CROATIA: Now, Zagreb Sparks Worries As U.N. Pullout Begins

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 3 1995 (IPS) - For many U.N. officials, Croatia has begun to replace Serb rebels as the major source of tension in the former Yugoslavia.

Reports of human rights atrocities against Serbs living in Croatia, efforts by the Croatian government to seizo Serb property, and a growing mood in that country against Muslim refugees are ALL increasing U.N. worries about Zagreb.

Reports about Croat abuses in the formerly Serb-held Krajina have risen sharply since President Franjo Tudjman’s forces reclaimed that territory last month.

Special U.N. envoy Yasushi Akashi warned Tuesday from Zagreb that the U.N. Confidence Restoration Operation (UNCRO) has “now obtained first-hand evidence of the murder of at least nine Serb civilians in the village of Varivode” in the Krajina last Thursday.

“This incident is the most brutal single attack on those Serbs that remain in Croatia that we have seen since the Croatian offensive in the Krajina,” Akashi said.

“It highlights the plight of the few vulnerable, mostly elderly, Serb civilians and therefore the importance of international monitoring and protection,” he added.

U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali added in a report issued Tuesday that UNCRO troops should remain in Croatia to monitor abuses, as well as to maintain peace between Croatian and Serb forces in the Serb-held Eastern Slavonia region.

In advising the U.N. Security Council to maintain some 2,500 troops in place in Croatia for the time being, Boutros-Ghali noted Zagreb has yet to live up to its stated commitment to make Serbs feel welcome in Croatia.

“UNCRO continues to receive from its Human Rights Action Teams well-documented reports of human rights abuses and destruction of property,” Boutros-Ghali wrote. “The incidents described in those reports do nothing to restore confidence among the Serb minority.”

Some 90 percent of all Serbs who had lived in Croatia have now left the country following the forcible re-integration of Western Slavonia in May and the Krajina over the past month. More than 150,000 Serbs left the country last month in what has been called the largest single incident of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the former Yugoslavia.

Francesco Paolo Fulci, Italy’s U.N. ambassador, worried further that Zagreb has now placed a 90-day time limit on the Serbs who left to reclaim their property. Otherwise, the Croatian government intends to sequester that property.

“Ninety days is not sufficient,” Fulci said. He noted that many refugees are allowed years to return to their land or receive compensation for property, not merely a few months.

The Security Council accordingly demanded Tuesday that Zagreb “respect fully the rights of the local Serb population, including their right to remain or return in safety.”

The Council also urged the government not to immediately repatriate thousands of Bosnian Muslims who have sought refuge in Croatia since the Bosnian war began four years ago.

But the United Nations is likely to be disappointed on both counts. One Croatian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS the sequestration laws would not be changed, since they did not affect ownership of property — merely its use. Zagreb also intends to proceed with repatriating Muslims to “liberated” parts of Bosnia-Hercegovina, in consultation with the Bosnian government.

Croatian U.N. Ambassador Mario Nobilo said the seizure of vacated property may actually benefit the Serbs.

“The sequester law is a temporary measure intended to protect and upkeep abandoned property,” Nobilo argued. “It will mitigate the problem of looting and destruction.”

“The property will be returned to its original owners or fairly compensated as part of an overall peace settlement in the region,” he promised.

The United Nations takes such statements with a grain of salt. One U.N. official told IPS that the Croatians have kept up a pattern of burning and looting in the Krajina, contrary to their public assurances that Serbs are welcome to stay. Few believe that seizing Serb property will encourage restore their confidence.

Nobilo denied there is a problem. “All ethnic Serbs who left Croatia cannot be considered refugees,” he contended. “Most of the 120,000 ethnic Serbs who left Croatia recently did so at their own will and upon urging and direct orders of their leadership, despite my government’s numerous appeals to stay.”

Boutros-Ghali, however, argued in his report that “many Serbs from among those who initially chose to remain are now departing or seeking to depart owing to the hostile environment in which they are now obliged to live.”

The worries over ethnic cleansing come as Croatia’s spate of battlefield successes have resurrected the spectre of Croat nationalism.

Croatia’s nationalist president, Franjo Tudjman, has made no secret of his dislike for the Serbs or for his current allies, the Muslim-led Bosnian government. Tudjman sparked a furore this summer when British parliamentarian Paddy Ashdown showed a map Tudjman had drawn on a cocktail napkin dividing Bosnia almost equally between Croatia and Serbia.

The Bosnian-Croat alliance remains similarly wary. But Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey maintained last week that his government would continue to act in good faith with Croatia, hoping that Zagreb responds in kind.

Equally worrisome to some U.N. officials is Tudjman’s apparent distaste for U.N. troops from developing countries. The Croatian leader this spring tried to replace all Slavic (including Russian and Ukrainian) soldiers, as well as those from Jordan, Nepal, Ghana and Argentina.

U.N. spokesman Joe Sills last month strongly denied that the United Nations would heed any racially-motivated calls to pull out troops. Although UNCRO would be reduced in size following the recent military actions in Croatia, he said, ethnic or geographic distinctions would not be considered.

Yet, as UNCRO has been reduced to some 4,000 troops — soon to be reduced by 1,500 more — the contingents being withdrawn have included Nepalese, Argentines, Jordanians and Ghanaians. Sills said UNCRO forces were being reduced according to logistical considerations.