We Are Not Backing Out

Milan Babic's interview to VREME was on January 27. The long expected mini Contact Group plan had not been revealed yet. The Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK) Foreign Minister and Serb Democratic Party (SDS) president for the RSK is one of the most competent people to ask about the political positions, interests and conflicts among the Krajina Serbs and their relations with the international community, Croatia and Serbia. There are at least two reasons for all that. First, Babic is the first Serb politician outside Serbia to openly clash with Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic and he is a tough negotiator and one of the most uncompromising advocates of RSK statehood. The second reason are assessments that there can be no more delays in resolving Serb-Croat relations.

VREME: Mr Babic, what is you assessment of Croatia's decision to end the UNPROFOR mandate?

MILAN BABIC: "That decision isn't unexpected for us. Croatia and Tudjman himself wanted to oppose the extending of the UN peace forces in RSK territory mandate last autumn. At the time their friends in the world advised them not to.

The cancellation of the UNPROFOR mandate has another dimension in internal politics in Croatia. This is Tudjman's assessment (considering international relations and circumstances facing the RSK, Bosnian Serb Republic (RS) and FR Yugoslavia) that it is a good moment to launch a diplomatic offensive to resolve the Krajina issue in a way that suits him. In my opinion, both those dimensions coincided. The whole world, at least those parts of it interested in resolving the Yugoslav crisis, showed their concern or indignation over Tudjman's decision.

From our point of view, it isn't logical for the UN Security Council to primarily take into account Croatia's unilateral demand to end the peacekeepers mandate in zones under their protection. The UN deployed their troops in the former Yugoslavia at the request of its government. The sides that took part in accepting UNPROFOR were, besides Yugoslavia, the RSK, Croatia and Serbia and, as an interested side, Serb representatives for the then Bosnia-Herzegovina, i.e. the RS. Now, Croatia's unilateral demand to end the mandate, under the logic used to deploy the peacekeepers, could not be realized. However, there have been big changes since the decision to deploy UNPROFOR was taken. The Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) withdrew from the RSK, i.e. the UN protected areas, which means that the former Yugoslavia formally left that area. After the peacekeepers were deployed, FR Yugoslavia was declared only on the territory of Serbia and Montenegro; Croatia got international recognition and became a UN member and the RSK was de facto created and is functioning as a state.

The mandate of the peacekeepers was not in total accord with the interests and agreement of the RSK people in 1992. The public knows there were big political upsets in Krajina at the time and that an illegal ousting of the legitimate leadership of the RSK took place after an intervention by the Serbian and Yugoslav leadership to enable the deployment of the peacekeepers. The RSK parliament underwent debates and upsets at the time but accepted the mandate primarily because of promises from the leaderships of Serbia and rump Yugoslavia that RSK territory would be protected and that Serbia and Yugoslavia are guarantors of peace in those conditions (the departure of the peacekeepers or possible disruptions which would end their mandate before a political solution was reached).

We feel the exclusive demand by Croatia is insufficient for the Security Council to end the UNPROFOR mandate. The Vance plan includes a positive article which says the peacekeepers will be deployed in the UNPA zones until a political solution is found for those territories. But now there seems to be a kind of conciliation with Croatia's demand as well as concern and indignation."

VREME:Many fear a renewal of the war if UNPROFOR withdraws.

"Croatia is clearly showing its pretensions towards to, as they say, "reintegrating" the RSK into the legal, political and economic system of Croatia peacefully or by force. I think Croatia is demanding an end to the mandate to end the continuity in resolving the crisis in the former Yugoslavia. That's why they're trying to re-formulate the UNPROFOR mandate to allow only some observers for the realization of a political agreement under which Krajina would agree to become an integral part of Croatia. If that doesn't happen, Croatia intends to take the RSK by force. Clearly, RSK state bodies won't accept the political solution offered by Croatia which would turn its territory into one or two Croatian provinces."

VREME:What's your interpretation of the fact that, despite Zagreb's withdrawal demand, the talks on economic issues and links with Croatia are going well?

