• by IPS Correspondents (brussels)
• Friday, December 02, 1994
• Inter Press Service

BRUSSELS, Dic 02 (IPS) - After two and a half years of watching a war fought to stop Serbia from swallowing up three-quarters of Bosnia-Hercegovina into a 'Greater Serbia' a defeated West is now seriously considering giving up and granting them their wish.

The Contact Group of nations seeking peace in Bosnia- Hercegovina is "evaluating" the possibility of allowing Bosnian Serb held territories to 'confederate' with Serbia proper, said NATO diplomats here.

Due to meet Friday to formulate a policy acceptable to all its members, the group -- Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S. -- is now considering whether allowing the Serbs to confederate was now the only way to end the civil war in the former Yugoslavia.

The Bosnian government is furiously opposed to a confederation, which they say will reward the Serbs for their war on Bosnian Muslim civilians and their policy of 'ethnic cleansing' that killed or driven out tens of thousands of Muslims and Croats living on disputed lands.

But speaking after a meeting of the foreign ministers of the sixteen NATO countries here, Dutch foreign minister Hans van Mierlo said that "among the members in the Contact Group the confederation option has seriously been discussed" though he said his country has rejected it.

Preserving the integrity of Bosnia-Hercegovina has always been central to world policy on the war, with Serbian support for the Bosnian Serbs long painted as aggression against another sovereign state.

Van Mierlo added that now was not the time to give in Serb demands because "the international community had not yet used up all the diplomatic, political and military means available to keep the state of Bosnia-Hercegovina alive'.

NATO secretary general Willy Claes and U.S. secretary of state Warren Christopher both avoided questions on the confederation option when the met with reporters after the NATO meeting. But Claes continuously reiterated that military force is not the solution and that "only a negotiated settlement could bring peace in that region".

The future of NATO was jeopardised by a deep row between the Europeans, who advocated continuing the existing policy of containing the fighting and protecting their peacekeepers in Bosnia, and the U.S., which has called for a lifting of an arms embargo on the Bosnian Muslims, and calling down all-out air strikes on the Bosnian Serbs.

After bitter exchanges, a broad consensus has been reached, said diplomats.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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