June 5, 1996
Bosnia Observers Told to Focus on Positive Events
By CHRIS HEDGES
IENNA, Austria -- The American diplomat heading the team in Bosnia that is supposed to determine whether fair elections are feasible there instructed his staff last week to focus more on positive developments in their weekly reports, rather than detailing the litany of obstacles to free elections.
The decision by Robert H. Frowick, head of the Bosnian mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to reorient the internal reporting of his staff has angered many within the mission.
Frowick's chief of staff, William Stuebner, also an American, resigned two weeks ago over the apparent decision by Western governments to push through elections despite the serious impediments to a free and fair vote, staff members close to Frowick's office said. Steubner has since left Sarajevo and efforts to reach him were unsuccessful.
The Clinton administration as well as some European governments have made it clear that they want the national elections to proceed this September, as called for under the Dayton peace accord, almost no matter what the situation on the ground, to avoid a collapse of the peace efforts and to avoid delays in the departure of NATO troops.
Frowick, in a telephone interview from Sarajevo, acknowledged that he had ordered a change in emphasis in field reports, saying that he could not make a decision on election conditions solely "on the basis of negative human rights reporting." But he denied that his new directive would serve to minimize the reporting of conditions that could impede free elections.
"I understand the human rights situation is not good," he said. "I don't need chapter and verse all the time from my own cadre, because I can learn that by reading the newspapers, watching television and listening to the radio. I need a balanced picture, even if it's a limited one, of progress on realization of the conditions, as well as continuing accurate reporting on violations and the problems."
Angry OSCE staff members in Bosnia, some of whom have been harassed in the field, especially by ethnic Serbs and Croats, say that the conditions laid out in the Dayton agreement for elections do not exist.
"We were told that from now on our reports would have to be more positive," said one staff member, who asked to remain unidentified. "The effect will be to downplay all human rights violations and play up everything that can be used to promote the holding of elections. It is a cynical move, aiming solely at justifying what will probably be a farce."
Frowick said it was "absolutely not true" that he had ordered his staff to play down human rights abuses.
"I said nothing about changing human rights monitoring and reporting," the ambassador said, "which I have always valued. What we have been doing here in the mission, on my initiative, is drawing increased attention to proactive democratization efforts."
"I believe there are some examples of progress, limited progress, on the conditions that have to be fulfilled," he said. "I can't reach a point when it's up to me under the peace agreement to make a recommendation if I don't have some documentation on some such examples of progress."
The weekly internal reports by the OSCE mission for May, copies of which were obtained by The New York Times from a European official displeased with the new orientation, bring into question whether free and fair elections can be held. These reports frequently chronicle hostility by Bosnian Serb, Croat and Muslim officials to the elections. They often detail specific instances when local officials, especially Serbs, flatly inform OSCE field staff that they will not cooperate with the election process.
The Clinton administration, facing its own election campaign this fall, is anxious to proceed with the elections, which are supposed to lead to a common national parliament in Bosnia and a joint presidency representing the three main ethnic factions, Muslim, Serbian and Croatian.
A failure to hold elections before the November elections in the United States could call into question the administration's promise to begin bringing home in December the 20,000 American soldiers in Bosnia.
The chairman of the Vienna-based OSCE, Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti of Switzerland, must certify by July 14 whether elections can be held, to give the political parties two months to campaign. But last weekend at a meeting in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher said that the elections should proceed in any case, virtually pre-empting the OSCE certification effort.
Western officials argue that even if conditions are not ideal, elections would at least begin the process of reuniting Bosnia by forming national institutions.
The May reports by OSCE monitors say that many local election commissions have not been organized and most others are under the thumb of local political authorities. The reports complain of lack of freedom of movement from one ethnically controlled enclave to another. They denounce the failure to establish a free press.
The reports also say that continued presence of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who wields enormous influence in Serb-held Bosnia although he faces war crimes charges, makes it impossible to challenge his political authority.
In a recent report, typical of many, an OSCE staff member was told by a senior Bosnian Serb official that the ethnic Serbs were "opposed" to the OSCE effort to organize local election commissions and would oversee their own voting. The OSCE official later had a homemade explosive device thrown at his car.
Western officials had originally expected that Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader, would be out of power well before the elections. But the two leaders have hung on and, despite public calls for their ouster, several American and European officials have privately said that they may be willing to proceed with elections if the two men will simply stay out of the public eye.
The Muslim-dominated Bosnian government has objected to holding elections if the two remain in power, exerting control over the population of the Serbian portion of Bosnia. They fear that elections held under current conditions will only serve to legitimize the splitting of the country, and past ethnic cleansing.
Other Places of Interest on the WebThe Dayton Peace Accords, Provided by the U.S. Department of State BosniaLINK, Provided by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe The United Nations The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
