IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM - JOIN THEM

On the inter - Moslem conflict in the Cazin Krajina, now proclaimed the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia. There were two possibilities: a major war with the Serbs, and also with the Croats over Bihac, or a minor inter - Moslem conflict, says the President of the AP of Western Bosnia, Fikret Abdic. We have opted for this inter - Moslem conflict in the interest of peace. If Izetbegovic were to defeat us he would continue the war with the Serbs which he could never win here. And Abdic and his associates are governed by the logic: if you can't beat them - join them.

AIM,ZAGREB, December 23, 93

The average foreign consumer of information on events that have transpired in the last three years in the area of former Yugoslavia could picture it all as a national football championship. Everybody plays against everybody, with only one rule - i.e. there are no rules. That is how he learned to differentiate between the following ethnic groupings from the former YU republics, now independent states. The Serbs waging war against the Croats, the Serbs waging war against the Moslems, the Serbs waging war against the Croats and Moslems; the Croats who are at war with the Serbs, the Croats who are at war against the Moslems, and the Croats who are at war with the Serbs and Moslems; the Moslems who are in conflict with the Serbs, the Moslems in conflict with the Croats, and the Moslems in conflict with the Serbs and Croats. Just when he thought he had mastered the ropes and thought he knew it all - there appeared the Moslems cooperating with the Serbs and Croats and are at war with the Moslems.

The free part of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia covers about two fifths of the total Cazin Krajina area. In comparison with the other parts of B&H the center of the AP of Western Bosnia, Velika Kladusa, seems unreal. The headquarters of Fikret Abdic is located in the settlement of Polje, 4 kms south-east from Velika Kladusa in the Medical Center of Agrokomerc. The two soldiers escorting us to the headquarters are dressed in new American M65 fatigues bought in Croatia and are armed with brand new M70 rifles of Yugoslav make. One of them, inquiring about the Honda we are riding in, says quite seriously that today a car of the same make is to be confiscated from one of the opponents of autonomy, with whom the prisons in Kladusa are teeming. To the remark of the author of these lines that this is not exactly the ideal car for military purposes, the guy says "What military purposes? It's for around Kladusa, for the chicks".

When proclaiming the AP of Western Bosnia, its president Fikret Abdic, also proclaimed the German mark, the dollar, the franc and the shilling legal tender; he raised the prices of products imported from Croatia and the Republic of Srpska, gave the employees their salaries in hard currency and in that way closed the circle of the circulation of money. The miracle came true. In Velika Kladusa one can really find everything. There are no problems with the supply of consumer goods, ready-made clothes and footwear from Croatia, foodstuffs from the Republic of Srpska, Belgrade papers in the Cyrillic alphabet, and gasoline, although 4DM per litre, is available at every gas station.

"We know that the prices of products in Kladusa are much higher than those at which we procure the goods, but this has to be so because production in the AP of Western Bosnia has ground to a halt owing to the lack of raw-materials. We are living and waging war off those so called war taxes. Nevertheless, the salaries of the employed are such that they can live normally, says Abdic. "Those employed in the police and soldiers get from 100 - 150DM per month, customs officers 150, and those employed in postal services 200 DM. The salaries of the members of the government are not much higher."

President Abdic and his associates believe in the future of the AP, and it seems, that they are governed by the logic "if you can't beat them, join them".

