H.Doc.105-276 VETO OF H.R. 2709 ...

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105th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 105-275


 
      REPORT REGARDING PEACEKEEPING EFFORTS IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

                               __________

                             COMMUNICATION

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              TRANSMITTING

 A SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT, CONSISTENT WITH THE WAR POWERS RESOLUTION, ON 
  U.S. CONTRIBUTIONS IN SUPPORT OF PEACEKEEPING EFFORTS IN THE FORMER 
                               YUGOSLAVIA


<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>


 June 23, 1998.--Referred to the Committee on International Relations 
                       and ordered to be printed


                                           The White House,
                                         Washington, June 19, 1998.
Hon. Newt Gingrich,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Speaker: In my last 6-month report to the Congress 
I provided further information on the deployment of combat-
equipped U.S. Armed Forces to Bosnia and other states in the 
region in order to participate in and support the North 
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-led Stabilization Force 
(SFOR), which began its mission and assumed authority from the 
NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) on December 20, 1996. I am 
providing this supplemental report, consistent with the War 
Powers Resolution, to help ensure that the Congress is kept 
fully informed on continued U.S. contributions in support of 
peacekeeping efforts in the former Yugoslavia.
    We continue to work in concert with others in the 
international community to encourage the parties to fulfill 
their commitments under the Dayton Peace Agreement and to build 
on the gains achieved over the last 2 years. It remains in the 
U.S. national interest to help bring peace to Bosnia, both for 
humanitarian reasons and to halt the dangers the fighting in 
Bosnia represented to security and stability in Europe 
generally. Through American leadership and in conjunction with 
our NATO allies and other countries, we have seen increasingly 
rapid progress toward sustainable peace in Bosnia. We have 
helped foster more cooperative pro-Dayton leadership in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, resulting in much improved performance by the 
parties in fulfilling their responsibilities to implement the 
Dayton Peace Agreement.
    The United Nations Security Council authorized member 
states to establish the follow-on force in United Nations 
Security Council Resolution 1088 of December 12, 1996. On June 
15, 1998, the Security Council extended the authorization for 
the SFOR for an additional period terminating June 21, 1999. 
The mission of SFOR is to deter resumption of hostilities and 
stabilize the security environment to facilitate the civilian 
implementation process.
    The SFOR has successfully deterred the resumption of 
hostilities by patrolling the Zone of Separation, inspecting 
and monitoring heavy weapons cantonment sites, enhancing and 
supervising Entity Armed Forces (EAF) demining work, and, 
within existing authorities and capabilities, providing support 
to international agencies.
    The primary way SFOR supports the civilian implementation 
effort is by contributing to a secure environment. The SFOR 
works closely with the International Police Task Force (IPTF), 
which was established on December 21, 1995, under Security 
Council Resolution 1035. With SFOR support, the IPTF has 
successfully created indigenous public security capabilities by 
reforming and training the local police. Both the SFOR and the 
IPTF, as a result, enhance public security in ways that promote 
civil implementation of the Peace Agreement. This collective 
approach works to make the implementation process progressively 
more self-sustaining without exceeding the SFOR's current level 
of intensity and involvement.
    By contributing to a secure environment, the SFOR has 
fostered greater progress by civilian implementers, including 
helping to restore road, rail, and air transportation links, 
reforming racist and nondemocratic media, and supporting 
international preparations for supervision of the national 
elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina in September 1998. In addition, 
the SFOR has contributed to efforts to bring 31 persons 
indicted for war crimes into custody in The Hague.
    The U.S. force contribution to SFOR in Bosnia is 
approximately 7,800--roughly one-third of the number of U.S. 
troops deployed with IFOR at the peak of its strength. The U.S. 
forces participating in SFOR include U.S. Army forces that were 
stationed in Germany and the United States, as well as special 
operations forces, airfield operations support forces, air 
forces, and reserve component personnel. An amphibious force 
under U.S. control is normally available as a strategic reserve 
in the Mediterranean Sea, and a carrier battle group remains 
available to provide support for air operations.
    All NATO nations and 20 others, including Russia and 
Ukraine, have provided troops or other support to SFOR. Most 
U.S. troops are assigned to Multinational Division, North, 
centered around the city of Tuzla. In addition, approximately 
3,000 U.S. troops are deployed to Hungary, Croatia, Italy, and 
other states in the region in order to provide logistical and 
other support to SFOR. Since December 1997, U.S. forces have 
sustained no fatalities.
    A U.S. Army contingent remains deployed in the Former 
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as part of the United 
Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP). This U.N. 
peacekeeping force, which includes some 350 U.S. soldiers, 
observes and monitors conditions along the borders with the 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Albania. The UNPREDEP 
continues to play a key role in preventing the spillover of 
ethnic conflict from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) 
into FYROM and the region. In doing so, it has helped FYROM 
become a bulwark against the southward spread of the conflict 
in the FRY. Several U.S. Army helicopters are also deployed to 
provide support to U.S. forces and may support UNPREDEP as 
required on a case-by-case basis. The Security Council voted 
December 4, 1997, to authorize an extension of the UNPREDEP 
mandate through August 31, 1998. We are currently exploring 
options regarding the extension of UNPREDEP's mandate in light 
of the growing violence and instability in Kosovo.
    A small contingent of U.S. military personnel also served 
in Croatia in direct support of the Transitional Administrator 
of the United Nations Transitional Administration in Eastern 
Slovenia (UNTAES). These personnel were redeployed when the 
UNTAES mandate expired on January 15, 1998; a follow-on U.N. 
civilian police operation continues in the region.
    I have directed the participation of U.S. Armed Forces in 
these operations pursuant to my constitutional authority to 
conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and 
Chief Executive, and in accordance with various statutory 
authorities. I am providing this report as part of my efforts 
to keep the Congress fully informed about developments in 
Bosnia and other states in the region. I will continue to 
consult closely with the Congress regarding our efforts to 
foster peace and stability in the former Yugoslavia.
            Sincerely,
                                                William J. Clinton.

                                <greek-d>


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