BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

Sarajevo

Conference of Democratic Alternative in Sarajevo

AIM Banjaluka, February 3, 1996

Is Sarajevo what it used to be, we - journalists from the Republic of Srpska - wondered while we were driven by vehicles of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from the direction of Pale towards Sarajevo. At first, the burnt down ruins of the famous Townhall came into sight, then the bridge at Skenderija, Markale... Noone stopped us, asked for papers, which OSCE certainly deserves the credit for, so we arrived in Sarajevo, that is, in the Muslim part of the city, as usually said. Our ultimate aim was the part called Ciglana (Brickyard) and restaurant "Ada", where the Conference of Democratic Alternative was to be held. And for the first time after the beginning of the war in Bosnia, representatives of political parties, citizens' associations, independent media, all those who are working on reestablishment of inter-ethnic confidence and who are fighting for human rights - from both the territory of the Republic of Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina gathered at a meeting.

That is how, finally, journalists of Independent Television Studio 99 from Sarajevo met with those from Radio Kameleon from Tuzla, AIM from Bosnia & Herzegovina, directors of "Media Plan" from Sarajevo, a privately-owned independent organization which is engaged in intensifying democratic commitment to freedom of public word, and the team from Banjaluka which consisted of the journalists of "Novi Prelom" and AIM, Dr Miodrag Zivanovic, President of the Liberal Party who met with Sejfudin Tokic, President of the Union of Bosnia-Herzegovinian Social Democrats, representatives of the Muslim Boshniak Organization, the Liberal Party of B&H, Tuzla Citizens' Forum, representatives of Circle 99 from Sarajevo...

This meeting was also attended by Michael Steiner, Deputy Envoy of the International Community for implementation of the civilian part of the Dayton Agreement, Mr Kenneth Scott from OSCE which is in charge of organizing the elections on the territory of the Union of RS and B&H Federation, Mr Lowenstein, advisor for the elections also from the mentioned organization, and John Reed, member of the temporary election committee, representatives of the German Embassy...

Among those present at the restaurant "Ada", were also the Mayor of Tuzla, Selim Beslagic, President of the Assembly of the Republic of B&H, Miro Lazovic, and member of the Presidency of B&H, Ivo Komsic.

Sejfudin Tokic, coordinator of the gathering, emphasized that the objective of such meetings was the need for the democratic alternative to try to restore interethnic confidence, and in that way to do something to attempt to contribute to implementation of the Dayton Agreement. As Tokic noted, the ruling structures could do nothing of the kind, because they were the ones who were directly responsible for everything that had happened in B&H: more than 200 thousand dead, hundreds of destroyed villages and tens of demolished cities, thousands of banished and displaced persons. It was simply impossible to expect from the same group which was for a long time employed in the service of interethnic hatred, tensions and conflicts - to support a process leading in quite the opposite direction.

• This is true especially due to the fact that the Dayton Agreement was signed by representatives of the conflicting parties more as a result of pressure exerted by the international community than to authentic political will of the opposed parties - Tokic said.

The President of the Liberal Party from Banjaluka, Dr Miodrag Zivanovic, underlined that nowadays it was not so important to repeat criticism of everything that had been happening and of those who had brought it about, but to try to do something within the opportunities offered by the Dayton Agreement.

• That is why we from the Liberal Party have chosen to gather people around a great, longterm idea of reconstruction and development. We have founded a Liberal Foundation for Reconstruction and Development, Elfor, where we gathered a few associations from the sphere of civil engineering, agriculture, industries, and now we are trying to join international financial organizations, to attract foreign capital to this space of ours - Zivanovic stressed.

The other large front of activities of the Liberal Party from Banjaluka was creation of initial demographic conditions for a future life.

• This implies an enormous effort to ensure personal safety of the citizens, safety of their property necessary for more thorough exercising of human rights, because that is the only possible way to enable safe return, both of the Muslims and the Croats, but also a large number of the Serbs who have left the Republic of Srpska during the war. That is why we have started elaborating a civic code which would be one of the documents or guarantees for return - Zivanovic added.

On theit part, independent journalists from the Federation of B&H and the RS tried to find a way out of the communication blind alley. Zoran Udovicic, Director of the Society for Reconstruction and Development of Media in B&H and "Media Plan" from Sarajevo, said that it was high time for the democratic and free journalists to reach an agreement on joint activities in creation of a democratic climate in B&H, a cosmopolitan, multi-cultural, civic atmosphere in the state.

Drazena Peranic, Editor of AIM for Bosnia & Herzegovina, remarked that this network has been offering services to independent media for a few years already, in order to penetrate through the information blockade, and according to her words, the most important thing now was interconnection within B&H.

Adil Kulenovic, Director of Independent Television "Studio 99" believes that journalists "from both sides" must be aware of the importance of this meeting after the time spent "behind the iron curtain".

• Evidently, something remains between us which can neither be killed nor uprooted - he said on the occasion. - We will never reach an agreement only with those who have degraded the journalistic profession and dragged it down to the dirt. I am also aware that there will be no peace and new life with politicians who have brought this war about. We must be interconnected. Now we are just tiny islands which serve as a decoration to the regimes. A way for them to brag about the existence of independent media in their environments, while in fact they are doing their best to limit our actual power and force. We must start from the fact that inside both entities in B&H, three powerful state RTV networks operate, but that with the help of the international community we can also create an alternative one, which would enable circulation of information. Without such a network, it is impossible to even think about a serious political alternative.

In the end all participants at the gathering in Sarajevo signed a statement on the necessity of departure of the tripartite coalition of national parties as the main source of conflicts in B&H, punishment of all those who were responsible for war crimes and banishment of citizens from their homes, insisting on individual responsibility. The statement referred also to implementation of the Dayton Agreement, a quicker circulation of people, goods, ideas and capital, to participation of representatives of the Democratic Alternative in the activities concerned with elaboration of election rules, its organization and control, and it was especially stressed that the most important media were fully controlled by the ruling parties - the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) and the Serb Democratic Party (SDS).

Indipenedent journalists of both entities agreed to attempt to start a joint journal which would be published on the territory of entire former Yugoslavia, and also to try to create an alternative radio-network, and support foundation of independent media in whole of B&H, and to convene a new meeting in March in Banjaluka.

The meeting, after its official part, turned into a pleasant get-together of people eager for information what was happening in the other part of the country, where their friends, relatives, acquaintances were. They exchanged banknotes, newspapers, and a single afternoon was simply too short for all that.

In the end, on our own, we set out for a walk around Sarajevo, which worried the people from the OSCE, who kept us in sight. The journalists from the RS could see the old downtown again, Bascarsija and Bey's Mosque, but this recognizable part of the city left a gloomy impression. In the Vasa Miskin street, there is a wreath of fresh flowers at all times to mark the place where a shell killed tens of people queueing for bread. Department store "Sarajka", is not open any more, windows on it are smashed and it gapes empty.

The state radio carries patriotic songs with a national prefix, reminding greatly of the media in the RS. Sarajevo is not what it used to be, but there are friends in it.

(AIM) Radmila Karlas