BOSNIAN REACTIONS TO ICJ VERDICT: FROM

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SUBJECT: BOSNIAN REACTIONS TO ICJ VERDICT: FROM
DISAPPOINTMENT TO OUTRAGE

REF: SARAJEVO 362

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CLASSIFIED BY CDA JUDITH CEFKIN, REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D).


1. (U) Following weeks of speculation and building up of
expectations, the announcement by the International Court of
Justice that Serbia and Montenegro were not guilty of
genocide during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina
provoked immediate reactions across the political spectrum
here. The nature of the comments was predictable, with Serb
leaders saying the verdict should draw a line under the dark
wartime and post war history of Bosnia, while Bosniaks and
Croats expressed disappointment and outrage. Most leaders,
even some of those disappointed by the verdict, said it
should be respected. Below is a sampling of statements by
key Bosnian leaders following the announcement of the verdict:


2. (U) Haris Silajdzic, Bosniak Member of the BiH Tri-Presidency,
Party for BiH (SBiH): Serbia and Montenegro are the first two
countries in history convicted of genocide. They were convicted,
and the verdict reads as such, of violating the convention on the
prevention and punishment of genocide. It is clear that this
verdict was not a complete verdict, but it does contain within
itself the fact that the convention on genocide was violated.
Bosnia and Herzegovina must annul the results of genocide,
which exist everywhere in Bosnian society, in its culture,
economy, etc. In order to annul it, we have to change our
structure and our constitution, which were created as the
direct result of genocide."


3. (U) Zeljko Komsic, Croat Member of the BiH Tri-Presidency,
Social Democratic Party (SDP): Komsic, expressing disappointment,
said: "I do not know what the reason was for such a verdict,
and it is not up to me to comment on that -- whether it was a
lack of evidence or an incorrect judgement. But it doesn't
matter anymore." Komsic said the ICJ verdict must be respected,
but added: "I know what I will tell my child."


4. (U) Nebojsa Radmanovic, Serb Member of the BiH
Tri-Presidency, Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD):
Radmanovic predicted that the verdict would raise tensions in
the short term and cause disappointment in BiH. He said: "I
hope that we will be able to sit calmly and read the entire
verdict as a whole and then be able to build a happier
future, peacefully overcoming what happened in the past."
Radmanovic added that mutual confidence cannot be built with
lawsuits and verdicts -- the time would have been better
spent on building confidence within the region. Finally, he
said it was now necessary to find a way forward for Bosnia on
the path to Europe.


5. (U) Nikola Spiric, BiH Prime Minister (SNSD):
Spiric said that the verdict would allow Bosnia to establish
better relations with Serbia and Montenegro, but the verdict
would almost certainly leave scars within the country. "It
would be good if this verdict pulled us out of the past.
Unfortunately, after the initial reactions, I am not
convinced that will happen."


6. (U) Mladen Ivanic, Former Foreign Minister, President of
the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP):
Today's verdict "shed a completely different light on the
conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina and eliminated all
extremist ideas." Ivanic said the verdict concludes a phase
in history. "All those forces in BiH, especially the extreme
Bosniak forces, who were hoping that they would be able to
use the verdict for complete radicalization and changing the
consitutional arrangement, lost their arguments. After
today's verdict, this will not happen."


7. (U) Sulejman Tihic, President of the Party of Democratic
Action (SDA):
Tihic said he was not fully satisfied with the verdict, but
the ICJ determined that genocide and war crimes were
committed in Bosnia and the Republika Srpska was responsible
for that. He added: "I am satisfied with the fact that
Yugoslavia (sic) was held responsible for violating the
convention on the prevention of genocide, because they did

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(U) not, although they could have, prevented, stopped or
lessened the genocide in Srebrenica. They are held responsible
because they failed to punish the perpetrators, they are held
responsible because they failed to cooperate with the Hague
Tribunal, and they are held responsible because they failed
to observe the temporary measure ordered by the Court on
September 13, 1993, clearly stating they had to make all
efforts to stop the genocide in BiH."


8. (C) Within the Embassy, the reactions of our Foreign
Service National staff, the majority of whom are Bosniak,
were overwhelmingly negative. Virtually all of our FSN staff
said they believed the verdict was "rigged" for political
purposes, and said they were profoundly saddened by the
verdict. Although no one had expected a full indictment of
Serbia, they expected more from the verdict. Many said they
thought the verdict did not provide the closure they had
hoped for and felt the cause of the 1992-95 war remained
unrecognized by the international community. Though one did
comment that the Bosniaks have to co-exist with the Serbs, so
that in the long-term perhaps "a compromise" was better.
None said they believed there would be violent demonstrations
as a result of the verdict.


9. (C) COMMENT: We expect the verdict will continue to
feature very prominently in the media over the coming days
and will probably lead to finger pointing as to who lost the
case, and spinning of conspiracy theories. One thing appears
clear: the verdict has not changed the minds of political
leaders. Bosniak nationalists, as Silajdzic hinted in his
statements, likely will use the partial finding that genocide
had been committed in Bosnia as a means to continue to demand
the abolishment of the Republika Srpska by saying that
although Serbia and Montenegro were not guilty of
state-sponsored genocide, they did provide material and
ideological support the guilty Bosnian Serb parties. Serb
leaders in the meantime likely will continue to use the
verdict's announcement to urge the nation to draw a line
under the past and move on. In our comments we will have to
walk a delicate line that acknowledges the pain felt, reminds
people of the region that the failure to find the state of
Serbia complicit does not absolve individuals who perpetrated
war crimes, and reaffirms our commitment to help the people
of Bosnia move forward to a brighter future. END COMMENT.
CEFKIN