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Croatian Amnesty Law for Serbs Said Flawed
ZAGREB, May 22 (Reuters) — Croatia's new amnesty law for Serbs involved in a 1991 rebellion is badly flawed and complicates a U.N. mission to transfer the last Serb-held enclave back to government rule, U.N. sources said. Pushed by Western governments, the Croatian parliament enacted legislation on Friday pardoning Serbs in the enclave of Eastern Slavonia said to have taken up arms against Croatia's move to independence from federal Yugoslavia. But the nationalist-dominated parliament excluded all Serbs who were not resident in Eastern Slavonia in 1991. Serb refugees who fled the Croatian army's blitz recapture of two other separatist regions in 1995 fall outside the amnesty.
Thousands of those Serbs found sanctuary in Eastern Slavonia on the Danube River border with Yugoslavia, officials in the U.N. Transitional Authority (UNTAES) said on Tuesday. Senior UNTAES officials voiced dismay over the amnesty, calling it too limited to reassure Serbs who fear that they could be prosecuted once Eastern Slavonia was fully reintegrated in Croatia next year.
"UNTAES from top to bottom is dissatisfied and disappointed with this law. It's not really an amnesty, it's a hunting license that can spell disaster later," a U.N. official said. "The law leaves ambiguous the fate of all the Serbs who fled other parts of Croatia. The United Nations was looking for generosity but what we got is sleight of hand," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuterss.
Leaders in the Serbs' transitional Executive Council described the law as a sham. Unless it was amended, they said,
Serb officials would no longeragenda to slow down reintegration as much as possible,'' the U.N. official said. "The process had built up momentum but there's no question that the amnesty dispute has slowed it down now."
Croatian officials said the law did not cover Serbs suspected of serious war crimes, but asserted that it was fair and would smooth the reintegration of Eastern Slavonia. Croatia has convicted scores of Serb rebels in absentia of crimes against civilians and armed rebellion.
Another U.N. official said UNTAES did not dispute that atrocities against civilians must be prosecuted. But he said politically-influenced Croatian police and courts did not define war crimes as strictly as in the West ``They would probably arrest more people than we'd like them to. Amnesty is the biggest issue for the Serbs by far, so big that (mishandling) could derail the reintegration process.''
UNTAES took charge of Eastern Slavonia in January under a U.S.-brokered treaty, staving off Croatian military action that could have unhinged the new peace in neighbouring Bosnia. Endowed with 5,000 multinational troops, UNTAES is to phase in Croatian institutions in Eastern Slavonia by mid-1997.
Serb forces have been withdrawing to Yugoslavia under a demilitarisation plan to be completed in June. Motorway traffic through the enclave between Croatia and Serbia has been restored and postal and telephone services have resumed.
Some 80,000 Croats driven from Eastern Slavonia in 1991 are to return to their old homes, now occupied by displaced Serbs, after the region is demilitarised. The Eastern Slavonia treaty committed Croatia to regarding Croatian Serbs as equal citizens and resettling Serb refugees in their former homes or alternative housing. But daunting bureaucratic obstacles imposed by parliament have raised Western doubts about the government's intentions.
``Croats who would like to reduce ethnic minorities to a bare minimum are not unhappy with this amnesty law,'' said a U.N. official. ``(It) fails to address fundamental, legitimate concerns of Serbs who are not guilty of anything, It may encourage anxious Serbs in Eastern Slavonia to flee when our mandate is over. That would defeat our purpose — to restore a multi-ethnic society here. We hope for some diplomatic pressure on Croatia to improve the law.''
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Berserkistan, May 7 · Delay Seen in Returning Eastern Slavonia to Croatia
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