We're Going to Belgrade Again

FILIPOVIC: "We wanted to avoid an armed conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina from the start because we knew (not just we the Moslems, but the Serbs and Croats as well) that the war in our mixed environment would be different and much more cruel than anywhere else in Yugoslavia. So before the conflict broke out we proposed a model of an equal alliance of Yugoslav states. When that was not accepted we urged a gradual solution in a joint proposal by Izetbegovic and Gligorov. In the end, believing that there is no goal which would justify the kind of war that would take place in our territory and to avoid the conflict we proposed to preserve Yugoslavia through a confederation. Only when it turned out that the Serb side was definitely against that solution did we declare independence. The aggression began but even then we accepted Cutiliero's mission and declared war only two months later. We hesitated to form our own army because we hoped the JNA would play a mediation role. We adopted the Vance-Owen plan and accepted the Contact Group plan.

You see at the start of the war, the JNA and paramilitary units controlled over 90% of Bosnia-Herzegovina territory. After three years, we have a state which has contacts with over 100 countries; we have become a factor in the international community. Since the Federation was formed we have been normalizing life in one part of the country based on multi-ethnic life. That is important to stress, because at the same time on the other side, the cleansing of non-Serbs is continuing. We formed an army and today we have seven corps with 14 divisions, and the police and we are capable of defending the territory under our control and if need be expand it.

All that contributed to a change in the situation. Add to that Radovan Karadzic's decision to reject the Contact Group plan which meets all the Serbs' wishes except independence and we can predict a strengthening of the zones of challenge, even tighter sanctions against Pale and a lifting of the arms embargo for imports of heavy weapons, artillery, armored cars and tanks into Bosnia-Herzegovina. In this situation, there have been voices on our side saying we can solve the problem through war.

Despite everything, we have opted for peace. We are a small country with limited resources and war cannot be our program. Our determination is for peace. This decision coincides with Milosevic's signals through his representative in Zagreb, Knezevic. He accepted the Contact Group plan, his relations with Karadzic are not good. Serbia has been isolated for three years. Milosevic knows that only by normalizing relations between Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina can he help efforts to find a peaceful solution."

VREME: Karadzic sent a message for you to come to Pale if you want peace?

FILIPOVIC: "Today he is the only advocate of war. When he accepts the Contact group plan I will go to Pale."

VREME: Karadzic said he accepts the Owen-Stoltenberg plan on creating a union of constitutive peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

FILIPOVIC: "That plan belongs to the past and we do not accept it. The Contact Group plan is on the agenda. Peace can be achieved with Milosevic who has accepted that plan. The alternative is continuing the war with better prospects for us or maintaining the status quo which means neither peace nor war. Everything depends on Karadzic's acceptance or rejection of the plan."

VREME: How did Milosevic react to those arguments?

FILIPOVIC: "The talk I had with him mainly boiled down to questions of mutual recognition between Bosnia and Serbia. If that happens the aggression would be annulled, the process of Serbia's participation in the international community would open and the sanctions would disappear. Then Karadzic would be forced to accept the plan and everything would be possible. Peace would begin."

VREME: How long did you spend with Milosevic and do you intend to visit him again?

FILIPOVIC: "Two and a half hours. He presented his view of possible events, repeated that he accepted the Contact Group plan and said he has no intention of allowing Karadzic to be the only to decide the fate of the Serb people. He advised us to talk with him on the basis of the Contact Group plan but we can't do that. Let him accept it first and then we will discuss its implementation. I knew that I was not going to Belgrade to talk to Karadzic's lawyer but the head of the Serbian state. We are interested in Milosevic's views of future relations between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia and we have the impression that his initiative is an implicit recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The contacts with Belgrade will continue and should rise over the framework of testing each other to see how far we will go. It is important for us that the Contact Group, Milosevic and the international community work to convince Karadzic to accept the plan."

VREME: Did the Belgrade talks mention confederal links?

FILIPOVIC: "There are a lot of things to be resolved. The problem of succession is especially difficult. For the time being we are discussing Bosnia-Serbia relations, establishing and sorting out those relations. I told Milosevic that we would guarantee the Serbs in Bosnia all the rights enjoyed by the Bosniacs and Croats. The right to a confederation by one people with another state has to be decided by Bosnia-Herzegovina."

VREME: "The Washington agreement on the Federation mentions a possible Bosniac-Croat confederation with Croatia. Why not implement the same for the Bosnian Serbs?

FILIPOVIC: "That was not actually entered into the Washington agreement. The essential thing is to achieve peace. After that talks should begin which should not exclude anything. We are not blind but that is the future. The cantons should be given a high level of autonomy and depending on the success we could look into possible links with a third party."

VREME: Will the cease-fire be extended past April 30?

FILIPOVIC: "We do not like extending cease-fires every time for several months. That is a synonym for keeping the factual state and legalizing it. We want a long cease-fire which would strengthen our peace initiative."