Belgrade DMH 311013

LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Serbia has strategic interest in restoring good relations with UK (Tanjug)

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said that Serbia has a strategic interest in restoring good relations with Great Britain, because it needs strong allies in the West. “It is certainly one of Serbia’s strategic interests to see the good political relations with Great Britain renewed, just as it was the case in many of the political events at the beginning and middle of the last century,” Dacic said in London after a meeting he had with British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

“I think that political consultations should be taking place more often so as to avoid situations such as right now, with Germany and the United Kingdom submitting non-papers concerning the negotiating framework” for Serbia’s EU membership talks, Dacic said, adding that “these kinds of issues should be resolved earlier, through direct agreements and consultations with London itself.” Pointing out that Great Britain has been a very important historical partner for Serbia, Dacic said that he spoke with British officials about a possible visit to Belgrade by British Prime Minister David Cameron. Great Britain is supporting Serbia on its European path unconditionally and opposes setting out any new requirements, insisting only that the commitments set out in the 19 April Brussels agreement be fully implemented, something that Serbia agrees on, Dacic said. He stressed the importance of starting a new investment cycle, adding that the Serbian delegation in London discussed opportunities for investments in Serbia with a number of companies and banks. Dacic opened ‘Serbia Investment Day’, an investment conference discussing the emergence of Serbia as a major business destination, in London yesterday, and called on British investors to invest in Serbia.

Vulin: Vucic’s visit to Kosovo particularly important (Beta)

“The upcoming visit of Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to Kosovo is enormously important as it is yet another proof that the state of Serbia will not abandon Serbs in the province,” stated Minister in charge of Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin. He said that he and Vucic will visit Gracanica on Friday. According to Vulin, Serbia did not sign the Brussels agreement to leave Kosovo but to stay in the province. Provisional authorities in Pristina is the biggest opponent to the Serbs’ participation in the local elections to be held on 3 November, which is also corroborated by yesterday’s arrest of the three Serbs near Gnjilane, Vulin pointed out. He said that Albanian leaders do not want the Serbs to turn out for the elections because they fear that the Brussels agreement will be fully implemented and that the Serbs will have the local government in the ten municipalities where they represent the majority of the population.

“Republic of Kosovo” symbols removed from election material, Belgrade calls to polls (Novosti)

The coat of arms of the “Republic of Kosovo” will be either crossed out or header of pages torn off from all election material in possession of the Serbs, where Pristina hasn’t fulfilled the neutral status, Novosti learns. The international community exerted pressure on Pristina to find a way of removing the disputable signs. An urgent meeting between the Quint ambassadors and the representatives of bodies in charge of organizing and monitoring elections was held yesterday in Pristina, and there were clearly told that these irregularities must be corrected by Sunday, 3 November. The ballot itself is not disputable because it only carries the logo of the Central Elections Commission of Kosovo (CIK), in line with the Brussels agreement. But Pristina placed the coat of arms and name of the “Republic of Kosovo” on the contracts signed by controllers with the CIK at the polling stations. The CIK member Nenad Rikalo tells Novosti that some issues had already been resolved, such as the presence of Serb party representatives at the polling stations: “Parties that are taking part in the elections have their representatives in all municipalities with the Serb majority. There are still problems in Vucitrn and the settlements Suvi Dol and Bosnjacka mahala in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica where the Serb lists didn’t get members in election committees, but complaints and objections have been filed and they are under procedure. Despite all attempts by Pristina to disrupt the fair play and the neutral status of the elections in Kosovo, Belgrade isn’t giving up polls. “There is no giving up, because this is the only way of ensuring continuation of Serbia’s presence in the province,” the Chairperson of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun tells Novosti.

OSCE: Everything according to plan regarding Kosovo elections (Tanjug)

OSCE spokesperson in Kosovo Nikola Gaon has stated that everything is going according to plan regarding the preparations for the upcoming local elections on 3 November. He explained that the OSCE has a specific role only for the north of Kosovo, and that it will be a facilitator in four northern municipalities, and that this role doesn’t refer to the rest of Kosovo. He pointed out that the OSCE, as a facilitator, is part of the entire election process and cannot be part of the monitoring process, noting there are already registered initiatives for monitoring elections, including the EU initiative.

