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Date sent: Fri, 21 May 1999 10:13:44 -0700
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: WILL THE UN BRING PEACE TO KOSOVO? THE BOSNIAN PRECEDENT
WILL THE UN BRING PEACE TO KOSOVO? THE BOSNIAN PRECEDENT
By ALAN BENJAMIN
The recent meeting of the G-8 (the group of the seven most
powerful capitalist countries plus Russia) concluded on May 6
with the call to find a "diplomatic solution" to the war in
Yugoslavia. The proposal is to place the United Nations and
Russia at the center of a process that would result in a United
Nations Security Council resolution for "a peaceful settlement."
If such a scenario is played out, would this represent the
beginning of a solution to the horrible suffering endured by all the
peoples of the region? Not by a long shot.
The so-called peace plan that is being drawn up for Kosovo
resembles almost line for line the "peace agreement" that was
signed - with the blessing of the UN (Security Council
Resolution No. 1031) - in Dayton, Ohio, on Nov. 21, 1995,
following the three-year war in Bosnia.
Such an agreement only enshrines the "ethnic cleansing" that
swept Bosnia-Herzegovina, while delivering the region wholesale
to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Though hailed
at the time as a "solution" promoting democracy and sovereignty
for the peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Dayton Accords are,
in fact, the opposite.
What have been the results, three and a half years later, of the
Dayton Accords?
Under the pretense of helping the Bosnian refugees return to
their homeland, 90,000 UN troops (60,000 IFOR troops and
30,000 SFOR troops) were deployed, becoming a de-facto
occupying force exempt from any control by the peoples of the
region. (The exemption from all customs reviews under Article 1-
1-b of the Accords, in fact, has given rise to countless accusations
by local authorities of drug-running by UN blue helmets.)
But what about the refugees from Bosnia? Where are they now?
This is what the European Commission on Foreign Relations
reports in a document published late last year: "Eighty-five percent
of the displaced people still have not returned to their country of
origin. Of those who have returned, 93% have been directed
to enclaves where they represent the ethnic majority. ...
Henceforth, Bosnia-Herzegovina is now made up for the most
part of regions that are ethnically homogeneous." ("The European
Union and Bosnia-Herzegovina," November 1998)
Bosnia, a country where peoples of all ethnic origins had been
intermixed for centuries, was now partitioned under the aegis of
the UN into ethnic enclaves - against the wishes of its people.
Families were divided arbitrarily, prevented from reuniting.
Equally revealing of the true aims of the Dayton Accords, the
Bosnian economy was placed on the auction block of wholesale
privatization.
A report by the Council of the European Union (June 8, 1998)
describes the mechanisms through which Bosnia-Herzegovina has
been delivered to the IMF and World Bank. It states, in part:
"Point 14: The introduction of a market economy is the best
means to bring prosperity to Bosnia-Herzegovina and its people.
.... This will necessitate a program of fundamental reforms as well
as agreements with the international financial institutions to
guarantee the reforms. As long as Bosnia-Herzegovina follows the
recommendations of the IMF, the European Union will continue to
disburse macro-financial assistance.
"The key elements of a program of structural reforms for 1998-
99 are the reform of the banking system, the beginning of
privatization of the state-owned enterprises, the reform of the
healthcare and social security programs, and the full liberalization
of trade. In addition, it will be necessary to ensure the
flexibility of the labor market and strict fiscal discipline."
The results of the IMF and European Union dictates were
spelled out in greater detail by the French business weekly
Entreprises et Carrieres on April 27, 1999. The article states:
"Bosnia-Herzegovina is about to launch this year a
comprehensive privatization drive, and expects to sell off all its
banks between now and August of 2000. Given the shattered state
of the economy, the banks will either be privatized or they will be
closed. The same will occur with the gas, telephone and electrical
public utilities. After this will come the privatization of the oil,
metal, and agro-processing industries."
Need more be said? Bosnia-Herzegovina has been delivered
lock, stock and barrel to predatory finance capital, primarily to
U.S. capital. The market economy will not bring "prosperity" for
the Bosnian people - any more than it has for the people of
Russia or any where else on the face of this planet.
There can be no doubt. The "peace settlement" brokered by the
UN in Dayton is based upon the denial of the most basic
democratic rights of the peoples involved. It is a "peace
settlement" that only prepares more suffering, more devastation -
and more wars - down the road.
---
(Note: This article was written on the basis of a dossier published
by Yann Legoff in the May 12, 1999, issue of Informations Ouvrières
(Labor News), the weekly newspaper of the French Workers Party.
Alan Benjamin is the editor of The Organizer newspaper. A sample
copy of The Organizer can be obtained by sending an email request to
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or calling (415) 626-1175.)
[PEN-L:7126] (Fwd) WILL THE UN BRING PEACE TO KOSOVO? THE BOSNIAN PRECEDENT
ts99u-1.cc.umanitoba.ca [130.179.154.224] Fri, 21 May 1999 15:27:18 -0500
