IS THIS REALLY THE END?

THE BITTER PILL CALLED PEACE

AIM, Sarajevo, September 11, 1995 "Is this really the end?" - the Sarajevans around the city are wondering lately, finding it hard to believe. Tired out after long suffering, agonized, fosaken so many times before, still living in the city with no power supply, no water, gas, everyday bread... the inhabitants of this city raise their eyes towards the sky and listen to explosions of one by one ammunition and armament dumps which have mercilessly been killing them for more than three years. After who knows how many NATO overflights and bombardments of those who have shed death around this city, noone can take away faith and hope that war will soon be over from the Sarajevans. Nevertheless, the past four years of dying teach them not to have too high hopes nor too soon. Who knows whether this is really the end?

In view of the fact that the war has lasted this long because the USA had, until recently, refused to get involved - as local Liberals think - one could start believing that now, with a more active involvement of the USA in resolving the Bosnian disputes, time has come to talk about the end of the war. If that is so, should the Bosnians and the Herzegovinians perhaps thank goodness for the fact that the USA are heading towards new elections which the present structure in power does not feel like entering with the burden of Bosnia on its back, and that it wishes to get rid of it for good and remove it from front pages of journals and headlines of news programs. Such American stance is most probably the cause for the type of the peace solution which will befall us. In other words, it means that America and in their own way all the other countries of the West, are interested to end the war by all means, without going into details or political nuances of the solution and satisfaction of justice. Indispensibility of peace here and now triumphs overgiving satisfaction to war victims, so if need be, peace will be charged from victims too. After all, peace might prevail against justice, so why bother about unnecessary nuances?!

It seems that such an attitude is largely dictated by the nature of NATO military intervention in Bosnia & Herzegovina. It is directed primarily against political objectives and has no intention to punish perpetrators of crimes, but to force them to agree to peace. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of course, does not wish to wage war against the Serbs no matter how hard Karadzic's clique tries to prove it, it does not wish to kill people or destroy inftrastructure, but wishes to bring about fulfilment of its requirements in order to restore its shaken reputation and prove that it is a segment of the now resolute international community which must be taken seriously. Peaceful Bosnia is something that will, hopefully, fit into the efforts of Western allies.

But, Karadzic and his followers know these facts only too well and therefore delay to fulfill the demands in order to enter the negotiations, which must be conducted at a quick pace due to time-limits, with continued control of Sarajevo, because on the contrary their chances in bargaining at the green table would be quite unfavourable for them. After the specific capitulation Karadzic and Mladic have signed in the presence of Milosevic which was then handed over by Milosevic to the West, the clique from Pale is trying to convince its "own people" that they have made points by the Geneva agreement which they certainly have not. Because the Geneva agreement, however enthusiastically promoted by the official Belgrade, and however firmly they claimed in Pale that their village was recognized by the whole world, it is still just the plan of the Contact Group which Karadzic and his supporters had unanimously rejected a year ago. Instead of the alleged recognition they were given a sweet lie called "entity", or the "Republic of Srpska" which will in fact be a constituent part of the internationally recognized Bosnia & Herzegovina. Karadzic can hardly call this a victory, especially since this war had started in order to secede a part of B&H and annex it to Serbia. Anything else, especially sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina within borders outlined after the Second World War is a defeat for Karadzic which citizens living on the territory of B&H controlled by him will have to face. The fact that the government in Sarajevo certainly is not the winner in the this war either, simply because it is impossible to have a winner in such a war, can by no means be a sufficient consolation for the defeated creators of "Greater Serbia".

It seems that the Bosnian-Herzegovinian war will in the end be a war of the defeated. On all sides. Even the national oligarchies, nothing to say about the civic opposition, can brag that they have fulfilled their dreams, regardless of ethnically sufficiently cleansed pens they succeeded in arranging inside Bosnia. Because, none of them made their dreams come true. In their nationalistic euphoria, uncompleted projects will rather be a hindrance than an incentive in future running for power - it will be hard for all of them to find a pretext for unfulfilled dreams their "own people" were killed for on such a massive scale.

Therefore, no matter how ready we may be for the end of this war and no matter how eagerly we may be expecting it with uncertainty, one thing is in line for us all - noone who has anything to do with this war will be able to avoid the bitterness of the pill of peace that will have to be swallowed. Long-suffering citizens of Bosnia & Herzegovina, regardless of the territory they live on, will have noone to welcome with flowers and songs celebrating the end of the war. Around here, noone is expected to ride in on a white horse.

And yet, we still pray that this bitter reality may begin as soon as possible...

STRAJO KRSMANOVIC