DS supports elections in Kosovo and Metohija (RTS)

The caucus whip of the Democratic Party (DS) Borislav Stefanovic has called Serbian citizens to turn out for the local elections in Kosovo in large numbers so the Union of Serb Municipalities can be formed afterwards. Stefanovic told the press in the Serbian parliament that this party supports the elections in Kosovo and Metohija and called citizens to vote for the Civil Initiative “Democracy.” “Despite all the difficulties and the favoring of only one list by the authorities, as well as the attempts to divide the Serbs on good and bad, it is imperative that Serbs go to the polls in large numbers,” said Stefanovic. 

Most Serbian MPs support Kosovo elections (RTS)

MPs of the ruling coalition and opposition parties urged citizens living in Kosovo and Metohija to go to the polls on 3 November, and cast their ballot in local elections in the southern province, while only the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) called for a boycott. Momo Colakovic, an MP of the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS), a party of the ruling coalition, said that Serbs should vote in forthcoming local elections and come to power in the Serb-majority municipalities. Dubravka Filipovski, an MP of New Serbia (NS), called on Serbs to take part in local elections, stressing that the party, a member of the ruling coalition, deems that it is unacceptable that in the Serb-majority municipalities decision-making powers be in the hands of ethnic Albanians. “The state of Serbia can assist Serbian citizens in Kosovo only through institutions, the condition being the formation of a community of Serb municipalities,” Filipovski said. Milorad Mijatovic, the caucus whip of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDPS), a ruling coalition party, is of the opinion that Serbs should go to the polls on Sunday in the greatest possible numbers as that is in their interest, and in the interest of the state. However, MPs of the DSS called for a boycott of the elections. “Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija should not vote in the 3 November elections, as that would be a funeral toll for the state of Serbia. It is especially important for those municipalities and voters north of the Ibar River where the state of Serbia is fully present, and if it were expelled from that area thanks to the Serb people, that would be truly tragic,” DSS MP Sanda Raskovic Ivic said.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

Lavrov, Venizelos discuss on Greek-Macedonian name issue (Utrinski Vesnik)

The name dispute between Macedonia and Greece was the main topic of discussion between Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Utrinski Vesnik reports. According to Venizelos, he had informed Lavrov about the situation in the Western Balkans region, and paid special attention on the name issue and the Cypriot issue. On his part, Lavrov stated that efforts must be paid for reinforcing the connections with the countries of the Western Balkans. 

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Progress in Kosovo tested by local ballots (European Voice, by Andrew Gardner, 31 October 2013)

The European Union's efforts to integrate Kosovo's political system will face a major test on Monday (3 November) when the country's ethnic Serb and Albanian communities vote in municipal elections.

The elections are the most important milestone yet in the implementation of an agreement, brokered in April by the EU, that amounted to the biggest advance in 14 years in relations between Kosovo's different communities and between Kosovo and Serbia.

That breakthrough enabled the EU to start talks with Kosovo on Monday (28 October) on a stabilisation and association agreement, the first step towards membership of the EU. European leaders are expected to allow the start of talks on accession for Serbia in December. The deferral of formal approval is in part intended to encourage Serbia to help ensure that the elections do not become a flashpoint.

The local elections will usher in changes to public administration in northern Kosovo, which is controlled by ethnic Serbs and where most public services – including the judiciary and police – have relied on funding from Serbia. After the elections, funding and overall authority would pass to Kosovo's central government, but special branches of the judiciary and police would be created to serve ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo.

Politicians from Serbia have been allowed to enter northern Kosovo during the election campaign. Most – including Serbia's prime minister, Ivica Dacic – have encouraged participation. Ethnic Serbs are not, however, expected to turn out in large numbers, potentially undermining the legitimacy of the vote in some Serb eyes. There have also been some reports of voter intimidation in northern Kosovo. The killing in September of a Lithuanian member of the EU's rule-of-law mission has stoked anxiety.

Concerns about the impact of the changes are amplified by the public sector's role as the provider of most jobs in northern Kosovo. Filip Ejdus of the Belgrade Centre of Security Policy and Leon Malazogu of the Pristina-based Democracy for Development Institute say that the integration of institutions will result in some salary cuts for civil servants and hospital staff and the elimination of some jobs.

