Building bridges to foster pluralism

TWO pieces of wanton destruction remain in the memory after a recent visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina: the offices of the multi-cultural newspaper Oslobodenje and the sparse remains of the famous bridge in Mostar which symbolised its Ottoman past.

In Sarajevo the shell of the proud building that housed its premier newspaper is still standing, but the many floors it supported are collapsed in a crumpled mass of concrete and debris. It was systematically destroyed in the early stages of the siege in 1992 by Serb gunners who regarded its multi-cultural editorial line as a symbol of all they opposed in the name of ethnic cleansing.

But miraculously the newspaper continued to publish right through the 3 1/2-year siege, much of the time from a bunker in the building. Its editor-in-chief, Mehined Halilovic, showed a group of visiting journalists from the World Media Network around the bunker and the shell of the building, erected in the early 1980s. It is now proposed to become a monument to journalism and media under stress from war and political oppression.

In Mostar, the beautiful stone arch bridge across the River Neretva built in 1566 by the Turks was destroyed by Croat forces firing from hills surrounding the town.

Mostar is a city of over 100,000 people, 150 km south of Sarajevo. After a Serbian siege, fighting broke out there between Croats and Muslims in 1992. Over 2,000 people died and more than 30,000 were displaced in the intense conflict. Over 150,000 shells were fired on the Muslim section of the town by Croatian gunners. Contemplating the scene from the midst of destruction in the 16th century quarter the old dividing lines came forcibly to mind, rejection of the Turkish and Islamic Other by Christian Europe, the assumption - still held by many Christian Democrats - that their civilisations are incompatible.

The town remains devastated and divided. Most of its buildings are pockmarked by bullets, despite the substantial efforts of its EU administration to rebuild them and coax its public administration and economy back to life. This includes 6,000 houses refurbished, 32 schools rebuilt, seven bridges restored, help to 450 small and 60 medium-sized businesses and continuing humanitarian aid.

"There are some signs of hope," according to Sir Martin Garrod, the British head of the EU's office there. Notably, he says, the arrest of a group of notorious trouble-makers and criminal elements associated with Croat ultras has reduced provocative outrages against the Muslim areas. This has allowed a 100 strong multi-ethnic police force to be assembled and paraded for the first time in recent weeks.

Designs for the original bridge have been located in Istanbul and so have the quarries supplying its stone. Reconstruction will begin next year and there have been pledges of help from Croats. But it could take 30 years to repair all the damage in Mostar", according to Sir Martin.

His colleague, Ambassador Michael Steiner, a German diplomat who is Principal Deputy High Representative to Bosnia working to Mr Carl Bildt, said in an interview that the central political fact of life is that we still have the old war waging leadership all over the former Yugoslavia except Slovenia. To expect now from the same people who produced war or who did not prevent it, to do practically the opposite, is illusory".

Last year's elections have only entrenched this leadership. But they were necessary to form common institutions ... a government, a parliament a presidency", Mr Steiner says. Without them we would ... be fostering secessionism". He hopes that after a period of some democratisation and calming down of fears there will be a chance of some pluralism" when elections are held again next year.

The government is operating on the basis of power-sharing between Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Croats and a single Serb representative. The surrounding Republika Srpska contains 50 per cent of the land and people of former Bosnia. Most of the 400 000 or so displaced Muslims and Croats are still refugees, many of them in Germany.

Reconstruction of services and infrastructure has proceeded apace in Sarajevo, and there are many signs of the revival of everyday life. But there is still huge unemployment. And the spectre of destroyed buildings and apartments all round the city is a continuous reminder of the siege.

There is a great shortage of trees, destroyed for fuel, transforming what was a green city. But they are gradually being replanted. The visitor is struck, too, by the number of fresh graves. Because funerals became prime targets for snipers during the siege they were held at night. Before the war many of the graveyards were of mixed religion, as can be seen from the turbaned headstones of the Muslim men. Graveyards have also been cleansed by the war. Small vegetable plots are to be found wherever there is spare ground.

Mr Steiner explained that many Sarajevans felt as if they bad been raped during the siege. The world looked on indifferently, lacking the will to use force against their assailants. The same problem continues to dog the institutions agreed at Dayton.

While there has been important and undeniable progress with its military side, the same is not true on implementing the war crimes tribunal's mandate. One is told continually by Bosniaks that the war would break out again if the international Stability Force (SFOR) were withdrawn.

Mr Steiner lays out a surreal scenario of irresponsibility about who should arrest those accused of war crimes. "Who should do it? I cannot do it. The international police cannot do it as they have no weapons. SFOR's mandate, as it is interpreted from Brussels, doesn't allow them to do it either".

Last week he gave a briefing for NATO's top military and political brass in Sarajevo. He showed a video of the former Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, arriving punctually at his office each morning in the nearby town of Pale, a pointed hint indeed that action could easily be taken. "It just needs the political will of our capitals to organise it. The matter is that if you really want Dayton to be implemented, then you must arrest them"' he says.

Mr Steiner firmly believes that until that is done the existing leaderships who fought the war have everything to gain from making sure there is no possibility of living together.

That is why he, too, is encouraged by the recent arrests in Mostar. He does not believe there would be a popular uprising if more arrests were made; rather would they remove a crucial political stumbling block.

The conditions are therefore not yet in place for the return of refugees. It is a relief to hear such candid talk from such a senior diplomatic representative. One can only hope that this week's first conviction of a war criminal in The Hague will stiffen international resolve to implement the court's mandate. Sarajevans will only believe that when they see it.