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OMRI: PURSUING BALKAN PEACE, V1,#8, Feb. 27, 1996
CONTENTS
[01] INTRODUCTION
[02] BOSNIAN FEDERAL POLICE ENTER VOGOSCA.
[03] "PALE SPREADS PANIC."
[04] IZETBEGOVIC SIGNS AMNESTY LAW.
[05] IFOR ALLOWS SARAJEVO EVACUATION.
[06] CONTACTS RESUME WITH BOSNIAN SERBS.
[07] PLAN FOR PHASED TRANSFER OF SARAJEVO PRESENTED.
[08] GROUND RULES AGREED FOR ELECTIONS.
[09] MIXED SIGNALS ON REFUGEES' FUTURE FROM THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
[10] SERBIAN ORTHODOX BISHOP CALLS ON SERBS TO REJECT ETHNIC CLEANSING.
[11] BOSNIAN ELECTION UPDATE.
[12] INSUFFICIENT AID FOR BOSNIA.
[13] CITY AUTHORITIES: SARAJEVO IS SHORT OF AID.
[14] BIG REFORMS DUE FOR BOSNIAN HEALTH SYSTEM.
[15] EUROPEAN AID FOR ENERGY SECTOR.
[16] WORLD BANK, IMF OFFICIALS IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
[17] UNESCO SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT MEDIA.
[18] CROATIA AND BOSNIA SIGN LEGAL, ECONOMIC ACCORDS.
[19] MUSLIM FIGHTERS SWITCH TO TRAINING.
[20] UPDATE ON THE HAGUE WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL ACTIVITIES.
[21] WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL INTERVIEWS SERBS IN ROMANIA.
[22] FRENCH NAZI-HUNTER ORDERED OUT OF PALE.
[23] MUSLIM LEADER MARKS FIRST PEACETIME RAMADAN BAJRAM.
[24] BLEAK PICTURE FOR MUSLIMS AND CROATS IN BANJA LUKA.
[25] SERBIAN RADICAL'S HAGUE TRIP IN LIMBO.
[26] BELGRADE PROPOSES AMNESTY.
[27] HOLBROOKE TAKES HIS LEAVE.
[28] IRANIANS AND FOREIGN FIGHTERS CONTINUE TO PLAGUE BOSNIAN OPERATION.
OMRI SPECIAL REPORT: PURSUING BALKAN PEACE
Vol. 1, No. 8, 27 February 1996
[01] INTRODUCTION
Welcome to "Pursuing Balkan Peace," the second in OMRI's series of
special reports on developments in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union. Distributed as a supplement to the OMRI Daily Digest, "Pursuing
Balkan Peace" will appear weekly and contain the latest news about
developments in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The OMRI Daily
Digest will continue to include major stories from the region that do
not appear in this supplement. All issues of the special reports are
archived on the OMRI WWW server, at
http://www.omri.cz/Publications/SR/SR.html
[02] BOSNIAN FEDERAL POLICE ENTER VOGOSCA.
The first of 85 federal police --
including ethnic Serbs -- deployed to the northern suburb together with
Italian soldiers to find a filthy police station and a population shrunk
from 17,000 to about 2,500, Reuters reported on 23 February. UNHCR
spokesman Kris Janowski said of those who left: "They didn't have to go.
They were incited to go by their own authorities. They were incited by a
regime previously responsible for expelling tens of thousands of people
and killing many others." Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and at
least one of the local mayors had urged the Serbs to stay (see OMRI
Special Report, 20 February 1996). Onasa said on 19 February that there
will eventually be 645 federal police under international supervision in
the Serb-held suburbs. The federal officers will carry only short-barrel
side arms and be deployed to the remaining four suburbs at six-day
intervals. Nasa Borba wrote on 27 February that Bosnian officials
entered a series of places the previous day only to find them deserted.
Jankowski told Reuters that the Serbs were looting public property in
Ilijas before leaving. -- Patrick Moore
[03] "PALE SPREADS PANIC."
