THE NEW YORK TIMES
Moving Defiantly on Yugoslavia, Bonn Threatens Rift With Allies
Germany will go ahead with its plans to extend diplomatic recognition to the breakaway Yugoslav republics of Slovenia and Croatia, German officials said today, increasing prospects for a pronounced rift on the issue in the Western alliance.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl's spokesman, Dieter Vogel, said on Friday that the Bonn Government would wait until after a meeting of European Community foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday before announcing recognition, which has been opposed by the United Nations, the United States and by the European Community. But officials made clear that Bonn's decision would not be affected by the outcome of Monday's meeting.
Asked today whether Mr. Vogel's remarks meant the Government's final decision would hinge on whether Germany's European allies went along, a Government official replied, "We will move ahead whether any, all, or none of the European states join us."
Both the Germans and opponents of recognition argued that they were seeking to stop the fighting. Letter to the U.N.
Battles flared again in Croatia, posing a further threat to efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the civil war in Yugoslavia, which has claimed thousands of lives. The new fighting made it increasingly unlikely that the United Nations could press ahead with a plan to send troops to enforce a truce.
On Friday, German diplomats conveyed a letter from Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher to the United Nations Secretary General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, reaffirming Germany's decision to recognize the two republics, which announced this year that they were leaving the Yugoslav federation.
After the independence declarations, Serbian irregular troops joined units of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army in fighting to keep control at least of Serb-dominated areas of Croatia, bringing to the heart of Europe the fiercest fighting there since World War II. The fighting also rekindled old fears among Croatians about Serb dominance, and old fears among Serbs about the suffering their compatriots saw at the hands of the Nazi-installed government of Croatia in World War II.
[ Mr. Perez de Cuellar replied to Mr. Genscher's letter Saturday night by appealing again to the Bonn Government not to start recognizing breakaway Yugoslav republics in "a selective and uncoordinated" manner. He reiterated the European Community's opposition to such a move and recalled warnings by the Presidents of two other Yugoslav republics, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia, that recognition could lead to wider conflict.
[ The Security Council met late into the night to discuss a new resolution on Yugoslavia that would urge Germany to delay recognition, would tighten the arms embargo and sendin a small United Nations force of military observers to prepare for a peacekeeping operation if a cease-fire takes hold. ] Warning From Washington
The Bush Administration has also warned European Community members that recognition of Croatia and Slovenia would bring more war. A similar argument has been made by Lord Carrington, the Briton who is the community's chief Yugoslavia mediator. In a letter early this month to Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek of the Netherlands, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Community, Lord Carrington argued that German recognition of the two republics "would undoubtedly mean the breakup" of Yugoslav peace talks under way in The Hague.
Croatia itself has said it expects an intensification of Serbian attacks if Germany acts. But peacemaking efforts have been futile so far, and it is by no means clear that recognition by Germany would worsen the fighting.
Indeed, the German plans may have their greatest impact in their disregard of European Community policy. In November, community members agreed to act in concert on Yugoslavia, and France and Britain are behind the Security Council draft resolution calling on nations to withhold diplomatic recognition while peace efforts continue. Deadline Extended
The rift is all the more striking because it comes hard on the heels of a European Community summit meeting at which Mr. Kohl was a leading advocate of unified community policies on foreign affairs and security.
After Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in June, Germany advocated a collective European Community decision on recognition. It suggested recognizing the republics by the time of the summit meeting, but later revised this to "before Christmas."
Germany's opponents on this point, notably Britain and France, have argued that recognition would accelerate Serbia's efforts to take control of Serb-populated areas of Croatia, deepening the conflict and threatening to spread fighting to other areas with significant populations of Serbs.
Of European Community governments, only Italy has publicly announced its intention to follow the German path. On Friday, Chancellor Franz Vranitzky of Austria, which is not a community member, was quoted as saying Vienna would recognize Slovenia and Croatia in the coming week. Smaller Nations Ready
Bonn officials said smaller European states like Belgium and Denmark and possibly the Netherlands would follow suit and announce recognition. On Thursday, Ukraine announced recognition of Slovenia and Croatia.
In Budapest, the Hungarian government of Prime Minister Joszef Antall announced on Friday that it had empowered the foreign ministry to recognize the two former Yugoslav republics "after consideration of all important circumstances, among others regarding the behavior of other states."
