The McGovern Model

Everyone in Bosnia agrees that a new war, if it comes, will break out in Brcko. Until the arbitration is complete or a new war comes, the peace in Brcko is being kept by US Army Lt. Colonel Tony Cucola, Battalion Commander at the McGovern camp and "little Tito" as the Washington Post called him. He chose the ruins of an agricultural cooperative which changed sides several times in the war for his base. From it and with the help of patrols and observation posts (OP) he keeps watch over 24 kilometers of the Zone of Separation (ZOS). Whichever side of the IEBL (Inter Entity Boundary Line) you mention his name, the Serbs and Moslems who have dealt with him smile. In the IFOR headquarters in Sarajevo he is less known by his name than by something that is called the McGovern model.

Under that model, Brcko is perhaps the only town in post-Dayton Bosnia where Serbs, Moslems and Croats have met without bloodshed and riots. The colonel’s theater of operations is the only place in Bosnia where Moslems and Croats are returning to Bosnian Serb territory and rebuilding their homes, (in the Brcko suburbs of Omerbegovic and Dizdarusa).

Every Wednesday Cucola organizes joint civilian meetings between representatives of the Serb, Moslem and Croat authorities (Serbs from Brcko, Moslems from Brka and Croats from Orasje). Those meetings agreed on organized visits to cemeteries with no incidents in Brcko. (Pale doesn’t seem too happy with the level of cooperation shown by the local authorities in contacts with IFOR and the Moslem-Croat Federation, but in Brcko the belief is that the Moslems have been outwitted when permission was granted for visits to the cemetery. The Serbs in Brcko say that since the Moslems saw they can’t provoke any violence they lost interest in the visits and the number of people coming to the cemetery is dropping rapidly).

The McGovern model includes Cucola’s demand for strict respect of ethnic parity in employing local staff for his base since the base is on the demarcation line. The base now has 37 Federation employees and 35 RS employees. He set draconian conditions: every ugly gesture, every bad word or hateful glance at members of another nation means loss of the job. He has demonstrated that stand: a Moslem employee during a visit by a Serb officer drew a finger across his throat. He was fired along with his friend who hadn’t stopped him from making the gesture.

When Bosnian Serb Army (BSA) commander General Ratko Mladic banned his officers from official contacts with IFOR after the arrests of General Djordje Djukic and Colonel Aleksa Krsmanovic, Cucola sent his officers out. "Our man would knock on the door, the Serb officer would say: I can’t have any official contact with you. Our man would say: OK, how about unofficial contact. They’d have a cigarette outside, talk about leave and other things... We didn’t allow a break in contacts for a single day."

There is no idyll in Brcko or any other place in post-Dayton Bosnia. A conflict could flare up at any time. The Federation authorities correctly assessed that the security conditions in Brcko are good now and provided building materials and labor for Moslem and Croat families who want to rebuild their homes.

The Moslems and Croats returning to Dizdarusa still don’t dare spend the night there or use the water supply system 50 meters outside the US troops patrol zone. Slavica Hajduk, who fled Dizdarusa for Zovik and is now overseeing the rebuilding of her roof, says she hasn’t been to her mother’s grave yet although it’s just 200 meters from her home.

Cucola says he clearly told Slavica and her Moslem neighbors that their homes are in the Serb entity and says he was told they won’t mind living in the RS.

But, in a conversation with Slavica and her neighbor Sefik Haracic, VREME learned that they firmly believe international arbitration will result in Brcko being handed to the Federation. They said they are prepared to live with Serbs in Dizdarusa again but not under the RS authorities. They also rejected any possibility of Serbs going back to live in Omerbegovic on the other side of the ZOS.

Cucola wasn’t schooled to outwit Slavica Hajduk who he asked for proof of ownership before permitting construction work, or the Serb police who he would like to get to think like he does. "Slavica Hajduk is the legal owner. I have to protect her because that’s part of my job."

The West Point graduate spent 17 years training for high intensity conflicts. Instead he is now spending time over a huge map thinking about the topic of arbitration in Brcko: just the town or just the demarcation line. The whole thing is unclear, at least as he interprets the Dayton agreement. But he thinks that unless the demarcation line is moved north or south by December 14, when the arbitration deadline expires, the town itself will become the topic of arbitration since the east-west line isn’t set.

Cucola’s commander is 30 kilometers down Arizona road towards Tuzla in the Kajm camp. The 1st brigade of the US 1st armored division is under the command of Colonel Gregory Fonteno who was more cautious when he met reporters. And with good reason: he had the misfortune to say "The Croats are racists" in front of one of his black troopers and an American reporter. The US army imposed restrictions on reporters in US bases in Bosnia. Fonteno doesn’t hide the fact that reports that Moslem refugees are returning to Brcko to rebuild their homes is his greatest concern. The spirit of Dayton worries him less than the letter of Dayton and his greatest concern is the security of his troops. He sees the possibility of incidents as the greatest danger in Slavica Hajduk’s daily stay in Brcko with his troops involved. "I don’t discourage or encourage that. But I would prefer if they didn’t do that. The possibility of an incident breaking out is increased. I would prefer them to reach an agreement with the Serbs before doing anything."