GUIDANCE FOR 5/28 UNSC DEBATE ON BOSNIA AND

UNCLAS STATE 054256 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: UNSC PGOV PREL BK SUBJECT: GUIDANCE FOR 5/28 UNSC DEBATE ON BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ¶1. This is an action request. USUN should draw on the following points for use during the May 28 UN Security Council discussion of Bosnia and Herzegovina. ¶2. Begin points: Mr. President: I would like to welcome Ambassador Inzko to the Council for the first time in his capacity as High Representative, thank him for his briefing, and thank him and his staff for their hard work and dedication. We were very pleased that Ambassador Inzko was able to attend Vice President Biden's May 19 address to the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During his speech, our Vice President reaffirmed full U.S. support for Ambassador Inzko and his mission and I would like to reiterate that pledge today. The United States remains deeply concerned about the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The High Representative's report makes very clear that zero-sum nationalism and the pursuit by some political parties and leaders of narrow ethnic interests continues to impede progress on urgently needed reforms that would benefit all of Bosnia's citizens. We continue to witness divisive rhetoric challenging the High Representative's UN Security Council-affirmed authorities and Bosnia's sovereignty and territorial integrity under the Dayton Peace Accords. Efforts persist to undermine the very state institutions which must be strengthened for Bosnia to meet the challenges of a modern state and to advance towards NATO and EU membership. Conclusions from the May 14 Republika Srpska National Assembly, which falsely assert that many of the authorities of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including those explicitly granted to it by the Dayton constitution, were illegally obtained, serve as one recent and particularly egregious example. As we stated when the Council last met to discuss the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in December, and as Vice President Biden said in his recent address to the Bosnian parliament, the United States will stand behind the Office of the High Representative (OHR) as long as it remains in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We will not agree to its closure until after the Peace Implementation Council-agreed reform agenda -- the five objectives and two conditions -- is completed. The Peace Implementation Council has made clear that statements and actions that undermine the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be factored into its assessment of whether the conditions for OHR closure have been met. The High Representative's report highlights one bright spot since the last Security Council discussion -- the enactment in March of the first amendment to the Dayton constitution to protect the multi-ethnicity of the Brcko District. The efforts that led to this amendment, which grew out of the Prud process, gives some cause for optimism on moving ahead on additional reforms. We hope that this will translate into actions that meet the outstanding 5-plus-2 requirements set by the PIC as soon as possible. The United States remains fully committed to peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina based on Dayton and the two-entity structure, and to supporting reforms that will enable it to achieve its Euro-Atlantic aspirations. We urge all of Bosnia and Herzegovina's leaders and its people to build on the success of the Brcko amendment, abandon divisive nationalist politics, and work across ethnic lines on reforms required to advance shared objectives. CLINTON