Reactions in the Federation to Bombardment of Yugoslavia
From Approval to Sharp Opposition
AIM Sarajevo, 26 March, 1999
Sanja T., a returnee to Sarajevo, after years spent as a refugee, is living in her almost empty apartment, and she can finally afford to buy a cupboard she so desperately wished to have since her return. But, "... I will not do it now, I do not dare to, you see this bombing of Yugoslavia... What do you think, is this going to spread? I would not be able to live through it once again", she says full of fear.
Bombardments of targets in Yugoslavia by NATO is received with mixed feelings in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Memories of war suffering and involvement of Yugoslavia in the B&H war provoke reactions of ordinary citizens which range from approval to sharp opposition. A poll conducted in the streets of the major cities in B&H Federation by a team of OBN Television produced the following results: "Let them see what we have endured", "Now it's too late, it should have been done in '92", "It's scandalous, it's a classical aggression". It is interesting that the approvals have mostly arrived from Herzegovina, more precisely western Mostar, and that the greatest disapproval or doubts about correctness of the use of force expressed in the streets of the city which has suffered the most in the past war - Sarajevo. While inhabitants of Republika Srpska claim that in NATO air-strikes "fascists, crazy Americans, are killing our Serb brethren and threatening the parent country - Serbia, and for us Brcko was already enough", in B&H Federation they are convinced that "in the end it had to be like this".
There are no official reactions from institutions of the authorities or political parties. "This is something that is happening in a neighbouring state and it should not reflect on B&H", briefly said foreign policy advisor in the office of Bosniac member of B&H presidency, Mirza Hajric. At the same time, co-chairman of B&H Council of Ministers Haris Silajdzic, declared that "air-strikes were inevitable". Ruling Bosniac Party of Democratic Action (SDA) which had its regular press conference after the first tide of air-strikes, expressed the stand identical to the one stated by Silajdzic and certain other parties declared similar views, but only those which had regular press conferences that day. But no special statements were issued for the public, as customary in emergency situations. Nevertheless, opening of the new Zetra sports complex which should have been opened by President of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaran, scheduled for 30 March, and the event titled Friendship and Culture - Days of Barcelona was postponed for an indefinite time in the future.
President of the Serb Civic Council - Movement for Equality (the association of "Izetbegovic's private Serbs" - as they tend to be called), Mirko Pejanovic, declared that these operations and air-strikes were inevitable in the interest of protection of human rights: this operation proves that Milosevic has chosen the disastrous political option, not only for the Serbs but also for other people in Yugoslavia".
It is interesting that the problem of Kosovo itself is not discussed at all. There are certain unformal guesses whether Milosevic will kunckle under after all, or whether these developments will just rehabilitate and install him in power even more firmly, and how realistic the danger is of the conflicts spreading to neighbouring countries, especially B&H, Republika Srpska more precisely. Although international officials in B&H especially High Representative Carlos Westendorp, firmly promised that they would do their best not to permit the conflict to reflect on B&H and not to allow anybody inside B&H to use the developments in Yugoslavia for certain political needs, it seems that it will be very difficult to meet this promise. Republika Srpska is united in condemnation of NATO operations in a new tide of ethnic consolidation in this B&H entity, and Izetbegovic's party devoted more attention to Sandzak than to Kosovo. Immediately after bombing, Sulejman Ugljanin, president of National Council of Sandzak and representative of SDA policy in that part of Yugoslavia, was a guest of Sarajevo, and he appealed for help of the Bosniacs to "brethren in Sandzak", in other words for establishing political linksbetween B&H and Sandzak. When speaking of Sandzak, it should be mentioned that on the second day of bombing Yugoslavia, about two thousand refugees arrived in Sarajevo from Sandzak and about 1,500 from Kosovo, and bus loads of new refugees are arriving every day from both Serbia and its southern province.
Judging by the reports from major cities, citizens of B&H Federation are spending a long time in front of their TV sets trying to get hold of as much information as possible and create a picture with the largest possible number of details. American TV stations are watched the most and other foreign sources of information, while local journalists are only occasionally trying to write a commentary or two on the developments in Yugoslavia. Citizens of Bosnia & Herzegovina who are familiar with the use of Internet are surfing through American web sites and those made by Belgrade media in order to acquire information. When TANJUG's (Yugoslav state news agency) information about the killed and the wounded on the territory of FR Yugoslavia started to arrive, the initial approval subsided. Along with faint hope that TANJUG was launching false data once again, bitterness started to grow: "Innocent people will suffer again".
Ever since the air-strikes against Iraq in which civilians were killed and hospitals were hit, a certain number of Bosniacs have a negative attitude to Bill Clinton and the USA, and nowadays some of them are starting to feel the so-called "Yugo nostalgy". Journalists registered a tipsy Bosniac who on the balony of a building on the very inter-entity line sang songs from the time of the joint state and occasionally sighed: "I hope Yuga will not fall!"
Media in Bosnia are restrained, as if they had anticipated "information" which has arrived from the Office of High Representative and which says that the "Independent Media Commission which operates as part of OHR will not tolerate a war-mongering approach in reporting on NATO operations". At the same time, about plans, expectations and forecasts they asked only representatives of the international community in B&H. It became clear that in fact nobody knows exactly what the objective of these NATO operations actually is and when they might end.
Commentaries of local military and political analysts in B&H range from the conclusion that the operation was necessary in order to prevent humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo to those who believe that Clinton and NATO are not interested in Kosovo but only in increasing their influence in the region and creation of new bases. It is also possible to hear commentaries that NATO needs Kosovo and Bosnia & Herzegovina only as a military testing range: "Without such air-raides, NATO would be half-dead. This is a unique chance to check its new equipment, level of training of soldiers", writes a commentator of a Sarajevo daily. At the same time, while ones believe that the war had to return home, that is, to Milosevic and to Kosovo where the "Balkan butcher" had set out from, while others think that the war in the Balkan is a product of the West, that is the USA, and that therefore they are the ones who are supposed to stop it, if possible.
Fear of the war spilling over to B&H is partly dispelled by the fact that there are almost 30 thousand SFOR soldiers and that B&H airports will not be used for take-off of NATO planes. But as these very airports are opened for their possible emergency landing, two NATO planes have already landed on Sarajevo airport runway. "Mechanical failure has been observed on them, and these were not airplanes which participate in bombardments, they are just technical support" one of SFOR spokesmen said, while a protest was going on in Pale because according to their opinion SFOR had violated the agreement on non-involvement in Yugoslav developments and helped NATO operation in this way.
The latest news that NATO had shot down two Yugoslav combat planes above Bijeljina whose alleged target was shelling SFOR aircrafts on Tuzla airport caused new fear in B&H. This was especially intensified when TV B&H carried shots of remains of one of the shot down planes and the camera zoomed on American data on production of the plane. But, no matter whose plane has been shot down, Yugoslav or NATO, stress is laid on the fact that it was shot down above B&H and not on how and why.
Rubina CENGIC
(AIM Sarajevo)