Bosnia-Herzegovina: Unity & Progress

Agnihotri, Newal K., Presidents & Prime Ministers

An interview with Ambassador Sven Alkalaj, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Question

Can you give our readers an update on the peace process and any new challenges being tackled by the government?

Answer

I can tell you a number of very important things that have happened, still leading on the right track, and moving towards a unified and democratic Bosnia.

First of all, what we have seen in the Republika Srpska entity within Bosnia-Herzegovina is the election of some more modest and democrati-cally-oriented governments. Prime Minister Dodik is really a pleasant surprise. This new government has the intention and is really working towards full implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords in all its terms, i.e., the arrest of all criminals, or at least convincing them to surrender voluntarily; the return of all refugees; the freedom of movement; working with a joint institutional framework of Bosnia-Herzegovina and between the entities themselves; promoting economic health between both entities; and working very closely in the political life within unified Bosnia-Herzegovina. These are very positive moves and I will try to review each of these important issues.

First of all, the arresting of the war criminals I think is a key situation that we have to resolve in order to move forward. It was a big achievement to go from 7 war criminals in Hague a year ago to 30 war criminals. This is a big step forward.

Secondly, we have a number of refugees returned to their homes in both entities. We see the return of Bosnian Muslims to the territory controlled by the Croats and we see Serbs returning to Doboj, Brcko, a few to Banja Luka, Derventa, and other cities. Croats are returning to central Bosnia, so we see movement already happening in both directions. It is not very significant numbers, but the trend is very important and I believe that the election of more democratic figures in all communities will speed up this process.

This implies immediately the freedom of movement, and we now experience a number of people going back and forth between entities for trading purposes. We have industrial fairs from one entity to another. You see very intensive trade, …

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Publication information: Article title: Bosnia-Herzegovina: Unity & Progress. Contributors: Agnihotri, Newal K. - Author. Magazine title: Presidents & Prime Ministers. Volume: 7. Issue: 3 Publication date: May 1998. Page number: 19. © 1999 EQES, Inc. COPYRIGHT 1998 Gale Group.

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