Dear Mr. Gallivan,

thank you for the link to your blog. Much obliged.

1.) Have you got any plans to write articles about other towns/municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

2.) Are there any particular topics except ICTY and Brčko that you are interested in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

3.) Which parts of B&H have you visited so far?

Regards,
Glazbenik

Do you see any potential hotspots for ethnic conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina such as Mostar, Stolac, Žepče, Jajce, Vitez?

Or none at all?

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.

Rory here is a demographic map of Brčko in 1991. I don't know how the level of returns in the following Croatian villages (in Blue) that were under Serb Control is: Ulice, Krepšić, Gorice, Marković Polje, Donji Rahić, Vukšić Gornji, Vukšić Donji and Laništa. Maybe someone on the forum has a better idea but if Croats returned to their villages and have formed a majority and/or if Muslims returned to Brčko then the corridor is demograohically lost to the Serbs.

Based on 2008. district's (local) elections all this villages exept Krepšić still have croatian majority.

Are the majority of the votes gaind by Croatian parties regular votes or vote-by-post system ?

No more then 5% of votes are by post.

HRVATSKA DEMOKRATSKA ZAJEDNICA BIH

3,618

Redovni 3.444
Poštom 157
Odsustvo i mobilni tim 15
Potvrđeni 2


HDZ1990 HSS-NHI HSP

2,630

Redovni 2.508
Poštom 119
Odsustvo i mobilni tim 2
Potvrđeni 1

Perfect, we should pay more attention do Brčko district and it's demography , as we can clearly see Croatians still live in larger numbers in Brčko .

MRSHO: If Gorice has a Croatian majority I think it is safe to say that the corridor has been cut demographically. And if Brcko sees a massive return of Muslims then that would cement the fate of the corridor for the Serbs.

Zadar1993: Most stayed in Brčko. I think at around the time of the arbitration there were between 12-15.000 Croats there. They had two Croatian Language radio stations, Radio Ravne-Brčko and Radio Valentino. They had a newspaper Nove Ravne.

True , if Gorice has a Croatian majority it's safe to say the corridor is cut . Who would have thought that we would succed first in something that is in fact Bosniak national dream ?
The greatest problem Serbs encountered is the fact that they had little domestic population, before war they were smallest of the 3 constitutive nations . War changed that but with so many refugees returning how could you expect to cement the supremacy you achived in war ?
Besides they should have expanded corridor when they had chance. They would be less vunerable now , and it remains question if the international community would create a district from something larger than Brčko .

Zadar1993: Let's also keep in mind that at the moment we don't know what the election results for the city of Brčko are. MRSHO if you have the results for the 2008 elections in the town of Brčko please post. I do think long term that is still their strategy seeing as they don't control anything n the Sava.

If we go by Wikipedia (see below) then the district as a whole is now lost to the Serbs.

It is my opinion that refugees returned because the district was technically not in Serb hands. In the case of Croats some of those villages were very well to do before the war. Also the presence of the American base at Brod (see above map) probably helped.

Just as an aside Maoča was home up until recently to a group of Wahhabis. I don't what is left of that community: http://occidentallibertas.wordpress.com ... nja-maoca/

Also the London subway bombers are alleged to have trained in Rašljani: http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/nn071305.htm

There is not a whole lot going on in Maoča and Rašljani and in the case of the latter it is pretty remote despite its proximity to Brčko.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C4%8Dko_District

Government and politics

There are 29 seats in the Assembly of the Brčko District. The seats are divided as follows:[4]
By party:
6 Serbian Democratic Party
5 Social Democratic Party
4 Party of Democratic Action
3 Croatian Democratic Union
3 Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina
2 Alliance of Independent Social Democrats
2 Croatian Peasant Party
2 Socialist Party of the Republika Srpska
1 Democratic Party
1 Independent

By ethnicity:
13 Bosniaks
11 Serbs
5 Croats

I'll post results,

but first I must separate city pooling stations from pooling stations / votes of non-city settlements.

Wasn't there a post a few months ago about Bosniak politicans from SDA and SDP trying to undermine local goverment lead by Serbs ? I think that goverment is consisted of major Serb parties + major Croatian parties + minor Bosniak parties .

Especially keeping in mind that since the rough demographic composition is 45%-40%-15% (Serbs-Muslims-Croats) with very slowly rising Muslim community confronted by strong serbian efforts to preserve their majority, Croats will be in a position to decide the city Mayor through the whole 21st century.

