When writing this, it has been four months since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The “Zeitenwende”, as defined by German chancellor Scholz, is multi-layered, but what he refers to are also the hardly foreseeable global socio-political and economic consequences on a global scale. In the Balkans, Russia has long been a growing power of influence in close alliance with Serbia. Thus, growing ethnic tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) seem to be of particular concern for the EU. After the long war from 1992 to 1995 , the Dayton Agreement was supposed to establish structures that promote peace. Part of it was the Inter-Entity Boundary Line between the Federation and Republika Srpska and a highly complex structure of government that ensures the country’s three main ethnic groups shared power. Even the presidency is shared, and one of the three current office holders is President Dodik. Initially presented as a moderate voice, over the past decade, he has been increasingly pursuing a separatist agenda for the Serbs of BiH. This could potentially pose a threat to the fragile peace in the region.
In Mid-June, Germany decided after a decade to re-join ALTHEA EUFOR, the European military deployment and successor of NATO forces in the country. The foreign office explains the decision, stating that
“We will not permit a security vacuum to be created in our immediate neighbourhood. The political situation in BiH is fraught, above all because of the separatist course pursued by Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs. The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has additionally aggravated concerns that Russia is also acting to destabilise BiH.”
The urgency formulated in this statement is pointing to a possible window of opportunity in October’s elections for separatist endeavors of Republika Srpska. With the increasing concerns of the EU, we were wondering how the political situation is perceived within BiH. Vlasta Markovic is an activist in the transnational youth-network YUPeace working in BiH, Serbia, and Croatia. We asked Vlasta about her perspective:
War.
A word that has the same meaning in every language, but a different feeling when you read it, when you survived one, when you are born in one or when you are learning about one.
For the last 15 years of my adult life, I have been working a lot with young people and dealing with the past. We constantly talk about it, we read the names of the victims in different places, and we, who were born during the war, slowly assemble the puzzle over the years as to what the war took from our parents. From our friends, from our families. Thinking about this topic for years, I believed that war would never again be possible on European ground. Just thirty years ago, we had the genocide in Srebrenica, the siege of Sarajevo, the bombing of Belgrade, the war in Croatia, all this chaos was happening. Not all mines in BiH have been removed yet, and now, in Europe not far from us, a country was invaded. We have been told for years that the war was fought for „territory“, for the people, but it’s very clear to all of us, the war is fought for profit. If you look at today’s world, when elections are near, you can see most politicians dividing people using them for their own personal gain – they can also be war profiteers. A lot of help came during the Balkan Wars for the people, but individuals took it for themselves and we will never forget those who were selling weapons in the time of war. In the end, people thought that the war was for their land, but it wasn’t. It’s always profitable.
A few days before the start of the war in Ukraine, in BiH, as well as Serbia and Croatia (according to the stories of my friends), the prices for food began to slowly increase. Everyone was starting to buy flour. In the Balkans, we eat a lot of bread, so flour is essential in our kitchen. People are secure if they have flour to make bread. They will not be hungry if they have bread.Talking to my mother, I told her: Mom, we’re not going to buy 100 kilos of flour now, what are we going to do with it? And I get the answer: Actually, when the war started in Bosnia and when the war refugees came to Tuzla, our family cooked food for them, and then when you were born, we were hungry. We didn’t have any food, please go and buy at least one bag, so that we have it in case of need. With that answer, the discussion is finished, I go to get everything she told me to buy. In the supermarkets throughout Tuzla, people were buying basic necessities. Everyone was there. Entering the supermarket, I expected panic, but what I got was a feeling of readiness. People are not scared but ready. I think this is even worse. For me it is really scary that we are ready for a new war.
The day the WAR began – again the word makes me cringe more than ever – we were all shocked and PTSD is slowly awakening in all of us. Some of us did not experience bombing, but we see the pale faces of our parents and friends who went through the war. You can see the concern on my mom’s face, who is afraid of new conflicts.
When the war started in Ukraine, all countries started to introduce sanctions and we were all waiting to see what the Balkan countries would decide. Our politicians did not introduce sanctions, but they did not support the aggression against Ukraine either. In my opinion, it was the only real solution. Russia, Serbia, and the Republika Srpska have been supporting each other for many years. They developed a partnership based on the same religion and Russia sent a lot of support. Religion is the big part of this. There are people that are divided by it, but I don’t think that it makes the big difference for us. We have much bigger problems, now that we are facing this economic situation. The elections are upcoming, but a lot of young people are not going to vote because there is no point in it anymore. The politicians will again try to divide us. On the election day, some of us will go vote, and we are not even sure that those votes will be counted properly. For now, we will have to wait and see what will happen. We are hoping that something will change, but because there is a lot of corruption it is not possible to make any change with elections.
The parliament raised the salaries of their members while we are struggling with increasing prices. On the 6th of June in a lot of cities in BiH were big protests that demanded to at least abolish taxes on fuel to help their citizens. The parliament’s member’s high salaries are on our account.
When EUFOR soldiers arrived in BiH, we felt it could on the one hand sustain safety in the country. On the other hand, the feeling that foreign soldiers came to the same country, where 30 years ago war and suffering happened under their protection, scares us a lot. The most important thing is that the peace in Bosnia is preserved because Ukraine showed resistance. If they didn’t show resistance we would have a much bigger problem.
In the Network Youth United in Peace we are currently preparing a new peace camp where we will have talks and workshops with people who were suffering during the wars on the Balkans and we will also talk about what is now happening in Ukraine. For example, Ron Haviv, a photographer who was in the Balkans in the nineties and now in Ukraine, is helping to share a real story from war. That is really important in times like this. To know the truth.
In my opinion, peace movements that say clearly that people are against the war are incredibly important. This article is also important, because everyone needs to know that here in BiH, Serbia and Croatia, we are struggling with high prices and a terrible economic situation. Soon, many of our citizens will not have enough food. We will not be able to buy it. We are also really scared.
In the beginning of the war, I wanted to visit my friend from Serbia and everyone thought that I’m crazy to go to Serbia now. I told everyone that humans are humans everywhere. I am glad to say that thanks to YUPeace, now I have a friend from another country that helps me to go through all of this and I do the same for her. With our friendship we tell the world that we will not fight against each other and that we will stay in touch all the time, whatever happens.