A Life Half Lived Read online

  Yugoslavia's story is complicated by the fact that there was not one war, but four. Yugoslavia had been made up of six republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia) and two autonomous areas (Vojvodina and Kosovo). The first war was the 10-day long breakaway of Slovenia in 1991, the republic that bordered Italy and Austria. The second was in Croatia starting in 1991. The third, the war in Bosnia starting in 1992 and the fourth, in Kosovo, which was capped by the NATO-led bombing in 1999. Each of these conflicts had their roots in post-World War II country borders and alliances and pre-existing ethnic tensions that had been held in check by Yugoslavia's dictator, Josip Tito during his 1945–1980 rule. In the ten years after Tito’s death, ethnic tensions slowly rose, and somewhat ironically it was the end of the Berlin Wall and the hope of peace following the Cold War, that brought war to Yugoslavia. Understanding ethnicity helps the understanding of conflict.

  Slovenia was the most ‘ethnically pure’ of the republics, being more than 90 per cent Slovene. Croatia had distinct parts that were mainly ethnically Croatian, as well as some areas that were ethnic Serbian enclaves. Bosnia was an area ethnically mixed largely between Serbs, Croats and the Muslim communities. Macedonia had a mixed population of around 70 per cent Macedonian and 30 per cent ethnic Albanian. Montenegro, the smallest republic, was mainly Montenegrin, although the sense of self identity was split between those who thought to be Montenegrin was really to be Serbian, and those who believed Montenegro to be truly separate from Serbia.

  In Serbia the ethnic mix was even more complicated given the two ‘semiautonomous’ provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina. Kosovo was mainly ethnic Albanian, Vojvodina had large Hungarian minorities, and Serbia proper had several nationalities represented.

  When Tito died he was succeeded not by one president, but by a collective presidency of eight men, one from each of the six republics and two autonomous areas. The power balance was split between the ethnic groups and no one group had absolute control. This was to change as the Berlin Wall fell and new elections drew near.

  The Rise of Nationalism and the Role of Elections On a superficial level, elections are a sign of democracy. But if a country does not foster the creation of a civil society that has healthy public debate, and a party-political system that represents the people rather than elites, then elections held too early in that country’s history will hinder and not help democracy. Early elections allow extremists in society to rally around a manifesto loaded with fear and hatred of other ethnic groups. This happened in former Yugoslavia.

  The insistence on early elections became a magnet for nationalists in each of Yugoslavia’s republics. Nationalists were able to create emotional arguments around 'greater Serbia', or the birth of an independent Croatia, and balanced and less emotional views did not gain air time. Half a century of repression under Tito ensured that civil society had not yet developed healthy public and democratic debate. By insisting on elections too early, the West inadvertently gave life and stage to the nationalists – with disastrous consequences in each of the republics.

  It was this interface between nationalism and early elections that provided the spark that lit the fire of war in the Balkans.

  The Rise of Nationalism in Serbia Serb nationalism was revived in 1989 when on June 28 of that year one million Serbs went to the site of the ‘Battlefield of the Blackbirds’ at Gazimestan to hear Slobodan Milosevic speak. The date of the speech was significant as it marked the 600th anniversary of the founding of nationhood for the Serbs.

  Milosevic was at that time trying to take control of the Serbian Communist Party. While he gave his speech, he had plain clothes policemen, dressed fraudulently as ethnic Albanians, throw stones at the Serbian onlookers. The action was deliberately intended to inspire hatred and fear and created an opportunity for Milosevic to proclaim that the ‘Serbs were under attack’ and he, Milosevic, would never allow Serbs to be beaten again!

  This was master political manipulation at its best – using manufactured fear as a political tool. Milosevic well understood the political maxim 'If you have a choice between preaching fear, hatred and intolerance on one hand, or compassion, understanding and togetherness on the other, fear wins every time'. Milosevic was elected president of Serbia and immediately unilaterally removed the autonomy of both Vojvodina and Kosovo. Removing the autonomy gave Serbia three out of eight votes on the collective Yugoslav presidency (Serbia’s vote, plus that of Kosovo and Vojvodina). Montenegro, long seen as a puppet of Serbia due to the ethnic bonds between Montenegrins and Serbians, would in effect give Serbia the fourth out of eight votes. With Serbia’s political power growing and threatening control over the presidency, it was natural that the other four republics became nervous.

