Democracy by Mail

by Zija DIZDAREVIC

Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina, B-H, December 23, 2000

First deputy of the High Representative, the American Ralph Johnson stated in Banja Luka that the OHR expects that in the Republic of Srpska (RS) the government will be a government of experts without the participation of the SDS. He emphasized that it was enough for this party to have its people at the positions of the (vice)president of RS and the president of the RS Parliament. This demand is similar to those stated by Thomas Miller and the American administration, but is not entirely in accordance with the hitherto approach of his boss Wolfgang Petritsch. Namely, the high representative has clashed with Miller regarding the approach to the formation of authorities advocating the application of democratic criteria, while the American ambassador is explicitly against the SDS in executive authorities. Petritsch obtained from SDS leaders a signature on the loyalty oath to the Dayton Agreement, BH Constitution, constitutional changes and the application of the principle of constituent character of all three nations, obligations with respect to the Hague Tribunal, return of refugees and displaced citizens and their property, and respect for religious rights. However, by that act he in practice gave his agreement for the formation of a SDS parliamentary majority in the RS Parliament, by which he broke the campaign for the establishment of a democratic alternative to national parties in the entity and state parliaments. The SDS used the situation and, in spite of the announcements that Petar Djokic from the Socialist Party would remain the president of the RS Parliament, installed its own Daragan Kalinic to that position, even though Senad Avdic accused him in Slobodna Bosna of calling for genocide in May 1992. The formation of a majority in the RS parliament was greeted with joy by the SDA and the HDZ, as they saw in that a sign that the initiative of the Alliance for Democratic Changes would fail. The SDA eagerly accepted the position of the vice president of RS parliament and the bearer of that office, Sulejman Tihic, emphasized that national parties must be in the executive authorities, thereby giving full coalition support to the SDS. In return he advocated a multiethnic government in RS, which means that he is seeking offices for the candidates from the SDA. The issue at hand is not multiethnicity but the renewal of the alliance of the SDA, the SDS and the HDZ. Ante Jelavic is still showing aggressive nervousness repeatedly attacking the constitutional order and threatening to paralyze the government in the Federation BH. Jelavic is warning that at the cost of dismissal [by the OHR] he will reject the option that the head of the BH council of ministers be from the SDP. It is completely unclear how and why Jelavic remains in the presidency of the state he is openly trying to destroy. He should be understood, however, because the formation of the Alliance for Democratic Changes would totally erase the electoral triumph of the HDZ. However, the Alliance is still uncertain. Haris Silajdzic at first set conditions to international factors. These days Silajdzic and Petritsch are presenting a lecture in democracy by mail, arguing about the definition of most important tasks. Who set up a more precise list of priorities, whose deadlines are more relevant, etc. Contrary to his temperament, Silajdzic in his reply to Petritsch peacefully concentrates on a transitional solution until the modifications of the entity constitutions and demands a more precise reply regarding Petritsch's sanctions in cases of obstruction of implementation of the key goals of the peace process. Silajdzic plays his so far most risky political game in which not only his and the future of the Party for BH (SzBH), but also of Bosnia-Hercegovina is at stake. If there is no Alliance because of his "a priorism" nothing will save him in the eyes of BH patriots. It should be repeated - for the Alliance the key is the meeting of Silajdzic's views with the political logic of Mladen Ivanic. By the way, Ivanic believes that the SDP is the only party that totally sincerely entered the formation of a post-election democratic alliance. Repeated installation of the tri-national and three-party concept, respectively, at the BH level and the renewal of the SDA-HDZ alliance in the Federation BH would be more than a serious blow to the democratic perspective of BH. On the other hand, the SDS, the SDA and the HDZ threaten to block the government if the new authorities are set up without their participation. The international representatives contributed directly to this situation. Robert Barry could have made the situation much more clear cut and more democratic had he used the election rules to on the basis of the decisions of the BH Constitutional court establish norms that would be applicable even without the changes of the entity constitutions and that would in the post-election period guarantee the formation of the authorities that would be based on the constituent character of all three nations in both entities and at the state level. That would ultimately imply the formation of multiethnic governments at all levels of government. The disagreements in the peace mission after the elections is an additional dangerous factor of uncertainty. All in all, the end of the post-election confusion is still not in sight.

On the eve of the first session of the Zenica-Doboj Canton

Silajdzic in Charge

by A.S. MULAHUSEINOVIC

Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina, B-H, December 10, 2000

The first session of the new Parliament of the Zenica-Doboj Canton (ZDK) has been scheduled for Wednesday. At this session the representatives should carry out the elections of the verification committee, verify the mandates of the representatives in the ZDK Parliament, elect the committee for the election and appointments of the ZDK Parliament, elect the delegates for the Chamber of Nations of the FBH Parliament, elect the chair of the Parliament and the president of the ZDK Parliament. Until Thursday in this canton the negotiations between the parties that will participate in the new authorities were led on behalf of the Party for Bosnia-Hercegovina by Ekrem Ajanovic. However, on Thursday, the leader of the SzBH, Haris Silajdzic, dismissed Ajanovic and with a written decree appointed Fadil Jaganjac for his envoy and, according to our source, "the person with the instructions of the president (!?)". Jaganjac, the "Zenica policeman" is currently at the position of the deputy director of the State Border Service of Bosnia-Hercegovina. During the war he was infamous due to his "sale of Serbs and Croats from Zenica", and he came to his present position from the Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs [Police], where he was transferred from the Zenica Police with the support of the then Police Minister Avdo Hebib. Our source from Zenica claims that Jaganjac in this city completed a special primary school and that in the official documentation there was never a valid document demonstrating that he has completed a college degree. If Haris Silajdzic has problems with some lines, for example in Tesanj and Visoko, why hasn't it occurred to him that Dzevad Galijasevic, currently the mayor of Maglaj, had within this party convincingly the largest number of votes, and that the residents of Zenica are aware that Fadil Jaganjac got the job in the State Border Service by spying on some individuals in the Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs on behalf of the international community and also lives in the apartment owned by Ante Viskovic (75/3 Sarajevska St., Zenica) as a double carrier of tenant rights. It should also be mentioned that this case has been for a long time processed by the FBH ombudsman's office. The power balance in ZDK will definitely depend on the SzBH. If Silajdzic's party supports the Alliance for Changes, the situation in this canton will be clear. In that case the favorite for the position of the governor of this canton will be Mugdim Herceg, a resident of Maglaj and a representative of the SDP. If the other side prevails, then the doors of the governor's office are wide open to the SDA candidate Fuad Sisic from Tesanj. Haris Silajdzic told Ekrem Ajanovic, the president of the cantonal organization of the SzBH, the following: "If you want to distribute offices, form your own party!" Whether Silajdzic will do that correctly with Jaganjac, who is his envoy in the negotiating games, we shall see on Wednesday at the session of the ZDK parliament in Zenica.

Translated on February 20, 2001