§ 18. Mr. WinnickTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what consultations are taking place with other Foreign Ministers over the future position of the implementation force in the former Yugoslavia. [30861]
§ Sir Nicholas BonsorWe remain in constant contact with other Governments on this and other Bosnia-related subjects.
§ Mr. WinnickThe implementation force is clearly performing a very important task in the former Yugoslavia. As it is now quite clear that virtually every male who was captured after the fall of Srebrenica was put to death, the need to ensure that the most notorious war criminals are apprehended and brought to justice before the war crimes tribunal is all the greater. Should not the President of Serbia be told in clear terms that he has a duty to the international community to hand over to IFOR the two leading criminals among the Bosnian Serbs?
§ Sir Nicholas BonsorI share the hon. Gentleman's distaste for Messrs. Karadzic and Mladic, and I agree that it is important that they be brought to justice before the international war crimes tribunal, but it is not in IFOR's mandate to make such arrests or to seek Messrs. Karadzic and Mladic. Its job is to ensure that the Dayton peace agreement is taken forward. The hon. Gentleman must not underestimate the difficulty of apprehending Messrs. Karadzic and Mladic, and any military operation that was mounted to do so would undoubtedly involve substantial loss of international life.
The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we should put all possible pressure on the President of Serbia, Mr. Milosevic, to intervene to try to get to Messrs. Karadzic and Mladic. I am afraid that the President of Serbia does not have total control over the Bosnian Serbs—[Laughter.] It is all very well to laugh, but that is 307 a fact of life. It is regrettable, but true. We shall continue to put pressure on Mr. Milosevic until we attain the outcome that we desire.
§ Mr. ColvinWill my hon. Friend confirm that, if the 20 December deadline for withdrawal of the implementation force is to be met, the elections that are currently scheduled for 14 September must be free and fair? Does he think that they will be, when 80 per cent. of the population of Bosnia are living elsewhere thanks to ethnic cleansing or the implementation of the Dayton agreement? Does he think that they will be, when 1 million Bosnians now live overseas and the register for the elections and the census on which it is based are dated 1991? Does my hon. Friend think that, in those circumstances, the elections will be free and fair? Will he, for an alternative, look at the experience of the Republic of South Africa? Many of its citizens were living where they should not have been at the time of the elections, and use of a sophisticated administrative device ensured that a large percentage of the population voted. Those elections were seen by the free world as fair and free.
§ Sir Nicholas BonsorI agree that the elections must be free and fair, but it would be unrealistic for any of us to expect them to be perfect. It is the task of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and others involved in trying to organise the elections to ensure that they reach a satisfactory electoral conclusion.
IFOR will be kept at full strength until after the elections and will be fully operational until 20 December. It is premature for us to plan further at present, but emphasis is placed on the fact that free and fair elections should be held, and all the international community's efforts are currently directed to that end.