Letter from Academician Duraković to Gabriel Escobar

In a letter to Gabriel Escobar, Academician Esad Durakovic explains the essence of the problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dear Mr. Escobar,

Local patriots, humanists, cosmopolitans - here in BiH - rely on the United States, whose power you presently represent in Bosnia, on which its future could depend: either as the path
to prosperity or the path to its ruin. It depends on you, it would be great if you kept that in mind - allow me say that. Therefore, in your mission, it is not only the future of Bosnia that is
at stake, but in your mission, the US sense of justice, of encouraging democracy and humanity is also being tested here. Believe it!

The war was stopped here by the Dayton Peace Agreement, but that agreement essentially saved the Army of the Republika Srpska, stopped the liberation offensive of the BiH Army in
front of Banja Luka and rewarded the aggression with a formation called the Republika Srpska.

For almost 30 years after that, it turned out that this country could not function under that peace agreement (it was declared an interim solution even then), and that it was necessary to
change some things to make BiH functional. Before you, who represent the most powerful country in the world, there seem to be two possible paths:

1. You have the opportunity to fix those Dayton solutions that have proven to be dysfunctional, and to upgrade the agreement so that BiH can begin to function like any other
normal country - self-sustaining, civic, humane and democratic.
2. An alternative to this path is to deepen the crisis by meeting the demands of nationalist leaders (presently they are Čović and Dodik) who are working on a project of finalization of
the aggression by Milošević's Serbia and Tudjman's Croatia. If you did that, then it would be the completion of their 1992 project. Negotiate with the opposition, listen to what the citizens
want, not with the nationalist leaders: there are many of us who want a multinational and peaceful Bosnia, a civil Bosnia and Herzegovina with truly equal rights for all citizens,
because what Mr. Covic advocates is just increasing the potential for national conflict in BiH.

Excellency, please bear in mind that the current political leaderships of both Croatia and Serbia are not stabilization factors; the instability of BiH is created specifically in those two
countries. That is the key to crisis resolution. We who strive for a civil and democratic BiH are deeply concerned about the direction that negotiations led by Mr. Palmer are taking, who is, moreover, in a kind of 'conflict of interest’ due to his connection with Serbia. We are asking for nothing more than what you and the Europeans have in your countries, for your citizens.
Come on, Mr. Escobar, save us from this nationalistic hell! It depends on you and your country whether Bosnia will be brought to a boiling point or whether Bosnia will be peaceful,
civic and democratic state.

Let me remind you of President Biden's speeches from the war years in BiH - when he with courage and precision, as a true leader, named the aggressors and victims in BiH. That speech
still gives us hope today. But that speech also obliges you - to create solutions here in BiH that will be consistent with the fair and humane actions of your chief - President Biden. That
will, among other things, strengthen his political, democratic and humane credibility, his consistency and authority.

Academician Esad Duraković