REFERENDUM REACTION [Main Title]

In a referendum Bosnian Serbs vote against the Five Nations Contact Group's peace plan for Bosnia-Herzegovina. This report details the reaction to this news at UNPROFOR HQ.

Shots of Bosnian Serbs casting their votes. Last week Bosnian Serbs voted in a referendum to decide whether to accept the proposals put forward by the Five Nations Contact Group on the 30th of July. The Bosnian Government has already accepted the proposals but it is thought that the Bosnian Serbs would overwhelmingly reject them. UNTV canvasses opinions from a couple of people both of whom emphatically say that they will vote against the proposals. Shots of people counting the votes. At the final count, more than ninety percent voted against the proposals. This makes the future of Bosnia more uncertain. Interview with the Spokesman of the Special Representative to the UN Secretary General, Michael Williams. He says that it is a set back to the peace process and has unsettling ramifications for the future deployment of UNPROFOR in Bosnia. Shot of American UNPROFOR soldiers on parade. Michael Williams says that the next immediate deadline is October 15th when the Clinton administration has said that it will sponsor a resolution in the Security Council to the effect that the arms embargo against the Bosnian Government should be lifted. Both British and French governments have warned that they cannot see their troops staying without the arms embargo because they believe that the war would intensify and their soldiers would be placed in considerable danger. This would result in some sort of withdrawal by UNPROFOR. He says that 'the lifting of the arms embargo would mean at the very least a very substantial reduction of UNPROFOR in Bosnia'. Shots of UNHCR aid convoys. Williams says that UNHCR would have to rethink their whole operation because many convoys rely on UNPROFOR armed escorts and the UNHCR airlift into Sarajevo is only possible because UNPROFOR control the airport. Shots of UNPROFOR in Macedonia. Williams says that there is no immediate cause for concern about UNPROFOR's deployment in Macedonia, where troops have been deployed for the first time in a preventative role. In Croatia, UNPROFOR's mandate is up for renewal shortly. He hopes that UNPROFOR stays in Croatia as a safeguard for the worst case scenario: if there was another war in Bosnia, UNPROFOR could play a role in containing the conflict. Williams says that there could yet be further developments and if the Bosnian Serb leadership were to accept the proposals regardless of the referendum results, then there would then be further scope for discussion about the possibility of ties between Serbs of different states.

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