EXPENSIVE MARCH OF THE "NERONIAN BRIGADES"
AIM ZAGREB, May 13, 1998
In mid July 1996 in Gornji Bogicevci, in the presence of President Tudjman, Jure Radic, the then and current Minister of Reconstruction and Development, pompously and with great media fuss, proclaimed the completion of the reconstruction of Western Slavonia. But, today, two years later, one would be amazed at the sight of apocalyptic remnants of burning and destruction on the way from Pozega to Pakrac or from Gornji Bogicevci to Nova Gradiska. Thousands of wilfully burned down and blown up houses and entire holdings can be seen on the way from Pozega, over Kujnik, Pasikovac, Orljavac, Kamenska, Glavica, Spanovica, Bucje, Ozegovac, Branesac, Dragovic, Kusonja up to Pakrac. On the way from Gornji Bogicevci towards Nova Gradiska, the sight is the same sight in Smrtici, Trnava, Medari, Masic, etc.
Proclaiming the conclusion of the reconstruction of Western Slavonia a year after the military operation "Flash", Radic probably wanted to say that the Croatian state had no intention of reconstructing the demolished and burned Serbian houses and villages. Namely, only those villages in which there was Croatian population were reconstructed, so that it is hard to believe that the Minister was so uninformed and unable to see for himself the actual situation while he was driving through Hiroshima-like parts of once gentle slopes of Psunj, Papuk or Krndija where Serbian villages were scattered around.
Indeed, nothing has changed in the mentioned villages to this very day except for weeds and wild trees which have covered the ruins of once luxurious houses which have been reduced to ashes or blown up with planted explosives. Only in Kusonja, near Pakrac, thanks to the European Union funds, some fifteen Serbian houses are being reconstructed so that their owners, who have temporarily settled in Podunavlje, could return to their homes and get the blocked wheel of return turning again. However, these fifteen houses in Kusonje are but a drop in the ocean, a negligible figure in comparison to some fifty thousand deliberately demolished buildings and estates, which have disappeared in flames and explosions according to the estimates of the international organizations and the Croatian Helsinki Board.
Until now, the Croatian Government has tried in various, often transparent, ways to postpone the return of the Serb, who after the fall of their revolting enclaves in the aftermath of military-police actions the "Flash" and the "Storm" (in May, i.e. August 1995, respectively) have fled their homes and mostly settled in FR Yugoslavia and the Republic of Srpska. This "disruptive factor", as the Serbian minority is called in Croatia by the top level state authorities, could, if it returns in greater numbers, cause again armed revolt and, consequently, destabilize Croatia. However, there is a serious logical error in the transparent reason why the Serbs are personae non grata in Croatia. Namely, that there is no more YPA (Yugoslav Peoples' Army), to will arm the "disruptive factor" and what are the rebels' chances against the Army of Croatia which, according to the statements of the authorities, has grown into a true "regional force".
Pinned down by the international community, which has seriously threatened Zagreb with economic sanctions and isolation like those imposed against FR Yugoslavia, Croatia should face the truth: a mass return of the Serbs would be very costly which the war-devastated country, with the economy on the verge of collapse, would not be able to bear. Various figures have been quoted - from fantastic five billion USD to the still amazing 1.2 billion USD. Even if all the Serbian refugees from Croatia were to fly back business class form their present places of residence (FR Yugoslavia, the Republic of Srpska, the Croatian Podunavlje) to their old addresses, the price of their return would be considerably lower than these figures.
Answer to the question which the Croatian tax-payers have not yet received from anyone but who will clearly have to pay for it - takes us back to the beginning of this story. More precisely, that part which speaks about some fifty thousand wilfully destroyed Serbian homes which the "Neronian brigades" have carefully and meticulously set on fire and razed to the ground during, and especially after the mentioned military actions for the liberation of Kraina.
