S/PV.6033
6033rd meeting
Friday, 5 December 2008, 3 p.m.
New York
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mr. Dabbashi (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (spoke in Arabic): Allow me at the outset to welcome the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to thank him for his presence and for his statement.
We also thank Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, High Representative for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina, for his briefing.
We welcome the adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the long-awaited police reform laws, which paved the way for that country to sign on 16 June the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union (EU). We also welcome the concrete progress achieved by the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards fulfilling the five objectives and two conditions referred to earlier by the High Representative. That, we believe, reflects the transfer of authority from the Office of the EU High Representative. We hope that such progress will continue.
Despite the positive developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we remain concerned about the ongoing nationalist discourse on all sides and the extremist and ethnic interpretation of certain issues. The tendency to address such issues from an extremist and ethnic perspective may revive tensions and undermine stability in the country and the region as a whole.
We therefore call on the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina to exercise political restraint, learn to coexist through dialogue and respect for State institutions, cooperate to the greatest possible extent with the High Representative, and adhere to all provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement and the relevant resolutions of the Security Council. Such an approach will help Bosnia and Herzegovina to become a more stable country based on a multi-ethnic society and culture, and contribute to the stability and sustainable development of the Balkan region.
We further commend recent efforts to arrest the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity who have been in hiding for many years. We hope that efforts to pursue the other fugitives and bring them to justice will be pursued. Success in that endeavour would heal the country’s wounds and help it to put the past behind it. We call on everyone to cooperate with the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, pursuant to the Dayton Agreement.
We also share the High Representative’s opinion concerning the issuance of a clear and strong statement of guarantees to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would create an atmosphere of trust between all Bosniacs that would help them to tend to the business of developing their country. We hope that it will also contribute to the speedy return of all Bosnian refugees who remain outside their country.
We are somewhat concerned about the remaining obstacles to the return of some 120,000 refugees and internally displaced persons. We stress the need to take all necessary measures to ensure their return to their homes. The constitutional and economic reforms must be pursued in support of the efforts of the High Representative in that respect, and we hope that all parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina will participate in those reforms, which serve the interests of all sides and the achievement of stability and peace and the building of a just society in that country.
