COFFEE WITH NO SUGAR

Livno, In Passing

AIM Livno, September 15, 1996 - Slavko Gotovac, famous citizen of Livno and a highly esteemed colleague, retired and gravely ill reporter of Oslobodjenje, says that the situation in Livno has - settled down. And then continues with the explanation:

"If you ask for coffee in Livno nowadays in the 'wrong' dialect, you will get it. And until recently, if you happened to do it, you would be so mistreated that it would not have occurred to do it for the rest of your life. Or if his father died and you went to his house to pay your condelences, again by using the 'wrong' word for it, he would probably throw you out of the house. Nowadays, it would not happen."

Human and God's Justice

I would have probably ended this story about Livno nowadays in the spirit of these words of my famous colleague, had it not been for the fact that coffee in Livno is still drunk only without any sugar. I met father Marko Gelo, dean and parish priest of Livno, on the occasion of opening of the Federation Ombudsmen's office in this town. This was a big event for all honest citizens of Livno, but mostly for the local Bosniacs and Serbs who are nowadays minority nations in this town. On the occasion, after carefully weighing his words and deeply meditating for a long time, father Marko Gelo said:

"It is a good thing that there are those who are ready to take care of people who do not have any true protectors. Although parties in power, ours in Livno inclusive, compete in offering rights and freedoms to people, we are witnessing that things are happening which do not speak in favour of such declarations of those in power. I expect this Office to contribute to a higher level of human rights, right to employment, education, culture, housing, right to free political and religious life. The world must help protect the rights of small, ordinary people, those whose opinion, as we in Bosnia like to say, is not taken into account for more than five per cent."

"As a priest, do you believe that these small, ordinary people, will sooner reach human or God's justice?"

"God's justice has always been on the side of us, small people. We know what affliction means, what humiliation is, what it means to endure. Those who endure will certainly be victorious. And those who are mighty, power-wielders, will take care of themselves..."

State Limit of Dignity

I put the same question about God's and human justice to Livno effendi Sabir Dizdarevic. However, my acquaintance with this man was preceded by an event which in itself reflects the current "state of spirit" in a much broader space than that of Livno. While I was ending my conversation with father Marko Gelo, an unknown man came up to me and addressed me as follows:

"If you allow me, I am Jasenko Tufekcic, President of the Party of democratic Action (SDA) of Livno and coordinator of SDA for western Herzegovina and south-eastern Bosnia. I have Livno effendi Sabir Dizdarevic here with me. We have heard that you had come from Sarajevo. It is a great step forward for Livno. You know only Ljiljan (SDA journal) writes about us, which is accused of being a nationalist paper, but, regardless of what it is called, it helps us a lot. Can we, too, talk for your journal?"

At first I laughed, somehow both from my heart and bitterly at the same time. "That is what I am here for, dear sir", I answered and asked him to tell me something about the status of Bosniacs in this town. Mr Tufekcic then told me:

"First, I am glad that the Office of the Ombudsmen was opened in Livno, since in this space, human rights and freedoms are constantly violated. I hope that with the help of the ombudsmen, even if we don't resolve the problems, at least we will publicly be able to point out to their number. The SDA has so far been the only party of Bosniac and Bosnian orientation which is concerned about Bosniacs in this space..."

"How many Bosniacs are there in Livno nowadays, and how many of them are employed?"

"There are a little over four thousand of us, and about 450 are employed. We are not at managerial posts, none of is in the police or the judiciary, we are practically nowhere where we would mean something, be of any significance. We have remained only at the posts where there are no Croats, doing jobs which the Croats do not wish to take".

"What has changed in Livno after Dayton and what do you expect after September elections?"

"Unfortunately, nothing has changed after Dayton. The number of cases of mining and arson of our houses has even increased, which introduces additional uneasiness and fear among the Bosniacs on the eve of the elections. I expect that the Bosniac people here will vote for our party. It is the only way for the Bosniacs to get their legal representatives in the authorities and through them to try to claim their rights. But, I would also like to say something about my party. You know, the SDA in this space is not the same as the SDA in other parts of Bosnia & Herzegovina. We are here the only representatives of interests of the Bosniac people, because there is noone else to protect our political, but even the fundamental vital interests. Our only wish is to give the Bosniac people in this region back its dignity and to move the border of Bosnia & Herzegovina back to Kamensko where it always used to be."

That is how Mr Tufekcic talked, and to the question about God's and human justice, effendi Dizdarevic first said that he "would rather not give any statements for the press, because it is our official stance that we are apolitical", but in the end he said:

"Everybody knows when God's justice reaches you, and as for human, it seems that there is no such thiong as human justice. I do my duty in so to speak, very specific circumstances. I preach my religion only inside the mosque, I dare not do it outside, because they cannot guarantee my safety. When I do carry out religious ceremonies outside, I experience all kinds of provocations, same as believers who come to the mosque. Some Croats curse their mothers, telling them: 'What are you waiting for, why don't you go to Bugojno', calling them names, insulting them. Not long ago when young people graduated from high school, they went down the streets singing publicly: 'There will be blood, there will be blood, we will slaughter the Muslims!' without even being cautioned for it".

To Endure as a Man

Things really are very difficult for the Bosniacs in Livno, but things are not easy for the few Serbs who have remained here either. One of them is Dusko Pavlovic, once a renowned Sarajevo lawyer, and nowadays a son-in-law in Livno (married to a Croat) and for four years already an unemployed jurisprudence expert. He lives on his wife's salary and dignity which he has managed to preserve, just like many Bosniacs.

I asked him what the Bosniacs and the Serbs could do nowadays in Livno with their dignity? He answered:

"They can do their gardening, that's what they can do! I cannot say that they have beaten me up, but I was sacked from my job, and once they kept me for thirty hours in the police station for questioning. How did we manage to survive, to preserve our dignity? Well, it was hard, really hard. We gathered ones around the others, but also around Mr Slavko Gotovac. He gave us moral strength, he encouraged us not to knuckle under as human beings. This meant a great deal to us. Because Mr Gotovac is a Croat. And there is father Marko Gelo. For instance, about six months ago Jovo Rosic, a Serb, an honest man and one of the most respectable citizens of Livno, died. There has not been an orthodox priest in Livno for a long time, but father Marko Gelo performed funeral services for him. If you only knew what a beautiful mass he served for him and what touching speech he gave..."

I did not succeed in meeting the official Croat authorities in Livno, because those seven, eight hours for how long I stayed in the town - the first time after who knows how many years - was not enough for it. They were not present at the ceremony of opening of the office for protection of human rights in their town, so ombudsmen Vera Jovanovic, Esad Muhibic and Branka Raguz could not meet them either. Perhaps that is another reason why words of father Marko Gelo imprinted themselves deeply on my memory:

"The authorities must do something to remove from their ranks and from the public scene those who are used to living on other people's blood and other people's misery. I believe that the forthcoming elections will contribute to it a lot".

DRAGAN STANOJLOVIC