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OMRI Pursuing Balkan Peace, No. 25, 96-06-25
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Pursuing Balkan Peace
No. 25, 25 June 1996
CONTENTS
[01] KARADZIC NOMINATED FOR BOSNIAN SERB PRESIDENCY.
[02] BOSNIAN SERB POLITICAL UPDATE.
[03] PALE SETS AGENDA FOR BRCKO.
[04] SERBIAN WOMEN HOLD OSCE REPRESENTATIVES CAPTIVE.
[05] PALE TO SET UP SPECIAL WAR CRIMES COURT.
[06] SERBS BEING BULLIED OUT OF SARAJEVO.
[07] BIGGEST MASS GRAVE TO DATE EXHUMED NEAR SARAJEVO.
[08] ARMS EMBARGO FOR FORMER YUGOSLAVIA ENDS.
[09] U.S. STARTS FIRST MAJOR REDEPLOYMENT OUT OF BOSNIA.
[10] UPDATE ON EMPLOYMENT OF DEMOBILIZED SOLDIERS.
[11] BOSNIAN MILITARY SHORTS.
[12] COTTI VISITS BOSNIA AHEAD OF DECISION ON ELECTIONS.
[13] MORE FALLOUT OVER B-H CROAT "GOVERNMENT..."
[14] ...AND THE ROW CONTINUES.
[15] INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS WARN CROATS NOT TO TRY TO PRESERVE HERCEG-BOSNA.
[16] BOSNIAN CROATS DENY ATTEMPTING TO PRESERVE HERCEG-BOSNA.
[17] HOW DO THE MOSTAR ELECTIONS WORK?
[18] TUDJMAN SKEPTICAL BOSNIA STATE WILL SURVIVE.
[19] SERBIAN LEADERS ON BOSNIAN ELECTIONS.
[20] SERBIAN "DEMOCRATS" WOULD SUPPORT A KARADZIC CANDIDACY.
[21] RUMP YUGOSLAVIA PARDONS DRAFT DODGERS.
[22] OMRI INTERVIEW -- Soren Jensen Petersen
[01] KARADZIC NOMINATED FOR BOSNIAN SERB PRESIDENCY.
The Pale regional group of the governing Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) on 20
June nominated the current president of the Republika Srpska (RS), Radovan
Karadzic, to run in the direct elections for the presidency. He is, however,
also an indicted war criminal, and the Dayton agreement specifies that such
people cannot hold political office and must be sent to The Hague to face
charges. The latest move of the SDS regional chapter thus constitutes a direct
challenge to those responsible for implementing the Dayton treaty.
Whether or not Karadzic will actually head the SDS ticket will be settled at
the party's convention slated for 28 June, Onasa reported. That day is
Vidovdan -- a major Serbian holiday with momentous historical overtones -- and
the date was doubtlessly selected to maximize the propaganda value of the
convention. There have recently been orchestrated demonstrations on behalf of
Karadzic and fellow indicted war criminal Gen. Ratko Mladic across the RS.
Slogans used at the rallies stress that Karadzic is the Bosnian Serbs' leader
and that the people will defend him. These views were echoed by SDS official
Stevan Milic, whom Beta quoted as saying: "We will elect the best, and
Karadzic is the best. If he does not accept [the nomination], we will make
him." Karadzic's hard-line deputy, Biljana Plavsic, added: "If IFOR tries to
arrest Karadzic in the meantime, our reaction will be very strong and
therefore we actually don't care whether they will try to do it or
not."
Karadzic's nomination also comes amid reports that Belgrade and its loyalists
in Pale are trying to oust him before sanctions are reimposed. AFP quoted U.S.
Undersecretary of State Peter Tarnoff as stating: "We have had some
indications that the authorities... are thinking about the consequences to
them if... Karadzic is not removed from power and removed from influence. I
can't tell you if they will act in time, but [Secretary of State Warren
Christopher] is quite serious about it."
Karadzic and his followers, however, probably have little to fear from the
international community, which so far has failed to uphold the civilian
provisions of the Dayton agreement that it itself sponsored. Karadzic and
Mladic continue to move about freely, unhindered by the presence of 60,000 of
some of NATO's finest troops. Western protests about Karadzic's continuing
political role thus ring increasingly hollow, as did the statement of State
Department spokesman Nicholas Burns on Karadzic's nomination: "His name will
not be on the ballot. He cannot hold office whether he has 100 or 1,000
votes."
