Wikileaks - II

"626","1/7/1994 16:04","94ZAGREB82","Embassy Zagreb","UNCLASSIFIED","","This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

","UNCLASSIFIED LIMITED OFFICIAL USE SECTION 01 OF 04 ZAGREB 00082

SIPDIS
AMEMBASSY ROME
AMEMBASSY PARIS
AMEMBASSY LONDON
AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
USMISSION GENEVA
AMEMBASSY LONDON
AMEMBASSY BONN
AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
AMEMBASSY BEIJING
AMEMBASSY ATHENS
AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST
USEC BRUSSELS

LIMITED OFFICIAL USE SECTION 01 OF 04 ZAGREB 000082

VIENNA FOR BOSNIA
WARSAW FOR AMB. ALBRIGHT\'S PARTY
E.O. 12356: N/A
TAGS: PHUM, PREF, EAID, MOPS, HR, PREF, EAID, MOPS, HR, PREF, EAID, MOPS, HR, PREF, EAID, MOPS, HR, BK, War Crimes
SUBJECT: TSFROL: UNPROFOR FORCE COMMANDER GEN. COT\'S
JAN 5 BRIEFING FOR AMBASSADOR ALBRIGHT

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SUMMARY
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1. IN A JAN 5 ZAGREB BRIEFING CHAIRED BY UNSYG SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE AKASHI, UNPROFOR FORCE COMMANDER GENERAL COT BRIEFED AMBASSADORS ALBRIGHT AND GALBRAITH, ASSTSEC SHATTUCK, AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ALBRIGHT DELEGATION ON THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND IN CROATIA AND BOSNIA. COT EMPHASIZED THAT WHILE PEACKEEPING IS THE MANDATE IN CROATIA, PROTECTION OF HUMANITARIAN AID OPERATIONS IS THE TASK IN B-H. WHILE THERE IS AT LEAST A TEMPORARY CEASEFIRE WORKING IN CROATIA, GENERAL WARFARE AND TARGETING OF HUMANITARIAN AID CONVOYS IN B-H CONTINUE UNABATED. AMB. ALBRIGHT STRESSED THE NEED TO KEEP BOTH DISCUSSION OF UNPROFOR AND CRITICISM OF UN RESOLUTIONS AFFECTING ITS OPERATIONS WITHIN \"THE BOSOM OF THE FAMILY,\" AND OUT OF PUBLIC FORA. END SUMMARY.

2. AFTER A BRIEF INTRODUCTION FROM AKASHI AND A SHORT PRESENTATION ON UNPROFOR CIVIL AND HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS PROJECTS, GENERAL COT OPENED THE FLOOR TO QUESTIONS. AMB. ALBRIGHT ASKED FOR AN ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT COMBAT LEVELS IN CROATIA AND BOSNIA AND THEIR EFFECT ON PEACE PROSPECTS AND HUMANITARIAN AID OPERATIONS.

------- CROATIA -------
3. COT SAID THAT PEACEKEEPING IS THE UNPROFOR MANDATE IN CROATIA. SINCE DECEMBER 23 THERE HAD BEEN A GENERALLY- RESPECTED, UNPROFOR-BROKERED PROVISIONAL CEASEFIRE BETWEEN CROATIAN AND KRAJINA SERB FORCES. UNPROFOR IS WORKING TO PERSUADE THE SIDES TO EXTEND THE CEASEFIRE BEYOND ITS CURRENT JAN 15 TERMINATION DATE. THIS PERIOD OF RELATIVE STABILITY MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH UNPROFOR EFFORTS IS \"THE SORT OF GOOD NEWS NOT OFTEN REPORTED ON CNN,\" COT ADDED.

------ BOSNIA ------
4. COT SAID UNPROFOR\'S MANDATE TO PROTECT HUMANITARIAN AID OPERATIONS IN BOSNIA WAS SEVERELY HAMPERED BY THE HIGHLY DANGEROUS SITUATION ON THE GROUND, ESPECIALLY IN CENTRAL BOSNIA. BOTH THE GENERAL LEVEL OF COMBAT AND TARGETING OF HUMANITARIAN CONVOYS WERE INCREASING. COT PARTICULARLY NOTED THE RECENT HEAVY FIGHTING IN THE VITEZ AREA. AT PRESENT, SERB FORCES THERE HAD BECOME \"INTERESTED SPECTATORS\" TO THE RAGING CONFLICT BETWEEN BOSNIAN CROAT (HVO) AND MAINLY MUSLIM GOVERNMENT FORCES, BUT COT PREDICTED NEW SERB OFFENSIVES SOON.

