I N3 r /Ws'i 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. 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