Rebellion of Banished Persons and Fear of the Regime

AIM Zagreb, 21 February, 2000

"We are not against return of the Serbs, but let those who have brought us give us a roof above our heads". This is what the seven-member family of Kosovo Croat Mitar Tunic is nowadays saying in unison. In 1992 they moved into the abandoned house of the Serbs in Vonic in Western Slavonia, and now they are awaiting eviction. In the meanwhile, the owner of the house has returned and he is claiming his right to use his private property. But, despite the announcements that discriminatory laws would be changed and Serb refugees enabled to return to Croatia, the new regime is facing a problem which will be very hard to solve. In Western Slavonia, it is estimated, there are about five thousand Croats who in 1992 started systematically emigrating from Kosovo, and Tudjman's regime accommodated them in the homes of the Serbs who had fled at the time of the war in Croatia. Kosovo Croats with their large families started colonising Western Slavonia, so that nowadays, in villages around Pakrac and Slatina, such as Ceralija, Djulovac, Macut, Hum, Vocin and others, they are the majority population.

Local authorities in Vocin, just as those in Djulovac, were forced to postpone the announced evictions. A true rebellion broke out in Djulovac: a few hundred Kosovo Croats gathered around the house of their compatriot and prevented eviction. If the authorities themselves had not given up on the eviction, the same would have happened in Vocin, too. A deputy of the municipal assembly over there from the ranks of Kosovo Croats announced that he would resign, and he got strong support of the Croat Party of Right (HSP), the rightist party which has a large number of supporters among Kosovo Croats.

During numerous meetings new Croatian president Stipe Mesic and prime minister Ivica Racan had in the past few days in Zagreb during the festivity of inauguration of the new president, all high foreign guests, especially US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, stressed that the new course of Croatian regime was encouraging for them, especially the essential change of the policy concerning the question of return of Croat Serbs. They said the same to Racan during his first foreign tour from Lisbon and Brussels to Berlin, but they all stressed that they expected these nice words to be accompanied by quite specific deeds. In his inauguration speech Mesic underlined the right of all banished persons to return to their homes. Actual moves in this respect will be the best indication to the international community to what extent Croatia really means it and the speed of its joining the European and Atlantic associations will depend on it, as well as its access to international financial centres.

With its intention to fulfil its promises given to the international community, the new Croatian authorities will face big problems. Not only when Kosovo Croats are concerned, a few thousand of whom, apart from Western Slavonia, are located in the region of Knin, but also concerning Croat banished persons, about 47 thousand of whom are still awaiting return to their homes. While Kosovo Croats are nowadays rightfully declaring that they are waiting for those who have brought them to Western Slavonia to assume responsibility for their accommodation, Croat banished persons are exerting pressure on the authorities through the Community of Returnees of Croatia, the organisation which, due to its radical stand towards return of the Serbs, enjoyed strong support and benevolence of Tudjman's regime. The Croats from Kosovo were promised the sun and the moon when they were coming to the deserted and devastated Western Slavonia, and there is no doubt that their coming was stimulated and organised by Croatian regime. They were to be used as a barrier to the return of the Serbs, and their enormously high birth rate was interesting for promoters of demographic revival of Croatia who invested great hopes that they would contribute to increasing of population growth. Nowadays, these people are in an extremely unenviable position because they will have to leave the houses they occupied, and they will create an unsolvable problem for the Croatian authorities. Nowadays in Croatia, when state expenditures need to be reduced, it is not easy to find money and build new homes for about ten thousand people.

About 500 Croatian banished persons who have after many years returned to Vukovar, announced that they intended to emigrate. They have no means for living because on the whole territory of former UNTAES, or Croatian Podunavlje as this part of eastern Slavonia, Western Srijem and Baranja is nowadays most frequently called, there are not even the slightest conditions for employment since the economy there is in total collapse.

Mato Simic, president of the Community of Returnees of Croatia, says that banished persons are suspicious about the announcement of the regime on equal conditions for return of all banished persons, fearing that equalising of these rights would additionally prolong their waiting to return. The state can hardly allocate that much money to simultaneously reconstruct homes of both the Croats and the Serbs, as well as to provide jobs for the ones and the others or at least a minimum for their survival when they return to their villages and towns. That is why they demanded to be received by new prime minister Racan, wishing to hear from him how he intended to resolve their problem. But, Simic also warns against disunity among the banished persons - those who have already returned home wish the state to invest more in revival of the economy, while the others who are still awaiting return insist on increased investments in reconstruction of homes.

Racan's government - when it comes to grips with this hot potato left to it by the former regime - will have great problems with numerous people who, attracted by significant privileges, started colonising the devastated Knin region. Tudjman's regime supported the return of the Serbs just declaratively, but in fact did everything to prevent it. One of the ways was colonising the Croats from other parts of the country in Knin and its surroundings. They were given the abandoned Serb houses and apartments to use, and promises of jobs, loans for starting agricultural production and cattle raising. Nowadays, however, these people are fearing return of the Serbs, because they have started new life in this region, believing that there would be no change of Croatian policy concerning the problem of return of Serb refugees. They are strongly supported in this belief by the Croat Party of Right of Ante Djapic which should thank for its entering the parliament after the latest elections primarily to the votes of this stratum of the society.

Except for declarative promises and principled stands, the new government has no specific plans how to resolve this problem. Serb leaders in Croatia declare that change of rhetoric of the authorities is important for removal of the psychological barrier for the Serb refugees, but should these declarations be accompanied by actual moves, mass return could be expected, especially because the standard of living in Serbia or Republika Srpska, where most of these refugees are, is nowadays far below that in Croatia.

Many from the world who have come to Croatia after the change of the regime, as well as those who are announcing their arrival, while praising Croatian democracy and openly saying that the once isolated Tudjman's state has nowadays become the favourite of Europe and the USA, are expecting quick steps of the new authorities towards fulfilling promises. Mesic and Racan do not have much time for that, and for the time being it seems not too many ideas either how to solve the problem of return of the Serbs. They will not be obstructed in it only by the lack of money, but also by caution, because the current opposition may start using return of the Serbs to turn the part of the public which may see in this "return to the situation before winning independence". While for the former - lack of money needed for return of Serb refugees - the new regime may expect assistance from abroad, it will have to solve the latter problem on its own. For ten years HDZ policy skilfully used this as its trump card, so one should have no doubts that, from the opposition now, remainders of Tudjman's party will be pulling it out of their sleeves again.

Drago Hedl