Sarajevo under Sanctions

THEY SIGN EVERYTHING, BUT IMPLEMENT NOTHING

AIM Sarajevo, July 14, 1998

European Union, and especially the American governmental organization USAID have frozen some 5 million USD in assistance for reconstruction projects in Sarajevo because of the slow return of non-Bosniac refugees to this town in the course of this year. In this way too, the international community wanted to let the local authorities know that it would not tolerate poor results in the implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration. Let us recall that the signatories to the Sarajevo Declaration undertook to assist the return of 20 thousand non-Bosniac inhabitants to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the end of this year. According to the data of the Cantonal Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons, by July 7, 1998 only 876 non-Bosniacs (477 Serbs, 365 Croats and 34 "other nationalities") returned to Sarajevo. It is therefore, quite clear that because of the non-implementation and obstructions, the Declaration dealing with the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina became a taint at which representatives of the international community mostly point today. The international officials think that the blame for the non-observance of what was signed lies on the Bosniac authorities, on the local, as well as federal and state levels.

That Carlos Westendorp, High Representative of the international community, is not immune to the game B&H representatives of the leading one-national parties have been leading for some time now, is attested to by the statement of Alexander Stiglmeyer, spokesman for the High Representative's Office, given to a Sarajevo daily that Westendorp fully supported the decision of the European Union and USAID to discontinue the assistance to Sarajevo and that his greatest objections concerned the non-implementation of the provisions for the resolution of cases of one person having documents on the allocation of several flats. In his interview to Split "Feral Tribune", the High Representative of the international community warned the Sarajevo authorities that he would take decisive measures against all those who were obstructing this action, openly or behind the scenes, and compared the officials of the capital of B&H with those from Kafka's novels saying that these people never said "No" to anything, which did not change things in the least. The only thing left for Westendorp was to "fail a part of B&H authorities at a written exam on the Sarajevo Declaration" and once again demonstrate his authority and legitimacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Searching for answers why were the sanctions imposed on Sarajevo we heard an interesting opinion of Midhat Haracic, President of the Sarajevo Canton, who despite official announcements on the discontinuation of donations to Sarajevo, expected concrete aid from the USAID which was still being negotiated. For the President of the Sarajevo Canton there was no suspension of financial inflow to Sarajevo and he expressed his doubts that "after four years of war someone could impose sanctions against the citizens of Sarajevo". "True", said Haracic, "in the last five months we did not achieve the figures we were ordered to and the international community had every right to claim that the Sarajevo Declaration was taking too long to apply".

It was unrealistic to expect the return of some 20,000 refugees and exiles, members of the minorities, by the end of the year, said Haracic emphasizing that this figure was attainable only if the international community established a two-way return of the population and invested greater financial resources in the reconstruction of the housing fund. Paradoxical is his statement that exiles, who are temporarily in the Scandinavian countries, did not show much enthusiasm concerning the return. "Children have already been enrolled in schools there and believe me, they are doing everything they can not to go back", said Haracic adding that there were not enough refugees, displaced and exiled persons wanting to return.

Shifting the blame on the other side (the authorities of the Republic of Srpska), he commented on the data that in Sarajevo alone there were 12 thousand denizens of Foca whose houses could not be repaired for their temporary stay as there was not enough money. However, one thing should be admitted, namely, at its recently held session the Government of the Sarajevo Canton earmarked from budgetary reserves 5 million convertible marks for the rehabilitation of the largest possible number of housing units so that the pre-war holders of tenants' rights to those flats could get them back.

The following Haracic's statement shows clearly the extent of the Cantonal President's hypocrisy and the correctness of Westendorp's assessment of his policy: "If you expect me to attack the international community, you are much mistaken, because we need the assistance of that international community and have to work for it without any arrogance and mutual accusations". Apart from such people there are those who "shrink" from giving any comments on unfulfilled targets. Such is Rasim Kadic, Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whom we tried to contact several times, but after our repeated attempts his secretary kindly explained that her "Minister could not be reached at this number". We could only guess whether the Minister did not want to debate about this delicate situation because he himself was still living in a flat belonging to refugees, which is the best proof of the extent of his readiness to implement the Sarajevo Declaration. Or perhaps something else is in question?

