April/May 1995, Page 75

Diplomatic Doings

By Richard H. Curtiss

Bosnian Ambassador Sven Alkalaj and Croatian Ambassador Petar Sarcevic held a joint meeting with journalists at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Feb. 13 to discuss the confederation between their two countries. Affirming that the confederation is alive and well, Dr. Sarcevic noted also that Croatia supports the "contact group's" peace proposal for Bosnia, and asked for redeployment of the UNPROFOR force in Croatia because it had become a "stumbling block" in the search for a Croatian-Serbian settlement.

Instead of being deployed at the borders between Serbia and Croatia, where U.N. forces could prevent or at least monitor supplies being sent from Serbia to Serbian enclaves in Croatia, UNPROFOR peacekeepers are perpetuating the Serb enclaves by patrolling the cease-fire lines between them and Croatian forces, the Croatian ambassador said. He noted that Croatia now is caring for 150,000 refugees from Bosnia in addition to 250,000 Croats who cannot return to their homes.

Ambassador Alkalaj said that May 1, when the "so-called cease-fire ends, must be the deadline for implementing the contact group plan" (which places 49 percent of Bosnia under Serb control and 51 percent under control of the Bosnian government, which is linked to Croatia by the confederation). The Bosnian envoy said "there is a strong will to make something of this confederation" and that his government is "working hard for reconciliation. He noted that the war in Bosnia "is not a religious war, but surely all religious groups can help bring about reconciliation."

Americans Picket U.K. Embassy Over Bosnia Policy

Americans picketing the British Embassy are "a rare sight" in the words of Joshua Goldstein, organizer of just such a demonstration in Washington, DC last November. Goldstein, chairman of the Bosnia Support Committee, one of several groups affiliated with the Action Council for Peace in the Balkans, led by former State Department spokesman Hodding Carter, said the demonstration was called after a sharp exchange of words between U.S. and British officials over world inaction in the face of Serb massacres in Bosnia, and after Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) had called Britain the "biggest stumbling block" to unified action to halt the killing. "This is our first venture up Embassy Row," Goldstein told the press at the time.

Egyptian Ambassador Speaks At Terrorism Seminar

Egyptian Ambassador Ahmed Maher El Sayed spoke on "the Middle East Experience" at one in a series of seminars arranged by Prof. Yonah Alexander, director of the Terrorism Studies Program at George Washington University on Feb. 10 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Others speakers represented the Department of State's Office of Counter-Terrorism, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and the Senate Armed Services Committee. Among speakers on "the European Experience" in a March 20 program in the same series was Namik Tan, counselor at the Embassy of Turkey.

Tunisian Ambassador Speaks At University of Maryland

Tunisian Ambassador Azouz Ennifar was the featured speaker in a lively Feb. 8 program in the University of Maryland's on-going Earhart Lecture Series on Religion, Constitutionalism, and Democracy in the Arab and Islamic World at College Park, MD. (For upcoming programs in the series, see "Bulletin Board" on page 121 of this issue.) The Tunisian envoy described to a standing-room-only audience of faculty members and students aspects of Tunisian history and tradition that have resulted in adoption in his Islamic country of laws which outlaw polygamy and ban discrimination against women.

The discussion period was marred by persistent rhetorical questions from Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and members of a group who had arrived with him, challenging Tunisia's ban on Islamist political parties. Maryland Professor Charles Butterworth, a noted U.S. scholar on Islam and organizer of the series, finally requested members of Hooper's group to allow invited guests an opportunity to voice their questions as well. After the program, one of the faculty members at the university, which offers language courses in Hebrew but not Arabic , noted sadly, "For some of the students in the audience this may have been the first opportunity in their lives to enter into a discussion with either a Muslim or an Arab diplomat. How ironic that other Muslims seemed determined to deny them the opportunity."

The problem was rectified, however, after the question period when the audience adjourned for a buffet Arabic meal. The genial ambassador fielded questions from a large circle of students in a friendly session that continued for a full hour and a half following his formal lecture.