hCa mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
28 February - 6 March 1996
REPORT
The following people participated in the mission: Mary Kaldor
(co-chair of the hCa), Lidija Grebo
(Balkan coordinator at the Prague office), Zdravka Grebo-Jevtic (dir.
of Job 22, Sarajevo office of
the hCa), Klelija Balta (dir. of the Tuzla office of the hCa), Vehid
Sehic (pres. of the Tuzla citizens
Forum), André Lommen (liaison officer at the Tuzla office of the hCa),
and Mient Jan Faber (dir.
hCa, the Hague).
Introduction
The purpose of the mission was fourfold:
1.To assess the refugee situation. One of the central issues of the
Dayton agreement is the
return of refugees and displaced people. "The early return of
refugees and displaced
persons is an important objective of the settlement of the conflict
in Bosnia and
Herzegovina." (Annex 7, art.1, sub 1). The hCa is in touch with
refugees and displaced
persons, from all sides and is working for a smooth and peaceful
return of these people,
wherever possible.
2.To strengthen our hCa-offices in Sarajevo and Tuzla and to extend
our hCa-network into
Republica Srpska, by creating local branches in Banja Luka and
Brcko. This network is
an important instrument to stimulate and promote the reintegration
of Bosnia and
Herzegovina on the level of civil society. The Tuzla Citizens Forum
and Circle 99 from
Sarajevo, the main partners of the hCa in the country, are working
on the establishment
of a Citizens Parliament in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Citizens
Parliament should
become a regular meeting place where NGO's can discuss their
contribution to the
democratic reintegration of the country. The hCa will function as an
international umbrella
for the Citizens Parliament.
3.To push for free and fair elections. The forthcoming elections in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
are of crucial importance, both for the development of democracy and
the process of
reintegration. "The Parties shall ensure that conditions exist for
the organization of free
and fair elections, in particular a politically neutral environment;
shall protect and enforce
the right to vote in secret without fear or intimidation; shall
ensure freedom of expression
and of the press; shall allow and encourage freedom of association
(including of political
parties); and shall ensure freedom of movement."
(Annex 3, art.1, sub 1). "The Parties request the OSCE to certifywhether elections can
be effective under current social conditions in both Entities and,
if necessary, to provide
assistance to the Parties in creating these conditions." (Annex 3,
art.1, sub 2).
The hCa has formulated a set of criteria which, among other things,
should be met in
order to guarantee free and fair elections. These include:
a) Elections should be delayed until free movement is secured and a
substantial number
of refugees and displaced persons who wish to return home have
been able to do so.
b) All candidates should be screened by the Election Commission, so
that none who
have been indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal may
stand.
c) No party with ethnic or religious criteria for membership should
be allowed to
participate.
d) Serving military or police personnel should be barred from
standing as candidates.
e) The Election Commission must establish offices in every town and
large village
where citizens can lodge complaints against candidates and
parties.
4.To monitor the role of the International Community, represented by
IFOR, UNHCR,
OSCE, ECMM, the High Representative, and other (inter)governmental
bodies.
During the war the hCa consistently advocated the strengthening of
the authority of
international bodies. Above all, Bosnia-Herzegovina lacks a strong
legitimate central
authority, able to enforce decisions whenever necessary. The
International Community is
the only institution that can offer such authority, provided the
political will exists.
However, the concern with "mission creep" so often expressed by
representatives of
various bodies, and the fragmentation of responsibilities have made
us doubtful about the
readiness and capability of the International Community to cope with
such a challenge.
----------------------
The refugee problem
Perhaps the most important problem is the refugees. This was a war
about population
displacement. In most parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina, ethnic cleansing is
almost complete. In
Banja Luka, for example, out of 30,000 Croats and 30,000 Moslems,
there are only 3000
Croats and 3000 Moslems left. All traces of their presence have been
eliminated. Between
April and September 1993, most of the Catholic Churches and all the
Mosques were blown
up with dynamite. The two famous sixteenth century mosques were blown
up on Friday May
7 1993; on Monday, cleaning equipment was used to clear the rubble and
grass over the
area. Now you would never know that they had been there. Some twothirds of the original
population of Bosnia-Herzegovina have been displaced from their homes.
It is almost
impossible to envisage any kind of normality until at least some
refugees have been allowed
to return, as promised under the Dayton agreement.
But this looks increasingly unlikely. Indeed the refugees, whether
deliberately or not, are
being instrumentalized by nationalists on both sides with the tacit
connivance of the
international community. Nothing was done to stop the exodus of Serbs
from the suburbs of
Sarajevo and nothing was done to insist that Croatia, too, must accept
the return of Serb
refugees from Krajina. As long as Serb refugees occupy the homes of
Muslims and Croats
in Republika Srpska, refugee return will be very difficult. In Banja
Luka, for example, there
are some 100,000 Serb refugees, including 35,000 from Krajina. Their
arrival last summer
prompted the last bout of ethnic cleansing from Banja Luka. In Brcko,
where some 30,000
Moslems have left the town and some 7,000 were killed in concentration
camps, the
prospects for return which had seemed quite hopeful will be immensely
complicated by the
imminent arrival of 14,000 refugees from Sarajevo.(When we were there
650 had already
arrived and were milling about the municipality building). Refugees
from Sarajevo have also
been sent to Srebrenica, Zvornik, Foca, and Visegrad.
At the same time, those refugees currently living in the federation
face enormous difficulty
in finding new homes. The government in Sarajevo is reluctant to build
new settlements
because this they say would accept the results of ethnic cleansing.
And this position is
supported by Western governments. Some funds are currently being
invested in reconstruc-
tion of houses in the demilitarised separation zone; owners are given
grants to rebuild their
houses provided they agree to house refugees for a specified period of
time. Unfortunately,
this will only provide housing for a few hundred refugees and not
together in their own
homes. This inhuman instrumentalization of those very people for whom
the international
community should feel most responsibility is creating a permanent
source of dangerous
tension. Now the Srebrenica refugees are talking about going to
Sarajevo and seizing the
homes of the departed Serbs.
There is one category of refugees that could fairly easily be returned
to their homes. These
are the refugees who fled the fighting and were not deliberately
expelled. The main problem
for them is funding for reconstruction of their homes.Some support is
being provided, in
particular by the Dutch government, for reconstruction of houses in
the separation zone,
which used to be the frontline.
In addition to all the above problems, it is very difficult to
envisage the return of refugees
so long as those people responsible for ethnic cleansing remain at
large and even in positions
of power. Until the problems of internal security and related problems
such as mine
clearance are solved, the refugees cannot return.
