Bosnian President Hits at U.N. and the EC

By Ian Williams

In a smoke-filled Manhattan hotel room, President Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Hercegovina spoke quietly but firmly, conveying the sense of betrayal that he felt over the world's treatment of his embattled nation. While the Secret Service guards outside his room indicated his status as head of state of a member of the United Nations, the world's statesmen have been treating him and his people as expendable obstacles to a neat and tidy solution in the Balkans.

At the beginning of January, he took advantage of a short break in the Geneva negotiations to make a whirlwind tour of the U.S. It was soon clear from his remarks that, while he had abandoned all hope of any principled stand by Europe, he still felt that the United States might make a stand. In an interview with the Washington Report, he indicated the sacrifices he felt were involved in the peace plan being pushed on his country by former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and former British Minister of Foreign Affairs David Owen. The sticking point was the map presented to his delegation.

"We Cannot Accept This Map"

"I said at the conference that the papers presented were acceptable, but the map was not acceptable, because it ratifies many of the results of illegal actions," President Izetbegovic said. "This map can in a way legalize ethnic cleansing and taking territory by force. All governments so far have said that these results could not be recognized, so we cannot accept this map. "

Many Western governments had privately been pushing for some form of cantonization which would institutionalize the results of a year of Serbian attacks against Slavic Muslims and Croats within Bosnian borders. "Maybe these maps are not in themselves cantonization, but there are similarities," the Bosnian president said. "If we accept this map, as offered by Vance and Owen, then many expelled people could never come back to their homes, because these areas which were 'cleansed' by the Serbs, and by force, remain under the control of Serbs."

President Izetbegovic, a Slavic Muslim, said the rest of the agreement was tolerable. "We accepted the first paper because it confirms by its first article that Bosnia-Hercegovina is an independent sovereign state, and the following 10 principles. Precisely because of that, the Serbs would not accept it. But this is fundamental for us."

Unsurprisingly, in a week that saw United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali being booed in Sarajevo, the Bosnian president commented that "the United Nations from the very beginning has not been a very efficient organization. The U.N. is an expression of various and differing interests. They have a variety of opinions, and one cannot expect such an organization to be efficient."

Asked about the inactivity of the United Nations peacekeepers, he said sardonically, "They are very conscientiously counting the number of shells that fall on towns and reporting on them. That's better than nothing—but it's not enough."

Asked about allegations that peacekeeping troops had not intervened when they could have prevented cases of rape, he reiterated: "I think it is not within their mandate to do anything. They have not efficiently implemented the humanitarian action and they always explain it by saying that it is not within their mandate. Even in the cases of the humanitarian convoys, when they are stopped by the aggressive forces, they ask the forces for permission to pass. With such behavior, they cannot be efficient. Always, their answer is they have no mandate to do anything."

One thing at which the U.N. forces have been efficient is enforcing the arms embargo against Bosnia, while arms and ammunition are flowing freely to Serbian militia (and former Yugoslav army) units in Bosnia from Serbia. Asked if he therefore would be campaigning for the embargo to be revoked in accordance with a U.N. General Assembly recommendation in December, he responded: "Of course, and we'll ask for Article 51 of the U.N. charter to be implemented. That article asked for two kinds of defenses; the right of self-defense and the right of collective self-defense. That article is not being implemented now."

Parallels to Munich

Izetbegovic's opinion of his European neighbors reflects deep disillusionment: "Europe is behaving the way it did before the Second World War. I would like to remind you of Munich in 1938. Europe is behaving in a remarkably similar way. There are many parallels to be drawn. We don't have Hitler on the scene, but we do have Milosevic. We do not have Chamberlain and Daladier, but we do have other people making compromises at the expense of a little, far-away country. Then it was Czechoslovakia and Munich, now it is Bosnia-Hercegovina and Geneva. The names have changed, but the essence is the same. "

While Israel has been supporting Bosnia-Hercegovina diplomatically, there have been reports in the Arab press that Israelis have been training Serbs. The Bosnian president disclaimed any knowledge of such Israeli actions. "No, I have heard the rumors," he said. "Israel has been giving political support to us, so they may be just rumors. "

He is, as one would expect, well disposed toward the Arab and Muslim states. "Their help is growing," he said. "It's not enough, but it's growing. Maybe one day soon they will help us in a sufficient way. At the moment I do not expect it. In a way, we have no country which is willing to help us in an effective way."

Asked to describe Arab and Muslim support, he replied: "Political and partly financial help. The political help is very strong. We can say that for the first time Muslim countries are unified on this issue—which was not the case even on Palestine. They are acting unanimously, which is good, of course, but it still is not enough. "

The blame, he said, does not lie with Bosnia's Middle Eastern friends. "The United Nations ties everybody's hands. Everything has to go through the Security Council, where the five permanent members do not have the same positions and interests. They have different interests, different views.

"We think that some countries should act on their own, that their hands should not be tied by Security Council decisions. Why wouldn't the United States act by themselves? Why do they have to ask for the agreement of Great Britain? I know this may be a shocking idea, but under Article 51, bilateral help is legal."

The Bosnian president seemed to be on solid ground in his explanation of the U. N. Charter. Article 51, which he cited, reads in full: "Nothing in the present charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United

Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security."

U.S. "A Morally Stronger Nation"

Concluding the interview, President Izetbegovic expressed little hope for help from his country's European neighbors without moral leadership from the United States. "That excuse about the Security Council is maybe good for one time, but there is still more moral strength in the United States than in Europe," he said. "The European countries are, in a way, old countries, while the U.S.A. is younger, a morally stronger nation than Western Europe. And in its politics there are still some moral criteria, whereas in Europe, where are no moral criteria. There is a lot of moral weakness in Europe," he noted.