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For Bosnia to get rid of the problem, it must first get rid of the Dayton Accord, writes Stefan Schwartz in the author’s text for DW.
Source: DW
Illustration: EPA / ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS
Schwartz is a former German ambassador who closely followed the war in Bosnia. Appeal to Angela Merkel.
Angela Merkel was left with a lasting impression about the war in Bosnia, provoking helplessness, disbelief and anger in everyone. A few days ago she called for “more empathy” for Bosnia and the Balkans. Last week, referring to the latest (refugee) crisis, she spoke about the “bad situation” in Bosnia.
The chancellor has tried on several occasions without success to cut the Gordian knots in the Balkans. Why has it failed in Bosnia for more than 25 years? Who, or rather, what blocks any progress? What makes people quit and flee the country?
One of the reasons is that Europe, including Germany, is not dealing with the causes of the current situation in Bosnia. There is no will to deal with one’s mistakes.
The cause of the situation in Bosnia is not, as the cynics claim, that the country is paralyzed by too much nationalism. It’s propaganda, he writes.
The problem, he says. international tolerance towards war criminals and criminals. And his life insurance called the Dayton Settlements.
Even during the 1992 referendum, when I was in Bosnia as an observer for the first time, the extremists were present. The extremists threatened the Bosnian Serbs to prevent them from attending the referendum. After 90 percent of the population decided for independence, things went further. Karadzic’s armed paramilitaries took us as political hostages at the Holiday Inn hotel in Sarajevo, “he said.
“Only after enormous pressure from the United States on Milosevic, did the evacuation of representatives of the international community follow. The Bosnians became victims of the worst war in Europe after World War II. As Karadzic announced to the” internationals. “.
NATO has saved Bosnia from being wiped off the maps. “The aggression and genocide, not only in 1995 in Srebrenica, but already in 1992 in Prijedor, Foca and many other cities and towns in Bosnia, stopped late, too late for hundreds of thousands of people,” he said in the text of the Author.
Schwartz further claims that in Dayton in 1995, the war ended, but with an unforgivable mistake: a part of the country was left to war criminals as loot.
“Too much consideration for Milosevic, then a war criminal and president of Serbia, led to the most brutal settlement of the 20th century in Europe. The perpetrators of genocide and war criminals received almost half of the country as a ‘reward.’ The genocide and the destruction were never in the 20th century. “Accepting aggression and even genocide was known after Hitler, for political and moral reasons, as completely unthinkable. Until the Dayton Accords, “he says.
He believes that precisely because many diplomats and politicians looked at Bosnia without empathy, and even more with arrogance and ignorance, the country is divided, which is real cynicism. Even German diplomats like Ischinger and Steiner participated in the division of foreign countries for the first time since World War II.
“Therefore, war criminals have not only gained international recognition, but also control of half the country, and the Dayton Agreement has given them a mechanism to blockade all of Bosnia. No country in the world has three presidents. No country in Europe can make decisions, so block.
Richard Holbrooke, the son of a German Jew who fled the Nazis, reached an agreement that excluded the Jews of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the possibility of accessing the presidency. In 1992, a tolerant Bosnia intended to celebrate 500 years since the arrival of persecuted Jews in Sarajevo. Then, in 1995, through the Dayton Agreement, this idea was distorted.
“The Dayton Accords have made Bosnia, a beautiful country with compassionate people, a country without hope,” he said.
He further claimed that the Republika Srpska is controlled by corrupt war criminals and their supporters, and that the Federation is run by a corrupt clique. He believes that everywhere in Bosnia, citizens suffer under these corrupt elites. Criminal life insurance is the Dayton Settlement.
“The High Representative, armed with Bonn powers to impose the rule of law and reforms, has been demoted to the level of a timid eunuch. Mr. Inzko is proving his irrelevance on a daily basis. The population cannot free itself from criminals of war and corrupt elites due to the Dayton Accords.
“Bosnia must first get rid of Dayton to get rid of it at all: it must become Bosnia and Herzegovina again from Dayton.”
And that will not be possible without those who made Bosnia Dayton. Diplomats do not understand that frankness and empathy characterize (almost) all Bosnians. That is why Dayton, which severely damaged Bosnia’s soul and amputated the country, became possible. An operation called Dayton saved the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but left it disabled.
And that can change. Angela Merkel has a great responsibility. The German Chancellor is the most powerful woman in the world, many listen to what she has to say. It could significantly help dispel the danger of another war in this part of Europe. You must connect your empathy with your willingness and ability to think analytically. Then, as chancellor, I would leave true peace behind ”, she concludes.
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