Capital's Watchtower

Serbia appeared in the Bosnian Krajina in the form of Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan's volunteer guard and the police, visible on the Modrica-Banjaluka road. With their discrete presence, the police sent a clear message they had no intention of offering greater aid or participating in the defeat.

The defeat, inopportune at any moment, found Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in the most inopportune place. In the Bosnian Krajina, which had loved him twice. The first time - when, helped by the mother country as well, he launched his political career, and the second time - when that same mother country sharply lowered its border ramp on the Drina, over a year ago.

Between these intervals, there was always some tension between Banja Luka (western Bosnia) and Pale (eastern Bosnia). Banja Luka (population 195,139 according to the 1991 census) could not achieve the nouveau riche metropolitan ambitions of Pale (pre-war population 16,310). "That watchtower", Pale was called, became the administrative headquarters and the information center; Sokolac, a town off Pale (population 14,833) became the banking capital, turning over the money created by the western region which had been spared the war; Foca got its university. The Bosnian Krajina troops, who had waged war from Drvar to Herzegovina and carried most of the war on their backs, wanted more respect for their war deeds.

Now, when the Sarajevo Government forces and the army of the Republic of Croatia have seized over 6,000 square kilometers, intolerance toward Pale has reached its climax. Milan Dodik, one of Karadzic's most famous opponents, says in an interview to the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti that "the Serbian people has been the captive of Sarajevo for too long" and that "the way the Bosnian Serb Republic leadership defended its right to the city (Sarajevo) has resulted in the loss of a large part of Bosnian Krajina". Dodik, who himself comes from Bosnian Krajina, a place called Laktas, reiterates a conclusion that can be found in the stands of the Banja Luka-based Serbian Intellectual Forum, but expanded. "...The Forum maintains that the Bosnian Krajina MPs are obliged to re-examine the goals of the Serbian people at war as defined by the Bosnian Serb National Assembly. If not, some of the goals (Neretva river valley, access to sea, Serbian Sarajevo, etc.) will be achieved at Bosnian Krajina's expense," says a stand adopted by the Forum on September 14, 1995. According to the Forum, a re-defined strategic goal is Bosnian Krajina's defense "for which Serbian generals and officers, who are still trusted by the people, answer with their honor."

When things are reduced and placed within the context of territorial division into 51% and 49%, which belongs to the Serbs, the question arises why the war has been waged at all. Or "What will we do with Srebrenica, which had a 72.9% Moslem population, and without Drvar, in which Serbs accounted for 97.3% of the population; what with Bratunac in which 34.2% of the pre-war population was Serb, while we lost Glamoc, where 79.3% of the population was Serb...."