-----------------------------
hCa offices/network
The policy of the hCa in Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of seven
basic elements:
a)to help create networks (of local groups and people) throughout the
country, in order
to stimulate the reintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the
level of civil society;
b) to support community-building projects in different cities all over
the country, in which
people can develop and express their civic responsibilities
regardless their national,
religious or ethnic background. Civic reconstruction is part of
this program.
c) to focus on permanent education. Seminars, Courses, Open
Universities, and sometimes
Conferences are important attributes for teaching (local)
democracy, the meaning of civil
society, interaction between society and state, the media and
propaganda, etc. Education
begins at home and is crucial for understanding the political and
societal processes (on
the Balkans).
d) to assist the most vulnerable groups in the country. Therefore our
offices in Tuzla and
Sarajevo are carrying out substantial projects for and together
with refugees.
e) to follow critically but constructively the polical developments in
the region, including
the role of the international community. Public commentaries,
statements, analyses, and
alternative proposals are put forward and brought into the
political process.
f) to establish working relations with non-nationalistic political
forces, in particular
political parties, independent media and citizens' groups.
g) to twin local communities with counterparts from abroad. City
twinning has been quite
successful so far, but also links between schools, cultural clubs,
youth centres,
peacegroups, etc., are mushrooming.
The hCa mission found that space is opening up for non-governmental
initiatives both in the
Federation and, to a lesser extent, in Republika Srpska. In part, this
is because there is less
fear and the everyday struggle for survival is becoming easier and in
part, this is because of
the growing political and geographical fragmentation of
Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is not only
the division between the two "entities" specified in the Dayton
agreement - Republica Srpska
and the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina - or even the division
between the Croat and
Muslim parts of the federation. Within each of these different areas,there are huge variations
in every town and village; only contrast the situation in Tuzla or
Zenica, where the situation
seems to be improving in social and humanitarian terms, with the
unbearable tensions, of
widely differing character, that persist in places like Mostar,
Sarajevo, Banja Luka or Brcko.
Along with these geographical differences, it is possible to identify
a growing political frag-
mentation. In both Republika Srpska and the Bosnian-controlled parts
of the Federation, the
ruling nationalists are no longer as monolithic as before: in
Republika Srpska, Karadzic's
SDS (the Serb nationalist party) and its ally the Serb Radical Party
are challenged by a left
bloc consisting of Milosevic's party and the former JNA Communist
Party; in the Republic
of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sziladzic has left the SDA (the Muslim
nationalist party) and his new
party (the Democratic Alternative) is wooing the Muslim clergy.
In this context, we were able to identify a number of new initiatives.
These included:
1)New NGO's are being formed in Sarajevo especially among students.
hCa , together with
the Legal Centre of the Open Society Fund B&H, organized a seminar
for local NGO's
on the topic "The role of NGO's in developing a democratic
society". Between thirty and
forty people of some fifteen local NGO's participated in the
seminar.
2)In Tuzla, citizens initiatives are mushrooming. These include:
-The Citizens Forum of Tuzla which plans to launch the Citizens
parliament in April
together with Circle 99 and hCa.
-The Tuzla Agency for Local Development Initiatives. This agency
which was initiated
by hCa has been chosen to implement a World Bank project on
micro-enterprises aimed
at generating employment for the most vulnerable groups-demobilised
soldiers, war
victims, refugees, etc. The project will be a pilot project for the
whole of
Bosnia-Herzegovina. TALDI is also organising seminars and
conferences so as to
involve a wide range of people in planning the future of the
region.
-The womens organisation of Srebrenica. They are asking the ICRC to
register all the
names of missing people as a gesture of honour and respect to those
who probably have
been killed. They ask hCa-branches all over Europe to go to the
Red Cross offices in
their country and plea for the registration of these people. The
list of names is available
in Tuzla.
3)For the first time since the war began, we succeeded in bringing an
hCa-delegation to
Banja Luka, including three people from the Federation. New
initiatives in Banja Luka
include:
-the Serb Intellectual Forum which was established last June with
the aim of "changing
the atmosphere and destroying the dominant thinking". Despite their
prefix "Serb",
which has been the subject of much controversy within the Forum,
they are anxious to
make links with similar groups in the Federation.
-the Liberal Foundation for Reconstruction and Development which is
an independently
registered NGO set up to support and finance reconstruction efforts
with the help of
local businesses.
-the independent magazine Novi Prelom which, for example, has
published the names of
war criminals
-the hCA mission succeeded in founding informally a Banja Luka
branch of the hCa. It
aims to carry out education projects among young people if possible
from all
communities, to support the independent media, and to take part in
Bosnia-wide civic
networks.
There are other kinds of independent initiatives as well. In some
areas, more moderate
authorities try to find their own local solutions. In Brcko, for
example, talks were taking
place, until very recently, between the Serb authorities who control
the town and the
neighbouring Federation authorities. The talks were mostly about
concrete issues like water
and electricity but they also touched on the exchange of refugees and
indeed some refugee
return has already been taking place. However these talks were cut
short, under orders from
Karadzic after the arrest by the Bosnian authorities of two Serb
officers. While the hCa
mission was in Brcko, Serb refugees were arriving from Sarajevo
greatly complicating the
issue of refugee return. Brcko, which saw the bitterest fighting
during the war because of its
strategic position linking the two halves of Republika Srpska and
providing access to
Northern Bosnia, could well become the flashpoint for renewed
Serb-Moslem conflict. The
demarcation lines of Brcko still have not been settled and are due to
come under arbitration
this summer. The central issue is the Posavina corridor. Local
authorities were discussing
the possibility of some form of international authority.
The elections
According to the Dayton agreements, elections are supposed to be
called six months after the
signing of the Dayton agreement and not later than nine months,i.e.
somewhere between June
14 and September 14. Robert Frowick, the OSCE Ambassador, has
suggested he will not call
the elections if the pre-conditions have not been fulfilled. These
include freedom of
movement, internal security, free media, etc. Nevertheless, he is
under considerable pressure
to hold elections according to the Dayton time-table whatever the
situation on the ground.
As well as non-governmental groups, the political and geographical
fragmentation has also
opened up space for non-nationalist parties. In the Republic ofBosnia-Herzegovina, the
Social Democrats and the Reformists (the Party of the Mayor of Tuzla)
have formed an
electoral pact and the Mayor of Tuzla is quietly confident of winning
at least the Tuzla city.
If an alliance of all opposition parties is established, he believes
they can win 30% of the
votes - nation wide - even under present conditions. In Republika
Serpska, some leaders of
the Liberal Party, in particular Dr Zhivanovic of Banja Luka, managed
to survive the war
with their integrity intact despite being mobilised and subjected to
threats and privations of
various kinds. The Liberal party is the only multi-national,
multi-cultural and
multi-confessional party in Republika Srpska. It is also the only
party, other than the
Reformist Party of Mr Dodik that is committed to the reintegration of
Bosnia-Herzegovina.The leader of the Liberal Party, Dr Zhivanovic,
believes that there are
real possibilities to gain support from those who are horrified by the
consequences of
nationalism and, at the same time, still reject the Communist past.
At present, however, the elections seem stacked in favour of the
nationalist parties. First of
all, no non-nationalist parties are represented on the election
commission, which only
includes the Parties to the Dayton agreement. Although the OSCE can
make additional
appointments, this has not been done for the rather ingenuous argument
that Frowick did not
want too large a commission. Secondly, the recently published rules
also favour the existing
nationalist parties. Very large numbers of signatures are required to
register a party; this is
almost impossible for the non-nationalist parties in some areas, e.g
the Croat-controlled areas
where HDZ acts as a one party system. (This rule was based on a first
draft of the 1990
election procedures and was later modified. The nationalist parties
who were present at the
meeting of the election commission where this was discussed apparently
did not reveal that
this rule had later been modified).
