by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, February 1, 1994:
A test whether whose threat is more effective – that of the U.S. , NATO and UN combined or the Bosnian Serb murderers – on the re-opening of the Tuzla Airport.
The world is watching as to whose threat is more effective – whether that of the U.S., NATO and the UN combined or that of the Bosnian Serb murderers – on the re-opening of the Tuzla Airport in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The United Nations and NATO have threatened to use air strikes to open the Tuzla airport so that relief agencies can deliver aid to millions of trapped people, avoiding dangerous land routes through the chaos of central Bosnia.
In retaliation, the Bosnian Serb army commander, General Manojlo Milovanovic had threatened that any plane that landed in Tuzla airport would not be allowed to take off again.
In Belgrade, the Bosnian Serb army also ordered a full mobilisation of “all forces available” in a bid for rapid victory – which must include capturing the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.
If the U.S., NATO and UN ignominiously backed down because of the counter-threat from the Bosnian Serbs and allowed Tuzla airport to continue under Serbian siege, then the West and the UN would lose total relevance and credibility.
The Non-Aligned Movement, which represents the majority of the United Nations member-countries, should put pressure on the West and UN not to buckle under the counter-threat of the Bosnian Serbs and to finally take a clear-cut stand by ordering air-strikes against Serbian guns to open Tuzla Airport, Sarajevo and the other ‘safe areas’ which the UN had proclaimed but failed to date to enforce.
If the U.S., NATO and UN ignominiously back down because of the counter-threat from the Bosnian Serbs, then the world community should demand the removal of the UN Secretary-Geneeral, Boutros Boutrous-Ghali as well as an emergency UN General Assembly to censure the UN Security Council for failing in their moral and international responsibility to end the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina.