A New Breed of Serbs

"Any group, political party or individual to turn a deaf ear to these demands takes on enormous responsibility in the eyes of the international community, citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Serbian and Montenegrin people as a whole, whose security and destiny can not depend on forces that have no desire for peace and negotiation". "These demands" refer to the "invitation" by the Yugoslav Presidency to the Serbian leaders in B&H to "prevent the bombing of Sarajevo from the territory they control" and do the other things which until yesterday would have been termed as falling down before the demands of the UN Security Council. The "group, political party or individual" have not been named, but look a lot like those who are ruled over by Mr. Radovan Karadzic, the President of the Serbian Republic of B&H.

The above style is nonetheless milder and more dignified than that used by Serbian President, Slobodan Milosevic, in his letter to the President of the Republic of Serbian Krajinas, Dr. Milan Babic, half a year ago. "In your behavior you have ignored the express wishes of the Yugoslav Presidency and Serbian leadership, and not just once, giving yourself the right to make decisions whose payment will unfortunately be made by the blood of the whole Serbian nation", wrote the Serbian President. Prior to the announced recognition of a few ex-republics of Yugoslavia by the EC on January 15, it was necessary to get rid of Babic quickly and efficiently. With this aim, Mr. Milosevic called Babic a "self-seeking politician" because of whom "the nation shouldn't have to bear the brunt". Style aside, the essentially important political question is: does Babic's fate await Karadzic, can Milosevic do it again, and - if he can - would it bring peace to the people of B&H and an end to the sanctions against the people of the FRY?

A certain distancing by Milosevic from Karadzic has been present for months (and he used to like so much to be filmed on TV between Babic and Karadzic..). In spite of this, the statement by Aleksa Buha, SDS MP in the meantime promoted to the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Serbian Republic of B&H, in which at the beginning of the year it was discovered that Karadzic's Serbs already had an agreement with Milosevic before the proclamation of the SR B&H, has not been completely forgotten. However, Serbia has never officially recognized this republic, and in fact set up a customs barrier on the Drina with the aim of preventing the unauthorized passage of food from Serbia into B&H, irrespective of the harm this did to the 1,300,000 Serbs (as many as there were at the beginning of the year in B&H).

Relations in the meantime have further crumbled, so that a few days ago it was announced, as though it was the most normal thing in the world, that instead of Nikola Koljevic and Biljana Plavsic, who had chosen to show patriotism and political competence in the Serbian Republic of B&H, Nenad Kecmanovic and Mirko Pejanovic, Serbs who were never associated with Karadzic, took their places in the B&H Presidency.

The choice of these two, like the completion of the truncated B&H Presidency which could not pretend to any legitimacy without Serbian representatives, is officially a result of negotiations between Alija Izetbegovic and the five opposition parties. The opposition also sought the forming of a new government, the structure of this is still being negotiated as this text is written. What can already be seen though, is that there will be Serbs in this government and that they will not be from among those loyal to R. Karadzic and the policy of SDS in B&H up to now. However, it is an interesting question on whose authority this kind of organ of the government in B&H is being formed. The newest Serb representatives, in order to do something for the nation they belong to and for peace in B&H, have to fulfill certain conditions: they must be acceptable to their compatriots in B&H, to the international community that because of R. Karadzic and his parents and directors introduced sanctions, and - naturally - to Slobodan Milosevic. VREME has it from unofficial sources that Kecmanovic and Pejanovic have accepted positions in the B&H Presidency - which supposedly covers the whole territory of B&H - with the full support of the West, in particular the USA. It is not clear to what extent Milosevic influenced this choice, but it is interesting that the media loyal to him has not come down on these new members of the Presidency in their usual manner.

Karadzic is clearly angry. He called Kecmanovic and Pejanovic "the private Serbs of Alija Izetbegovic". However, Nikola Koljevic announced on TV Belgrade that he doesn't believe these two entered the B&H Presidency without authority from a high place, though, of course, he did not say which. In any case, there was contact between Karadzic and the leadership in Serbia - let us mention the meeting with Branko Kostic, Vice-President of the unusual body that is now called the Yugoslav Presidency, and the military command which a Sarajevo professor, in the role of President of the B&H Reformist Party, had about a month and a half ago. On this occasion Kecmanovic met not only Milosevic, but Dobrica Cosic. Considering that Kecmanovic froze his membership in the Reformist Party when he took a place in the Presidency, maybe Milosevic could forgive him his former connection with the infamous former Premier of the former Yugoslavia, Ante Markovic, and his party.

A big question, though, is whether the Serbs in B&H will accept Kecmanovic and Pejanovic as their authentic representatives. Let us remember that Kecmanovic was a candidate for the B&H Presidency in the elections at the end of 1990 and that he failed miserably. And today it is possible to hear from those in the know about Bosnian-Herzegovinian affairs, that the new members are more acceptable to Moslems than to Serbs. Nevertheless, Karadzic's name is bound tightly to the war which, irrespective of the motives that began it, has brought little good to the Serbs in B&H. In the wake of all the promises that the division of B&H that would bring them peace and prosperity, they are left with the announcement by the Executive Board of SPS that "Serbia and Yugoslavia have no territorial pretensions towards B&H" etc., and that "we cannot be held responsible for the events in B&H over which we have no control".

In short, the latest entrance of Serbs, and a new breed at that, into the legal governmental organ in B&H can be looked on as a positive step. Which doesn't mean that it isn't too small a step or that it isn't too late.