Đidić: The turning point was when Izetbegović signed the request for UN membership; if it had been late, there would have been no other chance!

(Patria) - The press notes that on May 9, Alija Izetbegović, in a letter to Boutros Ghali, requested "UN forces
intervention in BiH". In the letter, he emphasized that the main goal of these forces is - "unblocking roads...". The day after, Hajrudin Somun, spokesperson for the BiH Presidency, announced that BiH is willing to fulfill all UN requirements. Somun stated: "We have fulfilled two key conditions you asked of us. We have gained recognition from 45 countries, as well as all European Community and CSCE countries..."

This was highlighted by Fuad Đidić, a diplomat and publicist, as the introductory speaker at today's Circle 99 session on the topic: "BiH is irrevocably in the world community of sovereign nations".

"A day later, on May 10, 1992, Somun addressed the public again and announced: "Alija Izetbegović signed the request for BiH's admission to the UN organization". It was a turning point. If this request had not been submitted then, at that rather dramatic moment, BiH would probably never have had the chance to become an independent international actor. However, this moment has not been sufficiently explored in the history of our international relations...", points out Đidić.

He reminds that on May 16, 1992, the UN Security Council adopted a new Resolution on BiH, which demanded the "withdrawal" of the JNA and units of the Croatian army from the territory of BiH, implying "equal" guilt of both sides for the war and bloodshed in BiH. However, just a day later, the heads of the EC adopted a Declaration in which they somewhat corrected their earlier
positions on resolving the crisis in BiH. Guilt should be "graded", the Declaration states. The European press reported a statement by a Portuguese diplomat in which the "JNA was singled out" as the primary "aggressor".

"At this point, it should be pointed out how Serbian diplomacy systematically and very consciously prepared the ground to discourage as many countries as possible from supporting BiH's membership in the UN organization", concluded Đidić.