Most local ethnic Serb leaders in northern and southern Kosovo have jointly formed a political movement called the ‘Serb List'. However, smaller, more local Serb groups have also emerged.

The April agreement also foresaw that the elections would lead to the establishment of an Association of Serbian Municipalities. This will include six areas in southern Kosovo where Serbs are the largest community. This has fanned fears among some Albanian Kosovars that ethnic Serbs' influence will grow. Southern Kosovo is home to most of the country's Serbs.

The election will also make space on the agenda to focus on implementation of April's agreement. Details, including timelines, remain secret, but local reports indicate that most of the milestones are crammed between the local election and the end of this year.

The implementation process will bring to the fore some of the legal challenges raised by April's agreement. Under Kosovo's constitution, for example, basic courts can be established at the regional level only, while the April agreement envisages that they would be set up at municipal level in the north. To ease public anxiety in the north, Ejdus and Malazogu argue that social-assistance programmes should be priorities for the local and national governments.

Time for Democratic Change in Kosovo (BIRN, by Alexandra Channer, 31 October 2013)

Local elections are rarely the stuff of high drama, but this weekend’s ballot in Kosovo could be decisive as a radical generation of modernizers challenges the old guard.

Kosovo’s first generation of post-war politicians derived their authority largely from their roles in the struggle against Serbian rule during the era of Slobodan Milosevic. Such sources of legitimacy are becoming increasingly untenable, however.

This is largely because a small but powerful group of people have used their time in office to carve out mini-feudal empires in the tiny, impoverished country. In their hands, parliamentary politics has become a dirty word, the fast route to getting rich through organized crime.

As politicians’ houses have grown inexplicably larger and their cars slicker and shinier, most Kosovars have remained sunk in the hopelessness of permanent unemployment. Many complain that finding a job, most of which are in the public sector, depends on who you know, not what you know.

Kosovo’s quiet capture by organized crime is all the more alarming as it has happened under the watch of the UN and European officials who have run the country since 1999.

Interested mostly in quick fixes, these international protectors have all too often turned a blind eye to the millions of euro siphoned off in procurement contracts, dodgy privatization deals and even voter fraud.

With the EU’s priority in the region being to woo Serbia away from Russia, its officials tend to judge Kosovo’s leaders more by their willingness to play ball with Serbia than by standards of fair play and integrity.

Ordinary Kosovars feel bewildered by international backing for the country’s largely discredited elite.

But, one unfortunate byproduct of Kosovo’s years spent as an international protectorate is that politicians’ longevity rests far more on international approval than on the votes of ordinary people.

Without democracy’s uncomfortable accountability mechanisms, Kosovo’s state-building project is mutating into a clientelist model of failure.

With an average monthly wage of 250 euro, unemployment hovering around the level of 40 per cent and shocking poverty, Kosovars are naturally skeptical of their political leaders.
Yet, ever since 1999, they seem to have voted for the same people. Or rather, records show that dwindling numbers have done so.

Between 2001 and 2010, the turnout has declined from 64 per cent to 45 per cent. The 2010 elections, the first since Kosovo’s declaration of supervised independence, were marred by fraud of industrial proportions, orchestrated by party activists.

It was shown that a vote can be sold for the price of a phone top-up card, or the payment of a weekly grocery bill. For the lucky few, the reward is a job. Few have come to see their votes as a way to shape their collective future; most see it as irrelevant, or as a way to pay bills.

Until Kosovars are prepared to risk the shift from survival to development, and their international officials are prepared to let them, little will change.

There is no doubt that Kosovars are fed up. The question is whether they have the courage to ditch the old guard. So far, they have been presented with few alternatives. There are signs, however, that the young, centre-left self-determination movement, Levizja Vetevendosje could make significant gains in some key towns this November, including in the capital, Pristina.

Vetevendosje entered parliament in the 2010 elections, when it won 12.69 per cent of the vote. An increase in their popular share of the vote in November would indicate that they were consolidating; some wins in local government would give them a chance to prove themselves before the general elections next year.

A key battleground is the capital, where Vetevendosje’s mayoral candidate is the Harvard-educated Shpend Ahmeti. A win that transforms Pristina, could also determine who governs the country.

