International Arbiter Decides on Dobrinja

Letters Draw a New Border

AIM Sarajevo, April 25, 2001

On April 24, 2001, at midnight, a decision made by an independent arbiter, Judge Diarmuid Sheridan, giving a larger portion of the Sarajevo suburbs of Dobrinja I and Dobrinja IV to the Muslim-Croat Federation became effective. "It was my conclusion that almost exclusively people from the Federation were deprived of their homes and the only thing I could do in good conscience was to compensate them in an adequate manner. In order to do so, I have to announce and decide that the apartment blocks and the school inside the inter-ethnic demarcation line belong to the Muslim-Croat Federation... I have never felt more a man than this minute. I have never felt more modest than this moment and I appeal to all to believe me. Had my conscience told me to take a different road, I would have taken it," Judge Sheridan said, adding that he did not believe that the previous cartographer deliberately drew the Dayton demarcation line as passing through apartments and rooms.

After this decision, according to additional information coming from the ground and analyses of the new map, the Federation was given 800 apartments, and Republika Srpska close to 250. Miroslav Krleza Street, Indira Gandi Street, and the larger parts of Danilo Poranjac and Focanski Propisi Streets, as well as parts of William Shakespeare and Ivan Ribar Squares and Osman Nuri Hadzic Elementary School (formerly Dusan Pajic Elementary School) now belong to the Muslim-Croat Federation, whereas the rest of the two Dobrinjas belongs to Republika Srpska. Tenancy rights to many of the 250 apartments in RS are held by Croats and Bosniaks currently residing in the Federation, and many RS residents have the same right to apartments in the Federation. In other words, this right belongs to Serbs who will now practically be living in the Federation.

Before this decision and after the Dayton agreement, as AIM reported earlier, the two Sarajevo suburbs were part of Republika Srpska, although their larger portions were given to the Federation by the agreement. The situation was the result of military operations, and the Dayton line passed several dozen meters deeper through the RS territory, dividing buildings, apartments, even rooms of the same apartment. True, the IPTF was authorized to move the line up to 50 meters either way from the official boundary, but all these years there was no political will, no strategy, nor desires on the part of people temporarily living in other people's apartments to abandon the property that did not belong to them. The first attempt to implement the old line ended in demonstrations (in 1996), after which no new attempts followed.

"The demarcation problem exists because the international community is not as good as it would like to be and is not very well synchronized. Simply speaking, it is not perfect," said a senior official of the Office of High Representative (OHR) during a meeting with the press. Thus, 650 apartments belonging to Dobrinians now living elsewhere in Sarajevo or across Bosnia-Herzegovina or the world, were the matter of a dispute that lasted until April 24 this year, when Judge Sheridan made his decision public. Since mid-February, he deliberated the matter by reading numerous letters from residents of both Bosnian entities, books written about the Dayton agreement, and in the final week by hearing witnesses. Some 60 witnesses, 30 from each "side" expressed the opinion of the Dobrinja situation: "At the beginning of this arbitration I made it quite clear that I am more interested in people than in institutions and that I could not help being deeply touched by descriptions of the suffering some of these people had to put up with during this unfortunate conflict... Please allow me to express my appreciation to the Sarajevo Mayors Club, whose representative also made his statement before me. This was a mixed group, in which there were many Serbs as well... I have to say that most witnesses came from Republika Srpska, or apartments in Dobrinja I and IV, or from various places which are out of the reach of this arbitration... Before I started, I received hundreds of letters, mostly from the Federation, but a large number from Republika Srpska as well. I read all of them and have taken all of them into account, as well as the testimonies given in the final week of the process," Judge Sheridan said in his ruling.

During the arbitration, RS Premier Mladen Ivanic spoke in favor of preserving the existing division in this part of Sarajevo, but there were other stands, some of them from Republika Srpska. One Serb woman, for instance, who still lives in Dobrinja (the RS part) testified in favor of pre-war inhabitants of Dobrinja I and IV, mostly Bosniaks and Croats. Simultaneously, RS representatives recalled the situation in Dobrinja at the start of the war: "Dobrinja I and Dobrinja IV were completely deserted, not a single inhabitant remained in them regardless of age, gender, ethnic, religious, linguistic or any other background. The area was vacated because it lay on the line of fire." The RS insisted on the Dayton 51:49 ratio used to divide Bosnian territory, noting that it was never given its 49 percent and demanded that the two Dobrinjas be given as compensation.

Whereas the RS government announced it will appeal the ruling with the high representative, and experts say that the decision "is yet another one made against the Serb people," that "it has no basis in the Dayton agreement," that "it will not contribute to the development of Bosnia-Herzegovina or improve relations between Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation," and that "the decision is catastrophic because the line separates the school from a bus stop," residents of both parts of Sarajevo that are farther away from Dobrinja mostly say that they are not too concerned about the matter. Those living in other people's apartments in Dobrinja say that they too are waiting to get their property back, in Sarajevo or elsewhere, or criticize Judge Sheridan by saying: "His ruling is great! We, Serbs, will have to move again," making no mention of the implementation of property laws valid for all of Bosnia and its citizens.

High Representative in Bosnia Wolfgang Petritsch appointed Judge Diarmuid Sheridan as arbiter in the case of the two Sarajevo suburbs on Feb. 5, 2001. According to Petritsch's decision, the arbitration process was to be completed by the end of April (which was indeed the case, and which was the first instance of a deadline being fully observed), and its outcome was supposed to be final and binding for both Bosnian entities. On April 24, at midnight, however, police forces from the Federation and Sarajevo Canton did not enter Dobrinja I and IV! This, it was announced, was prevented by peaceful demonstrations by Dobrinja's current residents, most of whom are in fact illegal tenants. Today it was reported by the Sarajevo radio stations that the demonstrators (from Republika Srpska) physically assaulted a crew from one station. One attacked crew member said no SFOR of IPTF troops were seen near the site of the incident. Almost simultaneously, SFOR issued a press release saying that its forces will pay closer attention to the sectors affected by the arbitration decision. The residents of Dobrinja, however, reported that buses with fresh demonstrators kept arriving in the "Serb" side of Dobrinja, that they had gathered since the previous midnight along the street that used to be the demarcation line, making fires, throwing bottles and shouting offensive language. The cantonal interior ministry announced that around 11 a.m. on April 25, cantonal police entered Dobrinja I and Dobrinja IV and were patrolling its streets.

All this, unfortunately, brings to mind the previous attempts to implement the demarcation line in Dobrinja which differed from the one established by the war. Then, there were demonstrations, shots were fired, and even a wall was started to separate the two entities. That, however, was five years ago and times do change. A day after the decision was announced the OHR said it had no contingency plan in the event the riots endured or spread, saying only that such a course of events was unlikely to happen. It also said that SFOR and IPTF were patrolling the area and monitoring the situation, and that the High Representative will remind all of the sides involved that the decision is binding and that the law and legality have to be observed.

"I predict that the line, once it is drawn, will not pose an obstacle to the people on both of its sides to enjoy full freedom of movement or to do their jobs on the other side of it. It would be encouraging if I could expect the line to disappear in the future thanks to daily, practical things, and that the communities, although of a different ethnic background, will grow closer as neighbors and with the passage of time unite into a community enjoying the fruits of the reconstruction of Dobrinja I and IV," Judge Sheridan said. As if he wanted to say that life itself, not maps, should give order to life.

Hana Imamovic

(AIM)