Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Following debate charged by fresh reports of rebel Serb attacks, the Senate voted 69-29 to require Clinton to lift the 4-year-old arms embargo that critics say has rendered the Bosnian people defenseless. Republicans and Democrats alike said Bosnia must be allowed to protect itself if the allies lack the will to carry the fight.
Both Virginia senators, Democrat Chuck Robb and Republican John Warner, voted to lift the embargo.
``People have a right to defend themselves,'' said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., who sponsored the proposal along with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. The United States, Dole declared, would bear the responsibility ``if more are killed and more are raped and more little boys are taken off to camps, 12 years old, and more are hanged in trees and more throats are cut because we imposed our will on this little country.''
The 69-vote majority would be enough to override a promised Clinton veto, as 21 Democrats joined almost all of the Republicans in supporting the measure.
The House voted 318-99 last month to lift the embargo - more than enough votes to override a veto. But because that measure was attached to separate legislation, the House will have to vote again.
On Wednesday, 112 House members signed a bipartisan letter to Clinton calling the administration's Bosnia policy ``morally bankrupt and an obvious failure.''
Nevertheless, Clinton said he remained hopeful that lawmakers would work with him to resolve the disagreement.
``I do not believe the strong course for the United States and the strong course for the people of Bosnia is to unilaterally lift the arms embargo, collapse the U.N. mission and increase the chances of injecting American troops there,'' he said.
If the bill becomes law, it would require Clinton to end U.S. support for the arms ban after withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers or within 12 weeks of a request by the Bosnian government for their withdrawal - whichever comes first.
The Senate vote came even as U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali gave his military commanders in Bosnia authority to call in NATO airstrikes without first clearing it with him. Dole, who has been sharply critical of what he sees as U.N. timidity in approving strikes, said it wouldn't have changed the outcome had Boutros-Ghali's decision come earlier.
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic is ready to recognize Bosnia in exchange for a nine-month lifting of an economic embargo that has crippled Yugoslavia's economy, a news agency reported Wednesday.
The sanctions were imposed by the U.N. Security Council to punish Serbia and Montenegro, the only republics remaining in Yugoslavia, for fomenting war in Croatia and Bosnia after they declared independence.
Milosevic, an ardent nationalist, is regarded as the key to making peace in Bosnia. His recognition of the republic's borders wouldn't stop the war, but would hurt rebel Bosnian Serbs' dream of uniting with Serbia.
The Bosnian government Wednesday asked neighboring Croatia for military aid, increasing the possibility of a wider Balkan war and Western involvement.
Bosnia's Prime Minister, Haris Silajdzic, pleaded for help in defending the northwestern Bosnian ``safe area'' of Bihac, which is under a three-pronged assault by Serbs across the border in Croatia, Serbs in Bosnia, and Muslims rebelling against the Muslim-led Sarajevo government.
``We need help from Croatia,'' Silajdzic said. ``This is the moment of truth. We need their direct and coordinated attacks.''
Croatia and Bosnia agreed Saturday to increase military cooperation, particularly in the Bihac area.
Croatian TV reported that Bosnian Croat forces, which work closely with the Croatian army, advanced south of Bihac to within five miles of a key road linking the Croatian Serb stronghold of Knin, just across the border, with Bosnian Serb territories.
The Serbs and rebel Muslims have seized 34 square miles of territory in the past week in Bihac, which is home to more than 200,000 people.
In a conference call with Western journalists, Bihac Mayor Mersud Ferizovic said that 25,000 rebel troops were on the attack, backed by more than 60 tanks and artillery. He said 58 civilians had been killed and 180 wounded in recent days. There was no independent confirmation.
Serb shelling of Sarajevo, another U.N. ``safe area,'' increased sharply Wednesday. Two people were killed and 13 were wounded.
by CNB