This is the headline in Oslobodjenje on 23 February to describe
the continuing exodus of Serbs amid brutal winter
conditions. The anti-nationalist Serbian Civic Council (SGV) the
previous day appealed to the German ambassador to ask the Contact Group
countries to send its five ambassadors to the suburbs to try to stop the
flight. Onasa also quoted SGV President Mirko Pejanovic as saying that
the Council had sent representatives to talk to people and dissuade them
from leaving. Nasa Borba on 23 February reported a declaration by the
Bosnian state presidency urging the Serbs to stay, but Foreign Minister
Jadranko Prlic told Vecernje novine that the Bosnian government should
have passed an amnesty law earlier to reassure the Serbs. Nasa Borba
quoted Pale's Radovan Karadzic as blaming the international community
for not giving the Serbs sufficient guarantees, including the own
government and police. -- Patrick Moore
[04] IZETBEGOVIC SIGNS AMNESTY LAW.
One of the reasons why the Pale
leadership has been able to force the exodus is that many Serbs are
genuinely frightened for their future. The main concern is over an
expected desire for revenge by Muslims for the four-year siege of
Sarajevo, and fears that Muslims will try to force Serbs out of their
homes, AFP reported on 21 February. Men who served in the Bosnian Serb
army are also worried that they could be arbitrarily arrested and
detained, and have sought an amnesty as protection. The day before he
was taken to hospital with a heart condition on 22 February, Izetbegovic
signed into law an amnesty parliament had passed the previous week,
which pardons those who violated the former martial law regulations.
This covers those who joined the Bosnian Serb army instead of the
government one. Only war criminals are not protected by the new law. AFP
quoted the Bosnian president as saying that "honest citizens" of any
nationality have nothing to fear. Oslobodjenje added on 22 February that
the Bosnian presidency appealed to the Serbs to stay. -- Patrick Moore
[05] IFOR ALLOWS SARAJEVO EVACUATION.
But many Serbs are determined to go,
and NATO is allowing the Bosnian Serb army to evacuate the remaining
Serb-held areas of Sarajevo, international media reported on 25
February. The use of Bosnian Serb army trucks (with all military
markings removed and soldiers in civilian clothes) is a move to avoid
the scenes of chaos that afflicted the evacuation of Vogosca. Jannkowski
again said that Bosnian Serb leaders incited the local population to
flee, but he also criticized the federal police for "insensitivity" in
dealing with the remaining Serb residents. IFOR commander U.S. Admiral
Leighton Smith faced an angry crowd of Bosnian Serbs demanding
transportion for evacuation when he toured Vogosca with Bosnian Serb
parliament speaker Momcilo Krajisnik on 24 February. -- Michael Mihalka
[06] CONTACTS RESUME WITH BOSNIAN SERBS.
These moves followed the restoration
of links between the Serbs and the peacekeepers. Senior IFOR commanders
met with their Bosnian Serb counterparts beginning on 23 February
marking the end of the Serb boycott, international media reported.
General Ratko Mladic's command broke off contacts on 8 February in
protest against the Bosnian government's detention of several Bosnian
Serb military men, two of whom were subsequently sent to The Hague.
British Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Walker, the commander of IFOR
ground forces, met on 24 February with deputy Serb military commander
General Zdarko Tolimir in Ilidza. They discussed the plans to evacuate
Bosnian Serbs from these suburbs. -- Michael Mihalka
[07] PLAN FOR PHASED TRANSFER OF SARAJEVO PRESENTED.
Plans are going ahead in
any event for the transfer of those suburbs to government control.
Michael Steiner, the deputy to the international community's High
Representative in Bosnia, Carl Bildt, presented a plan on 15 February
for the phased transfer of the communities, international media
reported. A federal police force will take over on 20 March , having
begun to deploy on 23 February. The makeup of the force will reflect the
national composition according to the 1991 census. Serb police officers
who are not indicted for war crimes may serve on the force. Steiner
said: "the transfer of authority cannot be slowed down," adding that
there was no longer any need to discuss the matter with Bosnian Serb
authorities if they still chose to boycott meetings with intenational
organizations. Meanwhile, the UN international police force is slow in
deploying. Only some 220 have arrived in Bosnia so far out of over 1,700
promised. It was hoped that the presence of the international police
would instill enough confidence in the Serbs so they would remain. Now
it is feared they will arrive too late to stem the mass exodus. --
Michael Mihalka
[08] GROUND RULES AGREED FOR ELECTIONS.
