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Federation Signs Uneasy Deal for US Military Training
‘The war in Bosnia was not a fair fight. Today we
By Mark Heinrich
The "Equip and Train" programme, to be managed by retired U.S. army generals now working for a private U.S. firm, MPRI of Alexandria, Virginia, came to fruition after Muslims and Croats adopted a defence law to merge separate armies. A senior U.S. government official who prepared the deal in talks with the federation placed its overall value at $400 million -- $100 million in U.S. military equipment and the rest donations from a handful of friendly countries.
The United States has pledged helicopters, communications gear and other equipment while Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brunei and Malaysia have offered $140 million in all. He said other countries which he declined to identify had offered further donations.
The agreement was signed by Bosnia's Muslim President Alija Izetbegovic; Bosnian Croat leader Kresimir Zubak; federation defence minister Vladimir Soljic, a Croat; James Pardew, U.S. special representative; and retired U.S. general Vernon Lewis. The programme will run for 13 months with the option of a one-year extension, MPRI sources told Reuterss. All equipment is to be delivered before the expiry of the NATO peace force mission in Bosnia on December 20, 1996.
Bosnia's Muslims and Croats fought a bitter war in 1993-94 as a sideshow to the country's main Muslim-Serb conflict. A federation agreement brokered by the United States ended the fighting but has failed to produce real rapprochement. "This is the official beginning of the train and equip programme, a sign of the strong commitment of the United States to the federation and to strengthening of joint federal institutions, including the military," said Pardew.
"The war in Bosnia was not a fair fight. One side (Serbs who now control half of Bosnia) had an overwhelming preponderance of heavy weapons, organisation, experience and training," he said in a speech. "The other side had courage and determination. Today we shall begin the process of creating a military balance for the long-term security of Bosnia.
"This is so the federation can ensure there is no more shelling of Sarajevo or the population of any other city, town, or village in the federation and no more Srebrenicas," he said. Separatist Bosnian Serb forces formed from remnants of the Yugoslav federal army besieged and bombarded the Bosnian capital for three years, killing and wounding thousands.
They also overran Srebrenica, a supposed U.N. "safe area" for Muslims sheltering from war, in mid-1995, expelling more than 30,000 women, children and elderly. International investigators believe the Serbs executed thousands of Muslim males caught in flight, prompting genocide charges against the Serbs' political leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic by a U.N. war crimes tri bunal.
The senior U.S. official, rejecting West European assertions that Bosnia needed less weaponry, not more, to preserve peace, said the programme was solely defensive. He said it would not exceed arms control limits set by a treaty between the federation and Serbs brokered by Western powers after the 1995 Dayton peace accords. "We've told the Serbs repeatedly that this programme is no threat to them. We want only to create a fair balance," he told reporters at a background briefing.
"It's the Europeans' view that the war threat in Bosnia would reduced by solely arms control. But we think that's not enough, that military balance is needed, something that kept the peace in Europe for 50 years (of Cold War)." |
SARAJEVO, July 16 (Reuters) - Bosnia's uneasy federation of Muslims and Croats signed an agreement on Tuesday for $400 million in U.S. military aid designed to give it parity with separatist Serbs and anchor the new peace.
Berserkistan, July 15 · US Train-and-Equip Program Begins in Bosnia
Berserkistan, July 10 · Clinton Announces Start of Bosnian Army Training Program
Berserkistan, July 7 · US Company to Begin Training Bosnian Muslim-Croat Army
Berserkistan, June 10 · Muslims, Croats Urged to Align for U.S. Military Assistance
Berserkistan, June 7 · Arms Deal Fails Over Republika Srpska Issue
Berserkistan, May 31 · US Firm Contracted to Train Bosnia’s Army
Generals For Hire: Military Professional Resources Inc.Time via Serbia Today
Ex-U.S. Military Officers Assist Croat Army Cox News Service
Books for the Military Professional Combat Studies Institute, 1995
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