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Opening Remarks by the Acting Secretary General
for Joint Meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers,
Our meeting today is of special, indeed historic
importance. Our purpose is to review alliance
preparations for the rapid and effective deployment of the
Implementation Force to Bosnia, and to confer Ministerial
endorsement of the military planning which will underpin
Operation Joint Endeavour.
The peace plan that will be signed formally in
Paris next week by the Presidents of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Croatia, and Serbia will bring an end to one of the
darkest chapters of modern European history. This has
been a chapter that we thought we would never again see in
Europe after the horrors of the Second World War. But
what has happened has happened. Our job is to
make sure that it does not happen again, that the peace
which has been agreed is now implemented, thus enabling
Europe to resume its march towards a stable and just
post-Cold War order.
Much has been made about the difficulty of this
operation, and the difficulty of asking our publics and
parliaments to support the costs and risks involved.
Perhaps not enough has been said about what a privilege it
is to be called upon to serve the cause of humanity. NATO
is being asked to undertake this mission because there is
no other organisation capable of managing such a
complex undertaking. And so we have a responsibility --
the same responsibility to safeguard the peace in Europe
which we successfully carried out during the Cold War,
with all the Allies sharing the burden in solidarity with
each other.
The last time NATO Foreign and Defence Ministers
met together was in 1979. Back then, the challenge was to
build-up deterrence in order to prevent war. Today, the
challenge is to build peace itself, and to do so
side-by-side with many of our former adversaries who are
now members of NATO's Partnership for Peace. Thus, if we
are successful in Bosnia, we will have gone a long way
towards establishing a security architecture that indeed
goes beyond Bosnia to encompass the whole of Europe.
Let us remember that this chance for an enduring
peace in Bosnia did not happen by accident. It was
created by the momentum of success over the past six
months. It came about because, with the deployment of the
UN Rapid Reaction Force, and the successful use of NATO's
air power in Operation DELIBERATE FORCE, we gave effective
military support to the diplomatic process just when it
was needed. Tragically, many peacekeepers have given
their lives to make today's peace possible.
The fact that NATO will be leading the Implementation
Force is the best guarantee that the inherent risks of
such a difficult operation are kept as low as possible.
Nous sommes prets a agir des que l'accord de
paix sera signe. Les plans du SACEUR ont ete
provisoirement approuves, et c'est aujourd'hui que nous
les enterinerons au plan politique. Nous avons commence le
deploiement des elements precurseurs, qui preparent
l'arrivee de l'element principal de l'IFOR. Nous avons
presente des exposes aux pays non membres de l'OTAN qui
pourraient contribuer a cette operation conduite par
l'OTAN, et nous nous appretons a transmettre les
invitations finales a participer a la force. Des
dispositions speciales ont ete approuvees pour que la
Russie puisse s'integrer a l'IFOR.
Notre reunion d'aujourd'hui souligne que notre
Alliance demeure le pivot de la securite en Europe. Nous
nous sommes fermement engages a mettre en oeuvre un plan
de paix agree pour la Bosnie-Herzegovine, et nous
respecterons notre engagement.
L'excellence est la marque de cette Alliance. Nous mettons
dans cette operation le poids de plus de 46 annees de
credit et d'experience. Nous sommes absolument convaincus
de la reussite de nos forces armees.