Reconstruction and Return

"Precious weeks lost, but return process ongoing" - Andrew Bearpark^*

What factors have influenced the return of Bosnian refugees and displaced persons during the first months of 1999?

In recent months, two main events have influenced the work of the RRTF (Return and Reconstruction Task force*). The first was the political crisis that erupted in Republika Srpska after the September 1998 elections and culminated with the High Representative's decision on 5 March to suspend President Nikola Poplasen and with the arbitration decision on Brcko.

Added to this there has of course been the Kosovo crisis, which has imposed considerable restrictions on international organisations and NGOs working in RS and slowed down our planned refugee return operations. Above all the influx of almost 40,000 Sandjak and Kosovo refugees is hindering our work because they are now occupying space intended for returing minorities. Their problems have now been added to those of the 800,000 internally displaced people already present in Bosnia. This spring we have lost precious weeks that we had hoped to use for planning reconstruction activites, but despite this the Bosnian return process hasn't come to a halt. We are pressing ahead with our efforts in these difficult circumstances.

1998 was supposed to be the year of minority return, but it did not happen. What are your expectations for 1999?

The main problem last year was that we were focusing on unrealistic numbers. What we need now is a better instrument to monitor returns and SFOR is currently in the process of developing a new system which should be ready by August. The most encouraging factor this year was the recent decision taken by the High Representative to cancel permanent occupancy rights allocated during and after the war (see box). These blocked the return of pre-war occupancy rights holders. The cancellation will strenghten the rights of people displaced by the conflict to re-claim their pre-war homes. The tricky task will now be the implementation of evictions to free up illegaly occupied space.

Are there recent positive signs?

Yes! In the first few months of this year we have started to see minorities returning to areas previously regarded as "difficult". During March and April, in the area covered by the Southern Region RRTF, Bosniaks returned from Jablanica and Bugojno to the Bosnian Croat town of Prozor-Rama. Meanwhile, Bosnian Serbs continued to return to the Mostar area. In North-West Bosnia, Bosnian Serbs displaced in the Posavina region have continued to return to the municipalities of Drvar, Bosansko Grahovo and Bosanski Petrovac - areas which are now under Bosnian Croat control.

There have aslo been some unexpected surprises. In March, Bosniaks -- most of them from Sanski Most --, returned to the Japra Valley in the RS (near Prijedor) and started to clean and renovate their properties despite local hostility. At the same time on the other side of Bosnia - near the borders with Serbia - the much publicised and long-awaited return of Bosniaks to the Zvornik municipality began and so far things have gone very smoothly. Local RS police have been providing security for returnees cleaning their houses and staying overnight. The most important advance in 1998 was a serious improvement in security for returnees, thanks essentially to a major effort by SFOR.

Interview by Isabelle Brusselmans

* Andrew Bearpark is the Deputy High Representative for Reconstruction and Return

* The Reconstruction and Return Task Force, or RRTF, is a task force that brings together key agencies working to support return in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the national level, the RRTF is chaired by the OHR.

OHR web site: www.ohr.int

RRTF E-mail: jenny.pearcesar@ohr.int

The EC 1999 return programme

Thoughout 1999 the EC will continue to support projects encouraging the return of refugees and displaced persons. As was the case in 1998, a call for proposals has been launched in April 99, and the projects are currently being selected for funding.

This specific "integrated return programme" worth around 44 million euro is designed to support the 1999 Return Plan of the Reconstruction and Return Task Force (RRTF), and will be focused on certain "return axes" defined by the RRTF. The return projects funded by the EC's Obnova programme will be closely coordinated with the projects funded by ECHO (the European Community Humanitarian Office), which will mainly be focused on support to spontaneous return movements.

Returns to Northwest Bosnia

Tangible results for the EC 1998 return programme

Encouraging minority groups to return to their homes in Northwest Bosnia, an area considered as "difficult", has been one of the EC return programme's main achievements in recent months.

A large number of projects funded by the 1998 return programme were concentrated on this region and the effects of the scheme can be clearly seen. In Drvar (Federation BiH), both OXFAM and CESVI are working hard to bring back minority Serb families and to ease tensions between them and the Bosnian Croat host community. This has been achieved by ensuring that host communities also benefit from EC-backed initiatives, such as the distribution of livestock, grants for microenterprises and programmes designed to encourage community work groups. Over 1000 families are currently benefiting from the reconstruction and job creation activities of these two NGOs. In Drvar and Grahovo, Mission Locale de Strasbourg is stimulating the local economy by giving grants to entrepreneurs who would like to restart their business activities. The grants can cover the costs of equipment needed to get businesses running again and also contribute to the salaries of new employees over an initial period. This programme is modelled on schemes MLS has been running in Sarajevo and Banja Luka for some time. So far, 89 entrepreneurs have benefited from the grant schemes in Drvar and Grahovo, and 267 new jobs have been created.

