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 | NEWSMAKER WITH PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC
March 3, 1998The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript |
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It has been almost three years since the civil war ended in the republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina, but the implementation of the civil side of the Dayton Peace Accord has been slow. In an effort to speed up the process, the president of Bosnia, Ejup Ganic, has travelled to the United States. In a Newsmaker interview, President Ganic disscusses the stalemate in the city of Brcko, the election of a new Serb prime minister, and the hopes for a multi-ethnic Bosnia.
A RealAudio version of this segment is available.
NEWSHOUR LINKS:
Decmber 22, 1997:
Margaret Warner and guests discuss the current state of peace in Bosnia.
December 18, 1997:
Samuel Berger discusses the decision to keep troops in Bosnia.
September 23, 1997:
National Security Advisor Samuel Berger discusses NATO's future in Bosnia.
September 15, 1997:
Bosnia holds municipal elections for the first time in seven years.
August 26, 1997:
NATO takes a tougher stance with war criminals.
August 11, 1997:
Elizabeth Farnsworth interviews Richard Holbrooke, chief U.S. negotiator of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
July 10, 1997:
NATO's arrest of Bosnian war criminals.
May 13, 1997:
Newsmaker Interview with Bosnian Co-Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic.
May 12, 1997:
Departing NATO Supreme Commander General George Joulwan discusses the mission in Bosnia.
December 20, 1996:
Two Bosnian experts discuss the military and civilian efforts of SFOR.
September 16, 1996:
Richard Holbrooke discusses the Bosnian elections.
Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Bosnia.
OUTSIDE LINKS:
The Web site for SFOR
The Bosnian Embassy in Washington, DC.ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Now, a Newsmaker interview with Ejup Ganic, the president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 1995 Dayton Accords set up a unitary Bosnia but gave much power to two entities within it: the Muslim Croat Federation, which Ganic heads, and the Serb Republic. I talked with President Ganic this afternoon.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Thank you very much for being with us, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC, Bosnia-Herzegovina: Thank you.
The Brcko situation.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: What brings you to Washington?
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well, I came here to remind everybody in Washington that we need decision on Brcko, because that city has been under arbitration, and the project is, so to speak, in American hands.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Remind us of the background of Brcko, for those who don't remember.
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well, it was a city with a strategic location, and at the beginning of the war Syrian paramilitary troops came and ethnically cleansed the city, committed genocide, and expelled the people. Since then, they controlled the city, and that city is the main gate for us to go to Europe. So at Dayton they made arrangements to stop the war, but they didn't decide the future of the city, so they say we'll have an arbitration, and an American lawyer is in charge of that arbitration process. So a decision on that was postponed twice. And that pretty much slowed down the process, so I am now asking them to come up with a decision so we can make progress.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And it was--the decision was slowed down because there were still large problems in Brcko?
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well, it is a strategic location. It's a gate, so everybody wants to see that solution in order to make move in all directions. So postponing Brcko means postponing Dayton, and that's--you know, that slows down the process. And, by the way, we have American troops there that are helping us, so we want to have everything resolved, all decisions made until troops are there because every year we have to justify their presence there. So they should keep healthy solutions, not the ones that are not resolved.
The election of the Serb Prime Minister: Cause for hope?
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Has the situation there and elsewhere improved since the election of Mr. Dodic, the new Bosnian-Serb entity's prime minster? The press here has made quite a lot about him being more moderate, for example, than the former leaders of the Bosnian-Serbs during the war. Has that improved the situation in Bosnia from your point of view?
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well, that's a hope for improvement. The man has been elected by, more or less, refugees from the Republic of Srbska. That means those who have been expelled voted for him. He made promises that he will allow the refugees to come back; that he will accept cooperation of international community. So we hope. We wait and see.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: What about refugees overall, have many refugees come back to places where they would be in the minority? As of the end of last year I believe the figure was fairly low.
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well, we have reasonably good progress in the federation. That's the one entity.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: The Muslim-Croat Federation that you head.
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Yes. Exactly. Now, in the Republic of Srbska, so far only Serbs, nothing more. And Mr. Dodic promised that he will make change, and in the Republic of Srbska we still have indicted war criminals, but the U.S. decided to give them money because the U.S. policy was that they will never give money in the area where there are indicted war criminals. So until they are removed, the money will not come; however, the U.S. changed that policy so they are now helping the Republic of Srbska. And we hope that the indicted war criminals will be removed in the meantime.
A chilly reception for Serb refugees in Sarajevo.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: You said that refugees are coming back to your entity, your part of Bosnia. There has been criticism here in the U.S. press that in Sarajevo your government is making it difficult for Serbs to return, is that true?
