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Security Council meeting 3421

Date2 September 1994
Started17:40
Ended17:50
S-PV-3421 1994-09-02 17:40 2 September 1994 [[2 September]] [[1994]] /

The situation in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The meeting was called to order at 5.40 p.m.

Expression of welcome to His Excellency Mr. Manzi Bakuramutsa, Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations

The President

I should like at the outset of the meeting to extend, on behalf of the Council, a warm welcome to the new Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations, His Excellency Mr. Manzi Bakuramutsa. We look forward to cooperating with him in the Council’s work.

Expression of thanks and of farewell to the retiring President

The President

As this is the first meeting of the Security Council for the month of September, I should like to take this opportunity to pay tribute, on behalf of the Council, to His Excellency Mr. Yuliy M. Vorontsov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, for his service as President of the Security Council for the month of August 1994. I am sure I speak for all members of the Security Council in expressing deep appreciation to Ambassador Vorontsov for the great diplomatic skill and unfailing courtesy with which he conducted the Council’s business last month. We wish him well as he assumes his important responsibilities in his new functions.

Adoption of the agenda

The agenda was adopted.

The situation in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The President

I should like to inform the Council that I have received a letter from the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which he requests to be invited to participate in the discussion of the item on the Council’s agenda. In conformity with the usual practice, I propose, with the consent of the Council, to invite that representative to participate in the discussion without the right to vote, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter and rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.

There being no objection, it is so decided.

At the invitation of the President, Mr. Sacirbey (Bosnia and Herzegovina) took a place at the Council table.
The President

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations.

Members of the Council have received photocopies of a letter dated 1 September 1994 from the Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina addressed to the President of the Security Council, which will be issued as a document of the Security Council under the symbol S/1994/1023.

Following consultations among members of the Security Council, I have been authorized to make the following statement on behalf of the Council:

"The Security Council is deeply disturbed at continuing reports of acts of ethnic cleansing by the Bosnian Serb party in the Bijeljina area. It condemns this practice wherever it occurs and by whomsoever it is committed, and demands its immediate cessation. It further condemns all violations of international humanitarian law in the conflict in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for which those who commit them are personally responsible. In this context, it calls for the full implementation of the agreement on the release of detainees contained in the 8 June 1994 Agreement concluded in Geneva. It calls for the early release of all detainees and, to this end, calls for the delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross to be granted access in particular to all detainees in Lopare and other parts of the Bijeljina area.

"The Security Council reaffirms the importance it attaches to the United Nations Protection Force’s right of freedom of movement throughout the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It notes with dismay that the Bosnian Serb party has not allowed the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to visit Banja Luka, Bijeljina and other areas of concern and strongly urges it to permit such access both to the Special Representative and to UNPROFOR. It also expresses its concern about continuing restrictions on access to Sarajevo, and in particular the closure by the Bosnian Serb party of the routes across the airport opened in cooperation with UNPROFOR following the 17 March 1994 Agreement."

This statement will be issued as a document of the Security Council under the symbol S/PRST/1994/50.

The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council will remain seized of the matter.

The meeting rose at 5.50 p.m.
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