"I am a man of peace", says Abdic and goes on "while Alija is a man of war. Although these are two completely opposing options, this does not mean that I am for peace at any cost. I am in favour of taking a reasonable view of the problems, for a concept which Alija never put before the Moslem people. Every time I try to normalize relations with the Serbs, those from Sarajevo say that I am a Chetnik, if I negotiate with the Croats I become an Ustashi. Instead of creating allies, we are constantly making enemies. In such a situation I started collecting signatures for the AP of Western Bosnia, thus depriving Alija Izetbegovic of the legitimacy to represent these people. The reason was not the struggle for power, but because I am fighting for peace, because that is the only reality. We are 200 kms away from the first inch of that republic in which we should have been, and 450 kms from the center of that republic. Due to this very fact we must have a certain degree of autonomy. How high a degree - that is what is troubling Izetbegovic. Silajdzic and Izetbegovic want it to be political autonomy which would not leave us any leeway for negotiations with the Serbs and the Croats on the normalization of relations. That does not suit them, because they are at war with everyone. Generally speaking there seem to be two possibilities: a major war with the Serbs, and also with the Croats over Bihac or a minor inter - Moslem conflict where the losses are much smaller. Any loss of life is deplorable, irrespective of nationality, that is why we have opted, the AP of Western Bosnia has opted, for this inter - Moslem conflict, precisely in the interest of peace. It is not at all a question of whether Alija Izetbegovic will succeed in his intention to defeat us, but of what he is offering after. If he were to defeat us, he would continue war with the Serbs, a war he cannot win here".

Bozidar Sicel, a renowned Cazin lawyer before the war and now Vice-President of the Constituent Assembly of the AP of Western Bosnia has two loves: hunting and the classics. During one round of negotiations with the former commander of the 5th Corps of the B&H Army opposed to the Province, Ramiz Drekovic, the latter asked him: "How can you love Bosnia more than I do?" "Easily - answered Mr.Sicel - I have been living in it since I was two years old, 37 years all in all, and you have never lived in it." What can one say to a man whose favourite saying is "Heck, I do think so myself", to a man who during several years of service in Bjelovar (as an officer of the YPA) did not learn that the name of that town is pronounced with the letter "J", and not Belovar, a man who is less knowledgeable of the Koran than myself, but who keeps referring to it in pauses between drink and women - a true believer".

The first front line towards the 5th Corps of the B&H Army is in the village of Skokovi, 25 kms south-east of Velika Kladusa. Rasim, one of the three fighters now holding their positions, says that he fought against the Serbs from the very beginning. "I realized that they were so strong that we could do nothing to them. The former YPA was after all the fourth power in Europe, and all the weapons it had in Bosnia were left to the Serbs. I was in the 5th Corps and I used my last leave to join "Babo". If we can't beat them, join them. If there weren't people who shoot in the back in the 5th Corps, and they are mainly refugees from Krupa, Prijedor and Kljuc, 90% of the fighters from the Corps would come over to our side. On instructions from Sarajevo they carry all those killed in conflicts with us, and there are a lot of them, to Grabez and Golubic, near Bihac, presenting them as victims who died at the hands of the Serbs. They are afraid of what the people will say, they are afraid to admit that they are pitting Moslem against Moslem".

Both the Serbs and the Croats extended greater moral than material support to that inter - Moslem conflict. Nevertheless, the news broadcast several days ago by some agencies and radio stations that the troops of the AP of Western Bosnia had attacked Izacic, a village some 10 kms north-west of Bihac, and after that came as close as 4 kms from the town itself, unequivocally shows support somewhat greater than up to now. The attack on Izacic had to be mounted from Serb controlled territories: either from Licko Petrovo Selo or from the area of the former Bihac airport. The authorities accuse UNPROFOR of this, claiming that the French battalion transported "Abdic's rebels" over the territory of the "RSK" and that the Serbs were paid 3 million DM for crossing their territory and artillery support. The official representative of UNPROFOR in Sarajevo emphatically denied such claims, confirming only that the forces of Fikret Abdic had made a breakthrough of several kilometers into the territory held by the 5th Corps and approached Bihac. In any case, no one stands to lose from the AP of Western Bosnia except the forces loyal to Alija Izetbegovic. The Republic of Croatia is making a profit on the goods it sells to the Province for hard currency, the Serbs from both states regularly take "racket" from every convoy passing through their territory, and just in case there are also five Serbian corps keeping the Cazin Krajina fully encircled. The authorities in Sarajevo are even now, at this very moment, trying to break the concept of "Babo's autonomy". However, their united enemies - the Croats and the Serbs - are preventing them from doing that.

DEJAN JELOVAC