Army and Democracy in B&H

Civilian Supervision in Military Barracks

AIM Sarajevo, 2 February, 1999

"Can peace in B&H be self-maintained even when SFOR troops leave?" This question was most frequently in focus at the just held seminar in Sarajevo to which OSCE Mission in B&H had invited 200 participants who exchanged views on the topic "Democratic Control of Security Policy and Armed Forces".

In answer to the posed question it was said that as long as there were two armies (Army of the Federation and Army of Republika Srpska) peace would greatly depend on them, but not only on them. An additional question was also stressed - who in fact controls the army? Formally and legally, two members of the B&H Presidency, Alija Izetbegovic and Ante Jelavic, are at the same time civilian commanders of the Army of B&H Federation, while president of the other entity, Republika Srpska, Nikola Poplasen is in command of its army. However, they cannot reach any important decision without approval of SFOR Command in B&H.

FOREIGNERS FOR PERMANENT DECISION-MAKING

When will, instead of by individuals, armies of entities be controlled by parliaments, like in the biggest number of countries in the world? Head of OSCE Mission in B&H, ambassador Robert Barry, agrees that parliamentary supervision of military forces is the best, but when will that be the case in B&H entities depends on political will and amendments of constitutions of B&H Federation and RS. Barry thinks that the present civilian command is just a transitional solution and that it should not be long before military issues will be put in the domain of deputies, especially because parliaments are already in charge of decision-making when army budgets are concerned.

At the mentioned seminar, much was also said about transparency of military balance sheets in order to reveal whether the army in B&H is financed only from regular sources, or also possibly "on the side". Zagreb was criticised again in this sense for financing the Croat Defence Council as a component of the Army of B&H Federation from the budget of the Republic of Croatia. In the course of this year, this money should be legalized, and the Federal Defence Ministry will be charged to take care of its inflow and outgoings.

"In Republika Srpska, we consider everything arriving in the Federation as part of the program "Equip and Dress" legal, but if something else is coming in from, let us say, Islamic countries, it is illegal", declared at the mentioned seminar minister of defence of RS, general Manojlo Milovanovic, noting that the army was living in poverty. To the question of AIM journalist about the connection between the Army of RS and the Army of FR Yugoslavia, Milovanovic answered that there was no connection and that there was no cooperation between them. "Nowadays the Army of RS has better connections and cooperation with the Army of B&H than with the Army of Yugoslavia, so we reject speculations about the Army of RS being the 'fourth army of the Army of Yugoslavia'", added minister of defence of RS. By the way, the Army of Yugoslavia consists of three armies, commands of which are stationed in Belgrade, Nis and Podgorica.

SARAJEVO IN FAVOUR OF THE SWISS MODEL

Commander of the Army of the Federation, general Rasim Delic, despite existence of two armies, is expected to elaborate a joint defence doctrine. B&H could take the model of Switzerland, since this country is also formed of entities. "A distinction must be made between military doctrine and security doctrine. The latter implies all aspects of protection of B&H, including the military. We need not identify the opponent in order to identify tasks which we must carry out for protection of state integrity and sovereignty", general Delic believes.

Elaborating this thesis, Ilija Vincetic, Croat cadre in the ministry of defence of B&H Federation, said that B&H could be peaceful when its neighbours are concerned "because both FR Yugoslavia and the Republic of Croatia are signatories of the Dayton accords and are subject to limitation and control of armament". Vincetic was obviously reacting to criticism of the Croatian Army which is violating territorial sovereignty of B&H near Martinbrod, but he thinks that this should not be overestimated, because "Zagreb is constantly stressing that it is implementing the Dayton accords". Vicentic also says that he does not consider external threats to B&H to be the most important.

It is nowadays much easier for Bosnia & Herzegovina to resolve border incidents because it has the powerful SFOR on its side which has at its disposal in this country about 30 thousand well armed and trained soldiers. However, at the Sarajevo seminar, it was announced that border units on the level of B&H would be formed which are still necessary because there are instances of evading regular border crossings every day.

Induced by statements of the participants at the seminar, deputy commander of SFOR in charge of operations, British general Jack Daveral, stressed especially the importance of armament and training of the armies in B&H: "We are speaking of capabilities a government wishes its armed forces to have. This is, apart from being a political, also a geostrategic question, so you must identify military capabilities by means of which the resulting tasks would be solved. The most difficult question the army must answer is what an army serves for", Daveral warned.

SOLDIERS AND POLITICS

Obviously a long time will pass before instead of two there will be only one army in B&H, and this, among other, involves amendments of several documents, from the constitutions of B&H and the entities to the Dayton accords themselves. This seminar has shown, however, that armies of the entities have quite a ot in common and that what is identical should be further developed. Although the possibility of joint drills of armies of the entities were mentioned before, this idea was abandoned and it was recommended that joint action could be taken only in case of accidents due to natural forces. Establishment of joint command and staff schools is proposed nowadays to be attended by officers of both entities, which is according to certain analysts a road leading to establishment of a joint doctrine.

Since there already are two armies in B&H, they should not differ much by the type of weapons, military theory and training. However, just the contrary is the case: while the Army of B&H Federation is increasing its arms in order to reduce the imbalance and while it is trained according to NATO doctrine, that is, by most recent methods, training in the Army of RS is founded on old concepts applied in former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). That is why the proposal is increasingly mentioned that the program "Eqip and Dress" should be extended to include the Army of RS, but for the time being, this is not supported, which can be explained by still existent ideological and other prejudice on NATO.

Representatives of entities were told again that they should not even think about joining NATO's Partnership for Peace without previous merger into a single army - it is impossible, for example, that the Army of the Federation could join the Partnership while the Army of RS is left aside. Commenting on such options, Milovanovic said that political factors in the Serb entity were deciding about the present and the future of the Army of RS and that soldiers would respect what the government and the National Assembly of RS decide in that respect. Therefore, the floor is given to politics again.

The seminar in Sarajevo is, nevertheless, a confirmation that such exchange of opinions among representatives of the entities in B&H and military experts from Europe should be continued. In Banja Luka, for instance.

Djuro KOZAR

AIM Sarajevo