Čović cares more about war criminals in The Hague than about Komarica in RS

By: Sead Omeragić

Relationship between Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović is a clean copy of the relationship between Boban and Karadžić, a miniature of Milošević and Tuđman by which division of BiH is to be verified. Čović and Dodik met in Karadjordjevo in 2009, by courtesy of Boris Tadić. The present situation is going their way: there no Croats in RS, so Čović is there to verify ethnic 'cleanliness' of the smaller BH entity.

And then, bishop Komarica spoke out about the situation of the Croats in RS:

- People, come to Banja Luka and see for yourself, it is a Bleiberg over there. Where are people of Banja Luka, why were they killed, why were they taken away their right to identity? They have no place of birth. It is a Bleiberg as far as I'm concerned, bishop Komarica said.

Milorad Dodik immediately reacted, requesting Komarica to withdraw his statement in which he compared Banja Luka to Bleiberg. That was quite enough to trigger attacks on bishop Komarica. Many expected Dragan Čović to protect Komarica from the attacks initiated by his (Čović's) friend Dodik. However, Čović said at the time that he trusts that 'Komarica should not have made such a statement'.

I do not have any intention on making comments on anyone's statements. Church should do its work, politics will do its work, but what we should all together do – bishop Komarica, and Perić, and cardinal Puljić, is to sit and think how to stop young people from leaving, Čović said.

Čović has been sitting and thinking for 23 years. He has concluded that Croats were ethnically 'cleansed' from Tuzla, Sarajevo, Zenica, equally from Republika Srpska and he provoked lots of aggravation by such statement.

Željko Reiner, President of Croatian Parliament, left the speaking floor in Banja Luka as there were no state flags at a press conference. And the topic of conversation with officials of RS was supposed to be the difficult situation of Croats. How come that their hardship can be seen from Zagreb and not from the new presidential office in Mostar?

Nobody has the right to alienate anybody in BiH, including representatives of Bosniak, Serb or Croat people, Čović responded.

Sounds shocking, yet in that statement resents Komarica for wishing to alienate him from Dodik.

That statement proves that there is more between Čović and Dodik than mere friendship. It may seem that the reason for obedience towards Serb side has come from some old state institutions.

Perhaps that's why Čović has treated superficially bishop's statement about horrid killings in Banja Luka in 1992. Today Serbs from Banja Luka openly speak about killings of 250 Bosniaks and Croats in their city, but nobody until now has even tried to investigate what was going on in the city in which one single grenade did not fall during the war.

-I don't want to travel back to the past, Čović said to that.

Nevertheless, he paid a visit to The Hague, to Prlić and other key creators of the past in this country. By doing so as a president, he paid them respects for their efforts during the war, for crimes committed in concentration camps, from Dretelj to Heliodrom, from Stupni Dol to Ahmići.

Čović simply does not have a position when it comes to Croats in RS. Due to the lack of position, there are no Croats in RS. Today Posavina Croats conclude with a hint of sarcasm: When Čović comes to visit Dodik with his driver, bodyguards and entourage, number of Croats in RS goes up by a few percent!

One horrid ethnic cleansing does not have place in Čović's national strategy. Should Čović genuinely wish for return of his people to their homes, Dodik would be lonely in promotion of RS as ethnically clean territory.

Equally, should Čović and his HDZ quit dreaming old dreams about the grand state, BiH would soon become a functional state. Yet, Dragan Čović needs voters, and they are in Federation. That's why Croats are endangered here, and not in RS. It's a simple calculus: No Croats in RS, no threat.

That's how Komarica is far more defended by Bosniak politicians than Čović. That's how Čović pays visits to those who expelled Bosniaks and Serbs from Herzegovina. Because, had there been no criminal past, there would not have been Republika Srpska and HZHB. There would have been Bosnia and Herzegovina.