But another effort by the
international community proved more successful. All sides in the
conflict agreed on 23 February in Sarajevo on the ground rules for
organizing elections by September, Reuters and Tanjug reported. Robert
Frowick -- the OSCE mission head to Bosnia who also chairs the
provisional election commission -- said that everyone, including
refugees, will be allowed to vote where they lived in 1991. This is in
keeping with Dayton. At least 900,000 of the estimated two million
refugees are considered eligible to vote. Voters' lists, based on the
1991 census, are expected to be prepared by 31 March. This could be a
tall order, because many lists have been destroyed. -- Michael Mihalka
[09] MIXED SIGNALS ON REFUGEES' FUTURE FROM THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
Meanwhile
on Bosnian Serb territory, the UNHCR reports the "shocking" destruction
of Mrkonjic Grad, mostly at the hands of the Bosnian Croat forces during
their brief occupation during the fall and winter. Serbs are
increasingly returning to the homes they fled there, however, while the
UN provides and IFOR distributes food. Mines are a big problem and the
UNHCR is conducting a mine-awareness program. In Brcko, local
authorities oppose the return of non-Serb refugees despite the
provisions of the Dayton accord to the contrary and despite efforts by
the UN to increase its presence as a reassuring factor. UNHCR and UN
Civil Affairs reports often contradict each other as to the real state
of affairs on the ground. In Derventa, "ethnic cleansing" is almost
complete: the Serbs make up almost 100% of the population instead of
their prewar 41%. Things look more promising in "ethnically cleansed"
Banja Luka, where non-Serbs have largely stopped leaving and where some
refugees are trying to return. The UNHCR said that the local Serbian
authorities showed "a real willingness" to implement Dayton provisions
on the return of refugees. Serbian refugees staying in Banja Luka said
they wanted to go back to their homes, including to places controlled by
the Federation or in Krajina. -- Jan Urban and Yvonne Badal
[10] SERBIAN ORTHODOX BISHOP CALLS ON SERBS TO REJECT ETHNIC CLEANSING.
Still
in Banja Luka, the Orthodox bishop for northwest Bosnia, Hrizostom,
urged Serbs to return to their homes outside the Republika Srbska and
reject attempts to settle them in dwellings of expelled Muslims and
Croats. "This is the moment when we decide whether we will be the
beggars of this world, or whether we will return to our homes as
international accords and conventions foresee. [The Pale leaders] are
cheating you when they tell you that they have solved our problems by
giving us burnt and looted homes which belong to others, who are also
refugees just as we are... The Serb politicans... have used our trust
against the interests of their people." Onasa carried the report on 21
February, citing Belgrade's Vecernje Novosti. -- Patrick Moore
[11] BOSNIAN ELECTION UPDATE.
Bosnia's future as a multi-ethnic state has
been discussed on the political stump as well as from the pulpit.
Independent intellectuals in the Circle 99 group from Sarajevo and the
Citizens' Forum from Tuzla called for creating a tolerant and democratic
climate for the elections slated for later this year. They said that
democracy needs to be fostered and warned international representatives
against appointing only representatives of the nationalist parties to
the electoral commissions. Onasa on 21 February added that the pro-
Milosevic Socialist Party in the Republika Srpska has backed the Rome
accords and the Dayton agreements. The party slammed Bosnian Serb
leaders Radovan Karadzic and General Mladic, saying that "their
stubborness has caused us only sufferings and troubles." -- Patrick
Moore
[12] INSUFFICIENT AID FOR BOSNIA.
Relatively little media attention, however,
has been devoted to long-term plans for the social and economic
reconstruction of Bosnia. The challenges are daunting and the resources
few. Most immediately, jobs must be found for demobilized troops and
basic infrastructure rebuilt. Onasa on 22 February noted that Bosnia's
first postwar strike ended when miners accepted assurances that their
January salaries of about DM 80 per person would finally be paid.