5. A/S SHATTUCK ASKED COT TO CHARACTERIZE UNPROFOR TACTICS FOR PROTECTING AID OPERATIONS IN BOSNIA, PARTICULARLY UNPROFOR\'S VIEW ON WHETHER A MORE \"RIGOROUS\" POSTURE IN DEFENDING RELIEF FLOWS WOULD BE WISE. COT RESPONDED THAT UNPROFOR AND UNHCR OPERATIONS ARE \"WHOLLY INTERTWINED,\" DESPITE UNHCR\'S \"TRADITIONAL PHILOSOPHY OF AVOIDING PEOPLE IN KHAKI.\" COT RESISTED ANY IMPLICATION THAT UNPROFOR WAS LESS THAN RIGOROUS IN ITS RELIEF PROTECTION EFFORTS. HE NOTED THAT A FRENCH UNPROFOR SOLDIER IN SARAJEVO HAD RECENTLY BEEN WOUNDED, AND POSSIBLY PARALYZED, WHEN HE DROVE A UNHCR RELIEF DELIVERY INTO A SECTOR CONSIDERED TOO DANGEROUS FOR UNHCR DRIVERS. UNPROFOR REGULARLY MAKES DIRECT DELIVERI ES INTO SUCH AREAS OF SARAJEVO, AS WELL AS MANY OF THE MOST DANGEROUS ZONES IN CENTRAL BOSNIA.

-------- SARAJEVO --------
6. AMB. ALBRIGHT ASKED COT FOR HIS ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION IN SARAJEVO. COT RESPONDED THAT UNHCR COULD OFFER A MORE GENERAL BRIEFING, BUT HE COULD ADDRESS THE MILITARY ENVIRONMENT. COT OBSERVED THAT THE FIGHTING IN SARAJEVO IS TERRIBLE, BUT DISTRIBUTION THERE OF HUMANITARIAN AID WAS, IN MANY WAYS, THE BEST IN BOSNIA. HE FURTHER STRESSED THAT SOME HIGHLY VISIBLE ASPECTS OF THE SIEGE, NAMELY THE CONSTANT SERB ARTILLERY AND SNIPER FIRE, MAY OBSCURE THE REAL MILITARY EQUATION. APOLOGIZING FOR ENGAGING IN \"A MACABRE ARITHMETIC,\" COT STRESSED THAT THE NUMBER OF KILLED AND WOUNDED IN SARAJEVO WAS GENERALLY LOWER THAN WHAT MIGHT BE ASSUMED ON THE BASIS OF THE DAILY COUNT OF ARTILLERY IMPACTS. MOREOVER, ESPECIALLY HEAVY SERB ARTILLERY BARRAGES IN RECENT DAYS WERE IN PART RESPONSES TO INCREASINGLY STRONG INFANTRY CHALLENGES BY BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT FORCES IN THE MOUNT ZUK AREA OF THE CITY AND ELSEWHERE.

---------- ATROCITIES ----------
7. AMB. ALBRIGHT AND A/S SHATTUCK BOTH STRESSED THE DELEGATION\'S CONCERN THAT UNPROFOR TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE IN KEEPING THE INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES COMMISSION AND OTHER BODIES INFORMED ABOUT ATROCITIES IN CROATIA AND BOSNIA. COT NOTED THAT THE RECENT MASSACRES IN THE MEDAK POCKET (IN CROATIA) AT STUPNI DOL (IN CENTRAL B-H) HAD BEEN THOROUGHLY DOCUMENTED BY UNPROFOR MILITARY AND CIVILAN POLICE ELEMENTS AND REPORTED TO THE COMMISSION AND OTHER APPROPRIATE ENTITIES. HE THEN OPINED, IN PASSIONATE TERMS, THAT \"ALTHOUGH WE IN UNPROFOR ARE NOT ALWAYS SURE WHY WE ARE STILL HERE, WE DO KNOW THAT, WERE WE NOT HERE AS WITNESSES, THERE WOULD BE MANY MORE ATROCITIES.\" REFERRING LATER TO THIS POINT, AMB. ALBRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGED THAT UNPROFOR\'S PRESENCE MUST INDEED HAVE PREVENTED COUNTLESS ADDITIONAL ATROCITIES.

