Forced to be divided?” “

Almost ten years ago the Dayton accords (December 1995) put an end to three and half years of bitter conflict in Bosnia (1992-1995) and created a particular structure composed of two entities, which has no parallel in any other political system in the world. Bosnia Herzegovina in fact consists of two parts: the Federation of Bosnia Herzegovina (Croat-Moslem), which occupies 51% of the territory, and the Serb Republic (49% of the territory). Bosnia is in fact a Protectorate under the aegis of a High Representative of the international community. NATO has a military presence in the form of the 12,000 men of SFOR (Stabilization Force) who have the task of maintaining control over the armies of the two entities. Bosnia Herzegovina is a country in which, according to the data presented by the UNO in recent days, 30% of the population are barely living above the poverty line. In recent weeks elections were held for the renewal of the local administrations, but voter turnout was very low. Meanwhile the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has reported that of the some two million refugees and displaced persons during the war, over a million have now returned to their own homes. We discussed the situation with the archbishop of Vrhbosna-Sarajevo, Cardinal VINKO PULJIC. Almost a decade after the Dayton accords what’s the country’s situation? “There’s still no normality. The current organization of the State does not work and involves too costly an ‘apparatus’. Not even the annexes to the accords have been implemented. Due to the numerous levels of local and international authorities, there’s no clear distribution of responsibilities. In a State divided into two entities and with two different legislative systems, equality of rights among citizens is impossible”. What point has been reached by social and political reconstruction? “Superficially considered it seems that everything is working fine, but the reality is very different. The international representatives in the country often spurn democratic principles because they don’t seem to take account of what, contrariwise, constitutes a sacred value in their own countries. Instead of building democracy, they are giving rise to a kind of totalitarian system. With great effort we liberated ourselves from Communist ‘protection’; now we find ourselves living in a protectorate whose authorities are entirely unaccountable for their actions. The disagreement of the international community on what solutions to propose certainly does not promote economic development; there are so many people without work and the young have lost hope in the future and wish only to get out. There’s an urgent need to create new jobs that may give citizens the chance to maintain themselves in a dignified manner. On paper equal opportunities are guaranteed to everyone, but in practice that is not so. European democratic standards also need to be introduced into the social and political structures of Bosnia Herzegovina”. On what is the commitment of the Catholic Church being focused? “The Catholic Church has made great efforts at the local level to facilitate the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes. In the territories in which living conditions were particularly difficult, priests have dedicated themselves to reconstruction and to the support of the people, though without having the backing of the politicians or of the international community. Sometimes, due to the widespread insecurity and lack of protection, they have encountered serious problems with the local authorities. A further priority is that of education. The Church has opened Catholic schools, which it has called ‘Schools for Europe’. This is a project of which we are proud, despite all the difficulties encountered”. Recently you asked that “the Catholics… of the country be not forgotten”… “Yes. The mass media forget Bosnia Herzegovina, unless they have something negative to write. If no attention is paid to us, the powerful of the world will also abandon us. For Catholics this situation is even more difficult, because their lack of equality of rights means they are not inserted in the same way in the programme of reconstruction and renewal. At the international level, moreover, England and France favour the Serb Republic and wish to keep our country divided; the Americans support the Muslims, because they wish to win hearts and minds in the East. It is we Catholics, the majority Croat, who have to pay the price of such policies. During a recent meeting of the European ‘Justice and Peace’ Commissions (25-28 September 2004) it also emerged that the ‘monster’ born in Dayton cannot remain in force as it is. We need to have the honesty to review this treaty in order to correct the injustice that has become law, i.e. the law of the strongest, and put an end to the injuries inflicted on the Croat people”. Fact File The 461,000 Catholics of Bosnia Herzegovina represent 11.3% of the population. There are three dioceses, 282 parishes. There are 4 bishops, 237 diocesan priests and 346 religious. The Catholic Church runs 8 nursery/primary schools (2016 pupils), 5 lower and higher secondary schools (1520 students), a home for the elderly, invalids and the disabled, an orphanage and 5 centres of social re-education.