Storm over B&H

Local clashes in Bosanski Brod, which have been going on for some time, escalated into a real war that would do justice to the one waged in Eastern Slavonia. Various military formations (mostly Croatian) can be seen in the streets, while the Serbian liberators, located in the hills nearby, are even opening heavy gunfire.

It must be that Koljevic (a B&H Presidency member) is having more and more fun with every bullet fired, since he once said that he entered politics for the sake of "pure adventurism". At the remark that his adventurism has cost too much to entire nations, Mr. Koljevic replied: "Well, you see, it costs me a lot too, it is hard to be under constant pressure twelve hours a day".

A special session of the Presidency was held, and then a meeting between Ganic (a Presidency member) and general Kukanjac (Chief Commander of the Sarajevo military district) took place. Ganic spoke on behalf of Mr. Izetbegovic (Bosnian president), who had gone to Saudi Arabia (?!). Judging from the reactions of the two negotiators, the meeting was held in a hostile atmosphere and bore no fruit. Asked whether the Army has been taking part in the clashes in Bosanski Brod, General Kukanjac said that such allegations are "100%, even 1000% untrue", regardless of the fact that the town has been fired at from heavy artillery weapons which, at present, only the Army possesses. Of course, Mr. Ganic also asked where the defenders of the town (mostly Croats) got the anti-tank weapons from and the only logical answer was that they got it from the other side of the river Sava.

After useless efforts to reason with General Kukanjac, an emergency session of the Presidency was held. The conclusion was the following: "We demand that the conclusions made by the Presidency of B&H on March 22, 1992 be immediately implemented, i. e. that the Army units withdraw from Bosanski Brod, along with all the volunteer units. The withdrawal should start on March 26 at 12 a.m. If the withdrawal does not start within the mentioned deadline, the Presidency of B&H will inform the UN Security Council and the international community that internal aggression has taken place in Bosnia and Herzegovina".

Representatives of the political parties met with four members of the Presidency. Mr. Muhamed Filipovic, an MBO MP (Moslem Bosnian Organization) said that "it should be made perfectly clear to the Army" that it is clashing with the citizens of B&H. The numerous statements made by General Kukanjac, which describe the situation in Bosanski Brod as "an effort to protect the Serbian people from genocide" is interpreted to be the way to render legitimate the aspirations of SDS (Serbian Democratic Party). It was also said that force is the only argument SDS disposes of and that the forcible dislocation of the population has already been taking place in some municipalities.

Some SDS functionaries wrote to the EC and the UN, mentioning "an armed aggression" by Croatian and Moslem paramilitary forces "against the Serbian people".

Mr. Filipovic said that a glance at the ethnic map of B&H can easily show what the real reason for conflicts in certain regions is. According to him, SDS is trying to draw new borders according to a "Chetnik" map it presented to the public. These new borders match perfectly with the ones Milosevic and Tudjman drew during their conspiracy meetings in Karadjordjevo.

In the meantime, the latest news mentions deaths in Bosanski Brod and there have been reports about casualties in other Bosnian towns and villages as well.