Petar Mrkalj, member of the Croatian Helsinki Board (HHO) and Chief of Division for Gravest Violations of Human Rights, says that in the region of Kraina and Western Slavonia "several tens of thousands,but certainly not less than 50,000 of Serbian houses and entire estates had been systematically destroyed". These data mostly coincide with assessments of various international organizations which had their observers' missions in Croatia. As regards the construction and rehabilitation of destroyed or badly damaged houses of exiled Croats, Ministry of Reconstruction and Development developed a criterion according to which the owner of the house gets 35 square meters of housing space and additional 10 square meters for each family member at the expense of the state. In other words, for a three-member family Radic's Ministry will build 55 square meters which, according to prices of the majority of construction firms taking part in the reconstruction, amounts to 40,000 DEM.
Multiplying the number of destroyed homes (50,000) with the average price of construction (40,000 DEM) we get a fantastic figure of two billion DEM, i.e. the lowest figure offered by the Croatian Government as the price of the return of Serbs - 1,2 billion USD! This price of the return of the Serbs indirectly confirms the claims of incredible proportions of burning and wilful destruction of homes which could have been easily avoided. And since not a hair on anybody's head was harmed because of thus caused unbelievable material damages, the only possible conclusion is that all this was done according to a well-devised plan with a motto - no matter how much it costs as long as we get rid of the "disruptive factor" once and for all. The difference between the actual price of the return of the Serbs of 1,2 billion USD and the mentioned five billion is only a "technicality".
As shown, the actual price was calculated according to the actual costs which the Croatian state (i.e. its tax-payers) will have to pay for according to the established criterion, while the much higher one (five billion USD) probably implies the actual value of damages. Because, anyone who today passes through Kusonja or any other village under reconstruction, will see that the houses that are being built according to the criterion of the Reconstruction Ministry are far from those previous luxurious and expensive buildings and households.
Along sixty kilometers long road from Pozega to Pakrac, which the author of these lines passed in his car early this May - except for Kusonja - there are no signs of reconstruction. In the village of Dragic, where some hundred Serbian families used to live before the war, only 12 persons have returned. They live in parts of houses or smaller farm buildings which they have managed to make habitable to a degree. Until now Radic's Ministry did not give them a penny for reconstruction so that Petar Mrkalj, a HHO member, is right when he says: "Excluding the costs of obtaining papers in Croatian Podunavlje, pensions and minimal social care, the return of these Serbs did not cost the Croatian state a penny! It has no compassion for the returnees. It recognizes their right to pensions with great difficulty although they would get them even if they didn't return, while reconstruction of houses, assistance in restarting their farms, securing employment, etc. are out of the question. Croatia doesn't wish to rebuild houses of those who stayed, much less those of the returnees".
There are recently rumours that the Croatian Government is considering a possibility of accepting the international sanctions because it is taking so long to implement in practice the decision that all Serbian refugees who want to, may return to their homes. According to this calculation even sanctions would be more favourable than to agree to the construction of razed Serbian houses and pay 1,2 billion USD for that. What the ruling HDZ doesn't dare say openly, Anto Sapic, President of the Croatian Party of the Right, is obligingly always willing to say. He came out with an idea on a referendum at which the Croatian citizens would state whether they agree with the return of the Serbian refugees. Sapic cannot boast of being original, but such ideas are accepted in case of extreme need.
The model has already been seen and Milosevic owns the patent: referendum in Serbia has shown that the national pride of the citizens of that state could not accept the international mediation in the resolution of the Kosovo crisis. Since the referendum, as "the most democratic way of expression" said a decisive no to the international community, it is clear who should be blamed for the sanctions that ensued. Why shouldn't Croatia use the good practices of its neighbours?
The fact that the Croatian houses in places where the Kraina authorities have ruled fared the same will not be much comfort for the Croatian tax-payers when they get the bill for the actions of arsonists from their own ranks. For the time being, these tax-payers are paying for the repair of these houses, as Croatia never proclaimed the state of war and Serbia never took part in any war whatsoever. In other words, war reparations can not be counted on even hypothetically, so that everything will be paid from the Croatian purses which are, naturally, in the Croatian pockets.
DRAGO HEDL