The nationalist parties also retain control of the electronic media.
There is one independent
TV station, Studio 99 in Sarajevo, a few independent radio stations,
Radio Zid in Sarajevo,
Radio Kameleon in Tuzla, and a few independent newspapers and
magazines but there are
no Bosnia-wide media. We were told in the office of the High
Representative in Sarajevo that
they favour the establishment of an all-Bosnia TV station and that
funding has been found
for this project. However, they were not able to overcome the
political objections from the
governments of the two entities. Apparently, all they are willing to
accept is a second state-
channel in which each party gets 5 minutes. An additional argument was
that an all-Bosnia
TV is not possible because NATO destroyed the communication structures
in Republika
Srpska. But can it really be beyond the capacity of the internationalcommunity to rebuild
a transmission cable between, say, Pale and Sarajevo or Tuzla and
Banja Luka?
Although some non-nationalist parties are arguing that, even under
present conditions, they
can make inroads into the power bases of the nationalist authorities,
the danger is that, if
elections are held under present conditions, the nationalist
authorities will restore their
legitimacy and this can make any future solution to the conflict
almost impossible, closing
up the spaces that now exist for peaceful reintegration of the
country.
------------------------
The International Community
The military part of the Dayton agreement, i.e. the separation of
forces, is the most
part successful so far. But if it remains the only success, it
probably will not last very long.
The civic component of Dayton is still in a critical stage. There is a
lack of money and there
does not seem to be any careful assessment of priorities.
We paid visits to several international/governmental organisations on
our trip to Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Everywhere we were impressed by the commitment and
engagement of the
people in charge. But we also observed frustration and scepticism. The
mandates of the
various bodies - we met with IFOR, UNHCR, OSCE, the High
Representative, and ECMM -
exclude the possibility of enforcement where such is urgently needed.
Even in cases where
the mandate leaves room for some enforcement, there seems to be great
anxiety about what
is called 'mission creep'. There is indeed an overall tendency to
interpret the mandate in a
strict and narrow sense, in order to avoid unforeseen difficulties. We
heard several times that
failures are always due to the behaviour of the Parties, who do not
comply with their
obligations under the Dayton agreement. Strictly speaking this might
indeed be the case, but
such acts do not strengthen the authority of the international
community in the country. On
the contrary, the international community runs the risk that it will
be seen by the population
as once again unable to fulfil its promises, and by the Parties as an
easy tool for
manipulation. We came across various disturbing incidents. During our
stay there was a
meeting in Banja Luka of the High Representative (Mr. Bildt) and the
premiers of the
Federation and Republica Srpska. The radio in Sarajevo commenting this
meeting told their
listeners that Mr. Karadzic was also seen in Banja Luka in the
vicinity of the meeting place.
Of course, he was not arrested. Even worse, Mr. Bildt seemed unable to
do anything to cope
with this embarrassing situation. At the office of the HighRepresentative we were told that
Mr. Karadzic appearance in Banja Luka could not be verified with
complete certainty,
because he and his driver are alike as two peas. One can imagine how
ordinary people in
Sarajevo and elsewhere react by hearing such an excuse. In Banja Luka
we were told that
Karadzic had been seen the other day, sitting in a restaurant, while
at an other table two
IFOR commanders were having their meal. IFOR confirmed this incident
later to us,
apologizing for doing nothing. But it did not belong to their mandate,
they said. These events
do not raise the status of IFOR. Nor does the fact that IFOR is only
allowed to clear the
minefields that might risk the lives of its own personnel. Indeed,
displaced people and
refugees must get the feeling that the international community
deliberately stops them from
returning to their original places. The UNHCR also is also telling the
refugees that it doesn't
have the power to enforce their return as envisaged in the Dayton
agreement.
Another important legacy of the war is the economic situation.
According to the World Bank,
some 50% of the population in the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina is
unemployed. Other
estimates are much higher. The EU reports that only 10% of the
population have jobs and,
in Banja Luka, we were told that only 8% have jobs. What to do with
demobilised soldiers,
displaced persons, disabled persons and other war victims, is an
immense problem, especially
since humanitarian aid is due to be phased out in a few months. So
far, almost nothing has
been spent on reconstruction. Apart from the project in Tuzla,
mentioned above, the little
that has been spent mostly focuses on infrastructure and is channelled
through nationalist
authorities. Although it is important to restore basic services,
infrastructure can easily be
used as a way of continuing the war; thus for example, the Serbs can
still cut supplies to
Sarajevo to make a political point. There is a desperate need to
devote resources to human
capital, education and the independent media if the situation is to be
changed. Almost
everyone understands that education (in democracy) is key at the
present moment, but there
is no money available for that purpose. The elections are coming up in
a couple of months
and still the media are not free, the non-nationalist parties are
marginalized, and ordinary
people are faced with war-propaganda and prevented from making fair
and free choices.
This year is a decisive one for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The country can easily
fall apart, for instance if the dispute over the Posavina corridor
near Brcko is not settled in
a satisfactory way. But it can also be kept together and start to
integrate again. Here a strong
presence of the international community matters. The deputy of the
High Representative,
mr. Steiner, has put it this way: "We do have half an international
protectorate now over
Bosnia and Herzegovina, which constantly tends to fail. A full
protectorate is urgently
needed."
------------------------
Recommendations
1.Time, energy and money of both the international community and
NGO's, should be
invested in strengthening the non-nationalistic option - opposition
parties and (networks
of) civic initiatives - in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Indeed, these are
the main forces
working for re-integration and (liberal) democracy in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. So far,
they are neglected by the International Community, which almost
exclusively pays homage
to the nationalist Parties (as demanded by the Dayton-agreement).
2.A really independent nation-wide television-network should be
initiated on short notice.
In this way, the existing imbalance between ruling nationalists and
the non-nationalist
organizations can be changed for the better. Other independent
media-initiatives should
be supported as well.
3.The Posavina corridor around Brcko urgently needs a strong
international protectorate.
Tensions are growing day after day, due to a piling up of refugees
on both sides of the
demarcation line. The nationalist Parties are incapable and
unprepared to solve the
Corridor-problem themselves. The international attitude of 'wait and
see' should be
changed immediately.
4.Opposition parties and NGO's should be included in the negotiations
about the election
rules and regulations, in order to prevent nationalist parties from
controlling and
manipulating the (outcome of the) elections. All parties and NGO's
should get equal
possibilities to address the huge number of refugees abroad, who are
a decisive factor in
the upcoming elections.
5.Displaced persons and refugees need respect, and should not be
politically instrumenta-
lized. Different categories should be introduced. Category 1.: the
refugees/displaced
persons from the front-line (regions), who had to be removed because
of the fighting.
