BOSNIA-ARMS EMBARGO: Policy Gap Opens Between Europe and the U.S.

BRUSSELS, Nov 11 (IPS) - Europe Friday frowned on U.S. plans to lift the arms embargo on the Bosnian Muslims, with senior European Union (EU) officials in Brussels saying it is a "premature" move and Russian lawmakers warning that it would lead to "chaos".

Confirming U.S. newspaper reports, Washington officials Friday said a formal announcement of the U.S. decision was imminent, with the move having the backing of the Congress.

In a brief statement Friday, the EU's foreign policy Commissioner, Hans van den Broek, would only say he "regretted" Washington's decision.

Senior European civil servants stressed that non-observance of the arms embargo would be "inappropriate and premature" and would undermine peace efforts being undertaken by the international community to end the civil war in the former Yugoslav republic.

"Politically, it is better to concentrate on getting parties to agree on the peace plan," one EU civil servant.

Foreign ministers of the Western European Union (WEU) -- projected as the defensive arm of the EU -- are also expected to express their reservations to the U.S. move when they meet in the Netherlands over the weekend. Outgoing WEU Secretary-General Wim van Eekelen has already termed the plan "divisive".

British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd has also described the U.S. decision as a "worry", reportedly telling reporters in London: "It is to be hoped that differences between the United States and its allies can be worked out."

In Moscow, Russia's legislative body, the State Duma warned that such a move would only lead to "chaos and...to a deterioration to the crisis".

The Russians, with religious and historical ties with the Serbians, have been playing a key mediatory role in the conflict, and have in the past succeeded in getting the Serbs to negotiate when others have failed.

However, in recent weeks, the situation in Bosnia-Hercegovina has deteriorated following military gains by the Bosnian Muslim in renewed fighting in north-western and southern Bosnia. The Serbs have vowed to retaliate.

The Bosnian government and Arab nations have long been urging the international community to lift the arms embargo, particularly in the earlier days of the two-and-a-half-year-old war when the Bosnian Serbs was winning territory from the majority Muslim population.

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