Federation President Kresimir Zubak appealed to the international
community to help his country deal with the job issue. The same news
agency on 25 February reported that the Federation has 650,000
unemployed and only 210,000 persons "taking part in production." For its
part, the EU on 20 February said that the reconstruction effort in
Bosnia is threatened by donors' failure to deliver on their pledges of
aid. Although more than $700 million was promised for vital
reconstruction work in the first three months of 1996, only $62.5
million has arrived so far. That entire sum reportedly comes from the
EU. The U.S., Japan, the Islamic countries, and the World Bank have so
far not lived up to their promises, international media reported.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Bill Clinton said he would ask Congress for
$820 million in aid for Bosnia. -- Patrick Moore and Michael Mihalka
[13] CITY AUTHORITIES: SARAJEVO IS SHORT OF AID.
And Sarajevo itself is
facing other problems as well. Onasa reported on 15 February that
Silvana Maric, technical director of the Department for Reconstruction
and Development in Sarajevo (DORS), said that the amount of aid that
arrived there by the end of 1995 fell short in terms of both the city's
needs and the promises made. "The insufficient efficiency of the
international community has resulted in a failure to meet deadlines for
realizing the [rebuilding] project. However, the modest results could
also be sought in the realistic conditions in which we have worked," she
said. -- Stan Markotich
[14] BIG REFORMS DUE FOR BOSNIAN HEALTH SYSTEM.
The Bosnian Health Ministry
is similarly strapped for funds but is going ahead with making postwar
plans because of the magnitude of the problems it must face. Minister
Bozo Ljubic told Oslobodjenje of 18 February that he has a short-term
program to take care of the most pressing needs, together with a medium-
and long-term strategy. He said that his ministry must formulate clear
statements of its requirements if it wants to obtain funding early in
the Dayton process. He suggested that later "funds will not be
unlimited." -- Patrick Moore
[15] EUROPEAN AID FOR ENERGY SECTOR.
But for now, the European Commission has
agreed to provide DM 18 million to purchase spare parts and equipment
for the power and gas systems. Onasa added on 22 February that the
project is urgent, given the severe dislocation of the prewar power
system during the conflict. Bosnia is blessed with hydroelectric
resources and had provided energy to neighboring republics in the former
Yugoslavia. These countries now have a vested interest in seeing some of
the old power grid restored. -- Patrick Moore
[16] WORLD BANK, IMF OFFICIALS IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA.
Reconstruction has also
been extended to Pale as a major incentive for making the Dayton package
work. A joint delegation of the World Bank and International Monetary
Fund met with representatives from the Republika Srpska on 11 February,
where the main topic of discussion was existing plans for reconstruction
aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some $1.4 billion of a total $5 billion
is earmarked for projects in the Serbian entity, OMRI's Sarajevo office
reported. The delegates from the international organizations outlined
development strategies which would focus on creating conditions for
overall economic stability and market reforms. In response, Pale's
Premier Rajko Kasagic reported on the progress an international team of
experts already working there was having on reforming the legal system
in such a way as to accommodate and promote a market economy. Kasagic,
who announced he plans to visit Montenegro and the Czech Republic to
study economic reform processes, rejected the notion that Pale ought to
look back on the days of the socialist Yugoslavia for inspiration,
noting that the economic future lies in aspiring to liberal democratic
values and European Union standards. The first set of development
projects slated to get off the ground will focus on transportation,
agriculture, and rehabilitation aid for the victms of the war. -- Jan
Urban and Yvonne Badal
[17] UNESCO SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT MEDIA.
Yet another kind of aid is slated for
the Bosnian media. An international delegation consisting of
representatives of UNESCO, the European Union and the commercial station
WTN visited Bosnia and Herzegovina and held talks with representatives
of the governments of both the Republika Srpska and the Bosnian
Federation, Oslobodjenje reported on 23 February. Klaus W. Schmitter
from UNESCO stressed they would support only media having an independent
editorial policy. They will help improve the public broadcasting system
and aid the creation and development of independent media, especially
electronic media. The visitors expressed their willingness to consult
the governments of both entities, but reminded them that there will be
no funds for government propaganda, and that financial support for
independent media will be significant. UNESCO plans to start very soon,
first by sending an international team of experts to discuss the public
broadcasting system and the creation of media networks. The idea is that
each entity will have, besides state television, an independent
commercial one that will be linked in a network with the others. In this
way independent journalists from both sides would be able to cooperate,
and UNESCO would provide equipment, consultants and other necessary
assistance. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[18] CROATIA AND BOSNIA SIGN LEGAL, ECONOMIC ACCORDS.
