BANISHED PERSONS AND RESOLUTION 981

AIM, ZAGREB, April 15, 1995 "What does Security Council Resolution 981 mean for banished persons. We wish to know the date when we will be able to start for home" - is the question members of the Executive Committee of the Association of Banished Persons of Croatia put at the recent meeting with the Minister of External Affairs, Mate Granic. The several hours long talks left the banished persons without a specific answer again. "This is just a political Resolution, and only when it becomes operational will it be possible to find space for the problem of banished persons", Granic promised. Talking about the significance of the Resolution which for the first time mentions the name of Croatia, he stressed that only a militarily, economically and diplomatically powerful state can offer guarantees for complete integration and final return of all its banished persons to their homes. After they had insisted on being given the precise date of their return, the banished persons were told that it would happen only when Croatia starts controlling its borders, "because that is the only way to dignified and safe return of these people".

"We already have tens of such resolutions which declaratively recognize all sorts of things to Croatia, but practically nothing has become effective", Mato Simic, President of the Association of Banished Persons, says. "We do not share the enthusiasm of the authorities with the latest Resolution - it is all very nice that Croatia is mentioned in it, but it would have meant much more to us if the time for our return home had finally been set. They are speaking at the top of their voice about the Resolution as of the most successful result of Croat diplomacy, and the manner of its implementation and the mechanisms of border control are still not clear to us".

The hopes of a forthcoming return home raised by promises of the authorities, have vanished once again. On the eve of the developments in Copenhagen when cancelling of the UNPROFOR mandate was expected to be verified, Mate Simic was received by President Tudjman. Simic expressed support of the banished persons to the decision of President Tudjman which promised a speedy return home, although "not as speedy as the banished persons would wish". After the Croat "success" in Copenhagen, sobering up of the banished persons followed. Left without any illusions, they started their struggle for survival.

"When shall we return? Never. Why should I trust the politicians when they do not know it either. They can do nothing but lie and deceive us. Even if I could return to Vukovar, I would not do it until the Serbs are there", a banished woman from Vukovar is embittered. Not even after four long years of banishment does the army of 197 thousand of banished and humiliated persons know if and when it will be able to return home. The last years ecstasy has long been forgotten, when standing at the control points of UNPROFOR they believed they held the decision about the return home in their own hands. Unresolved housing problems, unemployment, and increasing threats of eviction, are nowadays part of everyday life of banished persons. Warnings that persistent negligence of problems of banished persons could lead to social unrest and even civil disobedience are becoming louder. Inadequate diet, problems with health protection, education, manipulations with humanitarian aid, problems with heating, hot water, are just some of the problems of about 55 thousand banished persons accomodated in collective centres. Preventive health protection has especially been neglected, the situation in education has improved in time, although in some places teaching is still taking place in hotel premises. Facilities where problems with heating and hot water or hygienic supplies have not been resolved are still quite numerous.

After four years spent in exile, patience and tolerance of majority of the banished persons have greatly diminished, and their present accomodations, mostly in hotel rooms, have become ties they would like to run away from. Inhumane living in tiny rooms leads to increasing social problems of the people who have left their homes with terrible pain. Pressure exerted by banished persons and the forthcoming tourist season for which hotels full of "temporarily" accomodated people, should at least partially be returned to their basic, commercial use, forced the authorities to start action. Without any announcements, last month the media pompously presented the new project of the Government Office for Banished Persons and Refugees - moving of banished persons from hotels into abandoned privately-owned houses of the citizens of the FR of Yugoslavia in Istria, Central and South Dalmatia, without jeopardizing the principle of private property, as the authors claimed. According to the words of Adalbert Rebic, Minister in the Government and the Head of the Government Office for Banished Persons and Refugees, "contracts would be signed with banished persons giving them the right to temporarily use these houses and obliging them, once their status of banished persons ends, to return the houses and the inventory in the condition they found them in. In this way, the property of Yugoslav citizens would be preserved, and such situation would last until Croatia is recognized by the FR of Yugoslavia, that is until the crisis of banished persons ends".