True, that's why we will always have an upper hand in Brčko disctrict .

They managed to depose ethnic Serb Mayor Dragan Pajić from SNSD in May 2011. http://www.hrvatska-rijec.com/2011/05/bivsi-gradonacelnik-brckog-tvrdi-da-je-smijenjen-nezakonito/
14 Bosniak and 2 Serb deputies along with 1 Croat deputy (from HDZ 1990) voted against the Mayor.

The new Mayor (again a Serb from SNSD, Miroslav Gavrić) was given confidence by 22 deputies. 8 deputies from Bosniak SDP BiH Party voted against him. http://www.hrvatska-rijec.com/2011/09/miroslav-gavric-izabran-za-gradonacelnika-brcko-distrikta/

In October the former Mayor, Pajić, was arrested along with other members of the District of Brčko Government. http://www.posavski-obzor.info/vijesti/uhiceni-clanovi-vlade-brcko-distrikta

Here is an interesting perspective on Brcko (Though I took issue with the claim that "Although not well publicised, the atrocities committed in Brcko were second only to those in Srebrenica in scale; up to 5,000 non-Serb civilians were murdered here in a campaign of ethnic cleansing in early 1992 that occurred before the foreign television cameras arrived.")


http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article ... experiment

news from the Brčko region...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501714_162- ... m-village/

(AP) SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Police are searching a highly conservative Bosnian Muslim village looking for evidence related to an attack on the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo last October.

The prosecutor's office said in a statement that no further details can be released about Wednesday's raid on Gornja Maoca except that it is related to terrorism suspect Mevlid Jasarevic.

Police have raided the isolated northeast Bosnian village several times before because some of the residents were suspected of posing a security threat by promoting racial and religious hatred and illegally possessing weapons.

Two residents were accused of driving Jasarevic to Sarajevo, where he shot at the embassy building and injured a policeman before police shot him in his leg and arrested him.


Scientific American

At last, Gornja Maoča is well on it's way to becam a sanctuary of terrorists on borders of European Union. I'm comletly supporting this action. They must not be allowed to gain any foothold in or near Europe.

Rory

Thank you for the article. I do remember hearing of mass graves in the town but I never heard any figures regarding victims.

I found the part about Robert Farrand interesting. I don't think he could have gotten away with half of what he did without the large American base situated just outside the town.

This is a useful link for figures, but obviously shouldn't be accepted as gospel!

http://www.idc.org.ba/index.php?option= ... 26&lang=bs

There is some more information in the Brčko thread of the forum: posavina/br-ko-t121.html?start=100

What I am not clear on, is the view on the street in Brčko. If you read the above link the Serbs have an idea to split the existing municipality into several ethnically based ones. The map accompanying the proposal gives us most of the proposed Ravne-Brčko and all of Gornje Ravne. The only difference being that that Croatian villages of Gorice and Krepšić stay in Serb hands to keep the corridor open.

Additionally the article below doesn't say who voted to keep supervision in Brčko, SDP and company or was HDZ involved in this. If any one has any more info let us know!

Source: http://finchannel.com/Main_News/Politic ... ervision_/

Bosnia's Muslims and Croats against end of Brcko supervision

18/05/2012 08:28 (3 Day 03:23 minutes ago)

The FINANCIAL -- Bosnia's Muslim and Croat politicians on Wednesday opposed an end of international supervision of a northwestern town called Brcko, saying it could lead to a dispute of its neutral status by the Serb community.

The parliament of Muslim-Croat Federation adopted a declaration saying that the conditions for ending the supervision have not been met.

It accused the Bosnian Serb authorities of failing to prove "their commitment to respect all obligations towards Brcko district," a neutral territory since 1999 in the ethnically-divided country.

In March 2000, the town of Brcko was proclaimed a neutral district by an international arbitrage tribunal in 1999. Bosnian Serbs who had controlled the area since 1992 therefore lost their authority over the district.

According to EUbusiness, the town has since been placed under the authority of Bosnia's central government, and is run by a multi-ethnic administration, overseen by a top international representative.

But the Muslims and Croat politicians noted that the Serb authorities have failed to annul a declaration that rejected the international arbitration's decision to declare the district neutral.

They want a "national law over the town of Brcko" to be adopted before international supervision ends.

The law should regulate a number of issues, among them, Brcko's representation in the central state institutions, its financing and electricity supply.

The brutal inter-ethnic war that left 100,000 people dead split Bosnia into two semi-autonomous entities linked by weak central institutions.