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The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 28, 1995 - 7A
U.S. involvement
pus hg Bosnan
peace process
The Washington Post News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS - The geopo-
litical significance of the latest devel-
opments on the Bosnian peace front of Balkan shuttle diplomacy, and min-
was pithily summed up by French For- isterial-level meetings in Geneva and
eign Minister Herve de Charette. "As New York, will lead first to a general
President Reagan once remarked," he cease-fire and then a full-scale peace
told reporters at a breakfast meeting conference between the warring par-
here yesterday morning, "America is ties. The goal is to have a settlement in
back," place within the next four or five weeks
There are still an enormous number so that the U.N. peacekeeping mission
of things that could go wrong with the can be replaced by a NATO-led force
Clinton administration's high-wire dip- well before the onset of winter.
lomatic balancing act in pursuit of a Just a few months ago, such a goal
Bosnian peace agreement. The Mus- seemed implausible. U.S. officials were
lim-led Bosnian government could con- deeply frustrated by the lack of any
elude it has more to gain on the battle- progress toward peace, and the very
field than at the conference table. The word "Bosnia" had become a symbol
army of Serbian-dominated Yugosla- ofeverything that was wrong with the
via could enter the war on the side of the administration's foreign policy. Today,
Bosnian Serbs. The uneasy alliance by contrast, it seems a feasible objec-
between the Bosnian Croats and Mus- tive.
lims could fall apart. Congress might The optimistic new mood was re-
block an administration attempt to send flectedby Bosnian Prime Minister Haris
25,000 troops to Bosnia to enforce a Silajdzic,whohasuntilnow been known
peace settlement. for his almost unrelieved pessimism.
None of this, however, should ob- He told reporters in Sarajevo that the
scurethecentral point. Forthe first time U.S.-brokered accord in New York
in three years of brutal fighting, peace could lead to peace "within weeks," as
seems to be within the grasp of the long as the international community
warring factions in Bosnia. And that in maintained its pressure on the Serbs.
turn has been made possible - at least His upbeat assessment was echoed by a
in part - by a radical shift by the headline in the Belgrade daily Vecernje
United States, which has dramatically Novosti, amouthpiece for Serbian Presi-
increased its involvement with the dent Slobodan Milosevic: "Agreement
former Yugoslavia. to End the War."
The new approach is controversial Whenthe Americannegotiatingteam
and has led to charges, in Congress and led by Assistant Secretary of State Ri-
elsewhere, that the administration has chard Holbrooke returns to the region
sacrificed its commitment to a Today, its top priority will be to secure
multiethnic Bosnian state in favor of a general cease-fire between the war-
the de facto partition of the country into ring factions. That is probably not as
Serb, Croat, and Muslim-controlled difficult as it sounds, as the elements
entities. But it is producing results. This for a cease-fire are already in place. A
week's American-brokered agreement series of battlefield advances by the
in New York to establish a common Croatian and Bosnian government army
Bosnian parliament and presidency has had the effect of greatly simplifying
marked another step forward on the the ethnic map of Bosnia.
road to ending the war. U.S. officials said the Croat-Muslim fed-
U.S. negotiators hope the momen- eration now controls close to 51 per cent of
tum-that they have built up after a month the territoiy.
Bosnian government soldiers prepare ammunition for a multiple-rocket launcher at the frontline near the town of Mrkonjic Grad yesterday,
French offci U.S.: What took ou so long?
Los Angeles Times
UNITED NATIONS - French For-
eign Minister Herve de Charette yester-
day offered Americans a new perspective
on the Bosnian peace process, describing
the United States as a latecomer that
finallycaught up with the ideas of France
and other European nations.
Discussing the current American
peace initiative, the foreignminister told
reporters at a breakfast meeting, "We
are verygrateful for their action after so
many months of inaction and after slow-
ing down the peace process."
The French view differs from the one
espoused in Washington, where officials
insist that an end to the Bosnian war may
be in sight only because President Clinton
decided to assert U.S. leadership and re-
move Bosnian strategy from the hands of
the ineffectual Europeans.
Asked to explain how Americans
slowed the peace process, Charette said
French diplomats meeting with Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevicin Belgrade
several years ago had"arrived at the same
point where we are today" - implying
that the American aversion then to allot-
ting hal fof Bosnia to the Serbs prevented
an earlier agreement.
