GOC LEADERS CONDEMN ETHNIC ATTACK

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000907 SIPDIS SIPDIS EUR/SCE: HOH, SAINZ, PFEUFFER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM KAWC PREL HR SUBJECT: GOC LEADERS CONDEMN ETHNIC ATTACK REF: ZAGREB 898 ¶1. (SBU) Summary and Comment: The GOC swiftly responded to an ethnic attack in Biljane Donje in the Zadar region on 25 July in which four men stoned and set alight ethnic Serb returnee homes. The President and Deputy PM, along with ethnic Serb MPs, visited the families following the incident and all roundly condemned the attacks as contrary to Croatia,s policy of integration and reconciliation. Police acted quickly to arrest the individuals, who will be charged under newly-enacted hate crime legislation. Protesters from the nearby village of Skabrjne, the site of Serb paramilitary-perpetrated war crimes in 1991, demanded the release of the suspects and threatened further attacks on returnees. The Zadar region remains stubbornly resistant to reintegration, and Croatians, frustration about the war and past atrocities is vented through these types of incidents. However, strong condemnation by national leaders, bolstered by attention from the local media and international organizations, sent the message that such behavior will not be tolerated. End Summary and Comment. ¶2. (U) Early in the morning of 25 July, four men stoned four ethnic-Serb returnee homes and set alight the area around one house. The men, one of whom is a war veteran and another a former policeman, shouted ethnic insults at the mostly elderly returnees. Firefighters and police responded quickly, extinguishing the fire and arresting four suspects. The municipal state attorney in Benkovac plans to press charges against the men under the newly-enacted hate crime law, which carries a penalty from six months to five years in prison. The residents have been victims of numerous incidents; one woman for the sixth time. Both PM Sanader and the previous U.S. Ambassador have visited the residents. ¶3. (U) Reactions to the incident were strong and swift. President Mesic immediately condemned the attack and visited the families. &Those who attack you also attack the Croatian state,8 he said. Mesic listened to the families, problems, such as unemployment and lack of electricity. (Note: the village was electrified the next day.) The day of the attack, Mesic phoned Serbian President Boris Tadic to discuss the incident. Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor also visited the village, announcing that the GOC will not tolerate such violence. She also spoke with angry protesters from Skabrnje who demanded the release of the individuals and threatened further attacks on the returnees. ¶4. (SBU) While ethnic Serb refugees from this area want to return, the Zadar area remains resistant to reintegration. After the incident, ethnic Serb MP Milorad Pupovac explained that the war experience remains vivid, and local Croats are solidly nationalistic. (Note: For example, it is not uncommon to see signs of support of ICTY indictee Ante Gotovina in the area.) The political atmosphere still tolerates vengeance and the collective guilt of Serbs, Pupovac noted. This type of incident highlights both the local frustration with the lingering affects of the war and the need to address past atrocities: both the perpetrators and the protesters demanding their release are residents of nearby Skabrnje, the site of a Serb paramilitary massacre of Croat civilians in 1991 for which no one has been convicted. DELAWIE