Arbitration Likely for Sarajevo Suburbs

Lack of Agreement Prompts Petritsch to Step In

AIM Sarajevo, Feb. 7, 2001

Nine-year-old S.T. has chronic bronchitis -- she will never be a healthy person again. She contracted this serious disease while attending classes in a damp cellar improvised several years ago to house Osman Nuri Hadzic Elementary School. She and her schoolmates are still waiting for politicians to agree on the line of demarcation in the Sarajevo suburbs of Dobrinja I and Dobrinja IV, that is, to whom the school, which badly needs reconstruction after being damaged in the war, actually belongs to. It is still unknown how much a Feb. 5 decision made by International High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina Wolfgang Petritsch will help them. Namely, Petritsch issued a decree obliging the two Bosnian entities, Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation, to in this case accept an international arbitrator's decision as final. Petritsch appointed Irish Judge Diarmuid Sheridan as arbitrator, who by the end of April at the latest should determine the location of the border passing through the two suburbs.

The decision took many by surprise, although it was mentioned many times since mid December. People from the Federation, awaiting to return to their homes, believed that the now former premier of the Federation would agree with the now former premier of Republika Srpska on the implementation of the Dayton Accords and the maps accepted during the talks. And those who are still living in other peoples' homes hoped that certain provisions of the peace agreement would, in fact, never be enforced.

"The problem of drawing a line of demarcation between Dobrinja I and Dobrinja IV exists simply because the international community is not as good as it would like itself to be perceived and because its actions are not synchronized. In a word, because it is not perfect," a senior official of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) recently said at a meeting with journalists closed to the public. What actually lies behind the "demarcation problem" that has been unresolvable since 1996? The initial line of demarcation passed right through the middle of one of the five Dobrinjas, a huge apartment complex built shortly before and immediately after the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, and whose parts were named after the phases in the settlement's construction. The war made its own boundary in 1992, and many families were forced to move out. In 1995, after the arrival of peace, the Dayton agreement drew its own boundaries. The initial line of demarcation, drawn at the U.S. military base in Dayton, Ohio, gave 62 percent of the five Dobrinjas to the Muslim-Croat Federation. But the boundary cut through buildings, even through apartments and rooms, because the apartment homes are shaped like the letter C. Because of that there will be two boundary lines: the one drawn in Dayton, and the actual one on the ground, which passes around two rows of buildings, which instead of to the RS will belong to the Federation.

Annex II of the Dayton agreement authorized SFOR (then IFOR) to enforce the border and to move it 50 meters to one or the other side when necessary. But in 1996 the situation in Bosnia was still volatile and both sides organized demonstrations over the line of demarcation -- people from one demanded that they be given back what was rightfully theirs, whereas the other side protested in a bid to retain what they held. All this was accompanied by gunshots and the throwing of hand grenades, leaving this "twilight zone" an ideal ground for smuggling stolen vehicles. The lack of resolve on SFOR's part and the fact which Petritsch now describes as "the failure of the two entities' premiers to reach an agreement on an independent procedure" practically preserved the boundary established by the war. According to the Federation authorities and the Nas Dom (Our Home) association of people awaiting to return to their apartments, founded in 1996 and reactivated in 2000, the boundary has left some 650 apartments belonging to the Federation in Republika Srpska. And, according to Nas Dom, 650 families, or 2,500 people, are currently living in other peoples' homes.

At the end of 1996 and the beginning of 1997, the problem was transferred from IFOR (SFOR), to the International Police Task Force (IPTF), and shortly afterwards the OHR authorized the entity governments to resolve the matter and finally establish the boundary. Since then, nothing has happened, except that S.T., whom we mentioned at the beginning of this story, contracted a serious illness. Many grown-ups also feel sick when they see their own apartments being used by others, and waiting for the police to knock and order them to leave the apartments they now use. Some of them, like Azra Zornic, pressed charges against the Federation, Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Human Rights Chamber, for violating her basic human right to live in peace in her home.

It is interesting that, when announcing arbitration, the High Representative clearly said that the Human Rights Chamber will suspend all deliberation in cases pertaining to this problem until the arbitration decision is reached, because "it will provide for a solid basis to resolve the matter." The Chamber accepted this, which the Federation described as "the High Representative exerting influence on the independent judiciary."

What is happening in Dobrinja I and Dobrinja IV in the meanwhile? The apartments there are occupied by Serbs from nearby villages, and in many instances several families share a single apartment. Small businesses -- cafes, grocery and other stores -- are sprouting up daily between the buildings. Since the Nas Dom association intensified its activities at the beginning of 2000, and increased pressure on the international community, primarily the OHR, the so-called boxes, or container stores, also began appearing on the streets through which the line of demarcation passes. These streets are otherwise completely deserted: there is little traffic and no police control. They are alive only during the night when trucks carrying smuggled goods noisily rush down them, or when groups of young people under the influence of suspicious "medications" roam around, amidst sirens of police patrol cars searching for stolen Golfs and Mercedes, thieves' favorite targets. At the same time, many new apartments were built almost overnight on top of existing buildings last summer...

A day after the Petritsch announcement, the authorities of this part of RS (the Serb municipality of Ilidza), were unavailable for comment. A special session of the municipal council lasted all day, and no press release was issued nor was any person authorized to make an official statement. In Nas Dom they say that in the two Dobrinjas there are probably many families indeed, but that they believe most of them have homes which they rent to others, or have apartments in Sarajevo to which they cannot or will not return. They are convinced that the Ilidza municipal officials are ready to obstruct the return of non-Serbs and to present the entire matter as a Serb exodus... Dobrinians are prepared to do everything they can: "We will continue to exert public pressure on canton authorities in Sarajevo to speed up the process of the return of those who have houses and apartments in Sarajevo and who now occupy our apartments. In this way we will cause others apartments to be vacated, continuing this vicious circle!" the members of the association say.

Pre-war inhabitants of Dobrinja I and Dobrinja IV last year demanded that the OHR take steps to make repairs to the aforementioned school and that classes for children from both entities be organized in it. They proposed that communal services be organized in the simplest possible way -- garbage should be taken away to the nearest dump, telephone services, electricity and water should be supplied by Republika Srpska and heating and natural gas should come from the Federation, as well as that all construction of new business facilities and apartments on top of existing buildings immediately end. Asked whether it was true that some 50 non-Serb families had returned to that part of Sarajevo, Nas Dom representatives said that there was a list of 40 families (25 Bosniak and 15 Croat) whom the municipal authorities had invited to return to their property and handed them the keys. But in all cases, they said, the apartments were completed ruined and uninhabitable.

In addition to all this, there is yet another problem -- purchase of apartments. Namely, in the Federation, apartments are purchased using certificates or securities that have been issued to everybody over the age of 18, whereas those coming to RS from the Federation have to pay in cash. This is an additional problem for would-be returnees who might return if the arbitrator rules in their favor, but to Republika Srpska territory! True, Petritsch promised that this would also be taken into account, but...

What exactly will be the subject of arbitration? In the next couple of months, arbitrator Sheridan will examine the situation on the ground and analyze the maps; he will ask both sides to present their cases, and will in the end make a final decision that will be nonnegotiable. It will be implemented by the entity authorities and SFOR. True, it should be noted that the OHR announced that before the decision is made public it will be forwarded to bodies of local government and the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina so that its impact on the daily life of Dobrinja inhabitants can be examined and the best manner of implementation determined.

In any case, S.T. will not recover, and neither will many others.

Rubina Cengic

(AIM)