FEDERATION OR "HERZEG-BOSNA", THAT IS THE QUESTION

Zagreb Throws the Hot Potato to Mostar

AIM Sarajevo, June 6, 1996

The decision of Bosnian Croats to reconstruct the government of "Herzeg-Bosna", after the initial spite as a reaction to the protest of their Bosniac partners in the Federation, finally turned out into a great headache for the official Zagreb. Pressure is evident of the international community on the official authorities in Croatia to use its authority and surpress separatist aspirations of the leaders of the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) in B&H, and return them to the track which would enable implementation of the peace accords signed in Dayton.

Although President of Croatia Dr Franjo Tudjman in the beginning supported formation of the new government of "Herzeg-Bosna", after sharp reactions of the USA and the European Community - which is after rejection of the Council of Europe to accept his state to be an equal member is another severe blow to the international reputation of Zagreb - is obviously trying to alleviate the latest pressure. The hot potato was therefore thrown from the presidential palace in Zagreb to western Mostar. In the past few days, leaders of "Herzeg-Bosna" issued statements in which they were trying to prove that in fact they had wished to strengthen the Federation and even weaken their own power!?

Dr Jadranko Prlic, foreign minister of the Republic of B&H and the man who is, according to what Vice-President of the Federation Dr Ejup Ganic claims, one of the architects of the Federation, explains that "last week inexorable pressure on Croatia and the Croatian people began". Prlic finds a pretext for such behavior of the international community in its efforts to protect the Dayton accords:

"Dayton accords are documents behind which is the international community, especially members of the Contact Group, and when in this context news arrive that government of the "Croat State of Herzeg-Bosna" was reconstructed, this is interpreted as a direct attempt to violate implementation of the accords. The Federation is the backbone of the whole peace process and any opposition to this project is at the same time obstruction of the international community as a whole", declared Prlic at a press conference in western Mostar.

He is doing his best to alleviate the reaction of the international community and he believes that it is the result of unawareness that the government of "Herzeg-Bosna" had in fact been reduced from fourteen to six ministries. Bozo Rajic, President of the HDZ B&H also tried to brighten up the international community by declaring that this wave of disapproval of the federal partner SDA and the European Community was the result of a wrong presentation of the decision on reconstruction of the government of Herzeg-Bosna. "We are to blame for having presented our decision wrongly leaving room for all those who critically look upon us", Rajic laments.

According to Ivan Bender who is the president of the presidential council of "Herzeg-Bosna", everybody is forgetting that this Croat state within a state has never stopped functioning and that now it has been just reduced, which shows to what extent the Croats are in favour of constructing the Federation.

The sum of all these reactions is in fact an attempt to convince the international community that there is nothing going on in "Herzeg-Bosna" that is against the Federation or the Dayton accords. However, the fact that probably concerns national leaders of the Croats in B&H the most is that criticism of the international community almost fully coincides with the complaints expressed by the Bosniac partners in the Federation. The fact that thanks to them Croatia has again ended up in an unenviable situation should not be ignored either.

In simple terms, the latest reconstruction is in fact a reduction of power of the government of "Herzeg-Bosna". However, when ones looks more closely at the ministries which have been preserved, it is quite clear that control has been kept over functions which can fully paralize each step forward made by the Federation. "Herzeg-Bosna" in this way intends to continue to supervise the sphere of defence and internal affairs, two key levers of ensuring power, but also finances, judiciary and administration, social affairs and the economy.

Vladimir Soljic, minister of defence in the Government of the Federation, justified such distribution of power at the last session of the federal parliament by a banal reason - "the need to continue to pay pensions to the pensioners since the Federation is not capable of doing it". He, however, failed to explain why the Federation is deprived of control in this sphere.

The protest of the international community, and of the Bosniacs is based primarily on the fact that even seven months after signing of the Agreement on Effectuation of the Federation - which precisely demanded abolishment of "Herzeg-Bosna" by the end of January this year - it still exists. Precondition for this Croat state within a state to cease to exist was adoption of system laws of the Federation, but this did not occur even seven months after Dayton.

In this way a gap was created in which the Croat Democratic Community is persistently trying to prove that the existence of "Herzeg-Bosna" is justified. And of course, to successfully parry all the efforts of the SDA to finally dissolve it. But, if the Bosniacs prove to be impotent to win the game against "Herzeg-Bosna", because it has had full support of Croatia all this time, it is highly questionable whether Zagreb will be able to endure the latest pressure of the international community.

Dr Tudjman and his apparatus in Croatia will certainly try to preserve "Herzeg-Bosna". It was clearly indicated by his visit to Medjugorje which took place without the knowledge of B&H authorities. With this move, the President of Croatia showed that he considered "Herzeg-Bosna" to be a part of his state. And he will continue to do so until Slobodan Milosevic claims equal rights on the Republic of Srpska, and such relation of powers at the expense of B&H just shows that Belgrade and Zagreb have never given up the idea to divide what used to be the central Yugoslav republic.

By occasional pressure exerted against Zagreb, at least by applying the method used so far, the international community can just slow down the final division of B&H, but not interrupt it altogether. After all, this was proved by reactions from Croatia, but from western Mostar as well, to criticism against formation of the government of "Herzeg Bosna". Croatian leaders not only refuse to believe that they have made a mistake, but on the contrary, they are trying to convince the world that it has misunderstood them.

Ivan Bender has recently stated in the Federal parliament that the Federation was founded under pressure, but that it cannor survive under pressure. There are two roads for it, therefore: it will either be sufficiently comfortable for both the Croats and the Bosniacs, or it will fall to pieces.

The Bosniac party still strives to prevent the latter solution, because it also implies disappearance of Bosnia & Herzegovina. The international community acts out of similar motives. The Croat party, however, does not wish to wait for September elections without having its own power, and it is ensured for it solely through "Herzeg-Bosna". Speculations that the elections in September will be an introduction into political dissolution of B&H are gaining in intensity, as well as the allegations that the international community will not be too strongly opposed to it, is a situation in which the Croats would not wish to be left without the right to be annexed to Croatia, similar to what Pale plans to do with Serbia, with Sarajevo left to make a small Muslim Bosnia.

SEAD LUCKIN