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Bitter Debate Over Bosnian Army Tests Muslim-Croat Federation
By Jovan Kovacic
SARAJEVO, June 5 (Reuters) - A parliamentary debate over how to unite the armies of two Bosnian allies has exposed deep rifts jeopardising the fragile Muslim-Croat Federation, diplomats and commentators said on Wednesday. "What we are seeing is a fierce conceptual conflict between forces in favour of integration and those for disintegration in which Bosnia is put to a severe test," said a commentary in the Bosnian newspaper Dnevni Avaz.
A proposed joint defence law, considered crucial for the Dayton peace accord, would integrate Muslim and Croat armies into a single military force within three years. The United States wants that process to move quickly and has exerted pressure on the Muslims and the Croats and their patron Croatia get the law endorsed in the Federation parliament.
But endless discussion and objections to various articles have delayed action, with each side blaming the other. On Tuesday, parliament again deferred the bill to the federation government for more work. Disagreement over who will be the civilian commander of the future integrated army lies at the heart of the dispute.
Until the armies join together, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, a Muslim, commands the Bosnian government army while Federation President Kresimir Zubak, a Croat, commands the Bosnian Croat army (HVO). "For the time being there are two armies in Bosnia. Unfortunately they cannot be eliminated by a stroke of the pen," Izetbegovic said.
Diplomats fear the existence of two armies with wholly independent chains of command and apparently divergent political agendas would be a disaster for the uneasy Muslim-Croat alliance. "Having two armies is a sure way of facilitating the outbreak of fresh hostilities," one diplomat said. "This again coincides with Croat aspirations to create a bi-partite federation and ultimately secede their part. They do not even try to conceal their intentions," Avaz wrote.
Muslims and Croats were pushed into agreeing the federation by the United States in 1994 after a bitter 10-month war to counter the Bosnian Serb threat. The Dayton accord divides Bosnia roughly in half between a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb entity under a loose union.
Mistrust still exists between the two communities and Bosnian Croat nationalists have not given up their dream of a
Greater Croatia. Relations are at their worst in Mostar, where Croat nationalists have thwarted each attempt at reintegrating the sharply divided medieaval town. Mostar was tense over the past week. Access to the town and its main street was blocked after disagreements over freedom of movement. Beatings and arrests are frequent.
The Croats have also baulked at a pilot project drafted in Dayton for the return of refugees to the towns of Stolac, Jajce, Travnik and Bugojno. Some refugees might start returning to Stolac on Wednesday after the U.N. High Commisioner for Refugees undertook to start building accomodation for the arriving Molems.
A spate of tit-for-tat arrests of Muslim and Croat soldiers last week raised tensions among local forces near Sarajevo and central Bosnia which could have had severe consequences. The separatist Bosnian Serbs in turn are hoping the break-up of the federation would spell the death of the Dayton deal and pave the way for their joining neighbouring Serbia.
"The Federation must work no matter what. If it collapses, so does Dayton and then we are going to see new grabs for territory and that means more war," the diplomat said.
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