PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

"Bosnia and Herzegovina is a patient that is recovering from a grave illness and surviving on life support systems", Jacques Klein, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Coordinator of United Nations activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said at a Headquarters briefing this afternoon.

The life support systems were the Stability Force (SFOR), the International Police Task Force (IPTF) security component, and an economic infusion of international capital and political assistance, he explained. The patient was not dying, but the recovery was slow. Meanwhile, many extraneous issues impacted on the situation, such as the Kosovo situation, and "donor and compassion fatigue". The patient had to be convinced to participate in the recovery effort, a concept that was not encouraged by the former Marxist construct or the tendency to blame others.

Because of those extraneous issues, he said, one could not predict how long the United Nations forces would stay. The SFOR had done a marvelous job, as had the many non-governmental organizations (NGOs), but much depended on what was happening in the outside world. Would money continue to be invested? What would happen in Zagreb, Belgrade and Kosovo?

He said the Secretary-General's trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina had been a major step following the Stability Pact. It had reinforced the concept that the international community had not forgotten about the region. There had been concern that the whole region presented a problem for Europe in terms of cheap labour and cheap goods. The Stability Pact had dramatically reversed that perception and clarified that over the long term, bringing the Balkans into Europe would be cheaper. "Donor fatigue" and "compassion fatigue" could not be allowed to deter the long-term goal of creating a pluralistic society. The United Nations family deserved more credit and visibility than it was getting.

He said the Mission was running well and would begin to focus on its core mandate -- the reform of the police. In a civil society, the police must be honest and responsive to the communities they represented. Under the prior Government, one did not go to the police when there was a problem, as "the police were the problem", he said.

Another issue of concern was that of judicial oversight -- the functioning of the court system and the quality of the prosecutor and the judge, he said. When the police, civil servants and police were well paid, corruption was minimized. That implied a necessity for

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funding. He noted that the United Nations trust fund was substantially lower this year than it had been last year.

A correspondent asked for elaboration on "new versions of the Serbo-Croatian language" and for further clarification on Mr. Klein's comment yesterday that the new elections would encourage destructive power.

Mr. Klein said that in the former Yugoslavia, Serbo-Croatian in its Latinic and Cyrillic versions had been the languages of the country, with dialectic variations. Now people were changing the old language -- adding, redefining and inserting medieval words -- in an attempt to differentiate themselves. While the rest of Europe was moving towards macroeconomics and macro-political structures, partitionists in Bosnia and Herzegovina were trying to divide population, and to do it through rewriting textbooks. For example, some textbooks had stamps instructing children: "Do not read this paragraph. It may be dangerous to your health." The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was trying to find a solution to that problem.

At this point in history, when there should be a sense of being European, when the only way to excise the demons of the past was to write an honest and objective description of the past, why were people writing flawed interpretations of history which continued to fragment people? he asked.

Reminding correspondents that municipal elections were scheduled for next April, he said that elections were the people's way of saying they were looking for means other than violence to resolve political disputes. The dilemma was whether an electoral law existed that allowed people to make intelligent choices. Had the democratic, progressive political parties established enough of a base to really effect change? he asked. What was the benefit of an election that simply validated the mandates of people who were already in power -- the partitionists and separatists?

If the international community was determined to have an election in April, he said, it should do everything possible to support the parties that wanted to be European and democratic and which wanted to effect change. It should help the parties of the future, not those living in the past, he said. A new broad base was needed, where people voted economically and politically and not out of fear.

Asked for examples of the pro-European parties, he cited young leaders who identified themselves as Bosnians and not Serbians or Croatians. They were trying to build a broad-based consensus with Serbs and Croats and Bosniacs. On the other hand, the current leadership was trying to create what amounted to Italian feudal city-states that provided power, patronage, money and authority. They were loath to give that up, he said. He noted that the hard-line separatist, partitionist leadership resisted refugee return because

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returning refugees would change the balance in a village, community or canton and vote the hard-liners out of office.

How serious was the threat of terrorism, and what could be done about it? a correspondent asked.

Mr. Klein said the recent attack on a local editor in Banja Luka had been egregious. That editor had called on the people of Banja Luka and the Republika Srpska to admit that nasty things had been done, that "we have a problem here and we should admit it". The editor had been badly injured because he had pointed fingers at people who had committed crimes.

Continuing, he said the fact that accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic was still able to move around in the Republika Srpska was a terrible indictment of the international community and illustrated impotence in the face of evil. As long as he was free, the hard-line partitionist Serbs would be emboldened while the moderate Serbs became more cautious.

In terms of what could be done, he said security was largely a function of the SFOR and the local police. The IPTF investigators immediately went to assist the local police when terrorist acts were committed. But in a situation where a deputy Minister of Interior could be assassinated, one could not expect the population to have a sense of security for themselves.

Still, the general level of security was good, and violence was under control, as the police responded effectively to criminal acts, he said. The United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina had demobilized 40,000 police down to 20,000 who had received training in human rights, forensics and criminology. That process would take two years to complete.

A correspondent said that Croatian President Franjo Tudjman had asserted that the Dayton Agreement was out of date and that instead of having three entities, only two entities would be viable. What did that mean? he asked.

Mr. Klein explained that Mr. Tudjman meant the opposite, that the Croats deserved a third entity. The Federation had been formed before Dayton, but Dayton was not out of date. A more constructive way of putting it was that the people who said that were out of date. The reality was that Mr. Tudjman's party was having a tough time in the election. For the first time, the opposition had its act together. Mr. Tudjman had been making a campaign statement.

Calling attention to progress that had been made, he said that the Republika Srpska was now receiving far more foreign assistance now than it had in 1997. The resistant, partitionist, obstinate construct in Pali was gone. The Government in Banja Luka was engaged internationally. Bosnia and Herzegovina had the hardest currency in

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the region and it was convertible in Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Austria and Switzerland. The leadership was recidivist, but 85 per cent of the people wanted to put the past behind them and be part of Europe. The sooner that was possible, the sooner the United Nations would be able to leave.

What could be done to help moderate and progressive leaders? a correspondent asked.

He replied that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had the means and the authority to fund democratic processes. European political institutes would also help in that process.

But the young people wanted to move on, he said. It was tragic to see lines of young people in front of the various embassies, seeking visas. The key was to convince the young people to stay, as they were the future.

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