Karadzic, however, is likely to be nominated regardless of the objections from
Washington, Sarajevo, or anywhere else. Perhaps the only power he really has
to fear is Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who might like to see
Karadzic silenced lest some day he tell what he knows about Milosevic's role
in starting the war and carrying out war crimes. There area already jokes in
Serbia about the possibility of Karadzic's having "an auto accident." --
Patrick Moore
[02] BOSNIAN SERB POLITICAL UPDATE.
There was thus predictably widespread anger in the international community
following the nomination, the BBC reported on 22 June. Leaks then came from
within the RS to news agencies to suggest that Karadzic will leave the
presidency this week to concentrate on SDS affairs, and that hard-line Foreign
Minister Aleksa Buha will replace him. Buha himself subsequently denied the
story as "journalistic speculation," Nasa Borba reported on 24 June. The
paper added that a campaign has begun in the RS to support Karadzic's
presidential candidacy. He has been endorsed by the Banja Luka SDS and by the
Society of Refugees in Brcko, which claims to represent 15,000 people. Also in
Banja Luka, however, Mayor Predrag Radic said he will oppose Karadzic for the
presidency, AFP reported on 23 June. Radic recently broke with Karadzic and
the SDS, and will run as the candidate of the opposition Democratic Patriotic
Bloc of the Republika Srpska. -- Patrick Moore
[03] PALE SETS AGENDA FOR BRCKO.
Back in Pale, the Republika Srpska's legislature met on 19 June and elected
Vitomir Pavlovic, a professor of international law in Banja Luka, as the
Serbs' representative to the arbitration commission that will settle the fate
of Brcko, as specified in the Dayton agreement. The parliament also directed
the cabinet to set down the Serbian position on the future of the northern
Bosnian town and the surrounding land corridor that links the western and
eastern halves of the RS, Nasa Borba noted. Pavlovic said that previous
international conferences had "never disputed" that Brcko will remain Serbian
and that "it was agreed in Dayton that the RS should have 20 km more in that
region," Onasa reported. The Bosnian government favors making a neutral zone
out of Brcko, which had a mainly Muslim population before the war. -- Patrick
Moore
[04] SERBIAN WOMEN HOLD OSCE REPRESENTATIVES CAPTIVE.
Some other Bosnian Serbs, for their part, have decided on taking a more direct
approach to dealing with their problems. Dozens of women who want help in
finding relatives missing since the Croatian offensive last summer
surrounded the OSCE offices in Banja Luka on 17 June, preventing staff from
leaving the building, AFP reported. Twenty-four hours later, they left
following talks with Michael Steiner, who is the deputy of High Representative
Carl Bildt. The leader of the Bosnian Serb missing persons' group said the
women's action was "political" and aimed at drawing the attention of UN
organizations to the problem of missing Serbs in Bosnia. But Alexander Ivanko,
a UN spokesman in Sarajevo, said the UN international police consider it "not
a political but a criminal action." -- Daria Sito Sucic
[05] PALE TO SET UP SPECIAL WAR CRIMES COURT.
The Bosnian Serb parliament, meanwhile, also adopted a proposal to establish a
war crimes court to try Bosnian Serbs indicted by the Hague-based
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Nasa Borba
reported on 20 June. Speaker Momcilo Krajisnik proposed setting up the new
body because the RS constitution prohibits the extradition of its citizens.
This all serves to "legalize" Pale's persistent refusal to extradite indicted
war criminals Karadzic and Mladic, and otherwise to cooperate with the court,
as the Dayton agreement obliges it to do. The Bosnian Serb parliament also
passed a partial amnesty for people charged with or convicted for "disturbing
the Republika Srpska's social order." -- Daria Sito Sucic
[06] SERBS BEING BULLIED OUT OF SARAJEVO.
Back in the Bosnian capital, Onasa on 21 June quoted UN spokesman Ivanko as
saying that 72 Serbs have been intimidated into leaving formerly Serb-held
suburbs. He added that more are preparing to go if the situation does not
improve. "We are especially concerned over the harassment of [members of the]
Serbian Democratic Initiative (SDI), the only organization that is trying to
protect Serbs in those areas." Ivanko added that the UN is especially
concerned about SDI member Bogdan Jovanovic, whom federal police arrested some
weeks ago on suspicion of war crimes. Jovanovic remains in jail but no charges
have been brought against him and no evidence has been produced. -- Patrick
Moore
[07] BIGGEST MASS GRAVE TO DATE EXHUMED NEAR SARAJEVO.
