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HOODWINKED AGAIN IN BOSNIA
by George Soros
I visited Pale, Bosnia, on Saturday, June 29, and saw Radovan
Karadzic's black Mercedes parked in front of his office at the Famos
truck and agricultural machinery factory indicating that the world's
best known fugitive from international justice was present in the
building. That was the day the G-7 debated Bosnia in Lyon, and two
days before the expiration of the ultimatum that would have reimposed
sanctions unless Karadzic removed himself from public life.
Karadzic removed himself from the Presidency of Republika Srpska but
his party confirmed him as Secretary General for the next year. In
the communist tradition, the post of Secretary General is much more
powerful than the presidency. Who can remember who was president of
the U.S.S.R. under Stalin? Slobodan Milosevic was Secretary General
of his party and used that post to remove the President of Serbia
against his will and assume the position himself.
This is not the first time that Carl Bildt allowed himself to be
hoodwinked by Karadzic. Coupled with the fact that nobody even
mentions the need to remove General Ratko Mladic any more despite his
continued hold on military power, it sends an unmistakable signal to
the Bosnian electorate that the free and fair elections specified in
the Dayton Agreement are a mere charade, legitimating the ethnic
division of Bosnia.
I continue to work on setting up a pluralistic TV network in Bosnia
prior to the elections. But free speech can make a difference only
when there is an electorate that can make a choice. When the
electorate understands that matters have been decided for them,
establishing a TV network becomes part of the charade.
The arrangement accepted by Carl Bildt violates not only the spirit
but the letter of the Dayton Agreement. According to the Agreement,
only parties that pledge to accept it may participate in the
elections; the Dayton Agreement affirms the jurisdiction of the Hague
Tribunal. By appointing an indicted war criminal as Secretary
General, Karadzic's party has violated the Dayton Agreement; and so
does the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe if it
allows his party to participate in the elections.
The Dayton Agreement was a profoundly ambiguous document. It could
have led to the reconstruction of Bosnia, but the way it is
implemented confirms the ethnic division of the country. What is
worse, it will legitimize those who rose to power during the fighting.
This includes not only the war criminals in the Serb entity but also
the various warlords in the Bosnian Federation, some of whom are also
war criminals, indicted or unindicted. The international military
presence freezes the present situation and prevents normal life and
development.
It could have gone differently. Arresting the war criminals would
have broken the rule of terror and allowed a slow process of healing
and reconciliation to begin. Most people in Bosnia recoil from the
horrors that have been perpetrated and acquiesce in the present state
of affairs only out of fear. The United States had the power to break
the pattern but lacked the political will.
The mission of IFOR (the NATO Implementation Force) was not to
implement the Dayton Agreement but to avoid casualties and leave. The
failure to protect civilians and to arrest war criminals creates a
situation in which an international military presence, including the
U.S., will have to be maintained indefinitely in order to prevent a
renewed outbreak of fighting. But this will be acknowledged only
after our presidential elections in November. The need for permanent
military supervision would not have arisen had President Clinton been
willing to direct the troops to ensure the conditions for free and
fair elections were fulfilled.
President Clinton may proclaim that the mission of IFOR has been
accomplished, but this is true only in the narrowest sense that actual
combat has been halted, at least temporarily. IFOR is unpleasantly
reminiscent of theUnited Nations Protection Force in avoiding
confrontation. The civilian part of the mission -- which has been
cleverly left to the Europeans -- is an unmitigated failure. Its
consequences will reverberate far beyond Bosnia. Political terrorism
will be encouraged throughout the world by allowing it to go
unpunished in Bosnia.
Mr. Soros is chairman of the Soros Foundations/Open Society Institute,
based in New York.
