Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesic is threatening military action if the Bosnian Serbs go further with their attempts at independence. He was speaking to Croatian media a month before he is due to stand down.
The Serb part of Bosnia-Herzegovina is preparing to hold a referendum on independence. The move has led to an increase of tensions with Bosnia's other ethnic groups, the Muslims and ethnic Croats.
Mr Mesic believes that a referendum would breach the Dayton agreement which ended the Bosnian civil war in 1995. He argues that Croatia, as one of the signatories of Dayton, has a duty to see the accord is observed.
It is unclear what position Croatia's incoming president, Ivo Josipovic, will adopt on the issue. The international community's High Representative for Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, has already come out against the plans for a Bosnian-Serb referendum.
Source:rnw.nl/
Showing posts with label Attack Bosnian Serbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Attack Bosnian Serbs. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Serbia a "black hole" on land restitution map
Belgrade - After World War II, the communist regime in Serbia confiscated a house and some 30 acres of land belonging to Dragan Djokic's grandfather to build a school and a school yard.
The family was later compensated for the house, but not the land. The school was built without a yard.
Djokic is one of thousands of people in Serbia waiting for the government to adopt a restitution law and begin the return of the properties confiscated or 'nationalized' after the war.
Serbian officials however argued that restitution would be an expensive undertaking, costing taxpayers millions of dollars at a time when the economy, weak since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, is being battered by the global economic crisis.
But since the country aspired to join the European Union, Belgrade began working on a restitution law, which it planned to adopt by the end of last year.
State secretary in the Finance Ministry Slobodan Ilic said he would resign if the law is not passed by the end of 2009.
The law has yet to reach Parliament and Ilic has not kept his promise amid speculation fuelled by the secrecy surrounding the proposed law.
According to the unofficial reports, the government is to propose the return of the actual property or its value in bonds.
The owners of confiscated properties suspect the government is deliberately dragging its feet with the restitution law because most of the property in question is now state-owned. Political parties obtain money through the lease and sale of such properties, often at low prices, to business tycoons.
The original owners reject compensation in the form of bonds because the country has no cash to pay them. They are demanding that the properties be returned or, in the case where the land now houses public buildings, alternative land must be provided.
Serbia is 'a black hole' on a map of former communist countries with restitution laws, says Milivoje Antic coordinator of The Network for Restitution in Serbia.
'A data base with records of confiscated properties, made in 2005, shows the majority of the confiscated property is in the hands of the state and only one fifth of all that was nationalized is now being asked for,' Antic told the German Press Agency dpa.
Since Serbia is more than 20 years behind with restitution compared to other ex-communist countries, many of the original property owners have died or lost interest in restitution, he says.
Antic dismisses the government's assessment that restitution would cost the country millions.
'The problem with restitution in Serbia is corruption and the law on planning and building,' he says. Often the ownership of land is transferred to those leasing land and building on it, with the previous owners bypassed, he says.
The law on planning enables parties in power to hand the nationalized land over to tycoons in exchange for financial support, he added. 'That is how political parties are being financed.'
That law, which allows 'all investors whether local or foreign, to buy the land directly from the state or municipalities', is a thorn in the side of people waiting for restitution.
Those campaigning for restitution point to the 2007 sale of bankrupt retail chain Robne kuce Beograd as an example. The government sold two buildings that were nationalized in the 1930s along with it, without compensating the original owners or their descendants.
The planning law also 'enables the state to handle the properties which are waiting for restitution but are not protected,' according to Dragana Milovanovic from the League for the Protection of Private Property.
'This way, instead of protecting those properties and returning them to old owners, the state would be able to sell them while old owners will get bonds which they would not be able to cash in because the state is broke,' she told the daily Danas newspaper.
'The problem is that tycoons who already bought some firms and got the rights to use the land would now, under the protection of government, be able do buy the land under their own terms,' Milovanovic added.
'The story of restitution is the story of whether we will see better days, whether we will grow stronger economically, whether we are truly for European integration, whether our state is a regulated one,' says Antic.
Djokic is determined to see justice. 'I'm still waiting for the restitution of my grandfather's land and I will not give up.'
Source:monstersandcritics.com/
The family was later compensated for the house, but not the land. The school was built without a yard.
Djokic is one of thousands of people in Serbia waiting for the government to adopt a restitution law and begin the return of the properties confiscated or 'nationalized' after the war.
Serbian officials however argued that restitution would be an expensive undertaking, costing taxpayers millions of dollars at a time when the economy, weak since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, is being battered by the global economic crisis.
But since the country aspired to join the European Union, Belgrade began working on a restitution law, which it planned to adopt by the end of last year.