Just ensuring a 24-hour supply of water to the city would show that government can be about providing public services. Combating the local bosses responsible for the capital’s mushrooming illegal builds would puncture their image of impunity and invincibility. If that were to happen, Kosovars might just start to believe that change is possible for the whole country.
The outcome can only be bleak, however, without a commitment to protect the vote. The EU spends an average of 111 million euro a year on EULEX, its 2,250-strong law-and-order mission, which still exercises supervisory powers in Kosovo. Yet, it will send a team of merely 100 mobile observers for the November 3 elections. What this team can achieve is doubtful, with over 700 polling stations and a system of counting votes on site, rather than moving them to more secure central sites.
Such shortsightedness may backfire. Suspicions of fraud will make it unlikely that the opposition parties will accept the results. Under such circumstances, Kosovo might descend into an unpredictable state of non-governance, and remain there until one side gives in – if they do.

Had the EU spent its money more wisely, in this case, on election observers rather than on police, Kosovars might be able to start building their country.
Alexandra Channer, PhD, is an analyst of Kosovan politics with a PhD in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and is the author of a dissertation on the history of Albanian national movements.

Kosovo withdraws warrant for Serbian minister ahead of vote (Reuters, by Fatos Bytyci, 31 October 2013)

PRISTINA - Kosovo has withdrawn an arrest warrant for a Serbian government minister, a judge said on Thursday, easing tension before an election that is central to a fragile EU-brokered accord between the Balkan neighbors.
Sunday's Kosovo municipal election is the first to include a small Serb-populated pocket in the north, which has resisted integration since the former Serbian province - where 90 percent of the population is Albanian - declared independence in 2008.
The vote is vital to a landmark accord agreed in April in which Serbia gave up its de facto hold over north Kosovo, though some 50,000 minority Serbs living there are deeply suspicious of the deal and turnout on Sunday may be low.
Testing the accord, a court in Kosovo last week ordered the arrest of Serbia's minister for Kosovo, Aleksandar Vulin, on charges of entering the country illegally after he visited the north. Kada Bunjaku, head of the Mitrovica Basic Court, said the order had been revoked.
"The decision came after the prosecutor withdrew its request for arrest," Bunjaku told Reuters. "The prosecutor proved that he (Vulin) entered legally."
Vulin stirred anger among Kosovo Albanians when he was photographed in north Kosovo in a military-style black jacket bearing the Serbian flag.
Serbia lost control over Kosovo in 1999, when NATO bombed for 11 weeks to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces trying to crush a two-year guerrilla insurgency.
Belgrade kept de facto hold over a small Serb pocket in the north but agreed to its integration with the rest of Kosovo in April, in return for the promise of European Union accession talks expected to begin in January.
Vulin is now expected to visit Kosovo on Friday with deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to encourage minority Serbs to take part in the local election.
EU Foreign Chief Catherine Ashton, who mediated the April deal, called on Serbs to take part.
"My message to the people throughout Kosovo is: participate in the elections on Sunday," Ashton said in a statement.
"This is especially true for the Kosovo Serb community. I understand the concerns, particularly in the north, but participation is the best way to ensure that your voice is heard."
(Additional reporting by Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Editing by Matt Robinson and Alison Williams)

Serbia promises to crack down on 'false' asylum-seekers (UPI, 31 October 2013)

Serbia, seeking to allay concerns over the flow of "false" asylum-seekers coming from the country, said this week it will do all it can to stem the tide.

Serbian Police Director Milorad Veljovic said Tuesday bilateral talks with the European Union have resulted in a stepped-up effort to prevent "bogus" asylum-seekers leaving Serbia for Germany and other Western European destinations.

A sharp increase in the numbers of mostly Roma and ethnic Albanian asylum-seekers from Serbia and Macedonia has prompted complaints from Sweden, Belgium, Germany and others, which have been struggling with the influx since 2009 when the EU established a visa-free travel regime with several Western Balkan nations seeking to join the bloc.

Brussels contends the asylum-seekers aren't suffering persecution in their home countries, but are instead economic migrants "abusing" the system. It has warned it could suspend the highly coveted "Schengen zone" visa-free regime if the problem isn't addressed.

