December 10, 1995
Web posted at: 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 GMT)
(CNN) -- As the French government prepares to host the signing this week of what could be a historic treaty, ending the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, it is not saying what it might do if two French pilots missing in Bosnia are not accounted for.
The only thing the government is saying for certain is that it will not postpone the ceremony, scheduled for Thursday. Families of the pilots are urging that postponement.
The government issued a Sunday deadline for news of the missing men, saying there could be "multiple consequences" and that it may "hit" Bosnian Serbs if the pilots are not accounted for. But it is keeping quiet on its specific plans.
Reports indicate the nation is considering imposing sanctions on Serbia if the pilots remain unaccounted for. President Jacques Chirac holds Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic responsible for their welfare. Milosevic contends he knows nothing of the pilots' fate.
The pilots were shot down over the Serb stronghold Pale last August. Three NATO rescue operations in September failed. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has said they were captured on landing but were later kidnapped from a hospital.
In Bosnia, snow and fog are slowing the deployment of NATO
troops and equipment. More of the United States contingent
of Operation Joint Endeavour arrived Sunday in Tuzla, where
the U.S. troops will be headquartered. Bosnian army soldiers
on the front line near Tuzla have said they will cooperate
with the American soldiers if the peace holds.
Marines based in Italy and Italian military police who will
protect the NATO headquarters flew to Sarajevo. The full
force will be deployed after the peace agreement is signed.
"Santa Claus can land in Sarajevo this year and he will bring peace," Col. Paul Traham, U.S. commander in Naples, told reporters.
Of the 60,000-strong force, 20,000 will be Americans. President Clinton is insisting they will be in Bosnia for only one year. He told the CBS program "60 Minutes" that a mission lasting any longer would take on the appearance of occupation. And if hostilities resume, Clinton said, the U.S. operation would be terminated. "It means we gave them a chance to make their peace and they blew it," he said.
A group of 20 bipartisan members of Congress is in the former
Yugoslavia seeking reassurances about the safety of U.S.
troops. The lawmakers were in Sarajevo on Sunday, meeting
separately with Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic and
President Alija Izetbegovic. They visited Croatian president
Franjo Tudjman on Saturday and head next to Belgrade to meet
Milosevic.
Silajdzic assured congressmen worried about the United States being drawn into the longstanding Bosnian conflict. He said "we don't need (U.S. troops) to fight our war." The United States is needed, he said, to "create conditions for the rebuilding and reconstruction of our society."
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