"But they changed their mind," he
went on, "and we are grateful that they
have given the impetus for peace, as we
have for four years."
The foreign minister, analyzing the
recent acceleration of the peace pro-
cess, gave the election of French Presi-
dent Jacques Chirac at least as much
importance as the new activism of Presi-
dent Clinton. "Since last May (when
Chirac was elected)," Charette said,
"we decided not to accept the humilia-
tion" of the U.N. peacekeepers in
Bosnia. Chirac also persuaded the
United Nations to authorize a French-
British-Dutch "rapid reaction force" in
Bosnia, Charette said.
"Without the rapid reaction force,
the NATO air strikes would not be
possible," the foreign minister said. "I
hope you will understand that point."
Charette said airstrikes only have
what he called "a 20 percent effective-
ness" - they are only able to wipe out
one in five targets. In the past, he went
on, the Serbs could stop air strikes by
raining mortar and artillery shells on
Sarajevo in retaliation.
The heavy weapons of the rapid reac-
tion force, however, prevented Serb
retaliation by eliminating the mortars
and artillery pieces around Sarajevo, he
said. The rapid reaction force, he in-
sisted, has "a 90-percent efficiency.
China says it will not pursue sale of multiple nuclear reactors to Iran
From Daily Wire Services
NEW YORK - In another sign of
improved U.S.-Chinese relations, China
told the United States yesterday it will
rot pursue a tentative deal to sell one or
more nuclear reactors to Iran.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qian
Qichen informed Secretary of State
Warren Christopher of Beijing's deci-
sion during a meeting here where both
are attending the United Nations Gen-
eral Assembly. The news was greeted
warmly by U.S. officials, who had op-
posed the sale to Iran and have been
seeking to put relations on what Chris-
topher called "amore constructive and
positive basis" after several incidents
that caused tension and suspicion on
both sides.
A senior U.S. official, who spoke
with reporters on condition he not be
identified, said Qian revealed the news
about the reactor sale after the U.S. side
expressed concern about Chinese ac-
tivities that Washington fears could set
back efforts for nuclear non-prolifera-
tion and curbing conventional arms
races in volatile areas.
The Chinese action reinforced specu-
lation that a summit meeting will take
place soon between President Clinton
and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
However, the senior official said the
two sides still have not agreed on when,
where and under what conditions a sum-
mit should occur.
In particular, the Clinton administra-
tion has been concerned about what it
believes have been shipments of Chi-
nese missile parts to Pakistan and
China's emergence as the principal sup-
plier of conventional weapons to Iran.
"The Chinese are acting unilaterally
in their own national interest"
- A senior U.S. official
"We still have alotofproblems inthese
areas," said the senior official, who added
that in regard to Pakistan, "no progress
was made" during what he called "a very
brief discussion of the issue."
The official also refused to pro-
vide details about why Beijing is
backing away from the Iranian re-
actor sale except to say that "the
Chinese are acting unilaterally in
their own national interest." Other
well-informed sources said they
believed that the deal fell through
either because Iran is unable to pay
or is more interested in making a
reactor deal with Russia.
In any case, the official described
yesterday's meeting - the 10th be-
tween Christopher and Qian - as "ex-
tremely positive" and a great stride for-
ward from the acrimonious atmosphere
that existed between the two govern-
ments as recently as July. At that time,
the United States was concerned about
China's arrest and trial of human rights
activist Harry Wu, a U.S. citizen, and
Beijing was upset by the United States
allowing a private visit by the president
of Taiwan, which China considers a
breakaway province.
Things began to improve after the Chi-
nese, who convicted Wu of subversive
activities, expelledhim back to the United
States, and first lady Hillary Rodham
Clinton went to Beijing to participate in
the U.N. conference on women held there
earlier this month. The Chinese regarded
Hillary Clinton's visit as a gesture honor-
ing their government.
On the Taiwan issue, Christopher,
in an August meeting with Qian in
Brunei, and other U.S. officials said
repeatedly that permitting Taiwanese
President Lee Teng-hui to visit his
alma mater, Cornell University, its
Ithaca, N.Y., was not a departure from
the longstanding U.S. policy of con-.
sidering Beijing the sole legitimate
government of China.
...........
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