They should return to their (repaired) homes as soon as possible.
Category 2.: the
refugees/displaced persons who were removed during ethnic cleansing
campaigns. They
should not be forced to go back to their place of origin, and
instead be offered a
permanent stay in the place where they live now.
6.OSCE-Ambassador Frowick, head of the Provisional Election Committee,
should state that
the agreed time-table cannot be met. Moreover, every area should be
considered on its
own merits. Indeed, the political situation, and the democratic
atmosphere, varies
considerably from city to city, area to area, and between the two
Entities. Local and
Cantonal, Entity and National elections should only be held if the
current situation allows
it.
7.NGO's should invest much more in setting up education programmes, on
the elections,
on local democracy, on individual, civil and human rights, on the
mechanisms of
propaganda and political campaigning, etc. Up to now, almost all
energy and money is
put in humanitarian and material assistance. But a society can not
live by bread alone.
8.Pressure should be put on the Croatian government to accept the
return of refugees to
Krajina. This would improve the possibility for Muslim and Croat
refugees to return to
their homes in the Serbian country.
9.The international community should interpret it's mandate less
narrowly. IFOR should
deliberately try to arrest war-criminals. IFOR should assist in
clearing minefields,
everywhere. Other international organizations like Bildt's office,
the OSCE, the High
Representative and the UNHCR should exert pressure on (local)
authorities to accept the
rules (of law) and to fulfil the conditions for free and fair
elections. IFOR or the UN
police force should take responsibility for internal security.
---------------------------
Background Notes
On Refugees
The minister for refugee problems of the government of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, A. Recica,
emphasized that several measures had been taken to facilitate the
return of refugees. New laws are
in preparation or passed parliament already. With most countries
so-called scout-return projects had
been agreed upon, giving refugees the chance to investigate the
possibilities of going back to their
country without jeopardizing their rights to stay (temporarily) in the
country of resort. However, at
the moment it is not possible for displaced persons and refugees to
return to Republica Srpska.
According to the minister this could only change if a more moderate
regime would take over as a
result of the forthcoming elections. There are around 500.000 Muslims
and Croats who have the right
to return to Republica Srpska. From our side examples were given of
Serbs who wanted to return to
the Federation (of Muslims and Croats) but were refused entrance. The
minister replied that there is
still a lot to be arranged before a smooth return can be guaranteed.
Although a general amnesty law
is adopted now, any legislation on the return of property has yet to
be done. Speaking about the
exodus of Serbs from Sarajevo, the minister reacted positively on our
suggestion to reconsider and
extend the imposed deadlines on the transfer of power over those
neighbourhoods to the authorities
of the Federation. But he could not guarantee that this was really
going to happen.
The hCa had promised the community of refugees from Srebrenica to
lobby with the authorities
concerning their wish to resettle semi-permanently in the Federation,
by erecting a New Srebrenica,
somewhere in the country. The minister's response was firmly negative.
He argued that this would mean that the government had implicitly
accepted the policy of ethnic
cleansing. All displaced persons and refugees from Republica Srpska
have to understand that they can
only stay in the Federation for a limited period of time. Whether this
could be for one or ten years,
depends on the political circumstances. But they have to go back.
The return of refugees and displaced persons was also discussed with
the mayor of Tuzla, S. Beslagic.
His approach was more flexible. He underlined that an inquiry among
2155 displaced persons from
the frontline region had made visible that 88% of them wanted to
return. But he argued that it was
necessary to define different categories. Frontline people had to
leave their houses because regular
fighting was going on there. It is obvious that they want to go back
and should go back, as soon as
possible and with the support of the (international) authorities and
NGO's for repairing their
houses.There is, however, also a category of expelled people due to
the policy of ethnic cleansing.
And more in particular those groups of people who had to endure
horrible massacres when being
expelled.
According to the mayor, the last two categories should not be forced
to return or put under pressure
by emphasizing that they could only stay in the Federation for a short
time. After the traumatic events
they went through, it is up to them to decide whether or not they want
to return. Beslagic suggested
that the Dayton-Parties should put their official signature under such
an approach.
The Tuzla-representative of the International Management Group (IMG),
H. Ulens, pointed at one
of the main problems refugees do meet when they return to their homes.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is
covered with around 2.700 minefields; each field hiding ca. 1.000
mines. IFOR refuses to clear those
fields which are of no immediate danger to its troops. Luckily, the
Norwegian People's Aid (NPA)
will start a trainingprogram on mine-clearing. More funds and
assistance are urgently needed.
With the Dutch minister for development-aid, J. Pronk, an agreement
has been reached to spend the
remaining part of the Dutch contribution ($ 5.000.000) for the
resettlement of displaced persons from
Srebrenica, on the completion of destructed houses in Kalesija (and
some villages nearby). The
(Muslim) owners of these houses are known and approximately DM 20.000
per house is needed for
reparation. This will be done on the condition that they host, most
likely on the second floor, one or
two refugee-families from Srebrenica, for a period up to two/three
years. The contracts will be
prepared and supervised by the IMG.
New settlements (houses) will not be built, since this is very
expensive. There are still between 3.000
and 6.000 refugees from Srebrenica in collective centres; for more
than 14.000 people private
accommodation has been found already, although in many cases they have
to share with other
families. The Dutch money shall no longer be used for the repair of
Serb owned houses.
Ulens confirms that around 6.000 Serbs from Krajina are resettled in
Srebrenica, which makes it very
unlikely for the Muslims from Srebrenica to return home. He can
understand their wish to bring a
substantial part of their community to Vozuca (canton Zenica), and
start to build their own houses
there. But according to his information there is only room for another
500 refugees; Vozuca already
accommodated some 1.400 refugees in houses left by Serbian families.
Since much of the talk about
the return of refugees and displaced persons is politically motivated,
but far beyond reach at the
moment, it might be better and of more help to the refugees if one
establishes a Commission on the
exchange of Properties, between the Federation and Republica Srpska.
The Tuzla-Canton minister, M. Bilajac, responsible for the
resettlement of displaced persons in the
Canton, was rather pleased with the results of the special Task Force
on this issue.
Flexibility has been introduced, he said. First we suggested to build
new villages or quarters, but now
we have realized that it is not a good idea to concentrate so many
traumatized people in one place.
It will create social problems for the other inhabitants of thevillage.
Moreover, there was not enough money. So, the Srebrenica refugees will
be spread over at least 10
places. We do have to put many of them in Serb houses; otherwise the
problem cannot be solved. The
need to build high quality collective centres remains as well. Bilajac
underlined that most refugees
don't want to live in big cities, like Tuzla. They need some land. In
some 'pockets', recaptured from
the Serbs, there is place. The president of the Canton, who has been
the mayor of Kalesija, is very
glad that the Dutch minister Pronk has decided to put his money in
Kalesija so that the original
owners can return home and provide temporary shelter to Srebrenica
families. All money supplied
by donors will be channelled trough official (cantonal) institutions,
and not put in private hands,
Bilajac said.
