Citation
BONN, April 15 (Reuter) - An ally of Chancellor Helmut Kohl broke a
long-standing taboo on Friday by calling for German troops to join
Bosnia peace missions despite the memories of Nazi cruelty in former
Yugoslavia.
Wolfgang Schaeuble, the canny parliamentary leader of Kohl's Christian
Democratic Union (CDU), upped the ante in a debate about Bonn's future
military role by saying German troops should go there if all sides
agreed.
Kohl, like Schaeuble speaking in a newspaper interview, said he was
extremely cautious
about sending any kind of German help because war
memories there were still so bitter.
Our basic position is that Germany must make a contribution, including
a military one, to peace in former Yugoslavia,
Schaeuble told the
Cologne daily Express.
If peace is concluded, the participation of German soldiers in
securing and reinforcing this peace should not be ruled out. But only
on one condition -- all sides must agree.
Interviewed by Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Kohl showed more concern
about Germany's dark past in Yugoslavia than Schaeuble, his most
powerful ally in Bonn.
Memories of the Second World War are still especially fresh in that
part of Europe,
he said. One has to wonder whether German help of any
kind would really be welcome.
Nazi Germany supported a brutal fascist puppet state in Croatia during
the war and fought against partisans commanded by the legendary
Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito.
Schaeuble's proposal, which has been debated within the CDU as a bold
initiative to take the lead in this year's election campaign, seemed
aimed at putting pressure on the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) to
back more military missions abroad.
The left-leaning SPD has slowly come around to supporting German
participation in United Nations peace-keeping missions and joined the
CDU on Thursday in passing a resolution in parliament backing NATO air
strikes against Bosnian Serbs.
But its moderate leader Rudolf Scharping has drawn the line at
offensive missions like the Gulf War and, like all other leading
politicians in Bonn, has always said the Nazi past barred Germans from
countries like former Yugoslavia.
Scharping has dominated the headlines in Germany this week with his
successful visit to Washington, where he reassured the Clinton
administration that he was a firm centrist in foreign policy despite
what his CDU opponents might say.
Frequently-broadcast television shots of him chatting with Clinton and
several cabinet members -- without an interpreter, unlike Kohl --
helped offset his lack of experience abroad.
Without mentioning Yugoslavia, General Klaus Naumann, the top military
commander, also said German troops should play a full role abroad like
those of other countries.
He told ZDF television he had an uneasy feeling
when he saw that
Germans in Rwanda had to be evacuated by foreign -- mostly Belgian --
troops.
The SPD leads the CDU in opinion polls by roughly 40 percent to 35
percent support but Kohl has been catching up to Scharping in surveys
measuring personal popularity.
Germany already participates in relief airdrops over Bosnia and helps
to man the NATO alliance's AWACS airplanes monitoring a United Nations
no-fly zone over the republic.
But constitutional restrictions have blocked Bonn from sending troops
outside NATO territory. The Constitutional Court is due to rule on the
issue later this year.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