State secretary in the Finance Ministry Slobodan Ilic said he would resign if the law is not passed by the end of 2009.
The law has yet to reach Parliament and Ilic has not kept his promise amid speculation fuelled by the secrecy surrounding the proposed law.
According to the unofficial reports, the government is to propose the return of the actual property or its value in bonds.
The owners of confiscated properties suspect the government is deliberately dragging its feet with the restitution law because most of the property in question is now state-owned. Political parties obtain money through the lease and sale of such properties, often at low prices, to business tycoons.
The original owners reject compensation in the form of bonds because the country has no cash to pay them. They are demanding that the properties be returned or, in the case where the land now houses public buildings, alternative land must be provided.
Serbia is 'a black hole' on a map of former communist countries with restitution laws, says Milivoje Antic coordinator of The Network for Restitution in Serbia.
'A data base with records of confiscated properties, made in 2005, shows the majority of the confiscated property is in the hands of the state and only one fifth of all that was nationalized is now being asked for,' Antic told the German Press Agency dpa.
Since Serbia is more than 20 years behind with restitution compared to other ex-communist countries, many of the original property owners have died or lost interest in restitution, he says.
Antic dismisses the government's assessment that restitution would cost the country millions.
'The problem with restitution in Serbia is corruption and the law on planning and building,' he says. Often the ownership of land is transferred to those leasing land and building on it, with the previous owners bypassed, he says.
The law on planning enables parties in power to hand the nationalized land over to tycoons in exchange for financial support, he added. 'That is how political parties are being financed.'
That law, which allows 'all investors whether local or foreign, to buy the land directly from the state or municipalities', is a thorn in the side of people waiting for restitution.
Those campaigning for restitution point to the 2007 sale of bankrupt retail chain Robne kuce Beograd as an example. The government sold two buildings that were nationalized in the 1930s along with it, without compensating the original owners or their descendants.
The planning law also 'enables the state to handle the properties which are waiting for restitution but are not protected,' according to Dragana Milovanovic from the League for the Protection of Private Property.
'This way, instead of protecting those properties and returning them to old owners, the state would be able to sell them while old owners will get bonds which they would not be able to cash in because the state is broke,' she told the daily Danas newspaper.
'The problem is that tycoons who already bought some firms and got the rights to use the land would now, under the protection of government, be able do buy the land under their own terms,' Milovanovic added.
'The story of restitution is the story of whether we will see better days, whether we will grow stronger economically, whether we are truly for European integration, whether our state is a regulated one,' says Antic.
Djokic is determined to see justice. 'I'm still waiting for the restitution of my grandfather's land and I will not give up.'
Source:monstersandcritics.com/
Exiting Croat leader says he’d attack Bosnian Serbs
RIJEKA, BANJA LUKA -- Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that he would send the military to cripple RS if it called a secession referendum.
.jpg)
Stjepan Mesić (FoNet, file)
The Croatian military, according to Mesić, would incapacitate the Republic of Srpska (RS) in case there was a referendum on independence in this Bosnian entity, that would violate the Dayton accord.
The peace deal ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and organized the coutnry into two entities: the Serb RS, and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Mesić said, according to Rijeka daily Novi List, that if Republic of Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik was to call a referendum for toppling the Dayton Agreement, he would send the Croatian military immediately, which would cripple the RS, “which would then have to disappear”, by closing the corridor by near the northern town of Brčko.
At Tuesday’s informal meeting with journalists, Mesić said that Croatia is a Dayton Agreement guarantor, and that if he were the president at the time that such a referendum was announced, he would use the military against RS in the corridor near the Sava River .
“It is unbelievable how much Dodik is fooling the international community,” Mesić said, adding that the RS prime minister “thinks that the world will grow tired of Bosnia-Herzegovina and that a referendum for secession will be announced”.
“Someone will protest for a few days, and then everything will die down and Greater Serbia will be realized,” Mesić was quoted as saying, adding that he will be interested in seeing how the newly-elected Croatian President Ivo Josipović would react to the situation.
Mesić gave the same opinion to international officials, “but in a less heated manner”, the daily stated.
The corridor he mentioned is 15 kilometers wide and connects the eastern and western part of RS, sitting 30 kilometers from the Croatian border.
Fierce military, but also political battles were fought over the corridor during the 1992-95 war, since the survival of the town of Banja Luka and RS depends on it, said the report.
Using up his last moments in office, Mesić did not miss a chance to stir controversy once again, one month ahead Croatian President-elect Ivo Josipović’s inauguration.
Previously, he strained relations in the region by visiting Kosovo and pardoning a Croat war criminal found guilty of killing Serbs.
The Rijeka-based newspaper that carried Mesić’s statements threatening that Croatia would invade RS, said in an editorial that “such belligerent language has not been heard in the region for the past 15 years”.