In his letter to the Secretary General, Mr. Genscher argued that failure to recognize Croatia and Slovenia would signal the leaders of Serbia and the Yugoslav Army that their military tactics in Croatia had been successful. Concerns Over Emigration
Mr. Genscher expressed "deep concern" that recent statements by Mr. Perez de Cuellar discouraging recognition will only encourage the forces in Yugoslavia who until now have "decidedly rejected" peace efforts. Making clear just who was meant, he reiterated the findings of European Community peace observers in Yugoslavia who as early as August concluded that Serbia and the Yugoslav Army leadership bear the "primary responsibility" for the sustained fighting.
Germany's resolve to press ahead reflects mounting concern that, combined with the deteriorating situation in the former Soviet Union, sustained fighting in Yugoslavia will worsen instability in Eastern Europe and send a huge wave of refugees heading toward Germany and the West.
NEW FIGHTING IN CROATIA
ZAGREB, Yugoslavia, Dec. 14 (AP) -- Fighting flared anew today on Croatia's central front and in the embattled eastern Slavonia region, where European Community representatives were trying to negotiate a cease-fire.
In the latest fighting, villages northwest of Osijek in the Slavonia region came under renewed artillery attack early today, Croatian radio reported.
A European Community monitoring team in Nasice, about 30 miles west of Osijek, was negotiating separately with Croatian officials and the federal army about a local cease-fire, said Renilde Steeghs of the community's monitoring mission in Zagreb.
Croatian radio reported that fierce fighting continued today, particularly around Nova Gradiska on the main highway between Zagreb and Belgrade, the Serbian and federal capital.
U.N. Yields to Plans by Germany To Recognize Yugoslav Republics
The Security Council backed away from a confrontation with Germany over Yugoslavia today after Germany's European allies on the Council decided that they did not want a major clash with Bonn.
The incident underscored Germany's growing political power in the 12-nation European Community, diplomats said. Some added that it marked the single most visible demonstration of that power since reunification of the two Germanys more than a year ago.
Moreover, in its unusual assertiveness in moving ahead with a plan to extend diplomatic recognition to the breakaway Yugoslav republics of Croatia and Slovenia, Germany has stirred troubling historical associations, even though on other issues it has emerged as a proponent of greater European unanimity. Nazi Germany dominated the two Yugoslav regions during World War II, absorbing Slovenia into the Third Reich and creating a puppet regime in Croatia.
As late as Friday evening, the Security Council was discussing a draft French-British resolution that sought to deter Germany from going ahead with its plan to recognize the two republics, whose declarations of independence in June set off the Yugoslav civil war. The United States also opposed the German plan. Refusing to Budge
But after Germany's Foreign Minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, showed in a chilly exchange of letters with the United Nations Secretary General over the weekend that he was standing firm, France, which sees its alliance with Germany as the cornerstone of its European policy, agreed to back down. Britain followed suit, also yielding to Germany's view of the best approach to ending the conflict.
The result was the adoption today of a much weaker resolution on the Yugoslav crisis than Britain and France had originally sought. The 15-member Council voted unanimously to send to Yugoslavia a military observer force that is much smaller than originally envisioned. Similarly, the resolution failed to clearly condemn recognition of the breakaway republics.
While the outcome left Germany the clear winner, it also left the Bonn Government split with Washington, which opposes recognition without an overall political settlement. The result also strained Germany's ties with its two major European Community partners only a week after community leaders agreed to move toward a single foreign policy at their pivotal summit meeting in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
The Bush Administration acquiesced in the pullback by France and Britain today. But Washington, which has recognized the independence of the Baltic republics and moved away from Moscow as the Soviet Union dissolves, nevertheless made clear over the weekend in a message to Foreign Minister Genscher that it remained strongly opposed to selective recognition of the two republics. "They know our position well," was all the United States representative, Thomas R. Pickering, would say at the end of today's meeting. 'Fraught with Danger'
In Washington, President Bush said said he disagreed with the German decision because the Yugoslav situation was "fraught with danger."
"The United States position has been that we want to see a peaceful evolution. We've been strongly supportive of the E.C.," Bush said of the opposition to recognition by the European Community. "We've been strongly supportive of what the U.N. has tried to do. Their advice has been to go slow on recognition, and I think they're right."
If Germany does recognize Croatia and Slovenia, a move that Bonn has said it will make by Christmas, at least three other community members, Italy, Belgium and Denmark, are likely to follow, as is Austria, which is seeking membership. Compromise Possible
But there was speculation among diplomats here that the 12 European Foreign Ministers might still patch together a compromise in Brussels on Monday, offering Croatia and Slovenia conditional recognition that might be dependent on an overall political solution, respect for human rights and preservation of existing frontiers.