The Ombudsmen of the B&H Federation were first to warn that the signed Declaration was not being implemented in Sarajevo, also pointing to the violation of human rights in the territory of the B&H Federation. According to the Federal Ombudsmen's report on the state of human rights in the B&H Federation in 1997, the exercise of the right to return is closely linked to the lack of political will of the ruling parties. In their report for the last year, the Federal Ombudsmen state that the mass return of the population was additionally discouraged by the fact that in some places apart from repaired houses there was no infrastructure nor employment for the returnees. Staff of the Ombudsman's Office for the B&H Federation refused to comment on the obstruction of the implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration because of a special report which was being prepared on the state of human rights in the first six months of the year. That there are those who do not wish this Declaration to be implemented is also evident from the fact that the new report will list concrete examples of the obstruction of the implementation of a document signed some five months ago.

Many representatives of the opposition also agree that the B&H authorities are those hindering the process of return to Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of them is Sejfudin Tokic, President of the Alternative Ministerial Council, who thinks that the latest sanctions of the international community imposed on Sarajevo have once again showed to those in power the determination to put a stop to various stories about the non-implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords. For Tokic the present authorities, de facto, mar the reputation of the city of Sarajevo, its openness and multi-ethnic character which it has earned under the hardest war, pre-war and post-war conditions. "In order to implement the Sarajevo Declaration it would be necessary to allow all the people to return to their private homes", said Tokic, "ensure the right to private property and consistently apply the Law on Housing Relations which guarantees all holders of tenant's rights on the entire B&H territory the possibility of return provided that they want to and do not intend to speculate with their flats".

Salih Foco, Vice-President of the Liberal - Bosniac Organization, also dealt with this problem. At a press conference held in Sarajevo (July 13, 1998) he said that it was clear to everyone that anything entrusted to the B&H authorities remained undone. According to him, the ruling national structures should be excluded from the return process because they have only declaratively accepted and signed a document they had no intention of implementing.

Some think that sanctions against Sarajevo are out of the question. One of them is Strajo Krsmanovic, Vice-President of the Liberal Party, who claimed that the international community did not give a dime for the implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration. Asked whether it would be useful if the international community used its authority to replace some people in power, Krsmanovic said that such measures could prove effective, but that he did not know "who would then in the state remain in charge of the implementation of the Declaration" thinking primarily of the authorities of the Republic of Srpska and Western Herzegovina.

The SDA claimed that until now only 10 percent of the overall amount required by the Sarajevo Canton for the reconstruction of the housing fund, has been received, but could not agree: was this a consequence of the sanctions or not. For Ismet Grbo, the SDA spokesman, the blocking of 20 million USD which were intended for Sarajevo, meant that tacit sanctions were being implemented. Asked several times to comment in greater detail on the sanctions imposed on Sarajevo, Grbo did not offer his opinion. It was not surprising that Grbo refused to comment in greater detail avoiding to give a true answer because he was aware that both him and his party officials were directly responsible for the non-implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration.

According to "Oslobodjenje" (July 9, 1998), in the Canton of Sarajevo 5,176 persons use other people's flats because they are unable to return to their own houses as these have either been destroyed or taken by refugees from other places in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Republic of Srpska. But, there are also many who do not want to return to their homes.

And, finally, let us recall the data that at the last Conference of the Donors held in Brussels, the European Union alone allocated 191,54 million USD for the return of refugees and the USA some 12 million USD, with smaller amounts from other countries. This year, the world has invested some 8,842,000 DEM in the repair of 636 flats with the intention of investing additional 19,5 million DEM for the reconstruction of 1,256 homes. Is there any ground in the following statement of the President of the Sarajevo Canton: "If the local authorities are incapable to implement the Sarajevo Declaration in practice, then the international community cannot do it either", and is there any justification for an official of the Liberal Party to say that there had been no donations for these purposes? (end)

Vedrana ZIVAK

(AIM, Sarajevo)