One of those two
entities is the Croat-Muslim federation -- known officially as the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina -- which has been plagued by
problems. In an effort to remove some of them, Prime Ministers Zlatko
Matesa of Croatia and Hasan Muratovic of Bosnia met on 26 February in
Split, accompanied by their respective delegations. They signed
agreements on air traffic, investments and legal assistance in civil and
criminal proceedings, Vecernji list reported the next day. According to
Reuters, Croatian radio said Bosnian citizens would no longer need visas
to enter Croatia as of the beginning of March. The two sides agreed that
the status of the Croatian port of Ploce, which Bosnia sees as vital for
the future of its economy, would be determined within two weeks.
Repatriation and the status of Mostar remained unresolved issues.
Reuters reported on 24 February that the EU administrator for Mostar,
Hans Koschnik, told the German weekly Bild am Sonntag that he would step
down from his post in July and not stay on "under any circumstances." He
has recommended to the EU Ministerial Council to accept the demand by
Croat and Muslim authorities that the EU mandate in the city be extended
for another six months, but with a new person replacing him. Meanwhile
on 26 February, a joint Mostar police group, which consists of Croatian,
Bosnian and West European officers, along with those from both parts of
the town, started working on securing the local EU headquarters, Hina
reported. International agencies discussed freedom of movement in
Mostar, but the total number of crossings from east to west is still
small. Hina added that on 23 February a young man was knocked on the
head with a stone in the Croatian part of Mostar, while vehicles bearing
Bosnian Croat license plates were stoned in the Muslim-populated
neighborhood two days later. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[19] MUSLIM FIGHTERS SWITCH TO TRAINING.
Turning to military matters, on 19
February OMRI's Sarajevo office reported that the "El Muwafaqa" brigade
of the Bosnian army will cease operations as a combat unit, and become
instead a training unit. The 700-strong group is based in Travnik and
still officially uses Iranian advisers. The brigade is reportedly "IFOR-
friendly" and describes, in its teaching literature, the army of the
Republika Srspka as its enemy. -- Jan Urban and Yvonne Badal
[20] UPDATE ON THE HAGUE WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL ACTIVITIES.
One local military
man, however, may soon have a date in The Hague. Nasa Borba on 23
February reported that the Bosnian Croat officer Ivica Rajic is next to
face hearings in absentia before The International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia. He has been accused of being in charge of the
October 1993 massacre of 16 Muslims in the village of Stupni Do in
central Bosnia. The first such hearing will be on Milan Martic, the
leader of Krajina Serbs, who has been charged with responsibility for a
rocket attack on Zagreb in April 1995. While Martic's case is scheduled
for a court hearing on 27 February, diplomatic sources in The Hague say
that the tribunal has officially requested that Croatia ask for
information about the Rajic case in local papers, and also publish an
invitation for him to appear before the court. There will also be a call
for anyone with information on Rajic to step forward. In addition,
Globus said on 23 February that Croatia will deliver to The Hague
General Tihomir Blaskic, another Bosnian Croat military commander
accused of war crimes. He currently holds a high post in the regular
Croatian army. The article suggested that Justice Richard Goldstone has
agreed to a Croatian request that Blaskic be allowed to defend himself
"without being arrested," meaning that he would stay in a hotel at
Croatian government expense and not in jail. He would then attend court
hearings. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[21] WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL INTERVIEWS SERBS IN ROMANIA.
Meanwhile, other
hearings have been taking place in the Romanian part of the Banat, an
historically Hungarian region that the Treaty of Trianon after World War
I divided between Romania and the former Yugoslavia. Radio Bucharest
announced on 21 February that members of The Hague tribunal had started
interviewing in Timisoara people from Serbia who were detained in Muslim
camps during the war. Those interviewed had volunteered to testify and
Timisoara has been chosen "at the request of Serbian citizens" who
consider the Romanian town near the Serbian border to be "a safe place,
where nothing can happen to them." The findings will be made public once
the interviews end, Radio Bucharest said. -- Michael Shafir
[22] FRENCH NAZI-HUNTER ORDERED OUT OF PALE.