  The Rise of Nationalism in Croatia In the lead up to the first Croatian multi-party elections in 1990, nationalist parties began to emerge in Croatia. The Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska Demokratski Zajednica or HDZ) piloted the Croatian Nationalist charge under the lead of a former General and historian, Franjo Tudjman. The Croatian-based Serb nationalists were first led by the moderate Jovan Raskovic, who was usurped by the more radical Milan Babic.

  Raskovic’s demand for recognition of a Serbian nation as part of a Croatian state undermined the Croatian leader Tudjman’s view of a united and ethnically pure Croatia. When Tudjman failed to recognise the Serbs as a constituent minority in the new draft Croatian constitution, alarm bells rang in the Serbian radical community, ultimately leading to the demise of Raskovic and the rise of Babic.

  Babic first sought to unify the various Serb-led regions of Croatia and one by one brought the moderate Serb areas into his Association of Serbian Municipalities. By July 1990 his association had gathered enough strength to plan a referendum on Serbian sovereignty within Croatia, planned for that August. Two days before the planned referendum on August 17 Tudjman acted and sent his police to ‘regain control’ of ‘secessionist’ municipalities. Croatians armed for the upcoming battle with Serbia for independence, and the Croatian Serbs armed for what was to become their battle for independence from Croatia.

  March 1991 was a critical month. The people of Yugoslavia become aware that the nation was on the verge of tearing apart and took to the streets of Belgrade to protest about rising nationalism. Pacifism was suppressed by state-sanctioned violence. Milosevic called on the army to fulfil its constitutional role as protector of the nation by forcing it to stay together. Milosevic, at that time, was leader of only one republic (Serbia) and not yet President of all of Yugoslavia. “They [the Croatians] are trying to force Serbia to forego Yugoslavia and accept a diktat about the disassociation of Yugoslavia into as many states as there are republics. Serbia would then have to abandon the political ideal with which it entered into the creation of Yugoslavia,” Milosevic had said. Many viewed Milosevic’s statement as nothing more than confirmation of Serbian desires for domination.

  Slovenia – The First War (June/July 1991) In the republic of Slovenia (often confused with the Croatian region of Slavonia for the similarity of the name), calls for secession had begun quietly, but grew louder as fear of ‘Serbian domination’ grew along with Serb and Croat nationalism. Nationalist voices scared the Slovenes. On June 25, 1991 Slovenia, in part fearing Serb domination and in part seeking its own national autonomy, unilaterally declared itself an independent state. What followed was a 10-day war in which hardly a shot was fired. Many in the Yugoslav military thought that Slovenia was bluffing, so the tanks that were sent from Belgrade carried no ammunition.

  Slovenia, fought one of the shortest and bloodless wars in history, and from it gained independence. The immediate consequence would be the reduction of the rotating presidency from eight to seven members. Serbia retained four votes, and would have the majority.

  Slovenia’s population was almost entirely ethnic Slovenian. That republic’s breakaway would have little impact on ethnic tensions and nationalist dreams in other republics, but politically it was a time bo
mb.

  Macedonia too, quietly slipped off into secession almost unnoticed. Macedonia was well placed to boom economically after a split but instead became mired in controversy with Greece about the historical traditions of Alexander the Great, the name Macedonia, and the flag. This prevented a rapid accession to the European Union through a Greek boycott, and decades of economic stagnation.

  The four remaining republics, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, remained with the difficult and volatile problem of mixed ethnicity in their own territory, and with the issue of Serb political domination. There were now four republics and two autonomous areas. Six votes, of which Serbia effectively controlled four.

  Western governments seemed oblivious to the rapid unravelling of a nation in the heart of Europe. The European Union didn’t know how to take a consolidated approach to this political dilemma, and didn’t want US intervention. The break-up of Yugoslavia was to be the first test of European collective foreign policy, and by their own admission, they failed. Indeed western action inflamed, not calmed tensions.