Veljovic, meeting with the government commission in charge of monitoring the visa-free regime, said he assured EU officials during bilateral talks that Serbian police would be "persistent" in addressing the situation, making it one of the police directorate's "top priorities."

Indeed, he said, authorities had already taken "a series of measures and actions to combat the appearance of false asylum-seekers," and that the EU delegation in Belgrade had "expressed their satisfaction" with the renewed effort.

At the same time, Serbia needs to "walk a thin line" to make sure it is not violating the human rights of the would-be migrants, which would harm its EU accession hopes, added Tanja Miscevic, head of the country's accession negotiating team.

Some 8,477 people from Serbia sought asylum in Germany in 2012 -- a 50 percent increase from the previous year and the most from any country, with more than 90 percent of them listing their ethnic background as Roma, Balkan Insight reported.

Germany also saw a 300-percent jump in mainly Roma asylum-seekers from Macedonia to 4,546 requests.

"We're talking about people who are in a visa-free regime and come to the EU without a visa from the Balkans," European Commission spokesman Michele Cercone told Deutsche Welle last year. "The problem is that many of them are lodging asylum requests that are clearly unfounded. And these people are now creating a backlog -- and a serious problem -- for the asylum system in the EU countries involved."

The influx of Western Balkan asylum-seekers formed the backdrop in September when the European Parliament adopted amendments to the EU's visa rules allowing the European Commission to temporary suspend the visa waiver mechanism when it is deemed threatened by "irregularities or abuse."

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the move wasn't aimed at "any specific third country or region" -- an assertion echoed Tuesday by Serbian Minister for European Integration Branko Ruzic, who said he was assured by the EU delegation Serbia wasn't being singled out by the new law.

Ruzic in September said Serbians needn't be apprehensive about the measure.

"The decision is neither directed against Serbian citizens, nor visas will be introduced for our citizens," he told Tanjug. "The fact is, our partners in the EU and we in Belgrade know that a vast majority of our citizens do not violate that right."

EU hopeful Serbia builds unexpected alliance with Emirates (Reuters, by Aleksandar Vasovic and Regan Doherty, 31 October 2013)

