and Europe, are strangling the UN.
We should observe no longer. Only yesterday, Serb troops stormed into the Bosnian safe haven of Zepa forcing thousands of women, children and Bosnian Government soldiers to flee. The fall of Zepa came as the Yugoslavian War Crimes Trinbunal indicted Serb commander Mladic and his political leader Karadzic for genocide and crimes against humanity. The UN stood helplessly by while Mladic swept into the deserted city after a week-long bombardment hammered it into submission.
This barbaric behaviour must be halted. Ireland must act. I call today for the Tánaiste to act. We have no political axe to grind and therefore cannot afford to be guilty by association.