DREAM ABOUT SECESSION

Dayton Challenges

If things go on as so far, the world community has more efficient measures at its disposal among which is scheduling of early elections and establishment of an international political body which would be in charge of implementation of the agreement until conditions are created for transfer of authorities to a newly elected administration.

Banja Luka, 14 March, 1997 (AIM)

The process of pacification in Bosnia has not been completed yet. The outlines of political solutions which can be established by implementation of the Dayton accords can hardly be discerned, and for this a prolonged assistance of the world community will be necessary. Without it, nothing would have come out of the Dayton accords. Even in the presence of agencies of the world community, actors in the conflict are constantly evading control. There is still no free movement of citizens, no return of refugees, joint agencies have just been formally constituted. The Croats and the Serbs still believe that creation of integral B&H can be avoided, that entities will be able to secede and that B&H is just a "transit station" on the way to secession of entities.

War crimes are one of the basic burdens on interethinic relations in B&H. They demand taking measures against initiators and perpetrators of war crimes, because without that, social relations cannot stabilize. However, some of the main actors of crimes still hold the power in their hands. Therefore, many of them will not even appear in court, either as criiminals or as witnesses, because it would be too compromising for the policy of main internal and external actors of this war.

Despite everything that was done in order that peace be implemented, human rights in Bosnia are still violated every day, there are no necessary forms of interconnections in social life, each entity is firmly holding its ground, endless evasive actions and obstructions are devised and performed. After September elections, the same people who had brought about this situation in Bosnia remained in power.

The peace plan proposed in Lisbon in February 1992, according to its basic content does not differ from the Dayton accords, but the men at the head of nationalistic movements were not ready to accept it, which primarily refers to Izetbegovic. It was, however, necessary to destroy B&H in order to accept a similar plan after bitter war experiences. The nationalists are still bargaining about the nature of this Bosnia. They do not wish to see that this is the third, "Dayton Bosnia", united, complex, but not unitarian. However, all the parties are lingering with creation of united Bosnia, instead to hasten towards its implementation. It is necessary to finally give up the stance that the current concept of Bosnia is temporary, that it will be possible to divide it or that it will become unitarian.

One of the significant obstacles in creation of new Bosnia are different assessments of the past war. In the Federation of B&H it is almost unanimously claimed that it was expansionist and "aggressive" caused by only one - Serb party. This resembles of the story about the wolf who lay in ambush for little Red Riding Hood. However, this wolf was so drowsy, slow-witted and sluggish, that little Red-Riding Hood not only remained alive, but turned into a hunter herself. Besides, who demolished Mostar, Gornji Vakuf, the valley of the river Neretva, Lasva, Bosna - where there was no big bad Serb wolf? It will not be able to play the trick on events and history by untrue stories. In this war, Bosnia was in fact the "Bosnian pot house", into which all the actors entered, turned off the light and started to fight each other to extermination. And when the lights were turned on - a total shipwreck came to sight. The insane tactic was applied during the war according to which it was believed that you could take everything you thought belonged to you. This tactic was completely and utterly defeated.

If it had intended to overcome this situation, the international community should never have relied on the same forces which have led to it. Why did it have to tolerate endless obstruction, postponements in implementation of the Dayton accords? We shall see how it will proceed, but obstruction of ethnic entity groups may lead to unending delays in implementation of the agreement. If this goes on like this, the world community has more efficient measures at its disposal, such as scheduling early elections and formation of an international political agency which would take over some jobs in the implementation of the agreement until conditions are created for transfer of power to the newly-elected state agencies which would be essentially different from the current ones.

The need to intervene refers more to Mostar than to Brcko. In fact, Mostar is the main centre of conflict in B&H and the main obstacle to implementation of the Dayton accords. Relations between the Muslims and the Croats in B&H, as well as those between Croatia and B&H, and between the USA and the EC, are reflected in Mostar.

The Federation of B&H was made in Washington of two nations in conflict for the purpose of protecting American interests. Tudjman accepted the Federation of B&H in order to create greater Croatia through it, and for that he needed Mostar as the centre of Herzeg Bosna. The Muslims will not agree to it, so that there seems to be no end to conflicts. The administrator of the European Community could do nothing and he ran away. Nowadays, Mostar is the main limiting factor of implementation of the Dayton accords, and not Brcko. By dissolution of the Federation as an artificial creation and foundation of the Muslim entity, a more radical process of implementation of the Dayton accords could be opened. If not, Mostar is heading towards division, or the Croats will strive to occupy it.

The struggle for Brcko is also an expression of the proprietary feudal awareness about who will be the owner of the city, who it belongs to, instead of an awareness about the functional role of the city administered by RS for its own benefit and the benefit of B&H. These same feudalists proposed division of Brcko into three parts. They are proposing division of Mostar, Sarajevo, Tuzla. During feudalism in western Europe, free cities were created on the territory of feuds and they had the so-called municipal rights. They were the first germs of civic society. Hundreds of years later, the feudal spirit of division of cities on proprietary foundations is appearing here within borders of a single state. All three parties bragged about having "brilliantly" expressed their arguments at the sessions of the Arbitration in Italy according to which Brcko belonged to them and nobody else. The delegation of the Federation of B&H was the most convincing! After the decision of the Arbitration, funeral mourning began. Why? Did anyone care whether the decision of the Arbitration includes the interest of the people of the western part of RS, which is not inhabited solely by the Serbs nor ever will be; how RS will communicate with the eastern part of RS and whether cutting of RS in Brcko would be in the spirit of the Dayton agreement and to the benefit of B&H? It was completely disregarded that a city should operate unhindered, and not that it is someone's watchtower.

In the presence of the international community and after certain time of resistance, hesitation, expectations that it will be possible to introduce other relations and forms in B&H, processes of interentity connections and cooperation will open as a condition of joint social life. It should be expected that new generations which will not be burdened by nationalism and the past will establish new relations regardless of national, religious and political affiliation. It will not be possible to resist this process for long. Those who still live on stirring up national hatred, divisions and discontent will disappear.

(AIM) Dr Mico Carevic