S/PV.3818 Security Council

At the outset of the meeting, I should like, on behalf of the Security Council, to express deep sympathy to the Governments and the people of Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America, and to the bereaved families of the victims of the tragic crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina of a United Nations helicopter, which was carrying members of the United Nations International Police Task Force (IPTF) and of the Office of the High Representative. The Council pays tribute to them for their ultimate sacrifice in the cause of peace. On behalf of the Council, I wish the survivors a full and speedy recovery. I now invite the members of the Council to stand and observe a minute of silence in memory of all those who so tragically lost their lives.

I should like to inform the Council that I have received letters from the representatives of Croatia and Germany, in which they request 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 those representatives 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. 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 expresses its deep concern at the lack of substantial progress by the Government of the Republic of Croatia in fulfilling the conditions and tasks that are key to the transfer of executive authority to the Republic of Croatia in the territories of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, as noted in its resolution 1120 (1997) and the 23 June 1997 report of the Secretary-General (S/1997/487). “In this regard, the Security Council calls upon the Croatian Government to meet its obligations and commitments and to take immediate action in the following areas: to remove all administrative and legal obstacles to the two-way return of all displaced persons as well as to the return of refugees; to ensure security and social and economic opportunity including property rights for all returnees; to take effective measures to prevent harassment of returnees; to implement measures to establish effective local government administrations; to ensure the regular payment of benefits to all pension and welfare recipients and open Croatian pension offices in the region; to ensure further economic reintegration; to initiate a country-wide public programme of national reconciliation and curb media attacks on ethnic groups; and to implement fully and fairly the amnesty law and cooperate fully with the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In this context, the Security Council notes the recent information provided by the Croatian Government on intended steps to address some of these issues and urges the Croatian Government to implement these steps without delay. “The Security Council emphasizes that the prompt completion of the tasks outlined above, as well as the fulfilment by the Croatian Government of its obligations under the Basic Agreement (S/1995/951), the agreements between the Croatian Government and the United Nations Transitional The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.