It is an honour to address the
General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. Allow me
to express my gratitude to Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki
for having ably presided over this body during the past
year and to congratulate Mr. Joseph Deiss on being
elected the new President of the General Assembly.
Fifteen years ago, the Dayton Peace Agreement
ended the aggression in and brought peace to Bosnia
and Herzegovina. My country has come a long way
since then, and I feel obliged to thank the
Governments, organizations and individuals who
assisted us in travelling down this road.
When we asked the General Assembly to support
us in becoming a member of the Security Council, it
honoured us with almost unanimous support, for which
we offer our thanks. That support demonstrated that the
Assembly holds Bosnia and Herzegovina in high
esteem, and we are proud of that. As a member of the
Security Council, we are doing our best to meet the
Assembly’s expectations and honour its trust.
Thanks to the generous assistance of many
Governments represented here, Bosnia and
Herzegovina completed the main process of
reconstruction relatively quickly, particularly in the
light of the level of devastation. But the rebuilding of
our devastated society has proved to be much more
difficult. From 1992 to 1995, an age-old, genuinely
multicultural society in Bosnia and Herzegovina was
brutally and intentionally torn apart by force. Half of
the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina had to leave
their homes in order to save their lives. Some
1,300,000 of them remain outside Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Systematic obstructions were the cause
of failure of return programmes, and they are still an
obstacle to those who want to return. Those who made
it back to their homes are often confronted with
blockade walls or with outright violations of basic
rights. That makes the restoration of our pluralist
society the single most difficult task ahead of us.
But hope remains that the upcoming
constitutional changes will lay a foundation for the
new generation to be able to bridge the divides. No
matter what, we will continue to revive the pluralist
character and tolerant spirit of our society because we
strongly believe that cultural pluralism is humankind’s
most precious treasure.
A healthy economy can be a powerful tool for
achieving that goal. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a
country rich in water and other energy-generating
resources. We have undertaken studies and invited
international investors to participate in developing
these resources. Once completed, these projects will be
the driving engine of our economy, enabling us to
make progress in other areas, such as health care and
social services.
We continue to develop our infrastructure and
agricultural resources, but not at a desirable pace.
Although generally improved, our education system
remains in some aspects hostage to divisive political
influences. On the other hand, our rising trade
activities have resulted in improving our relations with
the countries in the region, and great opportunities can
be unlocked through more intensive and more
confident regional cooperation.
As is the case in other societies, our greatest
resource is our youth, educated in our country and
abroad, and ready to take over once our economy is
able to absorb their skills and talents. I am confident
that, in the coming years, employment opportunities
will grow in proportion to the development of the vast
untapped resources of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Defence reform is commonly seen as one of our
greatest post-Dayton successes because it resulted in
unified, modern armed forces. Here again, we have to
express our appreciation to our friends and allies
whose assistance made this achievement possible. In a
short amount of time, our armed forces have managed
to earn the trust and respect of the United Nations
through their participation in peacekeeping missions.
Like everywhere else, the citizens of Bosnia and
Herzegovina desire peace, stability and prosperity, as
well as a better future for themselves and their
children. There is great potential for development, and
opportunities are there to be seized. Yes, there are
reasons for optimism, but there are reasons for concern
too.
Our progress is hindered by the remnants of those
who still believe in the completion of the political
project that brought catastrophe not only to Bosnia and
Herzegovina, but to the whole region. In short, they
think that the world has forgotten the atrocities
committed against the civilian population, the
concentration camps, the rape camps and the genocide.
After hundreds of thousands of non-Serb civilians were
killed and expelled from one part of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, they are now publicly calling for the
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secession of that part. They hope and dream, as they
say, that the world will somehow recognize that entity
as an independent State. Instead of feeling shame,
these disciples of Miloševic, Karadžic and Ratko
Mladic are now ready to come and ask the international
community to reward the genocide in Srebrenica,
Prijedor, Zvornik, Sarajevo, Mostar and other sites of
horrific crimes for which Karadžic is now being tried
at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia in the Hague. What a monument to
inhumanity that would be!
Of course, they will not succeed. They can no
longer count on the mighty armies of Slobodan
Miloševic because those armies were defeated through
our heroic struggle. They do count on, as they say,
favourable geopolitical circumstances. But they fail to
take one thing into account, as Miloševic did. Bosnia
will be defended.
They will, however, continue obstructing
progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they will
continue destabilizing the region. They found
inspiration in the inadequate response of the
international community, whose patience they have
been testing for the past 15 years. So, our collective
resolve to prevent the escalation and opening of fresh
wounds in Bosnia and Herzegovina is being tested
again. We must not fail this time.
This dangerous adventurism aside, I believe and I
know that the train of progress cannot and will not be
stopped. There is no doubt in my mind that Bosnia and
Herzegovina and our entire region will maintain
stability and achieve prosperity in the coming years,
thus fulfilling the dreams and desires of every one of
our citizens.