Life returns to Dobrinja

Savka Pokrajac and her husband, both Bosnian Serbs from Sarajevo, have just moved back into their apartment in Dobrinja, a settlement just opposite Sarajevo airport. They were forced to flee in June 1992 when their neighborhood became frontline. Dobrinja, a very popular neighbourhood before the war, has been almost completely destroyed and is heavily littered with mines.

Now, six years later, they are back in their apartment which has been completely rehabilitated by the NGO Help Germany, with European Commission funding. Before rehabilitation works could start, deminers had to clean up the place. To date, 175 apartments and 25 private houses have been rebuilt.

"Two-way" return in the Zone of Separation

A very encouraging breakthrough in minority return (however still limited to the Zone of Separation, a 4 km wide strip between Bosnia's two Entities) is taking place in the municipalities of Uglievik (RS), Osmaci (RS), Kalesija (F) and Teocak (F). Encouraged by the Italian NGO InterSOS, local officials from both sides are collaborating to prepare the return of displaced Serbs to the Federation and displaced Bosniacs to the Republika Srpska.

This InterSOS project, financed by the European Commission's DGIA, is a large scale continuation of a very successful pilot return project funded by ECHO, the EC's humanitarian arm (see photo). Through the ECHO project, the dialogue has been opened towards reconciliation and development. The follow-up project builds on this positive experience, in order to extend the number of beneficiaries. The project includes reconstruction of houses and public buildings, but also electricity, water supply and road repairs in order to link up these municipalities again. "The strength of our project is that we managed to present it as a single project involving both municipalities (Kalesija and Osmaci), regardless of the line of separation between the two territories" explains Renato Moras, InterSOS programme manager.

"The preparation phase takes a lot of time. It's a matter of building confidence day by day, step by step, seeking full consensus at three levels: the institutions, the political parties and the resident population" he says. The approach has to be flexible and constantly adapted. For example, InterSOS stopped the organized assessment visits of Bosniac displaced people to their places of origin in the RS. "These visits appeared to be counterproductive because they assume political meaning and were perceived by the receiving community as a provocation. Instead, unorganized visits in small groups are frequently taking place to build a positive climate. For instance, on Sunday July 19 some Bosniacs displaced in the Federation went to Caparde (RS) to visit their houses occupied by Serb displaced families and were warmly welcome. They even had lunch and coffee together" says Renato Moras.

Central Bosnia: return to Travnik

On October 5th 1998, Travnik (Central Bosnia) was given the official status of Open City. The EU-funded " Return to Travnik " programme has been working since the summer of 1997 to facilitate the return of Bosnian refugees living in EU Member States. Up until now, 520 houses have been rebuilt there. More than half of the beneficiaries of the programme are part of the Croat minority. The project also includes social integration initiatives, such as the Advice and Information Centre. It is designed to address everyday issues such as employment, education, how to apply for health insurance and pension, how to get connected to phones and electricity. But the majority of the cases concern property issues. By the end of August, 259 families had returned from EU countries to houses rebuilt or freed up by this project. During the last weeks, this number has increased considerably as more houses have been completed and families are moving back in time for the start of the school year.

The EC continues to support agriculture in BiH

Cows are back on the farm in Bosnia

The European Commission agreed with the agriculture ministries in the two Entities in July 1998 on a ECU 20 million programme aimed at rebuilding a sustainable, market-economy-oriented agriculture sector for Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It is a continuation of a previous Commission-funded programme, of which the most important element is that cows, pigs and sheep will be distributed to farmers in war-devastated areas under a policy called livestock regeneration. Having a cow back on the farm gives an emotive boost to rural families and at the same time fosters an environment where refugees and displaced people will be encouraged to return.

But the policy also has another important objective, that of making the families economically independent. A Simmenthal heifer, for example, produces 15 to 20 liters of milk per day. A liter of milk can be sold for 1 DM. That will allow the farmer to reimburse the cost of the cow to a tune of 400 DM a year over a period of five years. The reimbursed money will then be channelled into a special fund jointly managed by the Commission and the governments. This counterpart fund will generate ECU six million to be used as a revolving credit fund for farmers who have limited access to credit. And so the benefit goes on.

Besides livestock regeneration, the EC agriculture programme also involves the supply of agricultural machinery and equipment, credits to finance micro-projects and technical assistance.

Publisher: Hans Jørn Hansen, European Commission ­ Directorate General External Relations 200 rue de la Loi / Wetstraat B - 1049 Brussels

Design and Editorial coordination: Strat&Com + 32 2 649 62 82

Europe for BiH
Quarterly newsletters published by the European Commission on its actions in Bosnia and Herzegovina
No 5, November 1998

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