  Croatia – The Second War (August 1991, ceasefire January 1992, ended 1995) More than one-third of the territory of Croatia was ethnic Serb. Croatia is roughly crescent-shaped with the Serb minority in Croatia centred in three main areas. The inside apex of the crescent (later known as the Serb Krajina) bordering Bosnia, the far north-eastern section (known as Eastern Slavonia) and finally, a small section in the western part of Slavonia, near Zagreb. Having seen the republic of Slovenia slip away from Yugoslavia, there was little interest from Serbia in allowing Croatia an easy exit. If Croatia were to secede and become a separate republic, then many within the nationalist movements of Croatia wanted an ethnically pure country. The Serbs, to their thinking, had no future in an independent Croatia and therefore wanted Croatia, or at least, the ethnic Serbian parts of Croatia to stay part of a greater Serbia Conflict began, initially just between the different ethnic groups mainly in the Serb Krajina and the Eastern and Western Slavonia regions (not to be confused with the now independent Slovenia).

  As the European summer of 1991 drew to a close, the war heated up. Croatia declared independence. The Serb Krajina fought to a stalemate;. Western Slavonia had also battled to a stalemate. In the Eastern Slavonia near the town of Vukovar, the flames were fanned and burned strong. The fighting was brutal.

  The Yugoslav Army was given the order by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav government to clear Vukovar of 'rebel' Croats. Of the 40,000 people that lived in Vukovar before the war, only 15,000 now remained; the rest had fled or been killed. The Army was told most of those remaining were Croatian fighters and not civilians. In August 1991 the shelling of Vukovar began. Three months later the town fell. At the same time, the Yugoslav Army sought to assert control in the south and began the siege and shelling of Dubrovnik, on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast. The shelling achieved little of military benefit, but ensured the world would turn against the Serbian people. Of all things Milosevic underestimated, and Tudjman understood, nothing was more important to the long-term perception of their people and their cause, than the power of the international media.

  On October 8, 1991, the Croatian Parliament, with the strong backing of the Germans, severed all ties with the former Yugoslavia. Their independence was born. British PM Margaret Thatcher had opposed the dissolution of Yugoslavia, however, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl asserted enormous pressure even threatening to leave the EU.

  By the end of 1991 the former Yugoslavia was in ruins. Slovenia and Macedonia had gone, stalemates had been fought in brutal conflict in the Serb Krajina, and Eastern and Western Slavonia. Bosnia looked on nervously. The Europeans were cocky in their approach to foreign affairs, saying that at the end of the Cold War the world no longer needed ‘Uncle Sam’ as a policeman. The Americans left peace creation to the Europeans – who failed miserably.

  The Devils’ Pact Towards a New War At the end of 1991 and start of 1992 both Milosevic and Tudjman had other cards to play. Tudjman wanted the Croatians in Bosnia to merge with Croatia to from a 'Greater Croatia'. Milosevic needed a land bridge to the Krajina via the Serbian areas of Bosnia for a 'Greater Serbia'. For each man achieving independence for all of their ethnic brothers would see them remembered as fathers of their nations. The problem was what to do with Bosnia.

  A series of secret meetings between Milosevic and Tudjman took place at Karadjordjevo, Tito’s old hunting lodge. The subject of the discussion was Bosnia. So, while Croats and Serbs fought brutally in the streets of Vukovar, their own leaders secretly met to carve a deal around the division of Bosnia.

  Milosevic and Tudjman shared one critical view – Serbia and Croatia were ‘nations’ but Bosnia was not. To them Bosnia was an artificial creation formed in 1974 by Tito to placate the Islamic minority. This Islamic minority did not deserve the nation status that Tito gave them believed Milosevic and Tudjman, who decided the Muslims were either Croats or Serbs who had changed religion. To them, Bosnia should not exist so they agree to divide that republic between Croatia and Serbia. The Bosnian Serbs would join a greater Serbia and the Bosnian Croats would join a greater Croatia. Milosevic and Tudjman may have agreed, but they underestimated the Muslim community.

