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THE DEATH of Franjo Tudjman, the president of Croatia, reported recently in
the Sentinel, was probably unnoticed by most of your readers. In spite of the
presence of many Croatian Americans in Santa Cruz County-particularly in the
Watsonville area and Croatia’s involvement in the Balkans war, most Santa Cruzans
and probably most Americans would be hard-pressed to find Croatia on the map.
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From Mostar to Stolac is only 30 kilometres but it seems much longer. You head
south from Mostar following the river valley, then turn abruptly upwards into
the mountains. Here you find a strange, desolate landscape of grey granite and
dead twisted trees. Clusters of houses in various stages of destruction or repair
line the road; most fly the distinctive blue and red Croatian flag. In the distance,
are further clusters of villages - many also half destroyed and deserted. It is
only when the road descends to Stolac that you glimpse the fertile river valley
that produces the best tobacco in Bosnia.
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Air campaign brings death to Kosovars

AS FIRST-HAND observer to the aftermath of Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic’s
policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I agreed
with the NATO air campaign to save the Kosovars from a similar fate. The brutal
war started by the Yugoslavian Army through their vassal Bosnian Serb allies
came dangerously close to destroying an entire people. Two-hundredfifty-thousand
people are missing and presumed to be dead and 1.5 million are refugees (out
of a prewar population of only 4 million). Virtually every mosque, religious
school, library and museum that had any connection to the Ottoman period that
was or is in Serbian-held territory was destroyed. The ground in what’s left
of Bosnia and Herzegovina is sewn with more than 100,000 land mines. Thousands
of villages and hamlets sit empty as the residents have fled or are dead. The
transportation system is largely destroyed, electric production is a fraction
of pre- war levels and unemployment is 60 to 70 percent - all in a nation that
prior to the war had a higher standard of living than Portugal, Greece or Turkey
(all NATO members).
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SPECIAL REPORT CRIMINAL ACTIVITY IN STOLAC IPTF AOR DURING BOSNIAK RETURNS MARCH
26-28, 1998 AND THE LOCAL POLICE RESPONSE

SUMMARY:
During the period of March 26-28, 1998 the Stolac IPTF area of responsibility
witnessed one of the most intense periods of criminal vandalism since the program
of Bosniak returns began. Several dwellings were destroyed by explosions and
many more were burned. There were no physical injuries in any of the cases as
the structures directly effected were uninhabited, however, the psychological
trauma to residents living in nearby dwellings must not be overlooked. The incidents
were concurrent with the return of Bosniak displaced persons to areas outside
of the pilot project area in Stolac town, which was in itself concurrent with
a highly visible SFOR military exercise. Their impact on the continuing return
process remains to be seen.
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A spokesman for Carlos Westendorp, The International Community’s chief representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said in Sarajevo on 25 February that Westendorp has given Tudjman one week to sack the ultranationalist mayor of the Herzegovinian town of Stolac or face the loss of his own political credibility (see “RFE/RL Newsline,” 25 February 1998). The spokesman said this is Tudjman’s “last chance” to prove that he supports the Dayton agreement.

Source: http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/rferl/1998/98-02-26.rferl.html