Evidence has indeed come to light, however, in another case. Bosnian forensic
and judicial experts and a U.S. forensic anthropologist from the Hague-based
war crimes tribunal uncovered the bodies of 47 Muslims men in the hamlet of
Ravne. The people came from the village of Ahatovici and were killed by the
Serbs on 14 June 1992, AFP reported on 24 June. The story came to light
because eight additional Muslims escaped from the bus in which all had been
held as the Serbs raked it with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire,
Reuters added. The Serbs left the bodies in the bus, but Muslims from Ravne
buried the victims a few days later. -- Patrick Moore
[08] ARMS EMBARGO FOR FORMER YUGOSLAVIA ENDS.
Turning to military affairs, international restrictions on the export of
weapons to that troubled region became history on 18 June, AFP reported. The
move became possible according to the terms of the Dayton agreement following
the signing of a regional arms control agreement on 14 June (see ).
Serbia-Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina will now enjoy parity in
heavy weapons in a ratio of 5:2:2. Within the Bosnian allotment, the Croat-
Muslim federation will be allowed more weapons than the Bosnian Serbs. The
embargo went into effect on 25 September 1991 following Serbia's invasion of
Slovenia and Croatia. The ban served to preserve Belgrade's existing military
preponderance, but all sides found ways of circumventing the restrictions, the
BBC noted. It is unlikely that the latest arms control agreement will be any
more water-tight than was the embargo. Reports are already circulating that
the Bosnian Serbs will circumvent the restrictions by simply sending their
heavy guns and other hardware to Montenegro for storage. -- Patrick
Moore
[09] U.S. STARTS FIRST MAJOR REDEPLOYMENT OUT OF BOSNIA.
Soldiers of the 1st Armored Division Headquarters, the Division Support
Command and various liaison groups will begin IFOR's first significant move
out of the war-torn republic on 23 June. They will leave Lukavica in northern
Bosnia for Slavonski Brod in Croatia, AFP reported on 19 June. There has been
much discussion in Western capitals about keeping the peacekeepers on in
Bosnia into 1997 to deter any renewal of fighting, and U.S. Secretary of
Defense William Perry has endorsed the idea. President Bill Clinton, however,
has made election year promises that U.S. forces will leave Bosnia by December
1996. Meanwhile in the Adriatic, NATO and WEU ships suspended their arms
control patrols know as operation Sharp Guard following the end of the UN's
arms embargo on the former Yugoslavia. Finally, British commander Gen. Michael
Jackson said he will leave his post on 26 June with mixed feelings. He is
especially concerned with the failure to enforce the Dayton agreement's
civilian provisions. Britain's 8,700 troops constitute IFOR's second largest
contingent. -- Patrick Moore
[10] UPDATE ON EMPLOYMENT OF DEMOBILIZED SOLDIERS.
Among the three sides within Bosnia, however, much concern centers on
demobilizing tens of thousands of men for whom there are probably no jobs.
Sarajevo officials report that employment of demobilized Bosnian Army soldiers
is not going well, Oslobodjenje said on 14 June. While 23,000 troops have
been released from the army since the start of demobilization process in
November 1995, 10,000 more are still slated to be released. The city assembly
defense secretary noted that only 7,500 of the men have found jobs so far.
Onasa reported on 20 June, however, that the major steel plant in Zenica will
reopen two departments that will provide jobs for some 1,000 demobilized
soldiers who were laid off and waiting for jobs. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[11] BOSNIAN MILITARY SHORTS.
All parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina have signed an agreement to fine-tune the
demarcation line between the Croat-Muslim federation and the Republika Srpska.
The text covers 44 points of contention, AFP reported on 20 June. Still
unresolved are border issues in the formerly Serb-held Sarajevo suburb of
Dobrinja, and in the Sapna region of eastern Bosnia between Tuzla and Zvornik.
Meanwhile in nearby Bijeljina, IFOR news officials said that future briefings
on Bosnian Serb territory will be held in that town rather than in Pale, Onasa
noted. IFOR stopped the press conferences in the Bosnian Serb capital two
weeks ago because of a picture of Karadzic hanging on the wall. -- Patrick
Moore
[12] COTTI VISITS BOSNIA AHEAD OF DECISION ON ELECTIONS.
