How Belgrade and Zagreb Solve the Problems They Create in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Who knows what Belgrade and Zagreb are thinking when they say they are against a referendum. At the same time, one can see that this is a two-faced policy: The leaders of Serbia and Croatia are against the referendum, and every third day Vučić calls Dodik to report, just as Plenković calls Čović. Vučić organizes a referendum, and Čović supports it.

Where do these cheap lies of political Belgrade and Zagreb come from, claiming they have no influence over their protégés? In Bosnia and Herzegovina, even children know these stories, but they are indescribably hypocritical towards people from the international community.

Vučić says he is against the referendum, and that at the moment when Dodik is received by Putin. So, when Russia is for the referendum, Vučić is not. If Plenković and President Grabar-Kitarović are against the referendum, Čović is always for it.

Of course, two neighboring countries, less populated than two thousand cities in the world, in a constant process of decline and depopulation, can pretend to be important only when it comes to the neighboring country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Because here they have their minions. These countries are especially important when solving the problems they create for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Unfortunately, they will continue to play petty games and petty torment this country, condemned to their hypocrisy and constant deception. There is nothing that the faces of small-big statesmen will not endure. They even swear before the UN that they are for the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. And here are a few examples of how both of them „protected“ the integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995. Here are a few facts about „non-interference“:

The conversation between Milošević and Tuđman in 1993, recorded by Hrvoje Šarinić in his memoirs „All My Secret Negotiations with Slobodan Milošević“:

Milošević: I see you have transferred five brigades to Bosnia.

Tuđman (with a smile): They are volunteers.

Milošević: (laughing) I am not the UN for you.       

David Owen recorded in „Balkan Odyssey“ that „Milošević, via Russia, passed on to the UN his information (obtained from Tuđman) about the forces of the Croatian Army in Bosnia, which had 60,000 soldiers, 120 tanks, and about 150 artillery pieces over 100 mm.“ 

HV General Janko Bobetko admitted that more of his soldiers died in battles against the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina than against the Chetniks.

The JNA or JA, as the armed army of Serbia, had a constant 27 brigades in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 and 1993, writes David Owen in his memoirs „Balkan Odyssey“.

In the spring of 1993, there were 64 brigades from Serbia and Croatia in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Owen cites data from permanent UN observers.                      

Chief of the JNA General Staff Veljko Kadijević notes in his book „My View of the Breakup“: „The commands and units of the JNA formed the backbone of the Army of Republika Srpska with complete weapons and equipment. That army (of Serbia, ed.) created the military prerequisites for adequate political solutions that would correspond to its national interests and goals.“

UN Security Council Resolution 725 of May 15, 1992, speaks of the presence of the JNA and HV in Bosnia and Herzegovina. „Serbia and Croatia are demanded to immediately withdraw JNA and HV units from Bosnia and Herzegovina,“ states the conclusion of the Security Council.

There were five such resolutions speaking of aggression by neighboring countries against Bosnia and Herzegovina.      

Even on the eve of the signing of the Washington Agreement, on February 1, 1994, the UN Security Council issued a presidential statement: „The UN Security Council is deeply concerned that the Republic of Croatia has deployed units of the Croatian Army together with heavy military equipment in the central and southern parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Security Council strongly condemns the Republic of Croatia for a serious hostile act against a UN member state.“

The Zagreb newspaper Nacional published a document on July 1, 1996, stating that from the beginning of the war, 100 million German marks were allocated monthly from the Croatian budget for the state apparatus, army, and police of Herceg-Bosna. In total, by then, Herceg-Bosna had cost the Republic of Croatia about 9 billion German marks. So not only military aid, but also financial aid.

Because of all this, Bosniaks were more delighted by Croatia's entry into NATO than many Croats. 

There are hundreds of these examples of direct wartime engagement of neighboring countries in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But we provide only these few examples after the sick threats of war from Serbia. And because of the two-faced attitude of both regimes towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.