HOW TO REACH RECONCILIATION?

24 October 2003

Yes or No?

"Igman Initiative" is an organization that gathers over 140 NGOs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbian and Montenegro and Croatia. The cooperation of the non-governmental sector of these three countries started in 1996, back then under the auspices of a project called "Civil Dialogue", carried out by "Citizens' Forum Tuzla", "Belgrade Circle" and "Anti-War Campaign" from Croatia. The goal of that project was to enable the NGOs that cooperated during the war to start a more serious effort towards the reestablishment of normal relations between the three countries, signatories of the Dayton Agreement. The primary goal was to provide for a situation in which certain human rights, i.e. the freedom of movement, would be respected. Lamentably, due to the lack of support by the international foundations, Civil Dialogue ceased working in that direction, but the idea remained and was revitalized in 2000, under the name Igman Initiative.

OW: A lot has been done since 2000. One of the expert groups of the Igman Initiative prepared the Agreement for Visa-free Regime of movement in the countries of the Dayton triangle, which is an important success.

Sehic: After the establishment of the Igman Initiative, we started with the work on several concrete acts. Our first task was to form three experts' groups, of which one was working on the preparation of the Agreement of Visa-free Regime within the countries of the Dayton Triangle. The other group worked on the preparation of the report on the free-trade zone in these three countries, because we considered the two documents to be of utmost importance: first, to provide for free movement of people, and second, to liberalize the exports and imports of goods, so that the trade, exchange and, eventually, joint ventures of some companies on the foreign markets would be more successful. In terms of the relationships, we are aware that the governments of Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro in particular were in a very specific situation and didn't take such an initiative favourably, having in mind that the memories of the war are still fresh. However, we had representatives of the respective Ministries for Foreign Affairs in our experts' groups; we had the support of the governments of the three countries and their presidents. Last year, Serbia and Montenegro were the first to abolish the visas, and this year the same was done by Croatia. That is a great result for us, and it has another, very important component, which is to enable the expelled and displaced people to visit their homes more easily. I could say that it resulted in a greater rate of refugee return to Croatia then before, which is important for Bosnia and Herzegovina, too, having in mind that some 25,000-30,000 refugees from Croatia still reside in our country.

OW: Recently, under the auspices of the Igman Initiative, another experts' group was established which has the task to prepare a model for mutual confidence between the three countries. We don�t need visas, which was one step towards the establishment of confidence. What is next?

Sehic: The past, the war is a great burden for these three countries. The greatest problem which impedes the normalization of relations is the existence of three half-truths which all have their respective national colour. The attempts to establish a Commission for Truth and Reconciliation didn't yeald relults, especially having in mind the experience witht he Commission for Truth and Confidence in Serbia and Montenegro, the Kostunica Commission as they call it, which was backed by a completely different idea than the determination of the facts and evidence that could be used by the sociologists and historians to create an objective picture of all the events. Naturally, that Commission failed. There was also an attempt to form a Commission for Truth and Reconciliation in B&H, and the initiative came from the Citizens� Forum Tuzla at the end of 1997. We started with the activities designed to prepare the public and to provide support to the NGOs, political parties and the religious institutions. I have to say that, when we worked on it in 1999, over 170 different institutions supported the idea.
Unfortunately, the Law that we, as Association for Truth and Reconciliation prepared, is still in the drawers of the Ministry for Human Rights, in the Council of Ministers, where it lays for over a year and a half. I am quite skeptical at this moment of the possibility that the Commission may yield some results. Bear to mind, all the commission that were formed in the world, in South Africa, Chile, Ecuador; all of them were established and started working immediately after the stop of the state of emergency in those places. I am afraid that the Commissions for Truth and Reconciliation formed 10 years after the war won't be able to provide the expected results. There are very simple reasons for that; documents are being forged, the material evidence on any activity that could lead to someone being brought to the Court and held responsible for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, genocide, etc, such evidence is being destroyed.
Now, we decided, within the Igman Inititive � and it was my original idea concerning B&H, that all the members of the Commission should be from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but that Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro should also have three associate members each. The truth about B&H is to be found in Sarajevo, but at the same time also in Zagreb and Belgrade. That was the idea behind the establishment of the experts group which should prepare the model for better understanding between us and for better understanding of the past events, in a manner that would present the facts and not theories or assumptions, method that would create the environment for return of confidence between the citizens of the three countries, and at the same time, confidence among the citizens from each state, and I have in mind primarily Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

OW: Does the Commission have the support of the international actors?

Sehic: The experts' group has nine members, and we plan to create a Council of the Experts' Group. We have the support of Alex Borein, the creator of the model for South Africcan reconciliation. He supported the idea to establish a Commission for Truth and Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the very beginning. Richard Holbrooke also gave his support, having in mind that he probably still feels some responsibility for the implementation of the Framework Peace Agreement. We plan a meeting in which we will try, through an open discussion, to define all the models and paths that lead towards understanding of the events that took place here, and we plan to use the so-called shock therapy and to open the issues that were treated as taboo. One of the first subjects we want to discuss is the nature of the War in Bosnia. As long as on one side we have people who would say that it was an outside aggression, which it was, and deny that there was any other form of warfare, and opposed to them is the side which claims it was a civil war and dismiss the proposals that something more than a civil war was going on, it would be very difficult to talk about normalization of relations inside Bosnia itself, not to mention the neighbouring countries. That is why we would like to start that process with participation of international legal experts and to find out what was going on in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Naturally, military analysts and historians will also be involved, in order to get that issue off the agenda once for all.

OW: This is a long and arduous job. Which will be, in your opinion, the greatest obstacles and problems that the Commission will have to face?

Sehic: The members of the Commission have proved before, with their previous work, that they are not afraid of the positions of some political parties or anybody else. We will get the information, we will reach a certain model. Obviously, there will be many obstacles, for we see how the authorities cooperate with the Hague Tribunal. The greatest obstacle will be that a lot of evidence was destroyed, but, for as long as the participants in those events remember, we will be able to do a lot. Naturally, we will expect some financial support, and we will need assistance in that regard. We will have to find someone who will back this project. The Group will conduct investigations; there will be sub-groups which will deal with specific issues. Some things we can�t even predict, but we want to open the dialogue on all events, without a fear that somebody may be ostracized. This is an attempt for a moral healing of the whole region. Lamentably, today we have a situation in which the truth is immoral and lying is epitome of morality.

OW: Did the NGO sector demonstrate interest and offered support in the preparation of this model?

Sehic: There is an interest on the behalf of the NGOs, but I have to say that may NGOs still lack that non-partisan political character, and they lack the civic courage to point their fingers at what is going on in B&H and the region in general. The majority of them will say that they are not interested in politics, in spite of the fact that at the same time, they work on protection of human rights and such. Nevertheless, we will have the support of many, we appreciate that assistance and support, and we appreciate the fact that the support is wholehearted and honest..