Meanwhile on the civilian political front, much attention this week centered
on the elections. Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE President Flavio Cotti
arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina on 23 June for a series of meetings with both
Bosnian and RS officials, international and local media reported. After talks
with Bosnian Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic, Cotti said the OSCE was not
subject to any pressure, though all Western governments want the Bosnian
elections to be held by the agreed September deadline, Hina reported.
Muratovic said Bosnian authorities would take all measures necessary to create
conditions for free elections, whenever they take place. Cotti is expected to
announce the decision on the elections date on 25 June. In an unrelated
development, refugees from Mostar living in rump Yugoslavia said after
visiting Mostar that a mass return of Mostar Serbs to their homes is out of
the question due to the displaced Muslims who are currently settled there,
Nasa Borba reported on 24 June. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[13] MORE FALLOUT OVER B-H CROAT "GOVERNMENT..."
The local Croats were in the news as well. The leading Croatian political
party in both Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Croatian Democratic
Community (HDZ), denied on 18 June that recent political changes in the self-
proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosna are a breach of the Dayton
agreement (see ). The HDZ's Bozo Rajic said that the changes involve only
reorganizing an existing cabinet, and that the Republic remains legal until
the Croat-Muslim federation truly comes into effect. The Muslims charge that
the quasi-state should have been disbanded long ago. Federal Vice President
Ejup Ganic has demanded the recall of federal Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic,
a Croat, since his appointment had been conditional on the dissolution of
Herceg-Bosna, Onasa reported. The Russian Foreign Ministry has also protested
the Croatian moves as a breach of Dayton, Nasa Borba wrote on 19 June . Most
observers would probably agree that the Muslim position is the one most in
keeping with peace agreement, but would also note that western Herzegovina
functions in any event as a part of Croatia. -- Patrick Moore
[14] ...AND THE ROW CONTINUES.
Ganic then warned the Bosnian Federation Constituent Assembly on 19 June that
the situation in the federation was difficult, and underscored that setting up
the new government of Herceg-Bosna was a "huge step backward," Onasa reported.
He also deplored the "lack of political liberties" on the territory controlled
by the Croatian Defense Council (HVO). Opposition parties have proposed that
both Federation President Kresimir Zubak and Vice President Ganic be relieved
of their duties because they have not upheld the signed agreements on the
federation. Zubak himself said he and Ganic are unable to perform 80% of their
duties because the institutional framework is lacking, Hina reported. Zubak
also defended Bosnian Croat government structures, saying they have been
reduced to a level necessary for "normal work and life of citizens." In
addition, he denied Ganic's assertion that Prlic obtained his post as a return
favor for abolishing Herceg-Bosna. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[15] INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS WARN CROATS NOT TO TRY TO PRESERVE HERCEG-BOSNA.
The discussion had echoes outside Bosnia-Herzegovina, too. The EU warned the
Bosnian Croats that efforts to preserve Herceg-Bosna are a clear violation of
the Dayton peace accord and run contrary to the goal of consolidating the
federation, AFP reported on 20 June. The Italian EU Presidency urged the
Croatian government to pressure the local Croat leadership to cooperate in the
peace process. Meanwhile, UN spokesman Ivanko, warning of growing "separatist
tendencies" in Bosnia, said on 19 June that Bosnian Croats in particular are
not cooperating with peace implementation officials because of their desire to
maintain their para-state, Oslobodjenje reported. Ivanko also called on
Zagreb to force Herceg-Bosna leaders to comply with the peace agreement. --
Daria Sito Sucic
[16] BOSNIAN CROATS DENY ATTEMPTING TO PRESERVE HERCEG-BOSNA.
But then, after having been heavily criticized both at home and abroad, three
Bosnian Croat leaders on 23 June denied the Croats are trying to preserve
their mini-state, AFP reported. Prlic, Rajic, and Federal Defense Minister
Vladimir Soljic said their move to restructure rather than disband the Herceg-
Bosna government was misunderstood, and was actually a way to gradually
transfer authority to the federation. Meanwhile, Bosnian Croats on 22 June
stoned buses carrying more than 200 Bosnian Muslims who were trying to visit
their former homes in town of Pocitelj, south of Mostar, AFP reported, quoting
a Bosnian radio report. While Croat refugees surrounded and stoned the buses,
the local Croat police did not react, AFP added. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[17] HOW DO THE MOSTAR ELECTIONS WORK?
