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Remarks by the Secretary and NATO Secretary General Javier Solana prior to their meeting in Washington, February 20, 1996. Released by the Office of the Spokesman
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: It's a particular pleasure to welcome Secretary General Solana to Washington. This is his first visit as Secretary General at a decisive period for NATO, a decisive period for the security of Europe, and NATO's extremely well led under the Secretary General's leadership.
Of course, we will begin today by discussing Bosnia. All of our military commanders believe that there has been good compliance on the ground with the military aspects, and that of course is due to NATO's superior force and its training and training for this particular mission.
As you know, this weekend the three Presidents -- Izetbegovic, Milosevic and Tudjman -- met in Rome with the Contact Group and with the High Representative, Carl Bildt. They reaffirmed their commitment to the full implementation of the Dayton Agreements.
I'm glad to say that the news this morning is good from Mostar. The city has been reunified. I understand there are joint police patrols being undertaken there, so that I think is one of the good developments from Rome.
Each party there in Rome signed on to the rules of the road with respect to indicted war criminals: protecting the freedom of movement but at the same time providing for cooperation with the War Crimes Tribunal.
President Milosevic and the Bosnian Serbs have agreed that the Bosnian Serb officers will resume their contacts with IFOR. This process began this morning with a meeting. I want to emphasize that we will continue to hold the Bosnian Serbs to that commitment, to cooperate fully with IFOR.
Today, of course, we will also be discussing IFOR's implications to the broader European security picture to work for a peaceful, united and democratic Europe. We will renew our efforts that have been so successful in the Partnership for Peace, which of course has been a very important part of the remarkable international coalition in Bosnia. We are going to be discussing as well the next steps in NATO enlargement, a process that remains on a steady and transparent path.
We are going to be reviewing today our relations with Russia, beginning with a discussion of the very positive cooperation between our military forces in Bosnia. Both the Secretary General and I will be concentrating on strengthening the relationship between NATO and Russia in our various meetings with the Russian officials. I will also want to emphasize the importance of Ukraine's relations with NATO in my trip to Kiev in March.
On NATO, let me emphasize here that France's decision to draw closer to the military side of the Alliance is a very important step in our effort to try to strengthen Europe's role in NATO. President Clinton and President Chirac stressed this commitment to moving forward when the French President is here. That's something that is a high priority for NATO as we work up to the Berlin meeting.
We are going to be discussing NATO issues, generally speaking to the challenges that are presented by Europe and to the leadership that Javier Solana has brought to NATO in probably its most important year since its founding.
Secretary General, you are very, very welcome here; I'm delighted to greet you.
SECRETARY GENERAL SOLANA: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary of State. There's little I have to add to what he has said. Let me just tell you that for me it's a great pleasure to be here today. As he has said, it's the first time I've visited this house as Secretary General of NATO; it's not the first time I've visited this house in other capacities. I'm proud to be among the friends of the Secretary of State.
Let me tell you that I want to transmit throu you to the American people the gratitude of all the allies for the work, the job that American soldiers are doing on the ground in Bosnia-Herzegovina. We have to be very grateful to the assistance that your government has taken and be grateful also to the commanders on the ground. IFOR has been a success, and IFOR will be at the end of the year a success. That is to a certain extent, to a great extent a part of the cooperation of the American troops on the ground and their commanders. I want to give this idea very clearly through you to the American people.
As the Secretary of State has said, we are going to talk about several issues which are on the minds of everybody today. On the questions related to IFOR and to Bosnia-Herzegovina, as he said, the meeting during the weekend in Rome has brought already some success. Today there has been the renewal of the meetings between the Bosnian troops and IFOR this morning. Some of the arms that were still in the 10 kilometer zone have been already displaced from that 10 kilometer zone. So we have some good news today that I would like to transmit to you.
We are going to keep on talking on the questions related to the enlargement of the alliance, related to Russia, and of course the adaptation of NATO to the new missions, as the Secretary of State has just mentioned.
Let me tell you that the most important remark I would like to do at this moment is to thank the American people, the American soldiers for their contribution to bringing peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Thank you.
QUESTION: Secretary General, do you think that the problems there have been in implementing the settlement are cause by resistance or is it simply such a complex agreement that it's a natural difficulty in carrying out its terms? Do you think everybody is really aboard and (inaudible) goodwill in carrying out the support?
SECRETARY GENERAL SOLANA: Let me tell you that the report we have from the commanders on the ground, the last important report was they comply with D plus 60, which was but a few days ago. It says that the cooperation of the parties has been in general terms good. It is true that we have problems sometimes -- bumps in the road, as General Joulwan likes to say. But to this moment, and I'm sure at the end of the year we will have overcome all the bumps in the road and, as I said, the whole IFOR operation will be a success.
We have to be prepared for some other bumps in the road, maybe. It's a very complicated operation. Sometimes we don't realize the dimension of the operation. In the short time we have been deployed on the ground -- today is D plus 62, and some think that we have been there for years. We have been on the ground only for two months. In these two months the job that has been done is very, very impressive. Let me tell you, I've visited (inaudible) already two times, one in Sarajevo and the other in Mostar. When you see the role, the job done by the soldiers from different countries and from the commanders, it is very, very, impressive. You have to be aware of the complexity of the task we have in front of us. But we are going to succeed.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, there have been some reports from the field that are not quite as optimistic as your assessment. A Bosnian Serb officer apparently missed a meeting with Milosevic What leverage are you going to have if you actually lift the economic sanctions on the Bosnian Serbs?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Carol, General Tolumer's failure to attend the meeting on the George Washington yesterday was inconsistant with the commitments taken at the Rome meeting. I'm glad that apparently today meetings have taken place to correct that. With respect to the lifting of the sanctions, we are going to be looking at that question very carefully in light of the compliance of the Bosnian Serbs.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, given the bumps in the road that the Secretary General mentioned, do you still think a year is enough time in which to bring peace to the Balkans?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: I think a year is time to maximize the opportunities for the Bosnian people to establish a basis for going forward. I think that the President's commitment that American troops will be removed in about a year is one we are going to stand by in a very firm way. You can debate that issue back and forth, but that commitment has been taken. I think that if it were a longer period of time it could be an excuse for the parties to not get into compliance. We are firmly on that course.
As the Secretary General has said, we are only two months into the course; very good progress has been made. Some very important milestones lie ahead: D-plus-90 with all that that brings and the elections now planned for August. There's lots of work to be done during the course of this year. But balancing all the considerations of that was the decision that the President made, and that's the decision we will carry out.
QUESTION: Is it your understanding that the Croations have now accepted the European Union's definition of a central district in the heart of Mostar?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Yes, that issue seems to have been worked out in Rome. The best evidence of that is the steps that are being taken today. Today Mostar has become a unified city. Today there is joint policing in that unified city. That's one of the most difficult issues. If the progress indicated today and if the decision taken in Rome will really be achieved, I would say that's a major achievement and right now it looks good.
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