ACCESSION NUMBER:288501
FILE ID:POL406
DATE:06/10/93
TITLE:SECURITY COUNCIL WANTS EMBARGO MONITORS FOR SERB BORDER (06/10/93)
TEXT:*93061006.POL
SECURITY COUNCIL WANTS EMBARGO MONITORS FOR SERB BORDER
(Asks secretary general for deployment plan) (470)
By Judy Aita
USIA United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The Security Council June 10 passed a resolution asking
Secretary General Boutros-Ghali to report on options for the deployment of
U.N. monitors on Bosnia-Hercegovina's borders to ensure that Serbia and
Croatia do not send arms to their allies.
The council, in adopting resolution 838, asked for the report because
council members, who have wanted to put U.N. observers along the borders as
part of their overall effort to end the fierce fighting in the former
Yugoslavia, are unsure if the plan is feasible or if new peacekeeping
personnel will be available.
Monitors can only enter an area with the agreement of the government
involved. Council members so far have been unable to confirm that the
Serbian government would allow monitors on its side of the border or that
the Bosnian-Serbs would accept the monitors on the frontiers they control.
The council asked the secretary general to submit his report as soon as
possible and also to contact nations to ensure that any relevant aerial
surveillance material will be available to the U.N.
The council imposed an arms embargo against all the former Yugoslav
republics in 1991 and tightened sanctions against Serbia-Montenegro in
April after the Bosnian-Serb attacks on Bosnian-Muslim enclaves continued
with the help of Serbian supplies. Although the tighter sanctions closed
Serbia's borders to the outside world, borders among the former Yugoslav
republics have gone unchecked.
1hile Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has said that arms and fuel
shipments to the Bosnian-Serbs have stopped, intelligence reports indicate
that the supplies continue.
U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright said that "soon we will know whether Mr.
Milosevic is serious about ending the carnage in Bosnia or is merely
engaging in yet another elaborate attempt to hoodwink the civilized world."
"After the Bosnian-Serbs rejected the Vance-Owen plan, Serbian strongman
Milosevic claimed that Serbia-Montenegro would no longer aid the
Bosnian-Serbs in their violence against the Bosnian government. While
skeptical, we intend to put his government to the test," Albright said.
"The pressure must be kept on the Bosnian-Serbs," she said. "Sealing
Bosnia's border with Serbia-Montenegro would be a constructive step in that
direction."
British Ambassador Sir David Hannay said that one significance of the border
monitors is that they "could bring home to the Bosnian-Serbs the bankruptcy
of their plan."
All the council members stressed that this latest move to increase the U.N.
presence in Bosnia as well as tighten pressure on the Bosnia-Serbs is an
interim step in the council's overall plan to stop the fighting and get a
comprehensive political settlement.
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