Only in four Dalmatian districts (Zadar-Knin, Sibenik, Split-Dalmatia, and Dubrovnik-Neretva) about 30 thousand banished persons are accomodated in hotels. Accomodation possibilities of tourist estates of the region have thus been practically reduced by half, and at the same time discontent of the banished persons is growing concerning the space which has against their will become their home. The idea about moving into Serb houses is not new. For years the banished persons have begged to be allowed to use the weekend houses which stood empty along the entire coast - the authorities have remained deaf to such requests. On the other hand, they passed over in silence cases of forcible breaking into such houses, which was the popular way od solving housing problems during the war.

The latest project on moving, banished persons have welcomed with a number of questions and open discontent. "The official decision which would enable such moving has not been reached yet, and the team of the Government Office headed with Dr Rebic is already cruising Dalmatia and offering people to move into these houses", Mato Simic says. Noone has the faintest idea about the number of houses and the manner in which moving would be regulated. "After years spent in exile, they are offering us somebody's abandoned houses. It is nevertheless just a temporary solution for a part of the people until their return. So far we have got promises of the Croat Government that noone will force the people to move without their consent". The question banished persons most frequently put is who will pay the expenses resulting from this type of accomodation. It is more than evident that it is impossible to pay overhead expenses out of the 150 kunas (about 40 German marks) they get as "pocket money" from the state. By moving to another town, a large number of banished persons would have to seek employment again, children would have to change schools - these are just a part of the criticism addressed on account of the new project.

Without waiting for the official decision, the first moving of banished families from hotels into empty summer houses belonging to Serb citizens took place in Supetar on the Island of Brac. This is the result of two-years long "negotiations" between the banished persons and the administration of the "Supetrus Hotels" enterprise. Banished persons mostly from Vukovar, Baranja and Drnis have accepted to move from the hotels, but under the condition they are given high-quality accomodation. After numerous talks and preparations, they moved into empty weekend houses in coordination of all competent services. Before moving in, in the presence of the police, inventory was made of everything found in the houses, so that the banished persons could return everything in the condition they found it when they move out. By signing contracts on temporary accomodation, nine banished families were thus accomodated. They have accepted to move only after the "Supetrus Hotels" guaranteed that they would pay all municipal expenses and issue monthly meal tickets to each member of their families amounting to 457 kunas. The signed contract reads that the Hotel enterprise will carry out the obligations all the time the banished persons are living in weekend houses.

"I am on the island of Brac since October 1991 and we have changed several hotels and seaside resorts", a self-supporting mother with a nine-year old son who has moved into a small weekend house says. "We are better off than in the hotel, although the owner of the house who lives in Belgrade has contacted us through his lawyer from Zagreb. He was quite unpleasant and sent word that we have broken into other people's property, which is not true. A few days ago, he sent through his lawyer an authorization he wants me to sign, so that he too would allegedly give his consent for using his house. I have no intention to sign anything he sent, because I have done it all with the Centre for Social Welfare, the municipality and the hotel which takes care of us. Before I moved in, the police made an inventory in the presence of witnesses. Serbs have moved into my house in Baranja. I am glad because of that, at least they did not set it on fire, so my son and I will have where to return".

After the "successful" case of moving into Serb weekend houses in Supetar, everybody seems to be waiting for the legal provisions of the Ministry of Justice in order to convince distrustful banished persons to move out of hotels. Discontent with thier present accomodation and the increasing pressure of the hotel hosts on the people to make this step are evidently still insufficient to induce the banished persons to make up their minds and move to new uncertain accomodation. Every day pressures are increasing though - number of complaints because of poor food is growing, power supply is often cut off, water supply is reduced. There are more and more hotels every day in which the banished persons can use hot water just once a week. But, aware of uncertainty of their return, they are forced to make longterm plans. The only security in this situation is provided by the state treasury. "I have nothing against moving into an empty house, but not before it is all legally regulated. Not like this - I move into a house and in a few months time, they switch off electric power and water supply because I have no money to pay. Or even worse, the real owner appears. And where would I be then. How will I ever prove that I am not a thief", a banished person from Baranja says.

Every day spent in exile, the danger of integration of banished persons grows, Mato Simic warns, and the efforts of the state to at least partly relieve the state budget at any cost, and even by moving them into somebody's houses, is favourable for this trend. "Waiting has lasted too long, people have started to buy houses, they are making the best of it on their own. It is questionable whether they will be interested to return after all. Once Croatia gets its territory back, it just may happen that it will be left without people who would live there. And what is the use of having land without people".

BRANKA VUJNOVIC