Although Bilajac is aware of the fact that a large number of refugees
cannot return to their homes -
and that it will become more important to concentrate on the legal
exchange of properties -he
nevertheless holds the international community responsible for this
failure.
Without the return of refugees Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be
re-united. Bilajac wants the
international community to act now, by introducing new sanctions on
Republica Srpska and FRY. The
arrest of war criminals will be crucial, first and foremost Karadzic
and Mladic, he added.
The head of office of the UNHCR in Tuzla, S. Lombardo, confirms that
according to official figures
7000 Krajina Serbs and 2000 Sarajevo Serbs have already settled down
in Srebrenica. He thinks that
the Bosnian government begins to realize that there will not be a
massive return of refugees. Indeed,
it slowly advocates "new housing", since displaced persons cannot live
for ever on the second floor
of the house of somebody else. It might be that the government
silently had already taken the decision
to keep the refugees in the Federation. Lombardo foresees that
pressure on the UNHCR will grow
in face of the elections. We are an alibi for the politicians here who
themselves are unwilling to open
up their policies, he said. What has happened to the ICRC, whose
buildings were blocked by furious
refugees, can happen to us as well. The UNHCR is an easy scapegoat for
the actual policies of the
Parties (Entities) not to allow refugees to return to their homes.
There is no cooperation at all with
Republica Srpska on the return of refugees, but the Federation is
often playing games (with the
UNHCR) as well.
The deputy mayor of Srebrenica, S. Becirevic, and the president of the
local council, F. Salihovic,
expressed their irritation that minister Pronk didn't made any attempt
to contact them when he was
in Tuzla. There are 19.500 refugees from Srebrenica in the Canton
Tuzla, of which 6000 still stay
in collective centres, they claim. But there are a lot of problems
with private accommodation as well.
Often families, up to eight people, have to live in one room. For the
owners it is big business. Some
of them have expelled people from their houses after four or five
months. And if your contract
expires after two or three years, you are left without any rights.
People from Srebrenica are far from
happy to go to Kalesija. The Canton President has been the mayor of
that city and by offering (Dutch)
money for the repair of houses and the restoration of the
infrastructure he probably hopes to win votes
for his re-election. Vozuca, in the Zenica Canton, is the first case
where the Srebrenica refugees
themselves have got a say. There are already 1800 refugees and another
3000 are welcome if the
money will be provided. There is even a possibility to build new
houses, and companies from
Srebrenica might do the job. The Srebrenica municipality has drafted a
concrete project-proposal,
including a budgetplan (DM 5.600.000). The government of Saudi-Arabia
has donated
DM 2.000.000, already.
Since Vozuca cannot accommodate all people from Srebrenica, the local
council has written an urgent
letter to the Bosnian government with the request to accommodate
several thousands of Srebrenica
refugees, now staying in collective centres, in one of the (empty)
Serbian quarters (Ilidza, Ilias or
Grbavica) of Sarajevo. If the government does not reply or answers
negatively, then we plan to go
en masse to Sarajevo, the president of the local council said.
In Banja Luka, the representative of ECMM sketched a grim picture of
the refugee situation in the
city. There are around 100.000 refugees in town, among which 35.000
Serbs from (Croatian) Krajina.
The Krajina people are stateless, they have to live in collective
centres, Belgrade does not want them,
and more and more they will create an immensive problem for the local
community of Banja Luka.
In the mean time half of them, so approximately 17.000, have been sent
to the pocket area that the
Herzog-Bosnian army (HVO) had to leave to Republica Srpska in the
framework of the Dayton
agreement. The HVO left only ruins behind. Banja Luka was a city of
195.000 inhabitants, with
105.000 Serbs, 30.000 Croats, 30.000 Muslims and 30.000 Yugoslavs.
Almost all the Croats and
Muslims have been forcefully removed.
The catholic priest, father Carlo, estimates that 2% of the original
catholic (Croatian) community, i.e.
7.000 people, are still in Republica Srpska. All the others have been
ethnically cleansed and that
process is still going on. The treatment of the Muslim community has
been even worse. The Mufti,
I. Halilovic, reminds us that all 207 mosks have been systematically
destroyed. Irregular gangs placed
explosives, but the legal authorities immediately removed the ruins,
leaving behind an empty place
with no sign what-so-ever of the mosk. The 16 mosks in Banja Luka were
destroyed between 9 April
and 9 September, 1993. The gangs were never arrested.
In Brcko we met with R. Bogicevic, the Serbian vice-mayor, and with S.
Stevic, the secretary for
economics and finances. They refused to have a formal meeting with us,
since in our delegation there
were people from the Federation. President Karadzic had ordered themnot to meet with the other
side, as long as General Djukic was not released from prison in the
Hague to which he was brought
after his arrest by the military-police of the Federation. We finally
sat down for an informal meeting.
We also met with S. Zahirovic, the financial secretary of the Brcko
municipality-in-exile, who now
lives in one of the suburbs of the town. Before the war, Brcko had a
population of 40% Muslims,
20% Serbs, 20% Croats and 20% Yugoslavs. The 30.000 Muslims are
expelled from the city, most
of them found shelter in the villages around which are under control
of the Federation government.
A few of these villages where populated by Serbs, who fled to the city
during the war. Their number
is less than 3000. Threequarters of the territory belonging to the
municipality is in the hands of the
Federation; the City Centre is Serb controlled. During the war 6-7000
Muslims and Croats from
Brcko were put in concentrationcamps and killed. Three people from
Brcko are officially indicted by
the Hague Tribunal.
We saw the first group of 650 Serbian refugees from Sarajevo entering
Brcko and learned that a total
number of 14.000 refugees from Sarajevo was expected to settle down in
Brcko and occupy the
houses of the Muslims and Croats that were not taken already by other
refugees. If they get a house,
they are allowed to stay there permanently. Likewise with the
thousands of Sarajevo Serbs who have
been sent to Srebrenica, so we were informed. It is not difficult to
imagine how tense the situation
might become, in the near future, with so many refugees in the
Brcko-area separated by only a small
and disputed piece of land.
Until the beginning of February talks between the two sides were going
on, on a range of practical
issues, like the supply of electricity, the repair of telephonelines,
etc. Then every contact was
suspended because of the arrest of general Djukic c.s. The Muslims had
also offered to talk in
concrete terms about the return of refugees. The Federation carries
out control over two villages
originally populated by Serbs, while Republica Srpska hold a
Muslim-village and a Croatian village.
The proposal was to allow people to return to their own houses in
these four villages, without
changing state control over these places. That question should be
solved later on, by the Arbitration
Group foreseen in the Dayton agreement. The proposal was rejected by
the Serb side. The Muslims
are now considering the reconstruction of some 1000 houses in the zone
of separation, to be given
back to the original inhabitants. Their policy is to keep the refugees
in the Brcko-area and not to
disperse them throughout the country.
---------------------------
hCa Offices
In Sarajevo, we managed to do the following activities.