The big story in Mostar, is, however, the elections. An EU administration
representative told OMRI that voters will have three votes on 30 June. With
the first they will elect the city's six municipalities, each of which has
25 seats. With the second and the third ones they will elect the 37-seat
city council. Among those two votes one will decide 24 seats which will be
filled by four representatives from each of the six municipalities. The
third ballot will elect the remaining 13 seats at large.
During the whole election process the voters will not decide on candidates
directly but exclusively about party lists. In addition, the ethnic
representation in both the municipalities and the city council has been
defined in advance. The ethnic representation in the six municipalities will
match the pre-war demographic situation and every candidate running on a party
list is required to declare his "nationality" before the elections. The
parties, who win seats in the respective district according to proportional
representation, are then required to fill the seats with appropriate
candidates. This means for example that the Croatian Democratic Community has
to nominate Serbian candidates if it wins a majority and still wants to claim
all the seats to which it is entitled. This is because only a certain
predesignated percentage -- and no higher -- can be filled with ethnic Croat
officials. The same rule applies to the City Council, but the ethnic key has
been defined regardless of pre-war demography as being 16 Muslims, 16 Croats
and 5 members of other nationalities.
There will be altogether 77 polling stations. The EU itself will finance, but
not administer the ballot. Meanwhile, The EU and IFOR said that refugees from
Mostar who are currently in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden or Norway will be
able to vote on 30 June. The EU will pay bus travel expenses for those
refugees opting to return to Mostar just to vote, according to spokesman
Dragan Gasic. It remains unclear, however, how many refugees will accept the
offer and how they will be informed about their rights. Gasic stressed the
importance of allowing voters to go back to their country of residence after
the ballot, Onasa reported on 20 June. -- Fabian Schmidt
[18] TUDJMAN SKEPTICAL BOSNIA STATE WILL SURVIVE.
If one wonders from where the Croat hard-liners are taking their cues outside
Bosnia, one need not look far. NATO diplomatic sources in Brussels described
the recent talks between NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and Croatian
President Franjo Tudjman as having been "extremely difficult," Nasa Borba
reported on 19 June. The NATO official was "not impressed" by Tudjman's
readiness to cooperate in solving Bosnian problems. Moreover, he was
discouraged to find out that the president does not believe Bosnia-Herzegovina
will survive as a single state and that he feels that the Dayton peace accord
is valid only temporarily. Tudjman holds that in the long run Bosnia will be
divided between Serbs and Croats, Nasa Borba reported. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[19] SERBIAN LEADERS ON BOSNIAN ELECTIONS.
Turning to Serbia, much attention has centered in recent weeks on the role
that Belgrade-based parties will or will not play in the upcoming RS
elections. Vuk Draskovic, leader of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement,
has said his party will not take part in the upcoming elections in the
Republika Srpska. Nasa Borba on 19 June quoted him as saying that "the
preconditions for an open and democratic" vote are lacking. Meanwhile, in an
interview with OMRI, Democratic Party (DS) leader Zoran Djindjic said his
party will participate in the vote. He said that he believed that the
elections would be "relatively fair" or would at least reflect the strength of
the various parties involved. -- Stan Markotich in Belgrade
[20] SERBIAN "DEMOCRATS" WOULD SUPPORT A KARADZIC CANDIDACY.
At a 21 June Belgrade press conference, moreover, DS representative Slobodan
Vuksanovic said that his party could endorse a possible run by Karadzic in the
upcoming vote. Vuksanovic described as "legitimate" a possible Karadzic
candidacy and underscored his party's position that the Bosnian Serb leader
"thus far has shown that he is responsible to his people, always seemingly
placing their interests above his own." Djindjic had told OMRI that Karadzic's
Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) had "a legitimate tradition [wing]....that can
be worked with." -- Stan Markotich
[21] RUMP YUGOSLAVIA PARDONS DRAFT DODGERS.
Still in Serbia, the rump Yugoslav parliament on 18 June approved an amnesty
for some 12,500 conscripts who avoided military service or deserted during the
wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1991 and 1995, Reuters
reported. The law does not apply to professional soldiers and active officers.