BELGRADE/ABU DHABI - From animal feed to missiles and loans, Serbia is banking on an unlikely alliance with the United Arab Emirates to upgrade its vital farming industry, revive military production and get badly needed cheaper finance.
For the UAE, the new relationship offers an early back door route into the European Union, which Belgrade wants to join, and access to the former Yugoslavia's once mighty arms industry while much of the Middle East is consumed by unrest or war.
Almost two decades after communist Yugoslavia's violent breakup, Serbia is struggling with high public debt and unemployment while its manufacturing industry and living standards lag way behind the EU's.
Serbia has succeeded in drawing some investment from more obvious sources such as the EU, its traditional Slavic ally Russia and China, which much of the world is courting.
However, the Socialist-led government's friendship with the Gulf came as a surprise. Until last year, Belgrade had only token relations with the UAE and bilateral trade totaled a mere 20 million euros ($28 million) in 2012.
Now the talk is of billions of euros in loans and investments. "Serbia is diversifying the portfolio of investors to as many countries as possible... In addition to the EU, we have Russia with energy deals, China with infrastructure investments and now we have the Gulf," said Sasa Djogovic of Belgrade-based Institute for Market Research.
EYE ON EU MEMBERSHIP
Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said it all started after he met Abu Dhabi's crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan over lunch there last year.
"We discussed everything including history and geography and afterwards he walked me to my hotel room and our friendship began," Vucic said in a recent TV broadcast. Very quickly this friendship translated into business arrangements.
The first deal was a $40 million equity investment by Abu Dhabi's Etihad airline in Serbia's indebted JAT Airways.
A $400 million sovereign loan for agriculture has been agreed with the UAE's Development Fund, as well as another $400 million deal with the Al Dahra food producer, which wants to lease bankrupt socialist-era farms.
Earlier this month, Vucic announced that the first 100 million euro installment of a 200 million UAE loan slated for investment in irrigation, would be disbursed soon.
Serbia has also signed memorandums of understanding with several UAE companies, including Mubadala, a unit of Abu Dhabi's investment fund, on possible production of microchips and aircraft parts.
Naz Masraff, an analyst with the London-based Eurasia Group, said the UAE's interest was clear. "It is certainly in line with their efforts to diversify their investments and increase presence in Eastern Europe," she said.
UAE firms are also active in property and tourism in neighboring Montenegro which has begun EU entry negotiations.
Serbia, a country of 7.3 million people, plans to start EU accession talks in January and hopes to join by 2020. Investing there offers the UAE a chance of eventual direct access to the huge EU market before costs rise and red tape descends.
"They (UAE) feel it's better to put up their money now, rather than wait," a Gulf-based diplomat who asked not to be named told Reuters. "When buying into the EU, there are public procurements, procedures, regulatory hurdles ... but dealing with Serbia now is much easier."
WEAPONS SWEETEN THE DEAL
Unlike other Balkan countries, Serbia has said it does not want to join NATO, which bombed the country in 1999 to halt its military operations against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Free of some of the Western alliance's rules and restrictions on weapons sales, Serbia has more independence in reviving the once flagship defense industry that was brought to its knees by the wars of the 1990s and a United Nations arms embargo. The friendship with the UAE could help those efforts.
Earlier this year Belgrade announced arms deals with the UAE, including exports of armored personnel carriers and the joint development of a guided surface-to-surface missile. In global arms trade terms, this business remains modest and the weaponry relatively low-tech, but it has the potential to grow.
"The total value of all the weapons deals (with UAE) so far would be about 200 million euros," said a defense ministry official who asked not to be named. "This cooperation can be extended to various other weapons systems, parts and equipment."
Serbia is also offering trainer and light attack aircraft, along with self-propelled howitzers and artillery ammunition.
Tim Ash, the head of Standard Bank's emerging markets research, said the UAE's interest in the Serbian arms industry and surplus weapons was based on its regional aspirations.
"Abu Dhabi is a major geopolitical player in the Middle East and access to arms gives it greater reach and leverage in conflicts in the region, such as in Syria," Ash said.
Serbia, for its part, has sought a long-term, low-interest sovereign loan from the UAE worth between 2 and 3 billion euros. Vucic went to Abu Dhabi on October 26 and Serbian media said the loan, seen as crucial for Serbia's financial stability, would be on the agenda.
Serbia needs fresh funds to prop up its budget and repay some of its public debt, which is forecast to amount to 65 percent of gross domestic product this year. The jobless rate is around 25 percent, while GDP per capita, at about $5,200, is only 16 percent of the EU average.
It is also seeking a new loan deal with the International Monetary Fund to reassure investors that its finances will be stabilized. The IMF ended a previous 1 billion euro deal with Belgrade last year, blaming inflated state spending and debt.
BUSINESS AND POPULISM
The government said the UAE loan would be spent on investment and debt repayment, but analysts fear it may ease up on unpopular economic reforms. "The key here will be whether the ... UAE loan will tempt the Serbian government to get complacent about reforms," Masraff said.
However, she added: "The government will still need to tap into international markets in 2014 and a commitment to reform will also be key for securing an IMF deal."
Serbian analysts say Vucic's Progressive party would benefit if the UAE relationship produces significant economic results, and it could go for early elections next year, hoping to cement its hold on power.
Recent opinion polls give the party unprecedented support of more than 40 percent. However, analysts say this could melt away when the government imposes planned austerity measures, including wage cuts and a shrinking of the public sector.
Any possibility of new investment from the UAE and more jobs could become the trump election card, said Milos Damnjanovic, an analyst with the South East European Studies program at Britain's Oxford University.
"There's a political component in it. It has been used for populist purposes," he said.
(Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and David Stamp)

Bosnian Countryside Scarred with Landmines (Environment News Service, by Ajdin Kamber, 30 October 2013)

SARAJEVO, Bosnia – Large areas of land across Bosnia still need to be cleared of mines and other munitions before the rural population can move around freely.

The village of Krupac lies to the south of Sarajevo, on the road to Mt. Bjelasnica. During the 1992-95 war, Krupac was right on the front line dividing the armies of the Bosnian government and the Bosnian Serbs.

Slobodanka, an elderly resident of Krupac, showed reporters a minefield marked out with yellow tape near her home.

