When Will the "Year of Return" Begin

District of Herzeg-Bosnia

AIM Livno, 19 March, 1998

Although six months have passed since the local elections in B&H, and although less than six months are left until the new general elections, it has become quite clear that in many environments where power was won by parties whose supporters had been banished from these regions, new municipal authorities exist only formally. They operate only because refugee councilmen come to these environments for sessions of municipal councils from places of their temporary residence and then go back there.

When speaking of the district of Herzeg-Bosnia, the newly elected authorities are not operating as they should even six months after the elections in Drvar, Bosansko Grahovo, Glamoc, Kupres and Tomislav Grad. To be perfectly honest, the present situation in these towns differs from that of a few months ago especially concerning safety and freedom of movement of the minority population. However, not in a single of these municipalities, multiethnic and multiparty executive authorities have become operational yet, so the that decision-making is still the sole monopoly of a narrow circle of local politicians from the Croat national group who are doing everything they can to preserve the current status quo for as long as possible.

In the municipalities of the district of Herzeg-Bosnia where the Serbs were the majority population before the war (Drvar, Bosansko Grahovo, Glamoc, Kupres), almost nothing has changed in the direction of return and creation of conditions for return of the Serb population. Out of 16,613 Serbs from Drvar, thanks exclusively to the efforts of international organizations, about 1,300 have returned to Drvar or just 8 per cent of the prewar population of Serb nationality.

Less than 50 Serbs have returned to Bosansko Grahovo, Kupres, Tomislav Grad and Livno since signing of the Dayton accords, and about 28 thousand of them lived in these municipalities before the war. After these municipalities became part of the B&H Federation, pursuant the peace accords, the Croat authorities have taken all kinds of measures to colonise as much as possible these places with the banished Croat population from various regions of B&H, giving them firm promises that they would remain here and that nobody would ever move them from here.

By ethnic engineering, the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) colonised Drvar with about ten thousand Croats from central Bosnia and Posavina, Bosansko Grahovo with about one thousand, Glamoc with about two thousand, and Kupres with about as many. In order to interrupt the process of return which is increasingly supported by the international community, according to the words of Allun Roberts, spokesman of IPTF in B&h, on the territory of Drvar municiplaity since the beginning of this year, which was proclaimed "the year of return", there were about 50 cases of arson in family homes and farm buildings of Serb returnees, and about twenty in Glamoc.

To the territory of the municipality of Kupres not a single member of the Serb ethnic group has returned yet, and the newly nominated mayor openly opposes return of the Serbs not allowing them even to visit their demolished homes, conveying the message that they are not welcome on the territory of Kupres plateau. "The international police is aware of everything he and his family have experienced in this war, but he too must be aware that as a mayor he must offer support to the local police and protect return of people to their homes", said Allun Roberts at the press conference in Livno a few days ago.

In order to free the houses and apartments of the Serbs from Drvar, it is necessary to empty houses and apartments of the Croats from Kakanj and Vares and houses of the Bosniacs from Srebrenica. That is why the process of return must proceed simultaneously and in three directions and this will directly affect success of the "year of return", which is for the majority of banished persons still just a dream. The district of Herzeg-Bosnia is one of the last in the Federation where joint police has not been established yet. Although its inauguration was announced for the last day of last month, it was boycotted again by the Croat party and postponed for an indefinite time. Why are Croat representatives in district authorities (there are no other because two Bosniacs deputies in district assembly do not participate in its work) persistently obstructing establishment of mixed federal police in this space?

The main obstacle is the ethnic balance of the police which must reflect the ethnic structure from the 1991 sensus, which the international community is insisting on, but also the insignia on the uniforms of the police which include to ethnic symbols. In order to reflect the ethnic composition, according to the formula of the IPTF, the joint police on the territory of the district of Herzeg-Bosnia should have the total of about 500 policemen, 51 per cent of which should be Croats, 11 per cent Bosniacs and 38 per cent of Serb ethnic origin.

According to the plan, policemen should be engaged in four phases until the end of this year, and in the first of them, which should have been completed by now, along with 50 Croats, the joint district police should consist of 16 Bosniac and 35 Serb policemen.

However, in order to follow the ratio of multiethnic composition, about 200 policemen who belong to the Croat ethnic group and who hold posts in the district ministry of internal affairs and police administration in Livno, Tomislav Grad, Kupres, Glamoc, Bosansko Grahovo and Drvar, should be sacked.

In the statement of the district committee of the HDZ issued for the public on the eve of inauguration of joint police it is stated that pursuant the Constiotution of B&H Federation, the right to choose insignia on police uniforms belongs to the district, just as the decision-making concerning personnel is also the internal issue to be resolved inside the district. On the contrary, it is demanded from the internatioonal community to make a program of providing for policemen of Croat ethnic origin who will be released of duty.

The district committee of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) also issued a statement on the occasion saying that the act of establishment of joint police had not taken place because representatives of the Croat people still were not ready to do anything that should be joint in this space. Due to obstruction of the Croat party and in the interest of all nations living in this space, the SDA demanded from relevant institutions of the Federation and the Office of the High Representative to replace the leaders of the district of Herzeg-Bosnia, and the district committee of the Croat Peasants' Party (HSS) of B&H, in its statement for the public, called the whole organization of district authorities illegal, unlegitimate and contrary to the Constitution of B&H Federation, demanding replacement of leaders and early district elections.

Nedzad VREBAC

(AIM, Livno)