UNITED KINGDOM: US STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN NICHOLAS BURNS SPEAKS AFTER MEETING ON CRISIS IN BOSNIA

Record ID: 337876

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: US STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN NICHOLAS BURNS SPEAKS AFTER MEETING ON CRISIS IN BOSNIA
  • Date: 21st July 1995
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (JULY 21, 1995)(RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV SPOKESMAN FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE NICHOLAS BURNS ARRIVING FOR MEDIA CONFERENCE 0.08 2. SV MEDIA RECORDING CONFERENCE / CAMERAS 0.11 3. SV BURNS SPEAKING (ENGLISH) / AUDIENCE / SLV BURNS AT PODIUM / PAN OF AUDIENCE (4 SHOTS) 3.59 SEQUENCE 3 TRANSCRIPT: BURNS: "I THINK THERE IS A WIDE SPREAD AGREEMENT ON OBJECTIVES HERE. THE OBJECTIVES ARE QUITE PLAIN AND THEY ARE TO KEEP UNPROFOR IN THE FIELD, TO STRENGTHEN IT AND TO POSITION IT IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT CAN NOW AND IN THE FUTURE DETER BOSNIAN SERB AGGRESSION AND CONTAIN THE MILITARY AMBITIONS OF THE BOSNIAN SERBS. I THINK THERE IS WIDE SPREAD AGREEMENT ON ALL OF THOSE OBJECTIVES. AND I THINK THAT ALMOST ALL THE SPEAKERS THIS MORNING EVEN LISTED THOSE. AND WE NEED TO DEMONSTRATE TO THE BOSNIAN SERB LEADERSHIP IN PALE AND TO THE BOSNIAN SERB MILITARY LEADERSHIP, PARTICULARLY MISTER MLADIC, THAT THE WEST IS UNITED IN ANSWERING THEIR OUTRAGEOUS BEHAVIOUR. AND HE PROPOSED A COLLECTIVE PLAN OF ACTION WHICH HAS FIVE COMPONENTS TO IT. FIRST, TO KEEP UNPROFOR IN AND TO STRENGTHEN IT. SECONDLY, TO STABILISE THE SITUATION IN SARAJEVO. AND SPECIFICALLY A SUGGESTION THAT THE RAPID REACTION FORCE MIGHT NOW BE USED TO SECURE HUMANITARIAN ACCESS POINTS. THIS IS NOT AN AMERICAN IDEA, THIS IS AN IDEA I THINK PROPOSED BY THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND BY A NUMBER OF OTHER GOVERNMENTS. IT CLEARLY HAS THE SUPPORT OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. THIRD, TO DEFEND GORAZDE FROM SUFFERING THE SAME FATE IN THE COMING WEEKS AS ZEPA AND SREBRENICA HAVE SUFFERED IN THE PAST WEEKS. SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER SUGGESTED THAT WE DELIVER AN UNAMBIGUOUS ULTIMATUM TO THE BOSNIAN SERB LEADERS, THAT AN ATTACK ON GORAZDE WILL BE MET BY A LARGE SCALE USE OF AIR POWER. HE ALSO SAID IT WAS IMPORTANT TO PROTECT THE UN MANDATE NOT ONLY IN GORAZDE, BUT ALSO IN BIHAC AND THE OTHER SAFE AREAS. FOURTH, SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER ALSO SUGGESTED THAT THE CONFERENCE SHOULD ADDRESS THE VERY SEVERE AND CRITICAL HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCY THAT HAS PLAINLY TAKEN PLACE IN BOSNIA OVER THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS. THERE IS IN THE SHORT TERM THE VERY, VERY SORRY STATE OF THE REFUGEES, MORE THAN 50,000 REFUGEES WHO HAVE BEEN PRODUCED BY THE FIGHTING IN THE TWO ENCLAVES THAT HAVE FALLEN. THERE IS ALSO, WE THINK BASED ON A SURVEY DONE LAST WEEK BY THE ICRC, BY THE UNHCR, AND THE UNITED STATES, A VERY SEVERE SITUATION IN SARAJEVO. THAT COULD BECOME QUITE CRITICAL THIS WINTER. FOOD AND MEDICAL SHORTAGES AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE THAT ARE VERY, VERY HARD INDEED. AND SO THE UNITED STATES IS WILLING, QUITE WILLING AND EAGER, TO CONTRIBUTE TO A RENEWED INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO ASSIST THE REFUGEES, THROUGH FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE CERTAINLY, BUT ALSO THROUGH ASSISTANCE IN HOUSING, PROVISION OF FOOD, AND PROVISION OF MEDICAL ITEMS. ANOTHER POINT THE SECRETARY MADE, OF COURSE SPEAKS TO THE BRUTALITY OF THE BOSNIAN SERBS IN DETAINING A GREAT NUMBER, MANY THOUSANDS OF MEN AND BOYS FROM SREBRENICA AND ZEPA. THEY HAVE BEEN DETAINED, MANY OF THEM, WITHOUT ACCESS TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND SPECIFICALLY TO THE INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN ORGANISATIONS. AND SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER SUGGESTED THAT THE CONFERENCE CALL UPON THE BOSNIAN SERBS TO RELEASE THEM IMMEDIATELY. BUT AT THE VERY LEAST TO ALLOW INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS ACCESS TO THESE MANY THOUSANDS OF INDIVIDUALS." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 5th August 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA91CP2EK2EY9GYUCU1DZSOQ9EO
  • Story Text: The United States called on its allies on Friday (July 21) to give the Bosnian Serbs an "unambiguous ultimatum" that an attack on the Moslem enclave of Gorazde would be met by a major air strike, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said.

    He was speaking after politicians and military experts from the United States (U.S.), Russia, key European allies, other countries with troops in Bosnia, and top U.N. and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) officials met at Lancaster House in London to discuss the crisis.

    He quoted United States Secretary of State saying the international community faced a stark challenge.


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