SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached a day that many believed would never come. After three weeks of intensive negotiations here in Dayton, the leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina Croatia and Serbia have agreed to end the war in the former Yugoslavia. They have agreed that four years of destruction is enough.The time has come to build peace with justice.

Today's agreement would not have come without the vision and leadership of President Clinton.The diplomatic and military strategy that he launched this summer has borne fruit. I'm gratified at the result and determined that it should be put into effect.

We've come to this hopeful moment because the parties made the fundamental choice that lasting peace can be achieved here, and they've done the things that peace requires.We're here because the international negotiating team successfully led the parties to this agreement.

Assistant Secretary Holbrooke and his team took a hard and exacting task and succeeded in a way that will be long remembered and admired.

I also want to recognize the tireless efforts of somebody who couldn't be here today, my friend and colleague, National Security Advisor Tony Lake, who played a very important role all through this endeavor.

The European Union and the members of the Contact Group -- Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Russia -- were with us at every critical step of this long negotiating process.

No one thought that these negotiations would be easy and all of us here on the stage can testify to the fact that they were not. Nevertheless, we got what we wanted -- a comprehensive settlement and one that must now be implemented.The hard won commitments that have been initialed today address the wrenching and fundamental issues for which the war was fought and which must be resolved if peace is to endure.

Today's agreement assures the continuity of the single state of Bosnia-Herzegovina, with effective federal institutions, a single currency, and hill respect by its neighbors for its sovereignty. The city of Sarajevo, which has gripped the attention of the world for such a long time, will no longer be divided.It will be unified under the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.Checkpoints and closed bridges will no longer divide the families of that city. All of Bosnia's people will have a right under these agreements to move freely throughout the country.Refugees and displaced persons will have a right to return to their homes or to receive just compensation. Free and democratic elections will be held next year.

The agreement contains strong human rights provisions. It confirms the parties' obligations to cooperate fully in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes. The agreement excludes  indicted war criminals from public office, or military office, in this new government.

The agreement requires the parties to withdraw their armed forces to agreed positions and it  also provides for important confidence-building measures among the parties. The parties have  pledged to cooperate fully with a NATO-led peace implementation force and to ensure the safety of its personnel; and it sets the stage for a comprehensive program of reconstruction so necessary in that beleaguered country.

Today's agreement certainly does not erase the stark memories of the past nor does it guarantee that the fabric of the society of Bosnia will be easily restored.But still, it is a victory for all of us.

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