POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Conflict Over But Divisions Remain

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Nov 19 2002 (IPS) - The wars between Serbs and Croats ended years ago, but a recent survey shows they are drifting further apart.

Parallel opinion polls in Croatia and Serbia show that 60 per cent of Croats and Serbs still distrust one another and do not care that relations between them should improve. Serbia is the bigger sister of Montenegro in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

"There will be no road towards Europe if the deep differences with other nations in the area remain," Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said in a recent TV interview. "People in the region should undertake an effort to put the past behind. They cannot forget, but certainly they can find it in their hearts to forgive."

The wars began with a drive for independence for Croatia within former Yugoslavia in 1991. The Yugoslav government in Belgrade opposed that push with the help of a 650,000 Serb minority in Croatia. Croatia had a population of 4.3 million at the time. Croats and Serbs had been fellow citizens of former Yugoslavia for 70 years.

The opposition to the independence move by the Croatian Serbs, backed by the regime of Slobodan Milosevic resulted in years of war that left more than 30,000 dead on both sides, and finally a migration of more than 200,000 Croatian Serbs into Serbia proper in 1995.

The death of the first president of independent Croatia, Franjo Tudjman in 1999 and the fall of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 brought hope that the neighbours could improve relations. Both countries are only a step away from joining the Council of Europe, and both long for European Union (EU) membership by 2010.

But one of the conditions that both Croatia and Yugoslavia must fulfil for EU membership is respect for minority rights. EU member states will also want to see a reconciliation between Serbs and Croats.

"Reconciliation is something that is far away for both," says Croatian sociologist Josip Zupanov. "Instead of coming closer since the wars and dictatorships (of Tudjman and Milosevic) ended, the two nations are drifting apart."

A recent survey showed also that 25 per cent of Croats want the 250,000 Serbs remaining in Croatia to be expelled to Serbia to help it tackle unemployment and social insecurity in its painful transition into a market economy.

Hatred is alive both in Croatia and in Serbia. President of the association of Croatian judges Vladimir Gredelj recently compared Serbs to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Serbian ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj who is running for presidency has called for revenge against neighbouring nations over the shame of lost wars.

A survey by the University of Novi Sad in the northern Serbian province Vojvodina showed that 60 per cent of Serbs would not like any of their family members to marry a Croat. This is an "astonishing fact" because there is no significant Croat minority in Serbia, researchers said.

"The level of tolerance among Serbs is very low," says researcher Miklos Biro. "This is not only the consequence of war, but also of a particular mindset that tends to blame others for problems. It will take generations to change such views."

Experts who gathered at a conference organised by Germany and France in Belgrade in an effort to show a model of reconciliation ended up blaming the other side. Few ideas were offered on working towards reconciliation.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Conflict Over But Divisions Remain

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Nov 19 2002 (IPS) - The wars between Serbs and Croats ended years ago, but a recent survey shows they are drifting further apart.
(more…)