CAT'S PAW OF THE SDA

Rally in Sarajevo

AIM Sarajevo, 6 December, 1996

A rally titled "We Shall Not Give You Bosnia" held last week in Sarajevo, in the end, mostly because of the attack of women from Srebrenica at the vehicle in which Michael Steiner, deputy high representative of the international community, was riding, brought more concern than advantages to the authorities in the capital of Bosnia & Herzegovina. At the same time, it showed how dangerous it is to toy with emotions of the part of the population which suffered the most during the four-year war in B&H - the refugees, families of the victims of the war, the wounded and the former camp inmates.

There is no doubt that it was all, although not directly, organized by the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). Although a few non-governmental organizations had signed their names as organizers of the rally, it was conspicuous that all strings were held by Irfan Ajanovic, high official of the SDA, and that he was the one who raised temperature among the demonstrators with his speech. Even before the gathering of the people, the organizers tried to convince the public that the intention was not to cause a social rebellion, nor to overthrow the current authorities, although there was a lot it could be reproached for, but to primarily address the protest to the international community.

Either implementation of the integral Dayton accords or return to the state war, shouted Irfan Ajanovic in front of the banners of well-equipped demonstrators, gathered in central Sarajevo street, Marsala Tita street. "The Russians are helping the Chetniks. The Russians are Chetniks... the English and the French are doing practically the same... Let us go in front of them, let us block them, let us organize ourselves...", he was saying, seeking culprits around the world for the unresolved status of refugees.

It was not necessary to point the direction to the discontented persons, of course, in which they should go. They vented their rage a hundred metres from there, in front of the seat of the High Representative of the international community for B&H. It happened that at that very moment, Michael Steiner was entering a vehicle to go to the session of the Presidency of B&H convened to take place at the building of the World Museum in Sarajevo. The masses consisting mostly of women from Srebrenica, blocked the vehicle, so the police was forced to intervene, not sparing their rubber truncheons.

Steiner, however, did not wish to blame the refugees for the incident. At the press conference he accused the authorities in Sarajevo that they were behind it. He also directly accused all (three) authorities in B&H that they were not implementing the Dayton accords.

The Chairman of the Presidency of B&H, Alija Izetbegovic, tried to pacify the situation with his statement in which he pointed out that it was no use stirring up emotions and uttering big words. The organizers of the rally found themselves at the target of newspapers in Sarajevo as well, which reproached them that they were creating new and unnecessary enemies in the world with their behavior. It is interesting that the ruling SDA did not find it necessary to say anything concerning the case.

Mirko Sagolj, journalist of Oslobodjenje was the most critical of all, demanding in his text from Izetbegovic to finally get rid of Ajanovic and the like of him. A tumultuous reaction followed. In a letter which Oslobodjenje published almost across a whole page, Ajanovic accused Sagolj of being "an advocate of the Russians". Alija Demirovic who signed his name as the president of the Organizing Committee of the rally, also tried to defend Ajanovic on the pages of Oslobodjenje. He wondered whether it would be possible for a Bosniac journalist to write in Banja Luka, Pale, Belgrade or Zagreb, as he was writing in Sarajevo.

All these reactions, in fact, just showed with how dangerously big a fire Ajanovic was playing at the rally. Accusations of the international community for sloppy behavior, and especially the assault at Steiner, gave representatives of world diplomacy a very good opportunity to react sharply and lay the blame on the authorities of B&H. What neither Ajanovic nor any of the other speakers at the rally said was that the war was waged among the people in B&H, truly with a lot of benevolence coming from the neighbouring states. Besides, national leaders were the ones who signed a map of demarcation in Dayton, and they were also responsible for the delay in creation of state institutions. In simple terms, it depends mostly on them to what extent they will use the opportunity of peace which the world offered them in Dayton.

However, the rally in Sarajevo also showed that national leaders would not readily give up manipulation of the people in B&H. A few months ago, also after a gathering of the people, but the Croats at the time, the vehicle of Hans Koschnik, representative of the European Community, was attacked. At the time of the greatest crisis between Biljana Plavsic and Ratko Mladic, a peaceful protest of relatives of the disappeared Serb soldiers was going on in Banja Luka. And in all of them, with no exception, the revolt was aimed against the international community. Therefore, in Sarajevo, it was by no means a new recipe.

It is indicative that each of the mentioned gatherings of the people had a different political charge at its basis. The Croats rebelled against union of Mostar, the Serbs in Banja Luka did not wish to become part of Bosnia & Herzegovina again. The Bosniacs in Sarajevo demanded to go home, and indirectly acceleration of the process of reintegration of Bosnia & Herzegovina. And although in each case there was an attempt to create the illusion of spontaneity of the protests, it is more than clear that policies of national oligarchies stood behind all of them, in order to deny the fundamental principles of the peace accords. And this can be extremely dangerous for B&H, because it shows that there was not enough sincerity or good will for creation of peace, and especially for a joint state. And until these policies change, it will always be easy to reach out for someone like Irfan Ajanovic, and even for a mask of Hitler seen at the protest gathering in western Mostar in order to toy with emotions of the people. Regardless of the fact that it was once already proved who bears the consequences in the end and how bloody such toying can be.

SEJAD LUCKIN