Mesić himself reacted today by saying that he was “misinterpreted”, but adding that “nobody must touch Bosnia’s integrity”.
“We are a guarantor of the Dayton Agreement, and the Dayton Agreement guarantees the survival of Bosnia-Herzegovina. And in any case, Croatia cannot accept the break-up of Bosnia. That is quite clear, and I don’t believe that anyone could embark on such an adventure. I don’t believe there is still someone who would try to break Bosnia up again,” said Mesić in his latest statement, reported this afternoon.
“Radical extremism”
Milorad Dodik (FoNet, file)
.jpg)
RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik believes that Mesić’s latest statements constitute for a disturbing threat by a man who “started his career with war and wants to end it with war”.
“Such radical extremist statements should never have been heard again in the region,” Dodik said.
“They are all the more dramatic calls for war as Mesić is still president of Croatia and commander in chief of its army, and Croatia is a NATO member,” Dodik added.
The RS premier also said he expects all politicians in the region, international community representatives, NATO officials and all peace-loving people in Croatia and other countries to condemn “war threats of the false peacekeeper Mesić aimed at the Serb people and RS”.
“It is well known that Mesić used the language of hate and threats to create an atmosphere for mass crimes against Serbs and for their expulsion from Croatia in the last war,” Dodik said.
Source:b92.net/
.jpg)
Stjepan Mesić (FoNet, file)
The Croatian military, according to Mesić, would incapacitate the Republic of Srpska (RS) in case there was a referendum on independence in this Bosnian entity, that would violate the Dayton accord.
The peace deal ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and organized the coutnry into two entities: the Serb RS, and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Mesić said, according to Rijeka daily Novi List, that if Republic of Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik was to call a referendum for toppling the Dayton Agreement, he would send the Croatian military immediately, which would cripple the RS, “which would then have to disappear”, by closing the corridor by near the northern town of Brčko.
At Tuesday’s informal meeting with journalists, Mesić said that Croatia is a Dayton Agreement guarantor, and that if he were the president at the time that such a referendum was announced, he would use the military against RS in the corridor near the Sava River .
“It is unbelievable how much Dodik is fooling the international community,” Mesić said, adding that the RS prime minister “thinks that the world will grow tired of Bosnia-Herzegovina and that a referendum for secession will be announced”.
“Someone will protest for a few days, and then everything will die down and Greater Serbia will be realized,” Mesić was quoted as saying, adding that he will be interested in seeing how the newly-elected Croatian President Ivo Josipović would react to the situation.
Mesić gave the same opinion to international officials, “but in a less heated manner”, the daily stated.
The corridor he mentioned is 15 kilometers wide and connects the eastern and western part of RS, sitting 30 kilometers from the Croatian border.
Fierce military, but also political battles were fought over the corridor during the 1992-95 war, since the survival of the town of Banja Luka and RS depends on it, said the report.
Using up his last moments in office, Mesić did not miss a chance to stir controversy once again, one month ahead Croatian President-elect Ivo Josipović’s inauguration.
Previously, he strained relations in the region by visiting Kosovo and pardoning a Croat war criminal found guilty of killing Serbs.
The Rijeka-based newspaper that carried Mesić’s statements threatening that Croatia would invade RS, said in an editorial that “such belligerent language has not been heard in the region for the past 15 years”.
Mesić himself reacted today by saying that he was “misinterpreted”, but adding that “nobody must touch Bosnia’s integrity”.
“We are a guarantor of the Dayton Agreement, and the Dayton Agreement guarantees the survival of Bosnia-Herzegovina. And in any case, Croatia cannot accept the break-up of Bosnia. That is quite clear, and I don’t believe that anyone could embark on such an adventure. I don’t believe there is still someone who would try to break Bosnia up again,” said Mesić in his latest statement, reported this afternoon.
“Radical extremism”
Milorad Dodik (FoNet, file)
.jpg)
RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik believes that Mesić’s latest statements constitute for a disturbing threat by a man who “started his career with war and wants to end it with war”.
“Such radical extremist statements should never have been heard again in the region,” Dodik said.
“They are all the more dramatic calls for war as Mesić is still president of Croatia and commander in chief of its army, and Croatia is a NATO member,” Dodik added.
The RS premier also said he expects all politicians in the region, international community representatives, NATO officials and all peace-loving people in Croatia and other countries to condemn “war threats of the false peacekeeper Mesić aimed at the Serb people and RS”.
“It is well known that Mesić used the language of hate and threats to create an atmosphere for mass crimes against Serbs and for their expulsion from Croatia in the last war,” Dodik said.
Source:b92.net/
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