Before the war, she used to roam the area looking for medicinal herbs and what says are the tastiest wild strawberries in the world.

“I don’t dare go there any more, although I’d love to. The area is mined and it’s very dangerous,” she said.

Slobodanka spent the entire war in Krupac, living in a no-man’s land where she had to brick up most of her windows to stop sniper bullets.

Nearly two decades after the end of the war, landmines and other munitions still pose a threat to life and limb across Bosnia.

Goran Zdralo of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Mine Action Centre, BHMAC, a government agency that coordinates all landmine clearance in Bosnia, recites some grim statistics.

“Mines and unexploded bombs have killed or injured 8,293 people since 1992. Since the end of the war [in 1995], 1,708 people have fallen victim to mines and unexploded bombs; 597 of them were killed. In 2013, there were 13 casualties, three of whom sadly died,” he said.

Since 1995, around 2,900 square kilometres of land have been cleared of explosive materials. However, between 1,250 and 1,300 square kilometres – 2.5 percent of Bosnia’s territory – is still assessed as high-risk and in need of thorough checking followed by clearance where mines are identified.

Zdralo says the highest-risk zones are located where the lines separating the warring armies once ran, and include the municipalities of Velika Kladusa, Orasje, and Doboj.

Figures from 2012 indicate that 540,000 people in Bosnia are living in areas where the proximity of landmines and unexploded munitions poses an immediate threat to life.

BHMAC officials say the biggest danger comes when people ignore stern warnings and knowingly trespass on marked-out minefields in order to gather firewood and other materials.

Stipe Bulic, a professional mine clearance expert working from Livno, says anyone out in the countryside needs to exercise great caution.

“Erosion, extreme weather conditions, fires and other things often trigger explosions of mines and unexploded ordinance, endangering lives,” he said.

The risks are even greater for demining personnel like Bulic who put their lives on the line every day. Bulic broke his arm in an incident 10 years ago. Since 1996, 115 deminers have been involved in accidents, and there have been 46 fatalities.

“Eighteen years after the war, mines and explosives are still present and they represent a huge threat and danger not just to the civilian population, but to those us who work on demining and destroying explosives,” Bulic said.

The team he works with specialises in destroying landmines, artillery shells and other munitions once they have been found. They crate up the live explosive devices and move them to the designated destruction site, where specialists clad in body armour, helmets and protective boots attach plastic explosives and a detonation mechanism. A cable is run to a shelter 100 metres away, from where the detonation switch will be pulled.

Medical staff are on hand, but withdraw to a safe distance and maintain contact by radio because of the danger of flying shrapnel. If there is a road nearby, police stop the traffic until the blast goes off.

Afterwards, the team has to go back and check that all the munitions have been destroyed. If any are still intact, the whole process has to be repeated.

As Bulic points out, caution and focus are of the essence, as any mistake is one too many in this line of work.

“The fear is there, of course, but we rely on our experience,” he said.

The deminers work an eight hour day, with mandatory 10-minute breaks every half hour, plus 30 minutes for lunch.

“It might look like the standard working day of any other worker, but is it really?” said Nermina Halvadzija, a nurse who worked with the Italian demining group Organizzazione Umanitaria per l’Emergenza (INTERSOS) in 2009.

“Being a deminer carries many dangers and entails hard work, stress and fear which are present from the moment they enter a minefield to the moment they leave, day after day, season after season,” said Halvadzija. “Minefields are mostly in very inaccessible areas on steep rocky terrain which conceals not just mines but also venomous snakes, and where the forest vegetation is very thick.”

This vegetation has to be removed before the search for explosive devices can begin, using hand-held probes. As Nail Hujic, a technical director at INTERSOS, explained, this is a massively labor-intensive and delicate task.

“In order for deminers to check one square metre, they have to probe the ground around 2,500 times, 20 centimetres deep at an angle of 30 degrees. On average, one deminer will cover 50 square metres a day,” Hujic said.

“The arduous nature of the work is exacerbated by the deminers mostly working in a semi-squatting position weighed down by 25 kilograms of equipment [armor], often in extreme temperatures which is even more exhausting,” he said.

The deminers are constantly having to assess what type of munition they are dealing with, how it is lodged in the ground, and the possibility of deliberate traps laid by whoever planted the landmine.