* We introduced Job 22 to the minister for refugees of the Bosnian
government. Job 22, run through
the hCa Sarajevo office by its founder and director, ZdravkaGrebo-Jevtic, provides legal aid to
refugees. The program involves the distribution of questionnaires to
refugees both within Bosnia
and Herzegovina and abroad, to communities in almost all European
countries, the US, Canada
and Australia. The questionnaires are then returned to the office in
Sarajevo where they are
analyzed and responses to concerns regarding personal or property
rights are then returned to the
clients dispersed throughout the world. Property, employment,
citizenship, family and matrimonial
rights and the rights of those severely affected by war (veterans,
orphans, etc.) are all addressed
by Job 22's experts and professional staff. Eight judges and lawyers
are working on the project.
* We interviewed six candidates for the job of general director of the
hCa office in Sarajevo.
Mrs.Svjetlana Derajic was appointed as the new director. She has
been a legal adviser for the
Social Democratic Party, is a member of the cantonal assembly
Sarajevo, and during the war she
worked for the local community on the distribution of food amongst
the poorest people.
* We visited the Arts gallery Collegium Artisticum to arrange an
exchange programme with the
Dutch Pulchri Studio in The Hague.
* The hCa, together with the Legal Centre of the Open Society Fund
B&H, had organized a seminar
for local NGO's on the topic "The role of NGO's in developing a
democratic society". Between
thirty and forty people of some fifteen local NGO's participated in
the seminar. Lectures were
given by Mary Kaldor (co-chair hCa) and Mient Jan Faber (director
hCa). NGO's in Bosnia and
Herzegovina are so far mainly perceived as connected with
humanitarian aid, and till a lesser
extend with human rights and cultural exchanges. Moreover, most of
them are international, so
imported from elsewhere. The time has come that they no longer
should substitute for the lack of
local NGO's. Why and how to develop local NGO's? We have tried to
address this question, to
broaden the picture and to discuss the issue on how to develop a
successful strategy. Several
students expressed their wish to become involved in the activities
of the hCa, and to establish links
with students abroad.
* We visited the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party and the
Liberal Party. The discussions
concentrated on the upcoming elections and the marginalization of
the non-nationalist parties, (see
next paragraph). We also met the chairman of the Federal Parliament,
M. Ljubic, a Croat and
member of the ruling nationalist party, HDZ. He pointed out the
limited role of the Federal
Parliament. There are other power centres, in and outside the
country, with more impact on the
political process, he said. Speaking about the problems between the
Croats and Muslims in
Mostar, he acknowledged that the Federal Parliament had no influence
whatsoever on these events.
They are not even discussed in the Parliament. The recent solution
on the unification of Mostar,
which was enforced by the International Community (Americans) at a
special conference in Rome,
he welcomed with some cynicism. Mr. Holbrooke forced the two sides
to accept a unified
city-centre, which was nothing more than a small strip of land along
the river with some
powerplants, a railwaystation, a grammarschool and the building of
mr. Koschnik, like he put it.
In the mean time, the Federal Parliament is passing laws on the
cantonal borders in the Federation.
It hopes to complete this job by the end of March, so well in time
for the (cantonal) elections. He
agreed with us that the conditions put forward by the Election
Commission, regarding the
eligibility for participation, are very tough and much stronger than
in 1990. But the OSCE is fully
responsible for that, he said.
* Circle 99, the association of independent intellectuals in Sarajevo,
and the Tuzla Citizens' Forum
are the initiators of a new project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They
plan to establish a Citizens'
Parliament in which NGO's from all over the country should regularly
meet to discuss their plans
for the reintegration of the country and the transformation of the
Dayton accords so that this goal
can be realized. The hCa is asked to be the international protector
of the Citizens' Parliament. The
two local NGO's informed us about the progress of their project,
which will be launched officially
in April 1996. Circle 99 is loosely connected with Studio 99, the
independent radio & television
station of Sarajevo. One of its main concerns is to establish a
country-wide independent radio &
television network. So far the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
in particular the ruling
nationalist Muslim party, SDA, has blocked every attempt in this
direction.
In Tuzla we pursued the following commitments.
* The City to City project is a joint activity of Tuzla (municipality
and NGO's) and quite a number
of Dutch cities and NGO's. The approach of this project is based on
community building
(neighbourhood development, permanent education, cultural programs,
youth activities, elderly
care, reintegration of refugees, etc.). We discussed the progress of
different elements of the project
with local partners. The Dutch minister for development cooperation
has expressed his willingness
to co-finance the project.
* Taldi is an hCa initiative to promote civic reconstruction. This
agency is adopted by the World
Bank as its secretariat to support small income generating projects
in the Tuzla region. We met
with the local coordinator of Taldi, M. Kuslugic, to discuss the ins
and outs of the project. Some
projects have been identified already and the money is allocated.
* The women's organization of Srebrenica is located in Tuzla. Its
representatives asked us to pay
more attention to the fate of the missing people. Eight months have
gone after the massacre in
Srebrenica, and still it is unclear what has happened to more than
10.000 people (most of them
male civilians, women, children, young and old people).
The women have received letters which were smuggled out of private
concentration camps. They
have asked ICRC to look after the people who wrote these letters.But no activity has followed.
All the names of missing people should be registered by the ICRC, as
a gesture of honour and
respect to those who probably have been killed. The hCa-branches all
over Europe are asked to
go to the Red Cross offices in their country and plea for the
registration of these people. The list
of names is available in Tuzla. The women's organization from
Srebrenica wants to visit the
Netherlands, to inform the people about their fate, and about what
has happened. They have heard
of the discussion on Dutchbat and told us that although Dutchbat can
be blamed, there is also a
lot to say in favour of the Dutch. It was not the primary failure of
Dutchbat what has happened
in Srebrenica. We promised to approach women's organization in the
Netherlands which might
be able to invite them.
For the first time since the war began, we succeeded in bringing an
hCa-delegation to Banja Luka,
including three people from the Federation. We wanted to explore the
possibilities for setting up
an hCa-branche in Banja Luka and to initiate several projects and
activities.
Despite what happened with the almost total expulsion of the Muslims
and Croats from the city,
and the destruction of most of their religious buildings, a great
majority of the local population
seems tired with the war and its propaganda and is longing for
change towards normality. M.
Zivanovic, our main contact and professor in philosophy at the
university of Banja Luka, informed
us about the rather impressive support for the Liberal Party in the
city and probably throughout
Republica Srpska. He explains this relative popularity also by
comparing the Liberal Party with
the opposition parties in the Federation. The Liberal Party is the
only citizens party in this Entity,
all the others do have an ethnic or communist connotation. Whereas
in the Federation most
opposition parties only marginally differ in their formal philosophy
from the SDA, the party of
Izetbegovic. The Tuzla Citizens Forum is, as far as he knows, one of
the rare real alternatives,
although it is not a political party. The Liberal Party of Republica
Srpska of which Zivanovic is
the president, is trying to occupy the centre of the political
spectrum. It sincerely supports the
Dayton agreement and wants to use it as an instrument to build up
inside relations throughout the
whole country. The Liberals are strongly against making use of the
churches for political
objectives. This cannot be said of the right side of the political
spectrum where you find the
nationalist, often extremist parties for whom religion is central in
their propaganda. But the
nationalistic idea is now self-destroying, Zivanovic said. The left,
on the other side, is still full
of traditional communist dreams and rather close to Milosovic. They
have little influence and
popular appeal, he thinks.
