The low down

The political and ethnic tension here is stifling. From what I've seen so far in Bosnia, one group's villain is another group's hero. The country is divided into a republic run by Bosnia's Christian Orthodox Serbs and a federation between Muslim Bosnians and Catholic Croats. Any efforts to mend the post war situation must be intimately linked to the democratic context in which each ethnic group operates, and against the backdrop of nationalist party politics. The ongoing prosecutions for war crimes is not actually helping the national cohesion of Bosnia-Herzegovina, although it's going some way towards providing transparency and accountability, which can only be a positive thing. 

There is alot of political tension here because Serbian nationalists are continuing to spout their same-old propaganda, telling Serbs that the failed attempt to "create" a Greater Serbia is partly responsible for their current suffering. I find this hugely reminiscent of the political situation in Malaysia (the major difference being that the Malaysian race riots in 1969 was a 4 week killing spree, as opposed to a 3 year reign of terror, culminating in genocide.) That, and of course discrimination is constitutionalised in Malaysia, whereas it is imposed in Bosnia. 

Oppression of the now-minority Bosniak and Bosnian Croat populations throughout Republika Srpska continues today through restrictions on freedom of movement, evictions and expulsions, arbitrary arrest and detention, ethnically motivated harassment and direct physical attack, denial of employment, humanitarian assistance, medical care, and social insurance; discrimination in access to education and restrictions on religious freedom etc. 

That aside, the War Crimes Chamber of the State Court has been working intensively on processing war crime indictees. This is its fourth year of charging war crime indictees, and the State Court of BiH has pronounced more indictments than ever before, including 17 first-instance and six second-instance ones. (I have been reading statements of the guilt admissions agreements, if you're interested I can send anyone a link to online copies - but I reckon none of you are as geeky as I am!) I think the outstanding problem now is the continuing lack of an agreement between countries in the region on the extradition of indictees. The State Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed several indictments, confirmed by the Court, against persons charged with war crimes residing in neighbouring countries and who have dual citizenships. Unfortunately, they remain out of reach. Nonetheless, progress is being made albeit slow. The State Court has confirmed 25 indictments against 29 persons, which is good considering the circumstances. 

I am learning much here, especially seeing how institutional fragmentation has cemented ethnic division. There is a physical separation of communities here, and I am reminded so much of how things are in Malaysia. 

Bosnia's institutional fragmentation makes the overcoming of ethnic prejudice and lingering post-war animosities far harder to achieve. I may seriously think about further studies in ethnically-based reintegration projects and go into politics in Malaysia - but there I go again, getting ahead of myself! 

Anyway, I am typing on the world's slowest computer which is attached to the world's most decrepit keyboard so I will leave you here. Apologies to anyone reading this if you have found it an information overload. I bloody love politics, and I am a geek for analysis. It makes for a bad combo when reporting back!