“The result of all this, as well as of inadequate equipment and mental and physical fatigue among deminers, is frequent accidents,” Hujic said. “Unfortunately, we have to say that accidents are common in this line of work. They usually leave deminers severely physically disabled, although fatalities are less frequent.”

Nurse Halvadzija now provides preventive training for demining personnel, and she argues that this needs to take place all the time, both when staff are working and when they stop for the winter.

“It is statistically proven that this [training] eliminates the most common cause of accidents. Another equally important protective measure is self-discipline. Unfortunately, not enough attention – or to be more accurate, not enough funding – is assigned to such preventive measures,” she said.

The commonest motive for becoming a deminer is simple economic necessity.

“They have no other choice and they don’t believe they can find a better, safer job that will pay them a decent wage,” Hujic said. “This is one of the most stressful of professions. Any reasonable person fears that which kills. If they don’t feel fear, they will be putting themselves and their whole team in danger.”

The Bosnian government’s Mine Action Strategy for 2009-19 envisages clearing all unexploded devices by 2019.

At BHMAC, the agency responsible for coordinating the effort, Zdrale warns that funding shortfalls could make that aim impossible to achieve.

“Unfortunately, implementation is not going according to plan due to a lack of funds for demining,” Zdrale said. “Bosnia has the material and human potential to implement the strategy, but shortage of cash means the government is failing to set aside 30 million [Bosnian Convertible Marks; worth around US$21 million] a year from its budget as the demining strategy envisages.”

Mine clearance in Bosnia is funded partly by government and partly by international donors, whose money is channeled through the Slovenia-based International Fund for Demining.

To date, 80 percent of demining work has been carried out by international NGOs and private firms, and the rest by the Bosnian military.

Bosnian Defence Minister Zekerijah Osmic says he plans to change that. Speaking at a recent event in Sarajevo, he said the ministry plans to set up a dedicated battalion of demining sappers who would “clear Bosnia and Herzegovina of mines by 2019 without assistance from anyone else.”

{This article was produced as part of Institute for War and Peace Reporting‘s Tales of Transition project funded by the Norwegian embassy in Sarajevo. IWPR is implementing the project in partnership with the Sarajevo Centre for Contemporary Arts and EFM Student Radio.}

Rapporteur Detects 'Fear' in Macedonia Media (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 31 October 2013)

The lengthy jail sentence of the journalist Tomislav Kezarovski among others is creating a climate of fear in Macedonia, the European Parliament's rapporteur on the country said.

Richard Howitt spoke of a climate of fear and pressure in Macedonia, wrapping up a three-day visit mostly dedicated to looking at freedom of speech in the country.
Referring to the journalist Tomislav Kezarovski who was last week jailed for four-and-a-half years for revealing the identity of a protected witness in a murder trial, Howitt expressed concern.
“I am worried by this and other cases, that the cumulative impact of these cases - deliberately or otherwise - may be to create a culture of caution or even fear amongst journalists, editors and owners,” he said.
Recalling the principle of the independence of the judiciary, Howitt, who during his visit met government ministers as well as journalists, said some elements of the case against Kezarovski were especially worrying.
“I am worried in this and other cases about the lengthy use of pre-trial detention and about the conditions of that detention for defendants who must be regarded as innocent until they are proven guilty,” Howitt said.
He added that delays in prosecutions in this and other cases are “all-to-frequently undertaken”, which “leave open the impression that the decision to proceed against a defendant may be being determined by political rather than judicial considerations”.
The length of the sentence for Kezarovski shocked many, and has raised fresh concerns about the freedom of the media in Macedonia.
The criminal court in Skopje found Kezarovski guilty of revealing the identity of the murder witness in an article he wrote in 2008 for Reporter 92 magazine.
Local and international media organisations and watchdogs, including the OSCE, have accused the government of targeting the journalist for his writing and criticised the authorities for keeping him for so long in detention - almost five months.
The conviction of the journalist came against a background of closures of several media outlets that had been critical of the government.
The government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski insists it played no role in the reporter's trial, and says it is not targeting critical media outlets and journalists.
But it has rebuffed calls to urge the President of Macedonia to pardon Kezarovski, insisting that the whole matter lies in the hands of the courts.