Sarajevo, BiH
21 Dec. 2000
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Statement
by Lord
George Robertson
at CPIC, Tito Barracks
It is a great pleasure to be here again in Sarajevo. So close to the
anniversary yesterday of the IFOR troops of NATO coming here to Bosnia
and Herzegovina to stop the killing and the torturing and the ethnic cleansing,
and to bring peace and hope to this troubled part of the European continent.
I believe that the IFOR entry five years ago marked a new and hopeful
chapter in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I retain my optimism
about the future despite my frustration at some of the things that still
are not happening. I am delighted to be accompanied by General Dodson,
the Commander of SFOR, this morning.
I spent some time today meeting German, Italian, French and other troops
of SFOR, who are here at their own traditional holiday season, still keeping
the peace in Sarajevo, still committed to the Mission that we started
five years ago, a remarkable effort by IFOR and by SFOR. Tens of thousands
of troops from many nations have come together here, over these five years,
to give the people of this country an opportunity to seek a better future
in an atmosphere of peace and stability. In a country that was devastated
by ethnic conflict, SFOR is in many ways an example itself that people
do not have to be forever trapped in the past as victims of ethnic division.
Afterall, the many nations, the 36 nations, I think it is, that make up
SFOR were not so long ago enemies that have now banded together in a common
and a noble cause of bringing peace and stability here. Every time that
I have come to Sarajevo I can see the success of that endeavour. Security
has dramatically improved; the people no longer need to live in fear.
This year more refugees have returned than in other previous years and
more and more of those who have been indicted for war crimes are now waiting
in the Hague for the justice of the International Criminal Tribunal. Elections
in this country have now become routine and last night I insisted that
I get a chance to have a walk in the streets of Sarajevo to see how normal
people were getting around and getting on with normal lives again. I see
big changes that have taken place and to walk through the centre of the
old town to see the mosques, the catholic and orthodox churches in close
proximity. Three faces but one festive holiday season and I think that
is a great signal for the future and a symbol of what can be there for
the people of this country, if they have the courage and they have the
strength to take into their own hands ownership of their country and their
own future. There is of course a down side too, and increasingly the international
community feels it has done its part and put the conditions for success
into place, but it is now the time for the political leadership of this
country, and the people that it represents to do more for themselves.
Frankly, international patience is fading; international frustration is
growing, so Bosnia and Herzegovina can no longer afford to continue to
support the extreme nationalists, which have caused all of your problems
in the first place. The results of these years of ethnic nationalism and
hatred is quite obvious, three armies, two entities, one country and no
money, that is more than Bosnia and Herzegovina and the people of this
country deserve better. They need a leadership committed to building effective
central institutions to work for and with all of the ethnic groups. This
also means armed forces that operate under unified command and under common
doctrine.
Economic reform is also critical and it is urgent. Bosnia and Herzegovina
cannot expect to continue receiving the level of aid and handouts that
it has in the past. It has got to create its own self-sustaining economy
and that means fighting and prosecuting corruption and creating the right
environment through sensible taxation and regulations and financial services.
The hard fact is that Bosnia and Herzegovina is risking being left behind,
as the international community sees reform in Croatia and the remarkable
changes and the prospect in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This region
is on the move and this country must do more to keep up.
Aner Cohadzic - APTN - How do you think KFOR should prevent the
Albanian rebels getting into the buffer zone and can you react on the
recent allegations from the new Serb government that KFOR is not doing
enough to prevent Albanian rebels going into the buffer zone?
LORD ROBERTSON - On the first point, how do we prevent the ground
safety zone being used as a safe haven for extremist violence? That is
already being done and tackled and indeed KFOR troops only last night
stopped some vehicles carrying explosives and munitions into the ground
safety zone. That is not the first find that they have made and very effective
patrolling of that area is now making sure that it is very difficult for
those extremists to continue with the job that they have been doing in
the area. Of course, the Serb Government is frustrated by what is happening
in the ground safety zone, so am I, so is General Cabigiosu, the Commander
of KFOR. That is why we are taking active measures politically and militarily
to stop the violence going on. It is also why General Cabigiosu met the
Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, yesterday,
in a top level joint implementation committee in the region itself. So,
a combination of KFOR, with restraint being shown on the Serbian side
and the active measures that have been taken on the Kosovo side of the
boundary, I believe, will address this issue and the growing political
isolation of the extremists who use the ground safety zone to launch violence
and try and provoke violence is now starting to produce results. It is
in nobody's interests that these provocations get a response and therefore
NATO, KFOR and, if necessary, an association with the FRY Serbian authorities
will continue to deal with the problem of a small number of extremists.
