BosNews -- 27 Sept. 95

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

From: Dzevat Omeragic <dzevat@guru.ee.mcgill.ca>

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

ON THE GROUND IN THE BALKANS:
U.N. officials announced September 25 that approximately 40 alleged mass graves had been discovered in recently liberated territory in western Bosnia. The Bosnian government was scheduled to begin mapping the sights on September 26 in preparation for exhumations and investigations in consultation with the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal.

Serbian forces launched airstrikes against Bosnian Army positions in northwestern Bosnia on September 25 in a blatant violation of the no-fly-zone. NATO confirmed on September 26 that it had detected the flights, but was unable to respond in a timely manner. NATO has routinely limited enforcement of the no-fly-zone to patrols over the Adriatic Sea for several months.

Fighting was reported September 24 near Brcko, a strategic point along the Posavina corridor across northern Bosnia used by the Serbs to supply their forces in western Bosnia. Bosnian Croat militia and Croatian Army forces are reportedly massing north of the corridor, although it is unclear whether their aim is to sever it or liberate territory to the west. Serbian forces launched rocket attacks against six towns in central and eastern Croatia on September 26. Croatia hinted that it would attack Serbian positions in Bosnia if the rocket attacks continued.


ON THE DIPLOMATIC FRONT:
On September 26, the Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian foreign ministers met in New York. Under the guidance of two international negotiators -- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke and European Union representative Carl Bildt -- the ministers agreed to a set of constitutional principles to govern Bosnia after the war. The principles provide for a central government consisting of a presidency, a parliament, and a constitutional court, but it is by no means certain whether these entities will be strong enough to carry out the functions of a state. Indeed, the principles do not enumerate any of the new presidency's or parliament's powers.

ACSB believes that, if implemented, these principles would complete the dismantlement of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its constitution and replace them with a new state consisting of two new entities, a new parliament, a new presidency, and a new constitutional court. The Republic's democratically elected and multi-ethnic government and institutions would be relegated to the scrap heap of history.

ACSB deplores the U.S. Administration's pressures on the Bosnian government to effectively surrender and accept a plan that would destroy a UN-member state and reward aggression by carving Bosnia into two entities -- one for the victims and one for the aggressors.



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