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“PARTIAL LIFTING OF SANCTIONS AGAINST SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S780-S781 on Jan. 11, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PARTIAL LIFTING OF SANCTIONS AGAINST SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise this evening to urge the United States to vote at the United Nations against renewing the partial lifting of sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro in return for their alleged blockade against the Bosnian Serbs.
The 100-day probation period for blockade enforcement expires tomorrow, January 12, 1995. A positive action in the U.N. Security Council is necessary to renew the waiver. The language of the U.N. resolution granting the waiver stipulates the need for effectively implementing the closure of the border between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I repeat, effectively implementing--not trying in a half-hearted way or even trying with good intentions. Mr. President, the standard of effectively implementing simply has not been met.
On November 18, 1994, I sent a detailed letter to Secretary of State Christopher in which I outlined my concerns on this issue. Yesterday--
nearly 8 weeks later--I finally received an answer from Assistant Secretary of State Sherman. I hope that this inexcusable tardiness in responding to my request and desire is not indicative of a desire on the part of the State Department to keep this vital issue out of the public eye.
Mr. President, the contents of Assistant Secretary Sherman's letter have only increased my fear that the administration is allowing a new overall concept for Bosnia--with which I profoundly disagree--to dictate its interpretation of the facts on the ground.
What about the stipulated U.N. standard of effectively implementing the border closure? Assistant Secretary Sherman writes:
On the whole, looking across the 100-day period, we believe it legitimate to say that the border has been effectively closed in the sense that it has become steadily less porous as loopholes were identified and sealed.
That, Mr. President, is a remarkably creative definition of
``effective implementing.''
I remember back in the early 1980's, we went from talking about tax increases to revenue enhancements. This
[[Page S781]] makes that euphemism sound ridiculous. It says
``effectively implementing,'' and he writes, ``On the whole, looking across the 100-day period, we believe,'' and the key point is ``that it has become steadily less porous.'' I assume that means therefore it has been effectively implemented, in their view. The fact is that the border is more than 300 miles long. It traverses some of the most rugged, mountainous country in Europe, and it would be difficult to police even with a large force of monitors.
In actuality, however, Mr. President, fewer than 200 monitors have been deployed. Assistant Secretary Sherman admits the monitoring mission ``is still not staffed as fully as we would like.''
Most of the crossing points are not monitored 24 hours a day. Controls on so-called ant trade--carried on by private vehicles that smuggle in fuel for a Bosnian Serb war machine--are, quite frankly, laughable.
Perhaps the most ridiculous piece of information is that along parts of the Montenegro-Bosnian border, the United Nations has been relying on the Yugoslav Army, that is the Serbian Army troops, to monitor the so-called blockade. Now, call me cynical, Mr. President, but I am uncomfortable with involving Mr. Milosevic's troops in the honor system.
The ultimate proof of the ineffective closure of the border is that the Bosnian Serb aggressors have had no difficulty in securing fuel with which to continue their attacks, such as last month's offensive in the Bihac area.
Even the price of fuel on the civilian market in Serbian-controlled parts of Bosnia has not risen appreciably, an indication that there are no serious shortages of fuel. It is still coming in.
Mr. President, the whole blockade charade has proven once again that Mr. Milosevic is the shrewdest politician in the former Yugoslavia. Through his blockade gambit he hopes to weaken the Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic, but not significantly to hamper the Bosnian Serb Army. Our British and French allies and the Russians, eager for peace in Bosnia at any time, want to throw Milosevic a bone of renewed sanctions relief, perhaps even to lessen the sanctions further.
Worst of all, it now appears the United States is sliding toward the appeasement position of the British and the French. Assistant Secretary of State Holbrooke, speaking 2 days ago in Sarajevo, indicated that we have retreated from holding the Bosnian Serbs at the ladder of the contact group's peace plank. Now, apparently, we see the plan only as a basis for negotiation. That is, we have prepared to allow the Bosnian Serbs to hold on to some of the fruits of their military aggression and the vile ethnic cleansing they have been undertaking.
Mr. President, we should have none of this. The United States should vote against the extension of the U.S. sanctions waiver. Or, put another way, we should keep the sanctions on, the economic sanctions. Such a vote would not only be a moral statement but also a proper reaction to this nonexistent blockade that has provided cover for Milosevic and our European allies.
Mr. President, although I do not have any real expectation that the administration is going to listen to me any more than they have listened to me in the past on this, or to Senator Dole or to Senator Lieberman or others, I do want the Record to show that there is no serious implementation of the blockade on the part of the Serbian Government; no cooperation from the Government of Serbia, Mr. Milosevic's government; no effective means to monitor whether it is underway; and no proof based upon the availabilities of the commodities that are supposedly being blocked, such as fuel for the war machine, that suggests that it is working, it is being tried, it is being implemented, it is effective.
Therefore, it seems to me, Mr. President, the only logical and consistent vote we should cast in the United Nations Security Council tomorrow is one that eliminates the extension of the waiver and puts back in place the full economic blockade on Serbia.
Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their willingness to give me this time. I yield the floor.
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