Previously, draft dodgers and deserters faced up to 10 years in prison if
convicted. Tens of thousands of young men -- particularly ethnic Albanians and
other minorities -- fled rump Yugoslavia to avoid having to fight in the war.
Rump Yugoslav authorities repeatedly rounded up men born in Croatia and Bosnia
and sent them to fight there, according to human rights monitors. -- Stefan
Krause
[22] OMRI INTERVIEW
The OMRI special correspondents in Sarajevo recently spoke with Soren Jensen
Petersen, the UNHCR special envoy for the former Yugoslavia.
On the stalled return of refugees:
We see absolutely no return of refugees. We see people going back
spontaneously to places in their own ethnic majority areas. There are very few
organized returns. We have had thousands of [Bihac pocket kingpin Fikret]
Abdic supporters coming back from the Croatian camp in Kuplensko. But
otherwise the remaining 70,000-80,000 returnees are all spontaneous and all to
majority areas. We have seen no return to areas where the people would today
constitute an ethnic minority where they were a majority before the war -- in
other words, mainly the [Muslims] from eastern Bosnia... I honestly believe
that, in the present circumstances, there is nothing the UNHCR could do in
terms of bringing people back. If we had pushed return now, and I don't see
how we could have done it, it would have been already a contribution to ethnic
separation, because since it is impossible for the people to go back to areas
they have fled from, we would have to push them to other areas. And this, I am
afraid would cement the division...
On the local obstacles to repatriation:
And not only do we see no return; even when we try to organize simple
visits... they are being blocked... Leaders who took this country to war are
still there, and it is obvious that they are pursuing exactly the same policy
in peace time. This is why the return of refugees is obviously impossible...We
have to keep this problem on the agenda, reminding those who have signed
Dayton that they committed themselves to accept people coming back. Under the
present circumstances, there is no way you could bring people back...If our
goal is to bring people back and if the goal of some politicians is to keep
them out, then it is clear that they view the UNHCR as a direct threat. This
is, for instance, why those few UNHCR bus lines connecting both entities are
being blocked and obstructed on the Serbian side. And I must say that I take
this almost as a compliment.
On the need for the international community to take a more active role:
...we have developed some new strategies like concentrating our efforts on 19
target areas...We are trying to create the conditions for return by much more
aggressively involving the international community. By identifying 19 target
areas, we are saying: "To these areas, displaced persons might be able to
return, if we can mobilize reconstruction assistance, rehabilitation processes,
and the presence of IFOR. People could come back to these areas, because there
the problem is destruction and not security." There are three areas where we
would like to see more resolve of the international community: speeding up
reconstruction, freedom of movement, and security.
On the March exodus of Serbs from Sarajevo:
It was clearly a provoked exodus. But in many ways, after speaking to many of
those who left and now live in appalling conditions in Eastern Bosnia, and
asking them when they are planning to go back, I realized that they do not
want to go back. In a way they said they went back to "their own country."
Because after the formalization of the division into two entities, they regard
the Republika Srpska as "their" country. In a very sad way, you could say this
was repatriation.
On the upcoming elections and the post-election role of UNHCR:
I think in the long run the elections will legitimize and therefore
consolidate the leadership whose policy clearly is ethnic division. And if
that is so, there will be evidently no prospect for return and we will have to
look for other solutions... Concerning the accusation [that the UNHCR would
then be] helping to finish the job of ethnic cleansing, I first must say that
it is absolutely not sure that the UNHCR would be involved in such a situation
after elections... today we realize that we cannot do what we thought we could
do seven, eight months ago. But on the other hand, we still refuse to throw in
the towel and say it is impossible... We still have an important protection
role in both entities. But if there is no return to the Republika Srpska and
there is no respect for human rights there, we would have to ask ourselves:
"Is there still a job to do?" And if the answer is no, we would have to
go...We are in a dilemma. As we never called for the use of force to get a
humanitarian convoy through in war, we cannot call for the use of force to
push visits through nowadays. That would be disastrous. But just as we used to
say in war -- deterrence is presence -- it is about being around. To show that
we are ready to intervene when there is a problem. Jan Urban and Yvonne Badal,
in Sarajevo
Compiled by Patrick Moore
This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media
Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in
Prague, Czech Republic.
For more information on OMRI publications please write to info@omri.cz.
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