  To tame the Muslims, the Croats and Serbs first needed to stop fighting each other. The secret Karadjordjevo agreement between Milosevic and Tudjman was cooked up to have internationally monitored ceasefires. They would invite peace-keepers in in order to keep the two groups separate. in the Krajina and Slavonia and at the same time the Serbs and the Croats would tame the Muslims.,

  The Europeans naively came to help sending peace monitors. With European peace monitors in place in Vukovar and Krajina the war in Croatia was put on hold and the war in Bosnia could begin.

  Bosnia – The Third War (March 1992 – December 1995 Many people thought of Bosnia as a mixed society made up of many groups. This is not strictly true. It was multi ethnic, but never mixed. Few individual villages were mixed. Some towns did mix to a degree, most notably Sarajevo, but even in this town the suburbs were often divided into Serb, and non-Serb.

  Bosnia too fell to the desires of nationalists. In the lead up to European/ US pressured, post-Cold War multi-party elections, various ethnic and nationalist parties formed. Croats calling for autonomy for Croats, Serbs calling for autonomy for Serbs. The only group opposing the spread of nationalism was the reformed communists.

  But what of the Muslims who made up 44 per cent of the population? Would they agree to carve up their community and calmly join with a Greater Croatia or a Greater Serbia?

  Alija Izetbegovic rose to become one of the leading intellectuals within the Muslim community. He fought for a united Bosnia to include Muslim, Serb and Croat. Izetbegovic did so not because of over-riding desires for a multi-ethnic haven, but under the realisation that if the Croatian and Serbian communities split, then the Muslims as a ‘nation’ would be split between Croatian control and Serbian control and would cease to exist.

  Alija became president of Bosnia under its complicated seven-member presidency. Two members would represent each of the ethnic groups (Muslim, Serb and Croat), and one represented the 'nation' of Bosnia.

  The Independence of Croatia sealed the fate of Bosnia. Bosnia had to declare itself independent, or agree to split and join Croatia and Serbia. Serbs, Croats and Muslims of Bosnia could not agree.

  Izetbegovic and the Muslim-dominated parliament argued for independence, with Serb nationalist leader Radovan Karadzic declared that the country would be 'dead at birth'. The Muslim-dominated parliament declared independence and on April 6, 1992, Bosnia was recognised as a separate state. On April 8, two days into nationhood Karadzic's prediction came true when the notorious Serb paramilitary leader Zeljko Raznatovic, alias ‘Arkan’ began to shell the predominantly Muslim border town of Zvornik from inside Serbia. By April 10 the town had fallen and the ethnic cleansing began. The war in Bosnia had started, the country was stillborn.

  E
thnic-based self-fulfilling prophesies became the norm. As more and more propaganda permeated through of ethnic groups claiming ‘kill before they kill you’ spread from village to village, state-sponsored militias, ad hoc village-based militias and everyday citizens armed themselves to ‘shoot and ask questions later’. People actually did kill before being killed. Village after village purged any minority. Serb villages wiped out their Croat neighbours. Croats wiped out Muslims, Muslims wiped out Serbs. Large villages purged small.

  Initially the Muslim and Croat forces were united against the Serbs as both had suffered at the hands of the largely Serbian Yugoslav Army remnants. But this was to change.

  The Muslims were fighting for survival. They based their government in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Croats had formed the central Bosnian Republic of Herceg-Bosna, based in Mostar, but had never defined the boundaries of this state. The Serbs centred their territory 'The Republic of Srpska' around the tiny mountain hamlet of Pale.

  The town of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina is central to the Croat/ Muslim story. The Croat forces, led by Mate Boban, pushed the Serbs out of Mostar early on in the conflict, but had to live uncomfortably with the Muslim ‘allies’ in the town, strictly divided into different areas. The western media was quick to blame the Serbs. In fact, the fighting In Mostar was between Muslim and Croat, but the misunderstanding of the international media was normal in such a complicated conflict. Unfortunately international policy makers often listened to the erroneous media reports.

  Years of slaughter followed with at least 100,000 people dead and millions displaced. Hundreds of thousands of refugees had their lives destroyed forever.