PEOPLE OR PERCENTAGES

Problems of Demobilized in RS

AIM Banja Luka, 9 October, 1996

The war is over. Unfortunately, the end of the war did not bring the expected relief to its participants. They have returned from the "evil to the worse". They were welcomed by poverty, unemployment and not even a minimum of good will to help them. From being generally praised heroes they have turned into a burden to the state.

There are no jobs which were promised them, even less housing units, and even those who used to be employed have now become "technological redundant labour". The economy is collapsing, workers are being sacked and new jobs are completely out of the question. According to the assessment of the government, after demobilization, in Republica Srpska there are 240 thousand unemployed, out of which majority are combatants who have returned from the war.

Misko Jovanovic from Celinac was commended for bravery several times during the war. In order to feed his family he is now unloading crates in Sremska Kamenica. "Now I'm alright. I have something to send home", says Jovanovic. He has two sisters at home, two brothers, father and mother, none of them employed. "I went from door to door, but there was nothing", the combatant added.

Nedeljko Jakovljevic from Banja Luka was wounded twice and promoted twice during the war. He is selling cigarettes at the Banja Luka marketplace. Before the war he was a student of electric engineering. In the war he manifested exceptional courage and they say that he had never withdrawn in front of the enemy. Nowadays he runs panic-stricken from market inspectors and trembles with fear that they will take away his cigarettes because he has no money to buy others. He has interrupted his studies and visits a psychiatrist. "I cannot go on studying after four years spent in the war, I simply cannot concentrate", he says. "Now I am living off smuggling, but it is very difficult. We are hunted down by the police, while noone does anything about those who smuggle truck loads", he continues embittered.

Nedeljko is not the only one who suffers from, professionally speaking, reactive conditions. According to the words of Dr Stojakovic, head of the Psychiatric Clinical Hospital in Banja Luka, possibilities of curing these people are very small. "It is easiest to prevent these illnesses, because they are most frequently caused by postwar feeling of being abandoned", this expert says, adding: "In many cases, it was sufficient for their state just to say 'thanks', but they did not get even that much".

"It is not easy to watch those in Mercedes cars who have once beated their breasts as 'patriots', and during the entire war would not even budged from Banja Luka", former warriors say. They say that they were forced to pay their commanders for permits for a leave at home, and it is no secret that they were officially marked as 'donors' by their commands. People simply worked at home, gave money to the commands, and those who could not do it, they were simply left at the front to be killed. The rates depended of financial possibilities of the donors.

Demobilization brought about other uncomfortable surprises. After their military documents were stamped marking the end of the war, they have lost the right to free medical treatment. Doctors in military hospitals told them they had nothing to do with them, since they were not conscripts any more, and since majority of them have no social insurance (not even the employed ones), they could not get medical treatment even in state hospitals. Even those who were wounded could not continue getting treatment if their military identity cards were stamped. They ceased to belong to anyone.

Just as they were the ones who made up the percentage of losses while the war lasted, after the war they have become the percentage of socially vulnerable cases. The state had promised it would not forget its "best sons", but it did nothing for them.

Combatants come in the focus of interest in election campaigns. They and their families, as the most numerous part of the electorate, become a significant statistical figure. From being nobody's they suddenly become everybody's. All the parties swear they were the only ones who were concerned about these people, that they would provide them a prosperous life, employment and various privileges.

The ruling Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and the Serb Patriotic Party (SPaS) went the longest way in this direction. The government hastily adopted the Law on rights of the veterans and rights of the families of those who lost their lives and disabled veterans. According to the words of the legislator, this law has offered the veterans the broadest possible rights and it is an expression of the noblest motives. It is true that this law looks very well on paper, but faced with cruel economic reality it acquires disappointing effects. According to the study of economic faculties in Banja Luka and Pale done by seven doctors of economic science, in order to provide all financial forms of income for these categories of persons, it is necessary to provide 218.5 million dinars in 1996, without debts of the state to them from 1994 and 1995. The Government had planned a budget of 130 million. In the campaign of the SDS, this Law was constantly stressed as something most sublime, although it was quite clear to everyone how unrealistic it was. On the eve of the elections, veterans received pensions and disability allowances the state owed them as a token of state concern and good will. What it will be like in the future, one can just assume.

The decision of the Assembly of Republica Srpska to award combatants from the year 1990 and national deputies of the first convocation with the decoration of Nemanjic Order caused discontent among the combatants.

"Those who left the assembly once a year and paid a visit to 'his' combatants is now the combatant of the first order, and I who have been in the war since '91, I am a combatant of the third order", says in disbelief Mico Bukvic from Kotor Varos, a combatant who was several times nominated for an award by his fellow-combatants. He was not awarded, though, because his brigade had only three decorations at its disposal, and the command had priority. "I am happy to be alive", he says and turns to a customer, because he supports his family by selling raw coffee in the marketplace. He could not get a permit for this, of course.

At the time when the Government persistently underlines that the whole world hates us and that there are no financial injections for opening new jobs, the business deal of introduction mobile telephones, more than 100 million-dollar worth, instead to Banja Luka enterprise Cajavec, is given to a firm from Ghana.

"Nothing can surprise me any more after the disappearance of 3,000 'Golf' cars, nor can the fact that telephone lines will be installed by experts from Ghana", says with resignations Renato Dzinic, a telecommunication technician from Banja Luka. He and his brother have been combatants since 1991. His brother is employed, and he is redundant labour in Cajavec. "They have promised us that they would take care of war profiteers immediately after the war. They did not. Then they said - after the elections. The elections have passed, and nobody mentions this any more", Renato continues his story. "I work unloading trucks and we live on that. The owner of the firm I work for has not even seen the war, but I have to keep quiet, because if I lose this job, I will have nothing to live on", this decorated combatant ended his story.

Confidence in the intention of the authorities to take care of war profiteers has been lost. They have already entered politics and taken prominent positions. "Those are fairy tales for little children", said Goran Plavsic, a combatant with two war wounds. "I cannot get a flat from the firm I work in because my director keeps his mistress in the flat allocated to me", says Plavsic, who is employed in the Railway Transportation Enterprise, adding that he has been the first on the priority list to get a flat for three years, but he was always told to be patient.

While combatants were going from battlefield to battlefield, other moved into their flats and even had time to do the paperwork. A large inflow of refugees deprived them of all hope that they would ever resolve their housing problems. They have become a percentage once again. This time of homeless persons.

Igor Gajic

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