----------- RESOLUTIONS -----------
8. IN A CONCLUDING DISCUSSION, AMBASSADOR ALBRIGHT REFLECTED ON THE EXTRAORDINARY LEVEL OF ACTIVITY IN THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL IN THE PAST TWO YEARS, NOTING THAT MORE RESOLUTIONS HAD PASSED THERE IN THAT TIME THAN IN THE INSTITUTION\'S ENTIRE PREVIOUS HISTORY. ONE REASON WAS SIMPLY THAT IT WAS EASIER IN A POST-COLD WAR ENVIRONMENT TO PASS RESOLUTIONS. BEYOND THIS FACT, HOWEVER, THERE WERE EXTREMELY HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR UN PEACEKEEPING IN THE WAKE OF THE COLD WAR. SHE WENT ON TO OBSERVE THAT GENERAL COT HAD SOMETIMES CRITICIZED THE COUNCIL\'S RESOLUTIONS IN THEIR APPLICATION TO THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA, AND ASKED IF HE COULD ELABORATE ON HIS PUBLICLY-STATED VIEWS.

9. COT SAID THAT, AS A SOLDIER, HE WAS ACCUSTOMED TO EXPRESSING HIMSELF IN DIRECT AND SIMPLE FASHION. PLANS CONCEIVED UNDER SOME UN RESOLUTIONS SEEMED TO HIM \"INCONCRETE.\" HE CALLED THE ORIGINAL RESOLUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VANCE PLAN FOR CROATIA \"A SWINDLE,\" IN THE SENSE THAT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HAD NEVER MADE AVAILABLE THE FORCES AND AUTHORITIY TO ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION. WALKING TO A THEATER MAP ON THE CONFERENCE ROOM WALL, COT POINTED OUT THAT HE HAD HAD TO \"SCRAPE UP EVERY SOLDIER HE COULD LOCATE IN CROATIA AND B-H COMMAND\" TO STEM AN AUTUMN OUTBREAK OF FIGHTING BETWEEN CROATS AND KRAJINA SERBS IN CROATIA. SUCH A SCRAMBLE POINTED UP THE WEAKNESSES OF UNPROFOR ASSETS, AND WAS A HUMILIATING EXERCISE FOR A GENERAL IN COMMAND OF INTERNATIONALLY- SUPPORTED PEACEKEEPING FORCES. OPERATIONAL LIMITATIONS ON UNPROFOR IN BOSNIA MADE THE UN\'S PROTECTION EFFORT THERE ANOTHER \"SWINDLE,\" COT SAID. OF THE 7,500 ADDITIONAL TROOPS CALLED FOR TO IMPLEMENT \"SAFE AREAS,\" ONLY 2,000 HAD BEEN FORTHCOMING.

10. AMB. ALBRIGHT RESPONDED THAT SHE UNDERSTOOD THESE FRUSTRATIONS, AND THAT THE UN NOW FINDS ITSELF WORKING IN \"A NEURALGIC TIME\" IN TRYING TO MAINTAIN PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS AS PUBLIC CONCERN ABOUT THE POLITICAL, FISCAL, AND HUMAN COSTS OF SUCH OPERATIONS INCREASES IN MANY NATIONS, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES. EMPHASIZING THE NECESSITY OF LEARNING FROM MISTAKES, AMB. ALBRIGHT SAID SHE WAS NONETHELESS TROUBLED WHEN CRITICISMS OF THE UN BY OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE INSTITUTION APPEARED IN PUBLIC STATEMENTS. THE SECURITY COUNCIL MAY NEED TO LOOK EVEN MORE REALISTICALLY AT FUTURE RESOLUTIONS, BUT COMMANDERS IN THE FIELD SHOULD ADDRESS THEIR CONCERNS FIRST \"IN THE BOSOM OF THE FAMILY\" AT THE UN, AND NOT IN PUBLIC FORA. GENERAL COT DID NOT RESPOND. IN CONCLUSION, BOTH AMBASSADORS GALBRAITH AND ALBRIGHT EMPHASIZED THEIR APPRECIATION FOR THE COMMITMENT AND COURAGE OF UNPROFOR PEOPLE IN THE FIELD.

11. THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN CLEARED BY AMB. ALBRIGHT.
GALBRAITH