bosnian war taking a strategic turn bosnians call europe s bluff clarinews clarinet com j t nguyen writes united nations upi the muslim dominated government in bosnia herzegovina asked the u n security council tuesday to withdraw all u n personnel from bosnian territory as a first step toward lifting the international arms embargo against the former yugoslav republic the bosnian government saying the presence of u n personnel had become an impediment to critical decisions by the international community indicated the withdrawal of the peacekeepers and relief workers would persuade western governments to lift the arms embargo so muslims could defend themselves against bosnian serbs the security council imposed the arms embargo on the whole of the former yugoslavia in when fighting erupted between serb the imposed it knowing that serbia has a stockpile of weapons and that bosnia will have next to nothing to defend itself many experts predicted a massacre as early as march but the security coucil knew what it was doing france and britain have opposed u s proposals for military air strikes against bosnian serbs saying such strong action would lead to retaliation against their troops and personnel the bosnian move tuesday was in part a bid to undermine the british and french opposition to military intervention based on fears for the safety of european peacekeeping troops and humanitarian personnel silajdzic s ambassador to the united nations mohamed sacirbey who conveyed the letter to the security council members told reporters that the peacekeepers mandate should be modified or they should withdraw he said if the security council refuses to accede to the request his government will take another step he did not elaborate on what other steps the government might take in his letter to the council silajdzic said president clinton understood well the muslims commitment and desperate plight because the united states has been seeking support for lifting of the arms embargo silajdzic said the international community has not realized that the war in bosnia herzegovina was a war of fascist aggression and the maintenance of the arms embargo was an act of arrogant indifference to the fate of hundreds of thousands of loyal bosnian citizens who plead only for the right to defend themselves we beseech the security council to cease an arms embargo that has in practice constituted an international intervention against our legitimate rights as a member of the united nations silajdzic said now read this tim clock co the request to the security council took some members by surprise even though the complaints have been aired by the bosnian government for some time the only allies the muslims could find in the council are non aligned and islamic countries which have been calling for the muslims right to self defense a provision enshrined in the u n charter