Three years ago, Zivanovic was branded a traitor by the Pale regime,
when he published his views
on nationalism and nationalistic parties, condemning the SDS, butthe HDZ and the SDA as well.
His family was often threatened. He himself was sent to the front
until the end of the war. With
some bitterness he now observes so many people starting to criticize
Karadzic, after having been
his true followers for so long. Of course, Karadzic and Mladic are
still organizing propaganda
meetings for their own sake. But only 'primitive' people go there,
often forced because they have
got an obligatory day off from their schools or companies. During
the war there was not much
the Liberal Party could do to protect the victims of ethnic
cleansing. Everything was under control
of the SDS. When the Serbian refugees from Krajina entered Banja
Luka, the Liberal Party
officially requested the police to post before the houses of the
Croat and Muslim families in town.
There was no answer. The liberals themselves have tried to give some
personal help to their
neighbours if they were threatened with expulsion. Even some
military men did so.
* We discussed the possibility to establish an hCa branch in Banja
Luka. Zivanovic and his
friends consider it a very helpful idea. But it will take some
time, before the official
registration might succeed. For the time being an informal hCa
branch will function in Banja
Luka. Programs to be initiated include:
-(financial) support for an independent newspaper;
-courses on democracy and civil society at the university, with
international participation
(Mary Kaldor, Mient Jan Faber, a.o.);
-visit of the Forum of Intellectuals (Banja Luka) to the Tuzla
Citizens Forum;
-participation in the project of a Citizens Parliament for Bosnia
and Herzegovina;
-establishment of contacts with Taldi. Zivanovic has founded a
similar institution (LFOR) for
civic reconstruction in Banja Luka.
* We met with the chairman of the Serbian Forum of Intellectuals, M.
Ivanic. The Forum
considers itself an NGO, a rare phenomenon nowadays in this city.
Established before the war
on the initiative of members of the ruling party (SDS), other
participants took over the
leadership and unsuccessfully tried to transform the Forum into a
multi-national club. The
Forum stopped its activities during the war, until June '95 when
it convened again because of
the critical situation in and around Banja Luka. (The HVO was
gaining territory and more and
more Serbian refugees were entering the city.) Again, a group of
young intellectuals tried to
get rid of the prefix Serbian, but also this attempt failed.
The chairman asked us to understand that the 80 members of the
Forum came from different
political backgrounds, but all of them were Serbs. We expressed
however our scepticism and
so did Zivanovic who at the time was still in the army. The new
aim of the Forum is to
influence the way of thinking of the Pale authorities, in a more
moderate direction. In particular
the 'collective' way of thinking is criticized. The Forum has met
with ambassador Frowick
from the OSCE and asked his active support for a planned visit toTuzla to meet with the Tuzla
Citizens Forum. In preparation is also a discussion with UN
representatives on the notion of
human rights. According to the chairman, the Forum finally starts
to do what prof. Zivanovic
had wanted it to do.
It would be very helpful indeed, if the hCa could assist as well
in these meetings and visits.
Ivanic agrees that the Forum of intellectuals is quite different
in scope and philosophy
compared to the Tuzla Citizens Forum. Many people in Banja Luka
are not yet ready to join
a real Citizens Forum and by doing so to cross traditional
borders. Banja Luka is not the only
city in Republica Srpska with a Forum of intellectuals; in
Prijodor, Gradacac, Brcko and
Doboj, there are similar NGO's.
Like the Liberal Party, the Forum is very positive about the
Dayton agreement. There exists
a mood for change in Banja Luka. This became already very visible
in September '95, when
the Patriotic Front, a newly established coalition of opposition
parties and citizens, got access
to radio Krajina, which is a military radio controlled by the
(dissident) first army corps.
A Democratic Alternative should emerge very soon now in this
Entity to prevent total anarchy.
* We visited the catholic priest father Carlo and the islamic mufti
I. Halilovic, to express our
sympathy and solidarity with the sufferings of their communities.
They informed us about the
good relations between all the religious communities, up to
January 1993. In that month the
last common prayers for peace were hold during the services in the
mosks, the catholic
churches and the orthodox churches. On 23 December 1992, a common
"Last Appeal against
the War" was launched. But in January 1993 the orthodox bishop
broke off all relations. The
mufti considers himself a looser, but he didn't loose his
integrity. He is not accusing the
orthodox bishop. May be, he was not able to do anything. Some day
the bishop might come
to his house to express his condolences, so that new relationships
can be established. The
relations between the mufti and the catholic bishop are still in
tact.
* The Union of the Left - or the Communist League-Movement for
Yugoslavia - simplified the
political spectrum into a extremist-nationalist wing and a unified
left wing, including the
liberals. There was no room for a centrist party, they said. On
the wall in their room we saw
a picture of Marx, and a bust of Lenin decorated one of their
shelves. The President of the
Union, M. Cargvic, strongly defended Serbia and Milosovic. It was
Germany that pushed for
the secession of Bosnia, not Serbia, he said. Milosovic has never
been in favour of ethnic
cleansing; he supported the Vance-Owen plan. Speaking about
Karadzic and Mladic, the
President claimed that the two are not the biggest war-criminals.
We know the people who did
it. When we asked him to give us their names, so that we could
inform the war tribunal in The
Hague, he refused. According to him the war tribunal is one-sided
and therefore people here
will continue to support Karadzic and Mladic. But people are also
fed up; the great majority
wants to get rid of the nationalists. The elections will become
decisive. When we are in power,
Cargvic said, our own courts will judge Karadzic and Mladic.
* We finally met the editorial board of the independent newspaper
Novi Prelom. Despite very
limited resources the quality of the paper is highly estimated.
Several people expressed their
eagerness to join a Banja Luka branch of the hCa. We promised to
look for financial support
for their paper.
S. Zahirovic from Brcko pointed out that the Serbian side wants to
establish a corridor with a
diameter of 18,5 km, down from the river Sava. The other side
(Federation) does not want to divide
the region and so opposes any corridor. The corridor will soon become
symbolic for the question
whether or not to divide the country. If the Serbs succeed then Bosnia
and Herzegovina will fall apart.
If the Federation wins then the chances for reintegration remain open.
In November/December the
group of arbitrators has to take a binding decision on the "disputed
portion of the Inter-Entity
Boundary Line in the Brcko area". The Dayton agreement reads: Annex 2,
Art.V, 2 and 5. "No later
than six months after the entry into force of this Agreement, the
Federation shall appoint one
arbitrator, and the Republica Srpska shall appoint one arbitrator. A
third arbitrator shall be selected
by agreement of the Parties' appointees within thirty days thereafter.
If they do not agree, the third
arbitrator shall be appointed by the President of the International
Court of Justice. The third arbitrator
shall serve as presiding officer of the arbitral tribunal."......."The
arbitrators shall issue their decision
no later than one year from the entry into force of this Agreement.
