Bosnia's Serbian sector is struggling
By Joshua Kucera
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia - Bosnia's Serbian entity has lower wages and
higher unemployment than the rest of the country. Top Stories
Its leaders are constantly harangued by the international community
for having not arrested a single war crimes suspect. Even local Serbs
have become doubtful that their government can do much for them.
So when Slobodan Milosevic was indicted last month on genocide
charges in connection with the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, it was a blow the
Republika Srpska (R.S.) didn't need. The reaction from here in the
capital was swift.
"Whether Milosevic defends himself or not, the R.S. government must
overturn this accusation in his name and in the interests of Republika
Srpska," said Sinisa Djordjevic, the prime minister's adviser to the war
crimes tribunal at The Hague. "Defending the charges is important,
because Muslims and Croats still insist that the R.S. was created on
genocide and ethnic cleansing, and is thus politically illegitimate."
Republika Srpska authorities were already facing an impatient
international community, which has ramped up its criticism that the
government in Banja Luka is corrupt, incompetent and bent on creating a
monoethnic state.
International officials charge that the government has done nothing
to arrest the two most-wanted suspects in Bosnia - Radovan Karadzic and
Ratko Mladic. Privatization has gone slowly and favors those with
political connections. In the national parliament at Sarajevo,
politicians from the Serbian entity routinely block legislation that
would give the central government more power. Croats and Muslims who
want to return, officials say, are discouraged from doing so in a manner
organized by the government.
Six years after the war in Bosnia ended, the country is still
governed by the United Nations, but the internationa body is trying to
devolve its power to the central government and the two other entities:
the Muslim-Croat Federation and Republika Srpska. But non-Serbs have
long called for a more unified Bosnia. Their arguments have gained
strength in recent months as criticism of the Republika Srpska has
reached a fever pitch.
Leading the charge has been U.N. High Representative Wolfgang
Petritsch. He met senior government officials last month in Banja Luka.
"If the politics of isolation continue to be pursued, the R.S. will
remain a deserted island that cannot survive," he told Sarajevo
television station Studio 99 this month. "If reforms are not
implemented, there will be no Republika Srpska," he said. "Therefore, I
will be watching very carefully the developments there."
The think tank International Crisis Group also had harsh words for
the Republika Srpska in a recent report. "The logical solution would be
the dissolution of Republika Srpska due to its manifest unreformability
and its incompatibility with the basic democratic development of the
Bosnian state. However, such a radical step is currently neither
feasible nor even desirable. The way ahead is to demand much, much more
of the R.S."
The root of the problem, international officials and analysts say,
is the nationalist Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), founded by Mr.
Karadzic. In the last elections, the SDS won handily, but international
officials engineered a government ruled instead by their choice, Mladen
Ivanic, and including many SDS members in nominally nonparty "expert"
roles.
Although Mr. Ivanic is favored by the internationals and makes
statements they like to hear, he is thought to be too weak to fend off
the SDS elements in his government.
SDS members have consolidated control of many bureaucratic and
municipal administrations in the Republika Srpska and can obstruct
policies they don't approve of, international officials say.
In addition, their invisible role in the government gives them
considerable leeway. "The SDS stands up in parliament and criticizes the
government like they're not part of it. They're trying to have it both
ways," said one international official here.
The government's most high-profile "failure" is that Mr. Karadzic
and Mr. Mladic continue to live freely, if hidden, in Bosnia. Although
Mr. Ivanic this month called on all war-crimes suspects in the country
to surrender, local journalists continue to report that they are being
protected by R.S. army units.
Both men remain popular in the Republika Srpska. Books about them
are on most of Banja Luka's bookstands, and opinion polls show only 5
percent of residents think they should be arrested.
Mr. Mladic and Mr. Karadzic "are important, they're symbols of war
crimes, and the R.S. is in a very bad situation because they're still
free. We can't solve any other important problems because the
international community is constantly talking about them," said Branko
Peric, a political journalist in Banja Luka.
Many governments, including that of the United States, refuse to
deal with the SDS at all. Yet, despite international opprobrium, and
despite a recent poll that showed that 83 percent of people in the
Republika Srpska consider the entity's failing economy a bigger priority
than protecting Serbian national interests, the party continues to be
powerful, and most observers expect it to win the elections next year.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
