Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has joined with the other governments that have troops in Bosnia, Croatia or elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia, to draw up plans for the troops to be withdrawn safely, should their withdrawal be required at some point.
This weekend, the President of the United States sought the support of Congress and the American people for the possible
intervention of American troops to help the peacekeeping forces in Yugoslavia in the event of a withdrawal operation.
There is no question of withdrawing at the moment. We must, however, always be prepared, should we have to withdraw, and this is what we are doing at the moment. There are no plans for a unilateral withdrawal from Bosnia at the moment. Our troops are in Bosnia because we were given a mandate by the United Nations. As I have said in this House, we complete our United Nations mandates. In this instance, we are beginning a six-month mandate.