Public Acceptance of Secret Agreement

Oslobodenje-Svijet, Sarajevo-Ljubljana, Bosnia-Hercegovina, 12/19/96

With this secret document, Frowick, in return for the right to organize and oversee Bosnian local elections, promised to the Pale authorities complete rehabilitation of the infamous form P-2, which practically means the legalization of the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

The public found out only about the final outcome of these secret negotiations. The truth about the document which was the condition for Biljana Plavsic's acceptance for the extension of the OSCE mandate in Bosnia was denied. Consequently, the public was shocked by the journalistic hints at the existence of a secret agreement between OSCE and the Republic of Srpska. A forbidden fruit is the sweetest fruit, so the journalist quickly reacted.

News about the secret agreement between OSCE and the Republic of Srpska was surprise not only for the domestic public, but also the domestic politicians, led by president Izetbegovic. During recent days, they have repeated, either in confusion or, even worse, totally convinced in the truth of what they were saying, that there was no secret document. It is difficult to point out the cause of this "confusion" since the deputy OSCE spokesperson Johan Verheyden asserted that Bosnian authorities were informed about the agreement, which means that it is not a secret. It is a different matter that the Bosnian leadership didn't find it necessary to inform the people who had voted for them about the agreement.

Still, the news somehow reached the public, and the existence of the document, which we publish in facsimile in this issue of Svijet, has recently been confirmed by Verheyden at a press conference; he emphasized that there were important reasons for the secrecy and that he was not prepared to say anything about those reasons because the head of the OSCE mission, Robert Frowick, had asked him to do so!

Never ending gallantry. It seems that the protests of the member of the temporary electoral commission Kasim Begic that he hadn't been informed about such a document and his claims that OSCE had no right to set election rules without the approval of the temporary electoral commission, were in vain. True, Verhayden said that this document would be submitted to the temporary Election commission, but that it was up to the Bosnian authorities whether they wanted to inform Begic about it or not. Chair of the Bosnian Presidency, Alija Izetbegovic, stated last week, that it will be impossible to vote in the place in which a person intends to settle, regardless of the conditions which were set in order to allow that. His comments about the existence of a secret document which re-introduces the form P-2 were rather unconvincing. "Everything I know, I found out from the press," he said, adding that he didn't know whether such an agreement existed. "I don't think that they would dare discuss something like that behind our back," said Izetbegovic.

After that, bit by bit, statements of the Bosnian authorities representatives became more specific regarding the "secret" document.

Only two days after Izetbegovic's claim that such a document didn't exist, Izetbegovic's spokesperson, Mirza Hajric, stated at a press conference that the secret agreement between OSCE and Bosnian Serbs regarding the rules for voting in the local elections was "not harmful to the Bosnian Federation". Regarding the acceptance of infamous form P-2 which is the final step in the division of Bosnia, which is the essence of the secret agreement between Frowick and Plavsic, Hajric simply said: "one shouldn't be too sensitive regarding this agreement" since it consists of "only several points which should satisfy OSCE..." Then he confirmed that he had seen the document before and then emphasized that, when the final election rules are adopted, it will be insisted that they be adopted by consensus.

What is really in the document which was signed by Robert Frowick and Biljana Plavsic in Banjaluka on November 30, 1996?

According to the memorandum of understanding between the OSCE and the Republic of Srpska, it has been agreed that the persons originally from the Federation territory and now living in Srpska will have the right to either vote in the municipalities in which they lived in 1991 or in the places where they live now; refugees from Bosnia-Hercegovina who currently live abroad can also vote in the municipalities in which they lived in 1991, or in those in which they intend to settle in the future.

It was also agreed that the forms P-1 and P-2 should be re-introduced for the voters who live in Bosnia-Hercegovina. With intention, as is stated in the memorandum, to ensure registration of the refugees in accordance with the annex three of the Dayton Agreement for the refugees who live outside Bosnia-Hercegovina, it was agreed that those among them who desire to vote in the municipalities in which they will live in the future, need to fill in a special form in which they state that they intend to move to a certain municipality and also give the reasons for their decision. The document lists several acceptable reasons for such a decision: ownership of a house, employment opportunities, invitation from relatives etc.; all such requests are to be approved by the temporary electoral commission. In addition, the memorandum states that the details of the procedure in processing of these forms will be established by the temporary electoral Commission and that additional consultations between OSCE and the Republic of Srpska will take place in the future.

"The whole electoral process will be strictly controlled by all three sides in Bosnia-Hercegovina and the international community," states the document; it is also mentioned that the voting rights of the refugees from other parts of the former Yugoslavia who currently live in Bosnia-Hercegovina will be later regulated according to the future decisions of the authorities of Bosnia-Herzegovina and both entities.

It remains to be seen whether there are reasons for worry because of the form P-2 a la Frowick and Biljana. Some, like Hajric, claim that everything is OK and that Bosnian people shouldn't worry. However, experience reminds that it is too early for relaxation and that even smaller mistakes were disastrous for the people of Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Translated on 2/7/97