 |
Balkan Arms Talks Delayed One Week over Srpska Issue
Bosnia is adamant that Srpska be seen as part of
By Rolf Soderlind
OSLO, June 12 (Reuters) - Parties involved in the former Yugoslav conflict failed to sign a crucial Balkan arms control pact on Wednesday but gave themselves up to a week to settle a technical issue that blocks agreement. Officials of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which mediated six months of negotiations in Vienna, said consultations would continue to resolve a dispute over the formal status of two of the five parties.
The five are Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Bosnia-Herzegovina (Muslim-Croat) Federation and Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb territory). Bosnia's Muslim-led government is concerned to ensure that the Bosnian Serb region -- Srpska -- is seen as part of Bosnia-Herzegovina and not a separate state.
It insists it be made clear in the accord's preamble that, while Bosnia-Herzogovina, Croatia and the Republic of Yugoslavia are states, the Muslim-Croat Federation and Srpska are merely "entities."
"There was still no change in the instructions for the delegates, which means there will be no signature here today," OSCE official Vigleik Eide, who chaired the talks, told reporters after a brief morning meeting. He said delegates had given themselves until next Thursday to finalise the accord through consultations between capitals, but said it was unclear where it could eventually be signed.
Arms control is a cornerstone of the Dayton peace agreement signed in Ohio last October by the parties to end four years of fighting in the former Yugoslavia. Officials have said failure to sign the Vienna accord, which would mean sweeping weapons cuts across the Balkans, could lead to a renewed arms race in the region and send a negative signal to the whole peace process.
Delegates had come to Oslo to sign the pact on Tuesday but quickly got bogged down in the sort of political differences and semantics that bedevilled countless ceasefires and accords since the Yugoslav federation disintegrated in 1991.
OSCE officials believe the existing wording of the arms accord preamble should be acceptable. "The Dayton language was actually the language we are using for the preamble. What else should we take for a preamble? We use exacty the same text as they all signed up to six months ago," Eide said. Eide, a retired Norwegian general, said he had expected some last-minute snags "but more related to the arms control issue itself and not this political side issue."
The Dayton agreement required that the arms control pact be signed by Tuesday but delegates stopped the clock shortly before midnight to buy time. Stopping the clock is a practice used in talks to artificially extend a deadline when time has run out.
"All parties agreed that the arms control parts of the agreement...should be protected so it can still be adopted when the necessary political basis is established," Eide said.
He said talks may continue in Florence, Italy, where the United States and European powers will meet this week to assess progress on the difficult path to peace.
|
Berserkistan, June 11 · Balkan Arms Control Still in Doubt in Oslo
Berserkistan, June 7 · Arms Deal Fails Over Republika Srpska Issue
Berserkistan, June 6 · Deadline Looms for Arms Control Talks
Berserkistan, June 5 · Bosnian Serb Recognition Derails Arms Talk
Berserkistan, June 5 · Bosnia, Croatia, Yugoslavia Close to Arms Deal
OSCE in Bosnia
Berserkistan is a world news service of Michael Linder Productions, Inc.
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved