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