Conference turris::scandia

529.0. "Sweden hosts Conference on Security and Cooperation" by TLE::SAVAGE () Tue Dec 15 1992 10:32

    From: [email protected] (UPI)
    Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.law,
	clari.news.military,clari.news.issues
    Subject: CSCE meeting opens to chart new course, Yugoslav motion expected
    Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 3:07:18 PST
 
	STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- The 52-nation Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe opened a two-day meeting of foreign ministers
Monday to discuss methods of solving conflicts in Europe and to chart a
new course for the organization.
	The CSCE, set up in 1975 during Cold War tensions, includes all
European countries plus the United States and Canada. The Yugoslav seat
is currently vacant after members decided to temporarily exclude Serbia
from the organization because of military involvement in former Yugoslav
republics.
	Officials said the former Yugoslavia was expected to take up "much
time" in deliberations over the next two days, with proposals for a
declaration censuring Serbia for the continued war in Bosnia-
Herzegovina.
	"After the meeting on Tuesday, the Swedish foreign minister will
travel to Belgrade to inform the Belgrade authorities of CSCE decisions
and statements," said a senior Swedish foreign ministry spokesman
Monday.
	Swedish Foreign Minister Margareta af Ugglas was to take over the
Chair of the CSCE Monday and will be responsible for communicating to
Belgrade decisions taken by CSCE members.
	Other issues to be discussed during the meeting were ongoing
conflicts elsewhere in Eastern Europe, in particular strife in the
former Soviet Union.
	Before Monday's meeting representatives of Azerbaijan accused Armenia
of increasing military attacks in the two former Soviet republics' war
over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Nagorno Karabakh is an
ethnically christian Armenian region under the jurisdiction of
predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan.
	Human rights and minority issues were also to be discussed during the
two-day session, and the CSCE was expected to send a team of observers
to Estonia to monitor inter-ethnic strife between the newly independent
country's Estonian and ethnic Russian communities. Estonia was expected
to severely criticize Russia for its failure to remove former Soviet
troops still based in its territory, but officials said no common CSCE
censure of Moscow was expected.
	The meeting was also expected to produce an agreement on a Stockholm
Convention designed to set up a court in Geneva, which would issue
binding judgments on cases brought before it.
	The convention was to be open for signing by all CSCE members, but so
far no more than half of the members have agreed to sign. Britain and
the United States have said they cannot sign since doing so would
threaten their sovereignty.
	The fate of the Stockholm Convention was likely to further western
calls for the CSCE to strengthen its crisis and conflict prevention and
mediation procedures.
	The CSCE was set up in Helsinki in 1975 to act as a forum for East-
West discussion and detente in the areas of human rights and Cold War
tensions.
	Among its successes were agreements on security and measures in which
eastern and western armies were obliged to inform each other of major
maneuvers. Also a human rights charter was agreed by the organization
and centers for minority affairs, conflict prevention and election
monitoring have been set up.
	But since the demise of the Soviet Union and other communist regimes
in the East, CSCE attempts to mediate in conflicts have been
unsuccessful and largely overshadowed by other organizations such as the
European Community and the United Nations.
	Nonetheless, the 52 nations believe the CSCE role to be a vital one
as a regional forum where opponents and potential enemies can discuss
and air their views as the CSCE attempts to negotiate a new role for
itself in post-Cold War Europe.
	"I don't think this meeting will give us very many teeth, but I do
expect the CSCE to be given more during the coming year," said Swedish
Prime Minister Carl Bildt.
	The meeting is expected to produce an agreement on a conciliation
process which will make it possible for the organization to judge
disputes, irrespective of whether the two sides concerned have asked for
judgement or conciliation.