Back in Bosnia, Onasa reported
on 23 February that Serge Klarsfeld went to Pale. He hoped to persuade
the two top Serbian indicted war criminals Karadzic and Mladic to give
themselves up to The Hague. "If they consider themselves innocent, it
will be the best means to publicly establish their innocence. If they
consider themselves guilty or responsible -- which appears to us obvious
-- [they] should take into consideration the fact that the international
community will not let them go unpunished," Klarsfeld said. He concluded
that "one day [Karadzic and Mladic] will be ignominously brought by
force to justice as some Nazi war criminals have been, decades after
their crimes." Nasa Borba reported on 26 February, however, that the
Nazi- hunter had been ordered out of Pale after a two-hour police
interrogation. -- Patrick Moore
[23] MUSLIM LEADER MARKS FIRST PEACETIME RAMADAN BAJRAM.
The question of the
legacy of World War II and justice in the face of war crimes also
concerns the head of Bosnia's Islamic religious community, Reis-ul-ulema
Mustafa Ceric. He gave an interview to Oslobodjenje of 21 February on
the occasion of Ramadan Bajram, which marks the end of the Muslim month
of fasting. He said that it will be necessary in the future to keep
alive a knowledge of war crimes and injustice stemming from the current
conflict to prevent matters from being swept under the rug as they
officially were in Tito's Yugoslavia following World War II. Ceric
stressed that this is crucial if truth is to be preserved and history
not rewritten. -- Patrick Moore
[24] BLEAK PICTURE FOR MUSLIMS AND CROATS IN BANJA LUKA.
One set of war
crimes that Ceric must have had in mind are those in Banja Luka. The
Frankfurter Rundschau wrote on 23 February that the chief imam there,
Ibrahim Halilovic, estimates that all 217 mosques in northwestern Bosnia
were blown up or burned down between April and September 1993. This
includes two major historic mosques in Banja Luka itself, which were
registered as international cultural properties by UNESCO. Halilovic
added that "ethnic cleansing" in the region is 93% complete and that
65,000 Muslims are listed as killed or missing, some 35,000 of whom are
from the Prijedor area alone. His Roman Catholic counterpart, Bishop
Franjo Komarica, painted a similar picture. He noted that of his prewar
flock of 16,000, only 3,000 remain. Novi list reported on 24 February
that rump Yugoslav police barred Komarica from crossing into that
country for a conference on reconciliation sponsored by the Serbian
Orthodox Church. They told him he had "no chance of entering Serbia." In
Tuzla, Serbian Orthodox Church officials met with Mayor Selim Beslagic
to propose the monk Nikolai Markovic to be the town's first Orthodox
priest since 1992. Onasa said on 22 February that Nikolai is "a
clergyman for whom religion is not and cannot be influenced by
politics." -- Patrick Moore
[25] SERBIAN RADICAL'S HAGUE TRIP IN LIMBO.
Meanwhile in Serbia, Nasa Borba
reported on 21 February that the leader of the Serbian Radical Party,
Vojislav Seselj, has been denied a visa to visit Holland and testify at
The Hague. Seselj, who himnself is an indicted war criminal, has said
several times in recent weeks that he wishes to go the The Hague to
offer testimony against Milosevic. He said he would need a formal
invitation to get a visa; but court authorites have noted for the record
that they would listen to any persons offering testimony, but they do
not issue special invitations to individuals. -- Stan Markotich
[26] BELGRADE PROPOSES AMNESTY.
Nasa Borba on 21 February also reported that
on the previous day the federal government of rump Yugoslavia proposed
legislation which would allow for the pardoning of all fighting-age men
who avoided or evaded military service during the time of the wars
throughout the former Yugoslavia. The amnesty legislation, which has yet
to be approved by the federal parliament, would pardon individuals whose
transgressions took place before 14 December 1995. Aim Belgrade news
agency on that same date added, however, that "there will be no
pardon... for professional officers and non-commissioned officers, that
is, for active military personnel." While it is difficult to say
precisely how many people may be affected by the legislation, some
estimates suggest that up to 200,000 people from rump Yugoslavia opted
not to fight in the regional wars. -- Stan Markotich
[27] HOLBROOKE TAKES HIS LEAVE.