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well, you know, in Sarajevo, all those people from Srebrenica and other places have been squeezed.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: People have come from those outlying cities?
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Yes. They were ethnically cleansed, and they are now in Sarajevo. And, of course, we invite Serbs to come back to Sarajevo. On the other hand, you know, two men cannot wear the same shoes at the same time. So we have to open the door so you have two ways to return. On the other hand, we are prepared to make progress to start always to be the first to lead, and we have many apartment buildings that could be fixed with a small amount of money so the Serbs could come back, and those who want come back, of course, and we would like to make it more multi-ethnic than it is now. It used to be very multi-ethnic. Still it is, but not enough. So we started this process first. You know, we have been surrounded during the war, and now we invited everyone to come back.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Have there been changes in the laws? Because there was a law right at the end of 1995 that said you had two weeks to claim your apartment, and if you didn't, it would be turned over to somebody else, it would be considered empty.
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Yes. Well, let me just tell you, it's a management case. You have to--you cannot keep people on the streets. So the best--we don't have a law for whole country which provides that everyone goes back to his house. We succeeded in the federation to come up with those laws. But in order to have completely done job we have to have the same law in the Republic of Srbska. Otherwise, you know, someone will be allowed to keep his house and the house that he occupied and doesn't belong to them. So that's why we want to be the first. We started first. We don't want to disappoint American government. We took advice to go ahead and then they will exercise pressure on Serbs to follow.
Are there truly multi-ethnic parts of Bosnia left?
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. President, do you see any place in Bosnia, which is truly multi-ethnic in the way that it was before? Do you see any place that you feel has achieved what you want to achieve?
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well, for example, if you take Sarajevo and if you take Tuzla, for example, all the religious objects that belong to every ethnic group are intact or functioning. We just want more people. We manage to keep those cities that we controlled during the war multi-ethnic. We preserve everything that belongs to every ethnic group. But now we just want to make more multi-ethnic, and it takes help from the international community to help us. It's--you know, you have to pretty much have--provide opportunity for everyone to go back to his house. Right now, people in the federation don't have a chance to go in the Republic of Srbska. In the meantime, we are inviting Serbs who left Sarajevo to come back, hoping that in the meantime we'll create transit center apartments so that somehow we can manage the crisis.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: So you believe that a multi-ethnic Bosnia is real--a realistic goal? As you know, there are Senators here--Kay Bailey Hutchison, for example, Senator from Texas, who doesn't think it's a realistic goal.
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well, you know, I don't believe ethnic cleansing should be verified. You know, if you allow that to happen, if you allow ethnic cleansing to be sort of accepted, then, of course, I don't think--many, many other small countries will not survive as a multi-ethnic. So you have to simply punish those who are pushing ethnic cleansing, and we should never accept results of ethnic cleansing.
That's why Brcko is very important, you know. Terrible crime has been done there. People have been expelled I think. So now we had two years to analyze this case and to make proper decision on Brcko. We both need that city, so to speak. It's a gate for us to go to Europe. Serbs like to travel comfortably to Serbia. So we are very reasonable in terms of appropriate solution for the city. But it should be given to those who live there, more or less. And it should have international supervision to install the functioning of everything. That's why it is important to make decision now. You know, imagine if someone comes to your house and expels you from your house, and you--and there is an arbitration in the court, and that decision is postponed one year, second year, third year. You cannot regain the title of your house. That's very painful, I think.
How long will U.S. troops be in Bosnia?
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. President, how long do you think U.S. troops, NATO troops, including U.S. troops, will have to stay in Bosnia in order to keep the peace?
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well--
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: As you know, the president has said they must stay, or they should stay past the June deadline for this--the SFOR troops, the stabilization force troops. What do you think? Do you think it could be years, many years?
PRESIDENT EJUP GANIC: Well, they were welcome at helping us. We should resolve the issue of Brcko now because that's the remaining part to be resolved. Otherwise, it smells like Cyprus--postpone, postpone, postpone. That will be then difficult. Then troops will stay for a long, long time. Every day we have to make decisions when we have the U.S. troops on the ground. They're an expensive enterprise, and we care about them. So they might stay a few more years in a reduced form, if all decisions are made quickly, because we don't want those troops to keep unresolved cases. And, by the way, it's still partition of Bosnia is played by our neighbors, because that city of Brcko has to do also with partition of Bosnia-Herzegovina. If it is used by both, by Serbs--I mean, the Republic of Srbska and by the Federation, it comes as a hook that keeps country together. Right now, Serbs have and they sort of use that to pretty much keep partition of country as an option. And that is also exercised by Croats.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Okay. Well, thank you very much for being with us.
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