The decision shall be final and binding, and the Parties shall
implement it without delay."
Given the process of polarization and radicalization in the region,
and the manipulation and
exploitation of the refugees, a compromise is hard to envisage. In the
Serb controlled City-centre only
four political parties have been registered so far. They are all
extremists and connected to Milosovic,
Karadzic, Seselj and Arkan, respectively. We need more time, Zahirovic
said. He favours a
temporary solution in which the Brcko region is divided in cantons
according to the Mostar-model,
but under a powerful international authority. In other words: a local
protectorate (headed by an
American administrator). We agree with him and promise to lobby for
this solution.
----------------------
The Elections
The Provisional Election Commission, chaired by the OSCE-ambassador,
mr. Frowick, published on
22 February '96 its first paper on rules and regulations for the
preparation and conduct of the
elections for the municipal assemblies, the cantonal assemblies in the
Federation, the House of
Representatives of the Federation, the National Assembly of Republica
Srpska, the Presidency of
Republica Srpska, the House of Representatives of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and the three-member
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Elections are expected to be held between 14th June and 14th September
1996. The paper received
much criticism, especially from the opposition parties. Mrs. Judy
Thompson, director general for the
elections, described the paper as nothing more than a framework. All
details still have to be
discussed. The Election Commission has met 11 times, without any input
from the political parties
so far. Political parties are not invited for the Commission.
But the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina and the
Republica Srpska (called: 'the Parties') are officially represented
in the Commission, according to
the Dayton agreement. Which implies that in fact the ruling parties:
SDA, HDZ, and SDS are part
of the Commission. One considers now the possibility to establish a
consultative committee, in which
political parties and NGO's can participate, mrs Thompson told us.
Also a Code of Conduct will be
written. The conditions for party-registration are very firm. Parties
are only registered to take part
in the elections on Entity level, if they submit the signatures of
10.000 voters who support them. This
number is twice as high as during the previous (country-wide!)
elections in 1990. Probably mr.
Frowick was misled by the Parties, who also in 1990 tried to fix the
number of signatures on 10.000,
but finally had to give in and accept the smaller number of 5.000. Mrs
Thompson agrees that the
situation is embarrassing. She stated that this point will be
discussed again. The OSCE has to certify
whether elections can be effective under current social conditions.
Ambassador Frowick has made it
clear that he will not call for elections if some kind of normality
has not been achieved. Free access
to the media is essential, as well as a comprehensive programme of
voter education. But no money
has been made available for that. Mrs Thompson encouraged the hCa to
set up education programmes
focused on the elections. And to help the OSCE with the recruitment of
local monitors for the
elections.
The OSCE is establishing offices throughout the country. We also met
with the OSCE-team in Tuzla.
They still felt quite isolated and waiting for instructions. Although
they were ready to participate in
education-programmes, organized by the hCa, they also emphasized the
limited mandate of the OSCE.
In the hCa-appeal it is written that the OSCE has the mandate to
prepare and run the elections. This
however is not the case. The OSCE can only supervise and assist. By
election day, the return of
refugees should already be underway; so it is stated in the Dayton
agreement. But hardly anybody
believes that this will be the case.
Nevertheless, refugees do have the right to vote in the place where
they were registered in 1991. If,
for instance, refugees from Srebrenica can hire a bus which is willingto bring them to Srebrenica for
casting their ballots, the OSCE is ready to accompany them. The
hCa-suggestion to establish offices
in every town and village where citizens can lodge complaints against
candidates and parties, was
positively received by the OSCE.
The Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party are deeply upset
because of the paper of the
Provisional Election Commission. They feel marginalized and were not
even invited when ambassador
Frowick presented his paper. They welcome the set of criteria put
forward by the hCa, but the
fulfilment of such criteria would take a very long time in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The conditions
set by Frowick's paper (10.000 signatures for participating in Entity
elections, 2.500 for cantonal
elections and 500 for municipal elections) actually excludes the
non-nationalist parties from the
elections. In fact, it raises a threshold of 10% or even 20% for
entering the Assemblies. Only a
coalition of opposition parties might have a chance to make it. But
there is much more which is
disadvantaging for the non-nationalist parties.
- The Canton system is not functioning, with probably one exception.
In Herzog-Bosnia the
HDZ/HVO will simply not allow the opposition parties to collect
signatures;
- The non-nationalist parties have no money. The ruling parties, the
SDA and the HDZ have made
fortunes during the war. Nowadays, again they receive money from
international organisations for
the reconstruction of the country. And SDA and HDZ determine were
the money will be spend.
They will buy their voters all over the Entity;
- The main media are under control of the ruling nationalist parties.
Every attempt to introduce an
independent country-wide tv-channel or radio-station has been
blocked so far. The state might
allow a second official tv-channel where parties get the possibility
to produce a four minute
election program, once a week. But this does not match at all the
privileges the ruling parties have
reserved for themselves. Indeed, the main opposition parties do want
their own tv-channel;
- Because the SDA controls all embassies, the non-nationalist parties
demand that embassies should
not be used as propaganda-offices. Also religious houses should
openly state that they resist to be
used as places for political propaganda, like was the case in 1990.
The leader of the Union of Social Democrats, S. Beslagic, mayor of
Tuzla, joins the critique of the
other non-nationalist parties. But he is more pragmatic. A coalition
of the 'Democratic Alternative'
(Siladzic), the Union of Social Democrats, the Social Democratic Party
and the Republican Party,
might gain around 30% of the votes, he thinks. In two years time we
will have new elections. With
a substantial faction in Parliament we will be able to prepare well
for the next step to power.
Compared to Republica Srpska, the Federation is an eldorado of
democracy. Independent local
radio-stations, let alone tv-channels do not exist there. In BanjaLuka there are 26 parties registered,
of which 10 can considered more or less serious. The main difference
in favour of Republica Srpska
is however that there seems to exist a broadly shared feeling that the
nationalists have discredited
themselves and will rapidly loose power, despite all their (dirty)
efforts to stay in power. The
elections might become a turning point. One should also take into
account that unfortunately a
multi-national society no longer exists in Republica Srpska; the
country is almost ethnically pure.
There is no rivalry between national groups any longer, like in the
Federation. The Serbs in
Republica Srpska are confronted with only one central question: do we
want to free ourselves from
the party that has made us outcasts in Europe, or not?
Of course, there are places like Brcko where the nationalist parties
can stir tensions and consequently
win the elections because of the growing fear among the people. The
assessment of the OSCE,
"whether elections can be effective under current social conditions"
should therefore differentiate from
place to place, canton to canton, Entity to Entity. The OSCE is
mandated "to provide assistance to
the Parties in creating these conditions". Indeed, it should seriously
consider the option of an
international local protectorate for Brcko, in order to prevent a new
nationalist outburst which in the
end might affect the whole country.
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Copies of this report are available on request. Contact address:
hCa-office, The Hague, Mrs. Juanita Zeegelaar,
Mr. André Lommen.