RI offers alternative peace plan

RI offers alternative peace plan

By Rikza Abdullah

ZAGREB (JP): Indonesia is proposing an alternative mechanism
to bring about a peaceful settlement to the ethnic wars raging in
the former Yugoslavia.

The mechanism, outlined by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali
Alatas here on Monday, follows the format that Indonesia
successfully used to help end the civil war in Cambodia in 1991.

It calls for meetings in two phases: initially involving the
warring factions, and later an international conference involving
the big powers.

Soeharto yesterday flew back to Jakarta at the conclusion of
his three-day visit to Croatia which included the brief stop in
embattled Sarajevo. The President, who earlier took part in the
World Conference on Social Development in Copenhagen, is
scheduled to land in Jakarta this morning.

The Indonesian peace plan for former Yugoslavia was conveyed
by President Soeharto during meetings with Croatian leaders and
with Bosnian leaders during his four-hour visit to Sarajevo on
Monday, Alatas told reporters.

Alatas stressed that Indonesia's role would strictly be in
facilitating the meetings. It would not become a mediator.

The point was hammered home once more by Soeharto during a
banquet given in his honor on Monday night by Croatian President
Franjo Tudjman.

Soeharto said that as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, he
was urging the establishment of a new mechanism of negotiations
among all parties involved in the conflicts to find comprehensive
and permanent solutions. "The new mechanism includes the
possibility of holding an international conference, the structure
of which is adjusted to the needs required for the achievement of
a fair and comprehensive solution," he said.

Elaborating on the proposal, Alatas said Indonesia, if
requested, will host the negotiations and send envoys to the
warring parties and provide other necessary facilities.

Facilitator

"But I want to emphasize that Indonesia is ready to act only
as a facilitator, not as a mediator in the conflict."

The first stage of the meeting should involve the leaders of
all the former Yugoslav republics: Serbia-Montenegro, Croatia,
Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

They should discuss basic principles like peaceful coexistence
and non-intervention in the other's domestic affairs, mutual
recognition, and acceptance of internationally recognized
borders, he said. Problems related to the rights of minorities
should also be addressed, he added.

"When all these problems are resolved, we can go on to the
next stage -- holding an international conference involving the
five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council
(China, Britain, the United States, Russia and France), countries
neighboring the former Yugoslavian states, and countries that can
contribute to the settlement."

"If they can accept these ideas, Indonesia will be ready to
act as facilitator for such negotiations," Alatas said. "However,
Indonesia will not impose these ideas on them."

Alatas was one of the architects of the Cambodian peace
process which began in 1988 with the convening of an informal
meeting of all Cambodian warring factions in Bogor near Jakarta.
That meeting set the ball rolling and led to the international
peace conference on Cambodia in Paris three years later.

Alatas said Indonesia feels obliged to propose solutions
because the conflicts are still intense and cease-fires are
fragile despite the presence of the UN peace missions and various
resolutions by the United Nations and despite various proposals
by the Security Council to end the war.

"If our ideas are not accepted, we will continue supporting
Bosnia in its struggle against expansionism and supporting the
proposals of the permanent members of the UN Security Council as
long as they also support Bosnia."