Sarajevo: The Orphans

The tragic end to the story of Irma Hadzimuratovic reminded people of the greatest victims in all wars: children. Merciless statistics show that the first two and a half years of the Bosnia war killed thousands of children, and left over 3,000 orphaned.

The Sarajevo government's refugee ministry decided to find families to care for the children who had no parents. The minister appealed to the population in Moslem army controlled territory. In Sarajevo alone 300 families came forward to take 351 children. Since orphaned children are also housed in the Bjelave care center in Sarajevo, the Bosnian Moslem capital has taken care of all of its youngsters. In Zenica, records show 450 children without one or both parents receiving humanitarian aid since families have not been found to take them. The situation in other Moslem controlled towns is similar.

The orphan issue is regulated by law. As long as the war continues, children can't be adopted to preserve the child's identity and heritage. The regulations stem from the fact that numerous organizations (mainly from Italy, Canada and the US) were ready to organize adoption and citizenship in their countries. The authorities said all those requests were rejected.

Recent rumors spoke of sales of Bosnian children, probably because so much interest was shown and the fact that 400,000 of them are outside the country. Some Bosnian Moslem government spokesmen said there had been sales, others demanded investigations through Bosnian diplomatic missions while others said they knew where every child is.

Croatia: Reconciling All Croats

"I can't say I'm emotionless on the issue of transferring the monument or not, but somehow things seem distant now. I left Belgrade to wait for things to calm down. You shouldn't get too excited about it. There are people who decide these things, if they want to move it let them," Bogdan Bogdanovic said in resignation, commenting the debate on moving his monument Guardian of Freedom from Split.

The monument was raised in memory of 199 Croat men from the Split suburb of Klis who died as (communist) partisans in World War II. It has been vandalized by persons unknown.

The monument includes an account of their deaths, which shows that the Croatian fascist Ustashi army took part in the operation alongside the Germans. That was probably the main motivation to remove the monument to some of the men who allowed Croatia to consider itself a member of the anti-fascist coalition.

The wish to get rid of the monument is not just the idea of the Klis mayor but a direct consequence of the Croatian authorities and president's stand on the W.W.II period.

The concept was to diminish the glorifying of the partisans to satisfy the electorate, say a few words about the Nazi puppet Independent state of Croatia (NDH) as "the centuries old expression of Croatian tendencies for their own state" which was denied. The starting points for the NDH were declared positive trends and everything was declared a tragedy and the partisan struggle was declared a mistake and blamed on the communists. So the reconciliation among Croats began with the removal of monuments and declarations that the partisans were "Serb-Chetnik aggressors" and "Yugo-Communist tyrants".

Croatia got increasingly less anti-fascism at home but increasingly more to export. Former partisan Tudjman spoke out to defend partisan memorials only when he couldn't do anything else. Knowing his power, some people hoped his followers would heed his suggestions but nothing happened. The bombings and devastation continued and people finally understood that 50 years of partisan traditions and Tudjman's part in it were only for the outside world. The authorities were careful enough to veil their true intentions in expertise and artistic qualifications.

Slovenia: Patriarch Pavle to Visit

Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle is due to visit Slovenia on June 16, the Church news agency KAP reported. The main goal of the visit are meetings with Orthodox believers and the dedication of a new iconostasis in the Orthodox Church in Ljubljana. Patriarch Pavle is also expected to meet representatives of other Christian churches and Slovenian state officials. Slovenian Catholic Bishops' Conference chairman Archbishop Alojzije Sustar welcomed the visit and voiced readiness to talk. The Patriarch will also visit Kocevje, the site of the mass killing of 400 Serb patriots in the last days of W.W.II.

KAP said some 50,000 Orthodox believers live in Slovenia. Orthodox Episcope for Slovenia, father Peran Boskovic voiced satisfaction over the visit and said it will help improve the position of Orthodox believers and promote economic relations between Slovenia and Serbia. Patriarch Pavle will also visit Kopar.

Sharing Out the Football Association

The Football Associations of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Macedonia will ask FIFA and UEFA to share out the rights and obligations of the Yugoslav Football Association, Croatian Association secretary Ante Pavlovic said.

"The Football Associations can't wait for a political solution to achieve their rights," he told a press conference in Zagreb.

"The problem is serious. The Croatian association is now ranked 32 on the UEFA list but if the results achieved by Hajduk, Dinamo and others in European cups were considered we would rank 21 and have two representatives in the UEFA cup," he said.

He added that the four associations will ask FIFA and UEFA for expert help to achieve their rights.