Thousands of people have been killed in Croatia since members of the republic's 600,000-strong Serbian minority, backed by the Yugoslav Army, rebelled against declaration of independence in June. Independence for Slovenia, the northernmost Yugoslav republic, is considered more or less a fait accompli since it has no such minority problem, although there was short-lived fighting there.
Germany's interest in conferring statehood on Croatia and Slovenia has worried many in Europe who see it as an attempt to re-exert traditional Germanic influences over this area of the Balkans. Originally part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Croatia and Slovenia have long had historical links with the German-speaking world, which differentiated them from their neighboring Serbs. Policy on New States
Nearly two-thirds of the 600,000 Yugoslav "guest workers" in present-day Germany are of Croatian origin.
Since Ukraine voted overwhelming for independence from the Soviet Union this month, the 12 European Community members have been discussing common arrangements for deciding when to recognize new states emerging in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union; diplomats say the dispute over Yugoslavia may give new impetus to this work.
Originally, France and Britain said they believed that they could use the Security Council to thwart Foreign Minister Genscher's pledge to recognize Croatia and Slovenia by Christmas, an action that they have said will only inflame ethnic passions further and dampen the chances of peace.
Their plan was for the Council to order as many as 100 United Nations military observers into Yugoslavia in advance of the Brussels meeting to bolster a crumbling cease-fire agreement, one of many in the war. In addition, they wanted to condemn any "political action" likely to increase tensions and to tighten an embargo on selling arms to the warring parties.
But the new resolution sends only a token force of 18 to 20 military, police and political observers to Yugoslavia. Although it urges everyone to avoid actions that might increase tensions, the resolution no longer speaks of "political" actions in a way that links the Council's warning more specifically to diplomatic recognition.
Nonetheless, the resolution does tighten the Council's existing but largely ineffective embargo on arms deliveries to Yugoslavia, requiring all countries to report the measures they are taking to enforce this ban within 20 days and creating a committee to oversee enforcement, as it has done with the trade embargo against Iraq.
Diplomats say the original French-British plan ran into trouble after Germany made clear that it was standing firm and after the United States turned skeptical about the proposed new military observers, who Washington said were unlikely to be any more successful in enforcing a cease-fire than the existing European Community observer teams. Relations With U.S.
These development prompted France to pull back from its original position to protect its relationship with Germnay while Britain also retreated in the hope of minimizing the split with the United States.
At the center of the dispute with Bonn is the question of whether recognizing Croatia and Slovenia now would help or hurt the Yugoslav peace process. Germany argues that the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav Army is the principal violator of the Nov. 28 Geneva cease-fire agreement, and that recognizing the breakaway republics now would assist a settlement by showing that the world at large no longer considered them rebel states. Failure to recognize them, Germany says, would actually worsen the fighting by encouraging the Yugoslav Army to continue its attacks.
Although the 12 Foreign Ministers agreed in Rome on Nov. 8 to withhold recognition of individual republics as separate states outside an overall framework, German diplomats said that the agreement was only for two months and that it had clearly failed to lead to peace. Ethnic Tensions
The United States, Britain and France say recognizing the breakaway republics now would only stir up further ethnic tension throughout the remaining portions of the federation, leading to increased fighting and encouraging other republics to secede. In addition, they argue that recognition now will only encourage other separatist movements in Eastern Europe and the dissolving Soviet Union, further increasing instability of the area.
The Secretary General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, has taken a similar position. And today his mediator in the Yugoslav conflict, former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, reacted angrily to the German moves, saying, "Premature and selective recognition brings great dangers of expanding the war." Peacekeeping Force
The United Nations is now preparing to send one of the largest peacekeeping forces it has ever deployed into Yugoslavia. But it will only do so when Mr. Vance tells the Security Council that the cease-fire is holding and that all parties to the conflict are ready to cooperate with him and the European mediator, Lord Carrington of Britain, in finding a permanent solution.
Under the terms of an agreement that Mr. Vance is trying to negotiate, the United Nations troops would be deployed in Croatian towns and villages with ethnically mixed populations to maintain order after a withdrawal by the Yugoslavia National Army.
The United Nations is planning to send a force of more than 10,000 peacekeepers to bolster a Yugoslav peace settlement at a cost of $200 million a year.