Few, if any, would deny that the Dayton
agreement that ended the worst of those wars was chiefly the work of U.S
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. He left office on 21
February to return to Wall Street, although speculation abounds that he
is simply playing a waiting game in hopes of being summoned later to
higher office. In the meantime, he left some parting thoughts, as
reported by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. His central theme was
that Bosnia showed that American leadership is necessary for world
peace, adding that this lesson could be applied to other potential
points of conflict in the region. He specifically mentioned Hungary's
relations with Romania and Slovakia, and Romanian-Ukrainian issues.
Turning to Dayton, he called the negotiations the most dramatic ones of
their kind in history. Like most observers, he felt that the military
provisions are being met better than are the civilian ones and pointed
out that the success or failure of
Dayton will have a big impact for both the U.S. and for NATO. He greeted
the deployment of 4,000 Germans to Croatia to maintain transport links
between their home country and Bosnia, and pointed out that French
policy toward NATO has taken a clear turn away from that set down by
President Charles de Gaulle in 1966. Ultimately, however, the civilian
aspects will make or break Dayton, and Holbrooke specifically mentioned
the need for successful elections, the return of refugees, and the
prosecution of war criminals. -- Patrick Moore
[28] IRANIANS AND FOREIGN FIGHTERS CONTINUE TO PLAGUE BOSNIAN OPERATION.
Although the problem may seem minor in comparison to those Holbrooke
mentioned, the specter of Iranians and their potential involvement in
terrorist activities against IFOR continue to plague the Bosnian
operation. Reports persist that Iranian "mujahedeen" or foreign fighters
remain in the country in violation of Dayton peace accords. Nine
Iranians were released on 24 February in Zagreb after having been held
for six days by Bosnian Croat authorities. Meanwhile, Brigadier General
John B. Sylvester, chief of operational intelligence for the Allied
Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), said at an IFOR press briefing in Sarajevo
on 23 February, that up to 150 foreign fighters may still be in Bosnia.
On 20 February U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns warned
that the continued presence of "foreign fighters" in Bosnia threatened
further American military aid. He cited IFOR estimates that up to 300
fighters remain in the country. The issue needs to be cleared up by 15
March when the U.S. can begin rearming the Bosnian military with light
weapons according to the Dayton peace accords
The great sensitivity to the Iranian issue can be seen by the Bosnian
Croat detention of the nine Iranians released on 24 February, who by all
accounts were not "mujahedeen." Iranian government officials said the
nine were reciters of the Koran who were touring the region to give
concerts. The Bosnian Croat police said their suspicions were aroused
because the Iranians were carrying "state-of-the-art technical
equipment" generally used for "intelligence purposes" in addition to a
great deal of propaganda material. Although the nine complained that
they had been the victims of "physical and psychological violence," they
declined to show western reporters any evidence of the alleged
mistreatment. An Iranian official had earlier said that they had been
"well-treated."
The detention of the nine Iranians came shortly after IFOR raided an
alleged terrorist camp on 16 February. Eleven individuals were detained,
eight Bosnian nationals, with documents identifying them as employees of
the Bosnian Interior Ministry, and three Iranian nationals, one of whom
carried a diplomatic passport. Despite Bosnian government claims that
the camp was for counter-terrorist training, children's toys and shampoo
bottles wired with explosives, building mock-ups, weapons and
considerable materials on IFOR headquarters were found at the site.
However, a IFOR spokesman confirmed the Bosnian government's claim that
the base was in the process of being closed down. "We have more places
like that in Bosnia for training people to hunt war criminals,"
President Alija Izetbegovic said on 17 February on Bosnian television
"We will continue that activity." However, Ejup Ganic, Vice-President of
Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation, told Reuters: "Somebody in the
government responsible for this embarrassing mess will lose his job."
The three Iranians were deported and claimed on their return to Iran
that they had been subjected to "every sort of savage behavior and
treatment." The Iranian government media said the three had been in
Bosnia to "render humanitarian assistance." -- Michael Mihalka
Copyright (c) 1996 Open Media Research Institute, Inc. All rights
reserved.
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 [email protected]
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