"We started the economic negotiations with Croatia on subjects we are both interested in. We believe that in this way, if Croatia agrees, we can achieve an economic model which will show that the inter-ethnic conflict and war were unnecessary and that the interests and survival of all citizens in the RSK and Croatia can be achieved. Also, we wanted to influence, if we can, the rest of Yugoslavia: to live normally, produce, trade and show that all interests can be achieved without conflict. I was really satisfied with the way we started the talks and Croatian reactions in the parts where they showed an interest. But from the signing of the agreement, political provocations began and they made statements that this was part of the reintegration into Croatia contrary to our assessments and interests that the agreement is cooperation with Croatia and with the RS and FRY as well. They wanted to integrate us into Croatia's economy and close our borders with the RS and FRY. They have managed to achieve that recently with the help of the international community which creates problems in continuing the negotiating process and achieving what has been agreed. I mean the highway and oil pipeline, especially now when they want UNPROFOR, a guarantor of the agreement, to leave."

VREME: You talked to Croatian negotiators in Knin, but didn't go to Zagreb to continue the talks. Why?

"Because Croatia constantly makes things political and tries to present everything as a process of entry into Croatia. They came to Knin once and wanted all talks and negotiations to be held in Zagreb."

VREME: Are there disagreements about the negotiating process between you and Prime Minister Borislav Mikelic?

"I don't know if I could call them disagreements, but I insisted on a second look at the talks now that Croatia is demanding the withdrawal of the peacekeepers and when we know the Security Council will decide to keep them in place. Without UNPROFOR everything that has been achieved will be hard to implement. At the moment, I don't want to block the government with my opinion.

The government was united in stands about the negotiations so far. I expect a comprehensive debate to define the government's stand. Most of the government is cautious about continued negotiations with Croatia but if it doesn't define a stand, the parliament will."

VREME: You went to Pale with RSK president Milan Martic. Mikelic met with Lord David Owen, co-chairman of the Conference on Former Yugoslavia. What was the outcome of both talks?

"I think they wanted Mikelic to go a step further in the current talks and what the government defined as a negotiating platform. He discussed those other topics with Owen.

We all agreed to go to Pale, but Mikelic stayed in Belgrade and the RSK president and parliament speaker, and I went to Pale. We were informed about their peace process and exchanged views since they have been discussing political issues for a while and we had focused on economic issues. We agreed on possible joint activities in the coming period."

VREME: Was military cooperation agreed?

"Military cooperation was planned in detail earlier under the Prijedor declaration and joint decision by the RS and RSK parliaments and that was one of the topics we elaborated.

The basic political determination of the RS, as they confirmed during that meeting, is a union of all Serb lands in one state. That is our basic political determination as well. At the initiative of myself and the Krajina SDS, RSK parliament and government, we accepted a union project where one of the options, if we don't unite with the FRY, is for the RS and RSK to seek the best possible formula for mutual integration into a union and unitary state depending on time and circumstances."

VREME: So you exclude any possibility of federal or confederal links with Croatia?

"Sovereign states can link into a confederation under a treaty but a federal state is something altogether different. The RSK is a sovereign state."

VREME: Is the Krajina economically blockaded and who determines the extent of the blockade?

"All goods for the RSK have been blocked at the Sremska Raca crossing. The extent of the blockade is determined by the co-chairmen of the Conference on Former Yugoslavia, i.e. the international community, and the administration that controls the borders. However, the public and RSK government are not sufficiently informed about how some goods are transferred along the highway through Croatia. Prime Minister Borislav Mikelic sends lists of goods to Croatia's chief negotiator Hrvoje Sarinic via Geneva, Sarinic informs the Croatian police and the trucks roll down the highway. This has been going on for several days, more precisely since Mikelic's meeting with Lord Owen. Those aren't large quantities of goods, actually they are far below the RSK needs. Nothing goes through the corridor any longer. We aren't helping ourselves much that way and we are helping others indirectly. This is all happening because the government and public are not informed.

The Serbian leadership is showing a great interest in helping us economically but resolution 920 is being implemented without our agreement. It affects us more than Serbia and it isn't raising its voice."