Aner Cohadzic - APTN - Are you aware that decreasing the size
of the troops by 15% is going to create a new army of jobless people here
in an already devastated economy and have you got any plans or any reaction
to this?
LORD ROBERTSON - Well, what is being reduced is the budget of
the entity-armed forces, which is not necessarily the same as the numbers.
Clearly, if the armed forces here are going to be useful to the country
and therefore value for the money that is being spent on them, then they
must be smaller and they must be better trained and they must come under
that unified command and control. Only in that way will they provide territorial
defence, provide the capability for civil emergencies and be able to contribute
to UN peace keeping, which is the ambition of all armed forces in all
of the countries in the Euro-Atlantic area. So that has to take place
and no army ever should simply be a method of creating work or creating
jobs. That is a basic principle but the people of this country will only
get jobs, proper jobs, real jobs if the economy grows and corruption is
rooted out. That is why SFOR's Mission along with the other organisations
is not simply to keep the peace by military patrols; it is to build a
sense of self ownership in this country, that will produce the work and
the jobs and simply avoid the possibility where armies are there as job
making schemes.
Antonio Prlenda - Oslobojenje - If Bosnia and Herzegovina today
would have armed forces with the joint command and common defence policy
and doctrine would it be enough to be accepted to the Partnership for
Peace (PFP) membership? What is the feeling in NATO?
LORD ROBERTSON - Well, that is a prerequisite for looking towards
membership of the Partnership for Peace. It is not sufficient, but it
would be a very good start to get along that way. You cannot possibly
get into the Partnership for Peace unless these building blocks are in
place. I said last year when I took over this job that I had an ambition
to get the two remaining European countries into the Partnership for Peace.
One of these is Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other one is Yugoslavia.
I still have that ambition even although the Yugoslav political authorities
have not yet got to the point of even contemplating it. But it would be
an incredible irony if Yugoslavia was to make it before Bosnia and Herzegovina.
So a unified command and control, a unified military doctrine and a common
defence policy as prerequisites for the country and I urged the Tri-Presidency
this morning to get on with developing all three of these things and to
doing it urgently and putting it in place quickly.
Nedim Dervisbegovic - Reuters - Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte
recently criticised SFOR for not carrying out more arrests of local war
crime suspects. In recent months as more than 20 publicly indicted, remain
at large and any number of secretly indicted war crime suspects. Are we
going to see more arrests soon? You mentioned refugee returns; refugees
often call security as one of the main concerns when they try to go back,
especially in Eastern Bosnia?
LORD ROBERTSON - Chief Prosecutor del Ponte is frustrated in not
getting enough of the indicted people to The Hague. I share that frustration
and so does General Dodson, but not all of the people who have been indicted
live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. SFOR and NATO have no authority outwith
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo but I am determined if we find any of
these people, trace any of these people who have been indicted, then they
will be arrested and they will be taken to the Hague. I think there have
been ten, in my time; we have arrested ten indictees during the fourteen
months that I have been Secretary General of NATO, and there will be more,
I can assure you of that, and each and every one of those who have been
indicted, if they are alive, will eventually face the prosecution at the
Hague. The net is closing more and more and ultimately all of those who
have been indicted will be there as well. In terms of refugee returns,
then obviously SFOR has got a role to play there as well in providing
safety and security, providing a safe environment to allow the return
of refugees to take place. It is because of the professionalism and the
efficiency and the sheer courage of the troops of SFOR, in the last year
we saw more refugees returning than ever before. The creation of the safe
environment has allowed for a spontaneous return of refugees on a scale
that was un-thought of two or three years ago and I believe that that
will continue.
Fedzad Forto - BiH Press - Are we going to see any changes in
the SFOR composition and mandate after the 20th January?
