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Rory
I didn't think I had this but here you go. This article came out of a magazine published in America called the American Croatian Review.
The article was published in the December 1998 issue.
Unraveling Brcko’s Tangled Web
The final sticking point at the Dayton talks in November 1995 was the issue of who would control the city of Brcko, located in the north-east of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The issue over who was to control Brcko was so hotly contested at the Dayton talks, that a special international arbitration committee was set up to decide the future political status on Brcko. Final arbitration on the city was supposed to come in early March 1997, but was delayed until March 1998, and later postponed until December 1998. The issue of Brcko reflects in many ways the general situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina as it stands almost a full three years after the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Brcko is located in northeast Bosnia. It straddles the Sava river, which is the border between Croatia and Bosnia. It is the administrative center of the Brcko municipality. The city had a population of 41,406(1), and the municipality as a whole had 87,627(2) inhabitants prior to the war. Pre-war Brcko was economically diverse as well, with factories, agriculture, and relatively high standard of living. Brcko also benefited from excellent transportation links including road, rail, and river which linked Brcko to a wider area both within Bosnia and outside of it.
Brcko’s pre-war demography almost reflected that of pre war Bosnia. The majority of its inhabitants were Bosniacs(3) who formed some 44% of the municipal population. Croats came in second, forming 20% of the population. Finally Serbs came in at 18%, with the rest of the population falling either as Yugoslavs or Others. The majority of the Bosniacs lived within the city limits of Brcko, as well as a thin strip of settlements to the south of the city. Croats lived in two compact areas, west and southeast of Brcko. Serbs occupied pockets east of the city and southwest of the city. (see map 1)
Brcko was occupied in 1992, by Serbian irregular forces almost at the start of the Bosnian conflict. The occupation of Brcko by Serb forces ensured that the Serb entity known as Republika Srpska would not be cut in half (see map 2). Repeated attempts by both the Bosnian Army (ABiH) and the local Croatian Defense Council (HVO) to cut the corridor were thwarted by the Serb forces (VRS).
The situation on the ground (see map 3) was later transferred to the Dayton Agreement, with the settlement of Brcko to be determined by international arbitration. Each side had its own demands for Brcko, the Serbs demanding that it stay within the Republika Srpska, while the Croats and Bosniacs who make up the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina demanded that it come within the control of the Federation. Other options such as making it an open city, in which neither side would have control have also been discussed and are also a possibility.
Though the demands of both sides regarding Brcko seem fairly straightforward, additional issues have added to complicate matters. The returning of refugees is an issue is not only a problem in Brcko, but for the rest of the country as well. The program to return refugees to their pre-war homes the entities in the Brcko region has met with some modest success, but has not been without its problems. Refugees crossing over entity borders, which are supposed to be administrative, are faced with issues that should not exist within the context of a united Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are issued identification papers of that entity - mostly Bosniacs and Croats having to get Serbian identification papers. Furthermore, because Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have an all encompassing education system, returnees are either forced to send their children to schools run by the entities or send their children farther away to schools that are deemed acceptable by them. Harassment of returnees is also a very big problem which has erupted in sporadic violence on a number of occasions.
From the other side, many Serb refugees have also settled in Brcko and its environs, mostly from Sarajevo, Western Bosnia and the former Krajina region of Croatia. They have solidified the Serbian demographic hold on the city and are very vocal group in both refugee affairs as well as within local politics. They fear that they will be forced out of their new homes, without receiving new accommodations either by returning to their original homes or finding homes elsewhere. They would ideally prefer that Brcko stay within the confines of Republika Srpska.
The Federation, made up of Bosniacs and Croats also themselves are not entirely united when a final solution to Brcko is to be decided upon. Both factions agree that Brcko should be in the Federation, or out of Serb control by making it an open city, which is what various international diplomats have suggested. Where the disagreement stems between the Bosniac and Croat factions is on how Brcko should be administered post-arbitration. The question of local self-administration is a problem that is also prevalent in the realization of the Federation, and not just the Brcko region itself. Croats contend that they are legally justified in forming a not only one but two majority Croat municipalities in the Brcko environs citing both numbers and territorial distribution as cause. The Bosniacs are against this, as they fear that the Croats would have more political and economic power in the Brcko region that they should be entitled to. The proclaimed Croat municipalities are also an issue at the federal level and have not been recognized by the Bosniac side. The Bosniacs contend that a post-arbitration Brcko should be a continuation of the pre-war Brcko municipality. Yet de facto the Croats have set up their own local administrations, police, and educational systems in the areas that they control. Further frustrating the Bosniacs is that the Brcko Arbitration Committee deals with all three local administrations - Bosniac, Serb and Croat.
What the final decision on Brcko, when decided upon by the arbitration committee, turns out to be is anyone’s guess. It may fall within the borders of Republica Srpska, be a part of the Croat-Bosniac Federation, it may be an open city, or some combination of the three. In the meanwhile, the various factions will continue to lobby and try to have that final arbitration come in a form that is appealing for their side’s demands. As shown, the Brcko problem reflects the situation in within the country as well, with the issue and treatment of returning refugees, as well as the visions of the various ethnic groups to define their roles in post-war Bosnia.
Notes:
1) Drzavni Zavod za Statistiku, “Stanovnistvo Bosne i Hercegovine Narodni Sastav Po Naseljima”, Zagreb 1991pp 76-79.
2) Ibid.
3) Bosniacs were known as Bosnian Muslims.
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