In Mrkonjic Grad (RS), 78 Bosniak families from Zenica and Bugojno were able to move back into their rebuilt houses thanks to a project run by the Dutch Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (DRA). This NGO also rebuilt the town's water and electricity network, a school and a milk collection centre. In Bosanski Petrovac (Federation BiH), Care Germany is rebuilding houses and apartments for 52 families, 15 of them being minority Serbs who have decided to come back to live in the Federation, despite the difficult context of the war in FRY.

Return to Croatia

Setting the ball rolling

It is difficult to work on the return of refugees and displaced people in Bosnia and Herzegovina without adopting a regional approach to the problem. This is why the EU is currently working in Croatia to encourage refugees and displaced persons to make their way home. Many Croatian Serb refugees are still in Republika Srpska, hindering return of Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks there because they occupy their homes.

In a bid to tackle this problem, the EU has set up the European Union Reconstruction Programme for Return (EUPOP) in Croatia - a scheme that is being coordinated by the Office of the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB). EUPOP activities are concentrated on towns and villages in Eastern Slavonia (Ernestinovo, Lovas, Vukovar and Stari Jankovci), Western Slavonia (Dragalic, Lipik, Pakrac) and former sector north and south (Petrinja, Gracac, Donji Lapac).

In Western Slavonia for example, the war caused an enormous amount of devastation. The majority of refugees hoping to return to this region are of Serb origin and are currently located in Bosnia and Herzegovina (RS) and FRY. Their plight is compounded by the fact that the Croatian government does not consider them to be a priority when it comes to allocating funds to finance reconstruction efforts. The main obstacle currently hindering the sustainable return process to this region is the unsatisfactory housing situation.

After the ASB has identified families that are willing to return, it organises information meetings designed to help guide potential returnees through the bureaucratic maze of administrative procedures that the Croatian government will oblige them to battle their way through. After that, the next phase in the return process is the rebuilding of refugees' houses. In many cases dwellings have to be de-mined before people can begin living in them once more. EUPOP is also working to help re-establish public and social infrastructure in Croatia so that the country will be able to cope with returning refugees and so that local communities will not be overly hostile to the new arrivals.

EUPOP e-mail: ecasbmo@zg.tel.hr

Return to Sarajevo

The right choice

Risto Djurdjic had been living in a collective centre in Visegrad since he had to flee Sarajevo. He recently had the courage to make his way back home in spite of the strong anti-return propaganda that is prevalent throughout Eastern Republika Srpska.

"If you return you will be killed" people told him. Today, he is back in his house in the Sarajevo suburb of Ilias and he is convinced that he has made the right choice. Mirko Jankovic, who moved to Serb Sarajevo during the war, had somewhat of a shock when he went back to see his former home in Novi Grad. He discovered that a brand new mosque was being built just in front of his house, on land he owned. But he nevertheless decided to return home. "The most important thing is that I'm back to my home town with my family" he said.

"Sarajevo must be a model of coexistence and tolerance for the rest of the country". This key phrase was the central tenet of the Sarajevo Declaration adopted on February 3 1998, a document which called for specific obstacles to the return of minorities to be dismantled. Signatories to the declaration committed themselves both to achieving the return of at least 20.000 displaced people to Sarajevo in 1998 and to re-establishing a multiethnic environment in the city. But as last year drew to a close, it became clear that these ambitious targets would not be met. In fact, fewer than 2000 people returned to the Bosnian capital during 1998.

In a bid to kick-start the return process in the face of a clear lack of willingness on the part of the city's local authorities, a number of NGOs supported by the European Commission have managed to persuade some members of minority communities to return to the Sarajevo region. One such organisation was Nuova Frontiera, an Italian NGO that has received funding form the European Community Humanitarian Officie (ECHO). The NGO has helped thirty-two families to return to Sarajevo where their houses have been rebuilt and re-connected to the city's electricity and water supplies. The families were previously dispersed across the former Yugoslavie, with many of them taking refuge in Republika Srpska.

After having fought for two years to regain her apartment, literature teacher Mirjana Gakovic, was finally able to return home recently thanks to help from Nuova Frontiera. She left in 1992 when the war broke out to live with her grandmother in the FRY. Gakovic was lucky. The people who had been living in her apartment had not been granted permanent occupancy rights, which made the process of regaining her appartment easier. The situation is much more complicated for people who want to return home but whose houses or apartments are being occupied by people who received permanent occupancy rights. The High Representative's recent decision to cancel permanent occupancy rights issued during and after the war represents a new hope for families wanting to return.

Europe for BiH
Quarterly newsletters published by the European Commission on its actions in Bosnia and Herzegovina
No 7, June 1999

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