LORD ROBERTSON - No, it is a simple answer. The Foreign Ministers
of NATO last week decided that SFOR will remain in its present form for
the time being at the numbers that are there. Although General Dodson
and the Supreme Allied Commander Europe have got a responsibility to ensure
that their troops are deployed in the most efficient way that is possible,
but ministers have asked for options to be considered for the configuration
of SFOR for later in the year 2001. They will examine these options at
their meeting in May and June of next year.
Amra Hadziosmmanovic - AFP - The chief prosecutor of the ICTY
also suggested that NATO should form a special unit tasked with the rest
of the war criminals. What is your opinion of such an idea and are you
ready and prepared to do that?
LORD ROBERTSON - Well, that was a suggestion of Mrs. Del Ponte
and we have looked at it carefully. There are 22,000 troops in SFOR who
are all committed to the arrest and interdiction of those who have been
indicted in terms of war crimes. We believe the way, in which we are conducting
it at the moment right across, all of the multi-national divisions, is
the way forward. It is the best way of doing it. I have said that to Chief
Prosecutor del Ponte on a number of occasions. But, can I use this opportunity
here in Sarajevo to say that the responsibility for turning indictees
is not only a responsibility for SFOR. It is a responsibility of the government
of this country and indeed of the various entities in this country, as
they are obliged to do so under the Dayton Accord. It is also a responsibility
for people in this country to give information to the authorities to allow
these people to be arrested. There will be no lasting peace in the Balkans
until those who have been responsible for some of the most horrific violence
in generations do not eventually face the fair trial that they will get
in The Hague. So every single person who wants to live in peace and security
and to bring up their children in an atmosphere where ethnic hatred does
not turn to ethnic killing have got an equal responsibility to General
Dodson and me to make sure that these people face a trial in the Hague.
I make that appeal today to every single person in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
If you know any information or you know of any of these people, tell the
authorities, turn them in and in doing so you will make your country safer
and better.
Nerminka Emric - RTV BiH - You spoke with members of the BiH Presidency
today. You used to do this before, however, we are aware of the facts
in the field, as you said, we have three armies, two entities, and one
country. Speaking about the armies, what is your opinion, when will the
integration of the armies in BiH take place? Can you comment on the current
situation in the armies? We hear one official story but the situation
in the field is the same as ten years ago.
LORD ROBERTSON - When I speak to the Tri-Presidency I often hear
things that I have heard before. I also hear things that are changing
and are different. I heard today of the fact that the Council of Ministers
are being strengthened and that three new ministries have been created
that is progress. I heard that the common defence policy has now been
agreed and will go soon to the Council of Ministers and I urged the Tri-Presidency
to ensure that it did so in the most speedy way possible. It must make
sense and be strong enough to make the changes. I heard today that the
standing committee on military matters which co-ordinates all these activities
with the help of SFOR, is going to have an increased secretaria and that
is good news, because up to now it has been too weak, too badly served
and the subject of endless delays and cancellations. So, if that is going
to happen then that too is good news. I believe that there is a growing
realisation that the current structure of military forces is just a grotesque
waste of money, that is going to prevent Bosnia and Herzegovina from joining
in European institutions and that therefore the movement towards a unified
commanded and control structure is becoming ever more obvious and I will
encourage it and urge it every time that I come here as well. What is
also absolutely vital is greater transparency and openness about the finances
of the armed forces. How much of the Bosnian taxpayers money is being
spent on these different armies, and where is that money coming from?
I believe if people knew how much it was costing them they would be less
tolerant of maintaining the existing structures. So I see some progress,
I have got assurances, General Dodson is here on a day-by-day basis to
monitor these assurances and that progress, and I will not stop reminding
the government of this country of how important all of these projects
are to the future of this country.
Antonio Prlenda - Oslobojenje - Representatives of the OSCE in
Sarajevo recently suggested an even more radical reduction on the entity
armed forces, 50% of troops during next year. Do you support such a radical
reduction in such a relatively short period?
LORD ROBERTSON - I have told you what I am recommending and that
is a unified command and control as a first step, a unified military doctrine,
and a common defence policy. These are the first steps that need to be
taken. Reductions will ultimately be necessary, if affordable armed forces
are going to be put in place, but I want to see the first steps taken
before we move on to what will be necessary but more ambitious steps later
on. But later on does not mean in ten years time, later on means in the
quite near future.
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