COMMENTARY
Battle in Bosnia — a war created by politicians
By Shin Yasut
Winter is coming to
Bosnia - Herr, ego vina
with a cold wind of
betrayal and neglect. Hope in
Bosnia is withering in the cold
wind And Bosnia is i nllapsing
The collapse of Bosnia is < asting
a doubt on the abilities of the
United Nations, especially those
of the United States and Euro
pean nations.
Is Bosnia really in a quagmire7
Yes, hut it's a perceived quag
mire. There have been peace
negotiations outside of Bosnia
Herzegovina, hut they haven't
tool bed on Jh.e C'jrC cf the !«i!kan
crisis — avoiding "the” quagmire.
If a peace agreement bused on
demands from aggressors were
implemented, it would only pro
long the conflict and deepen the
hostilities among different
nationalities. It would be a real
quagmire, and certainly the l foil
ed States troops would he con
fused with the question, "Whom
should we defend?"
In the beginning, the war in
Bosnia was neither ethnic nor
religious It was purely a politi
cal war. which was created and
guided bv people who wanted to
preserve their own privilege and
power. There would have been
no place for politicians like .Slo
bodan Milosevic if democratiza
tion had proceeded intact liven
the notion of (Ireater Serbia is uti
lized by Milosevic and Ins i irclns
in Belgrade for their own cause
In Serbia, there are politicians
like Vojislav Seselj and Zelko
Raznjatovic (Arkau) who seized
the moment to gain power with
help of the concept of Greater
Serbia.
Milosevic knows why Tito
could keep power so long — the
military Since the breakup of
Yugoslavia. Milosevic gradual
ly succeeded in placing the mil
itary under his control The
Yugoslavia People's Army, which
once claimed to be fourth-largest
army in Europe, succumbed to
Mi loses ic and the Army of Ser
ine. Milosevic: can use the army,
the unions, parliament and tele
vision He instigated the local
Serbs m Bosnia w ith nationalist
propaganda and armed them
Radvan ^-1. md111 *s merely a pup*
put. and anyone c ould replace his
position if Karadzic sought an
independent c ourse
Bosnia-Herzegovina. with
dreadful memories of World War
II. showed how marvelous a mul
tiethnic: soc iety could l>e until the
war began in 1002. Bosnia might
have been an artificial creation
for a buffer /one between Croat
ia and Serbia, but many Bosni
ans, especially in cities, devel
oped a sense of tolerance and
mutual trust regardless of Un
political maneuvering
Inveterate hatred and ancient
antagonism have lieen spoken by
people who try to justify geno
c ide in Bosnia Serbian national
ists appealed to their own his
torical truth, and Croatian
c ounterparts have their own vc-r
sum of the truth It was Bosnia -
Herzegovina that tried to escape
from conflic ts of ' truth." Tin
claim that Allja Izetbegovic want
ed to create a pure Muslim state
is doubtful, and tho Bosnian gov
iimmitnl vs as i learlv < ommttted
in maintenance of a multinational
statu with a democratio < (institu
tion
In Croatia. President Frnnjo
Tudjmnn and the right wing HI)/,
(the Croatian Dermx ratio Com
rminitv) politii ions, influented
hv Her/egovman lobby. have
been supporting tho partition of
Bosnia Them am moderate
politii ions in tho HIV/. liberals
and military personnel who are
opposed to Tudjman s polo v
toward Bosnia Re< ently . espe
cially after his re elci turn as head
of the 111)/.. Tud|inan has pledged
to take a more moderate course,
though it s not i lear how muc h
influence he has even in Ins own
party
The Croatian government
armed Bosnian Croats, and para
militaries from Croatia and the
Croat National Guard fought on
the side of the HVO Politii inns
from western Herzegovina try to
achieve their goals at the cost of
Bosnian Croats who live else
where in Bosnia Bosnian (‘.routs
in central Bosnia have been
forced to flee hv tin- Muslim led
Bosnian Army All three sides
have tieen i ommitting atnx dies
and brutality, though Muslims
have suffered the most
The Bosnian government
didn’t do the same thing as the
Croatian and the Serbian gov
ernments did that is, arming
people before the possible explo
sion of hostilities Without defi
nite patronage from outside Mus
lims Indies ed It was ihm essarv to
seize strategic areas m central
Bosnia while the Bosnian gov
ernment was hemg pressured to
accept the partition plan pro
posed h\ Serbs and ( '.mats this
summer Now it seems too late,
and both Serbian and Croatian
aggressors .ire on the verge of vii
lory in Bosnia extremists have
successfully replaced the politi
cal war with the ethnic war
When 1 was in Croatia this
summer. I visited several Croat
inn pencil organizations that are
i omrnitted to bringing 11 lasting
peace to ex Yugoslavia hike ill
Croatia, there are many oppose
turn groups and pent e ai.ti\ ists
in Vojvodina. Serbia, Kosovo,
Mai edonni ami Montenegro It 's
important to maintain these orga
ni/.ations to create genuine
democrat v and t iv il society in
ex Yugoslavia They need fi nun -
i ial as well as moral sup
port from outside countries
Democrat v in Bosnia ller/.e
govino should he restored w ith
pro vvar borders bet ause of the
territorv and the set uritv that are
prov ided 1»v the l ulled Nations
I et's throw uwuv the "quagmire
pholn.i" and f.u e the problem in
earnest Stephen W Walker, one
of three former foreign service
officers who resigned over U S
policy toward Bosnia, said, 1 he
only thing that would prevent
Bosnia s t ollapse would lie an
enormous. [lomiunenl, Berlin Air
II ft-like military and ei onoinic
defense It's not too late, anti the
United Stales ( an land should)
play a crucial rule fur juste e anti
humanity
It is also important to dual w ith
the Balkan crisis as a w hole
Croatia wants to get twii k the ter
ritorv that has Ikkmi (h copied h\
tht> (roatian Sorbs The issues of
Kosovo and M.u edouia must be
fot usod he< auso they may alfis t
areas beyond tho lfalk.an peuin
sola
While mam people have lost
trust in different nationalities,
there are stdl people who wish
to live in it multinational sot iety
Suppose deutiH mi y vs as replaced
m Bosnia. Croatia and Serbia It
might tiike a long time to ease the
tensions and heal the soars left in
people’s minds bvtm so. the
establishment or re-establishment
of denuk rat v in ev 1 ugoslavia
would U’ it significant step for the
progress of their so< ieties llow
ever, .is long as politicians like
Milosevu . Kuradrn , Tudjman
and Mate Boh.in are in power,
there won’t he any peat e in ev
Yugoslavia
Shin Yasut is a firr /niirnulism
student ill the l nn ersiti
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