Sanctions Knocking at the Door

AIM Zagreb, 30 August, 1999

Since a few days ago, president of the Hague Tribunal Gabrille Kirk McDonald demanded that the UN Security Council take measures against Zagreb for failing to cooperate with the Tribunal, Croatia has for the first time faced an actual possibility of being subjected to sanctions. Reasons for that are almost banal when compared with those existing when sanctions were introduced against FR Yugoslavia for stirring up the war on the territory of the former federation.

Six or seven years have gone by since the war, and four since the last military operations, which Croatia had gone through with quite a little bit of luck, but now the unsettled accounts will obviously have to be paid by occasional misunderstandings in regular, peacetime relations with the international community. McDonald lodged a complaint against Croatian authorities because of the refusal to extradite the notorious warlord of Herzegovina Mladen Naletilic alias Tuta, just as it recently did with the equally notorious war criminal Vinko Martinovic alias Stela, as well as for the refusal to hand over documents concerning Bljesak (Flash) and Oluja (Storm) military operations in the former Serb parastate in Croatia. Although the case of Naletilic has currently been taken to court in Croatia for committed war crimes, with farcical slackness and only for a tiny bit of what he had actually done, the refusal is explained as minister of justice Zvonimir Separovic declared, by "national interests", or more precisely by the need to protect the dignity of its judiciary which still has not completed court proceedings.

When documents on Oluja and Bljesak are concerned, they are not handed over to the Hague because Croatia denies the competence of the Tribunal regarding internal operations which were, it is claimed, carried out only by police forces (suggesting unwillingly what had been angrily rejected for years - that the war on this territory had the elememnts of a civil war). It is true that the question of the qualification of the Hague Tribunal to deal with these operations is indeed open for as long as a special tribunal does not reach a decision about them, but Croatia is now trying to prejudice its decision and in this way it is actually undermining the Hague Tribunal. It made matters even worse when the Croatian government firmly repeated that it did not recognise the jurisdiction of the Tribunal when these military operations are concerned even after the complaint to the Security Council. It only promised that a "White Book" with a list of crimes committed by both the Croat and the Serb party taken to court would be sent to key diplomatic addresses (which may give rise to new problems because independent sources claim that these trials have mostly been fabricated and simply made up).

Besides, official representatives of the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) accused the Hague Tribunal of wishing with this latest deed to influence the outcome of the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Croatia. This shows that the Croatian authorities estimate that this so far the firmest move this Tribunal has made against Croatia has not driven them into a blind alley, which is corroborated by declarations that most probably there would be no sanctions but that the security Council would after all be satisfied with a presidential statement or something of the kind. They probably have in mind that this was also the outcome of a few complaints against FRY, but they are forgetting that previously sanctions had been introduced against the latter, so that the complaints arriving from the Hague had not had the chance to result in the most radical measures of the Security Council.

It is possible, however, that this is intentionally disregarded in order to strain relations with the Hague Tribunal and the Security Council on purpose and in this way provoke homogenisation of the nation faced with the alleged new pressure coming from the outside world, regardless of how high the stakes in this game were. A recent poll passed by Jutarnji list showed that 72 per cent of the pollees believed that Naletilic-Tuta should be extradited, and that 65 thought that in case of introduction of sanctions Tudjman and HDZ would be to blame for it. But if it is believed in this party that due to impossibility to establish cooperation with any significant opposition party they should turn towards the extreme right and the most radical parts of the public, something has been accomplished.

The rightists received the announcement of the sanctions with hardly concealed exultation, which is best illustrated by the titles in pro-regime press ("Sanctions, So What?") or statements such as the one of Ivan Gabelica that the constitutional law on cooperation with the Hague Tribunal should be suspended because it turned Croatia into a "colony of foreign interets". It need not be mentioned that the latest developments caused special joy among the possible Hague indictees, such as Tomislav Mercep who commented on introduction of the sanctions by saying that something should be sacrificed for a just cause. But probably even HDZ is aware that it cannot run in the elections relying only on passionate ethnic fundamentalists, so it is trying to win over a part of the voters of the opposition by small tricks. Spokesman of the ruling party Ivica Ropus declared that the stands of the main opposition parties were very close to the stands of HDZ and that the ruling party can do nothing but salute the maturity manifested this time by the opposition.

The opposition, however, is more cautious about this than it was when rumour spread that there was a possibility that Tudjman would be accused by the Hague Tribunal - which was rejected almost in unison - and at least for the time being it is not hastily issuing statements which could be interpreted as opposition to the international community. The unofficial leader of the opposition Ivica Racan repreated that the guilt of Franjo Tudjman for the Calvary of B&H should be considered in political and not criminal categories, but in the stand concerning possible sanctions he evidently relied on indignation which exists in public in this connection. He declared that certain people in HDZ would rather "extradite Croatia than Naletilic-Tuta", and about speculations that Naletilic's extradition was being avoided in order to eliminate the risk of his testifying in the Hague against Tudjman, he cunningly protested that it was "crazy" to establish "any connection between Tuta and president Tudjman".

It is not impossible that the opposition has knowledge of certain diplomatic indicretions which are recently mentioned in the press and which lead to the conclusion that an intensive effort is being made at the top of the world politics to break the resistance of Zagreb concerning Naletilic's extradition. Allegedly this diplomatic campaign is led by Robert Gelbard who is through Croatian ambassador in Washington trying to achieve Naletilic's extradition within the time limit of two weeks given by the USA to Zagreb to settle its controversy with the Hague Tribunal. Gelbard had started this campaign before McDonald lodged her complaint, which suggests that it has not been fruitful, but allegedly it is an attempt to break the opposition of Zagreb in the same manner in which it was done on the occasion of extradition of ten Croats from B&H when it seemed that it would not succeed, but then at the last minute it occurred.

It is interesting that this indiscretion was published even by pro-regime Vecernji list which may be a sign of preparation of the public for a shift in the firm refusal to extradite Naletilic. This newspaper quotes even the sarcastic commentary of Richard Holbrooke who allegedly said: "And since when do you Croats keep your heroes in prison", alluding to the fact that it was well known in Zagreb that he was a hideous criminal and that his extradition could not be refused for ever.

MARINKO CULIC