Mr. Speaker, twelve Canadian peacekeepers are among the hostages still being held by Bosnian Serbs, while several other UN peacekeepers and observers were released yesterday.
We hope that they will not be used as the ultimate bargaining chip and demand that they be released immediately and unconditionally.
We deeply regret the rather low key involvement of the Canadian government in this crisis. Not only is Canada not a member of the contact group, which considerably limits its influence, but it has no policy regarding a Canadian contribution to the new rapid reaction force.
Such a lack of leadership could harm not only Canada's reputation but also the efforts of peacekeepers on the site, as the Bosnian army prepares to launch an offensive north of Sarajevo, which could lead to another crisis.