SERB LEADER DZAKULA SUGGESTS MEASURES FOR CONFIDENCE-BUILDING AND ENCOURAGING SERB RETURN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 002227 SIPDIS USVIENNA ALSO FOR USDEL CSCE BRUSSELS ALSO FOR USEU E.O. 12356: DECL: 5/10/1996 CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 02 ZAGREB 02227 01 OF 02 091142Z TAGS: SUBJECT: SERB LEADER DZAKULA SUGGESTS MEASURES FOR CONFIDENCE-BUILDING AND ENCOURAGING SERB RETURN ¶1. CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT. ¶2. POLOFFS MET WITH VELJKO DZAKULA AT HIS REQUEST JUNE 6. HE WANTED TO SUGGEST CONCRETE MEASURES TO BEGIN THE SERIOUS REINTEGRATION OF THE REMAINING SERB AND RETURNING CROAT COMMUNITIES OF WESTERN SLAVONIA. DZAKULA ESTIMATED THAT BETWEEN 800 TO 1000 SERBS WERE STILL LIVING IN PAKRAC COUNTY AND ANOTHER 200 REMAINED IN OKUCANI. HE EMPHASIZED THAT THIS REMAINING SERB POPULATION WAS ATTEMPTING TO REORGANIZE THEIR LIVES UNDER A CROAT-CONTROLLED SYSTEM, BUT THE CROATIANS HAD SHOWED LITTLE GOODWILL SO FAR TOWARD KEEPING THE SERBIAN POPULATION IN THE AREA. HIGH-LEVEL GOC OFFICIALS HAD PROMISED DZAKULA TO WORK TOWARDS ENCOURAGING SERBS TO RETURN FROM BOSNIA AND SECTOR EAST, HE SAID, BUT LITTLE HAD COME OF THESE TALKS. THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS (MUP) WAS MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR MILITARY-AGE MEN TO GET CITIZENSHIP PAPERS (DOMOVNICA), ALTHOUGH WOMEN AND ELDERLY HAD RECEIVED THEM. DZAKULA HAD BEEN OFFERED A DOMOVNICA, BUT REFUSED TO ACCEPT ONE UNTIL EVERY SERB IN THE COUNTY RECEIVED HIS. DAILY CIVIL LIFE WAS STILL A PROBLEM. ABOUT 180 MEN WERE STILL JAILED AROUND THE COUNTRY FOR ARMED REBELLION EVEN THOUGH AN AMNESTY HAD BEEN PROCLAIMED AND GOC OFFICIALS HAD PROMISED TO RELEASE THEM. EVEN MUNDANE THINGS SUCH AS GATHERING WOOD FOR FUEL HAD BECOME A PROBLEM. ¶3. DZAKULA IDENTIFIED THREE PRECONDITIONS WHICH WOULD CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 03 ZAGREB 02227 01 OF 02 091142Z ENCOURAGE THE DISPLACED TO RETURN TO WESTERN SLAVONIA. THE AMNESTY DECLARED BY THE GOC HAD TO BE COMPLIED WITH AND EVEN BROADENED TO INCLUDE NOT ONLY ARMED REBELLION, BUT ALSO ORGANIZING, SALE OF WEAPONS, AND OTHER SIMILAR CHARGES. ONLY THOSE SERBS AND CROATS CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES SHOULD NOT BE PARDONED. THE REMAINING PRISONERS IN CROAT JAILS HAD TO BE RELEASED IMMEDIATELY IF THERE WERE NO PENDING WAR CRIMES CHARGES AGAINST THEM. SECOND, A MORATORIUM MUST BE IMPOSED ON THE DRAFTING AND MOBILIZATION INTO THE CROATIAN ARMY OF SERBS FROM WEST SLAVONIA. SERBS DISPLACED TO BANJA LUKA AND ELSEWHERE MUST BE MADE TO FEEL THEY WOULD RETURN FROM AN AREA OF WAR TO AN AREA OF PEACE IN WESTERN SLAVONIA. ¶4. THIRD, THE POLITICAL COMPOSITION OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT NEEDED TO BE WORKED OUT TO BALANCE THE TWO POPULATIONS. THE CONTINUED PRESENCE OF SO MANY POLICE TO PROTECT THE POPULATION WAS ENCOURAGING BUT THE POLICE FORCE NEEDED TO BE REORGANIZED ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL CENSUS OF 1991. WHILE DZAKULA ACKNOWLEDGED THE SMALL REMAINING POPULATION OF SERBS IN THE AREA MADE REPRESENTATION PROPORTIONAL TO THE 1991 CENSUS FIGURES IMPOSSIBLE IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE, HE CLAIMED THAT THERE WERE SEVERAL QUALIFIED SERBIAN POLICEMEN IN THE REGION WHO WISHED TO RETURN TO THEIR PREVIOUS JOBS. ON JUNE 7, THE GOC HAD ANNOUNCED THE CREATION OF A COMMISSION TO MONITOR THE PEACEFUL REINTEGRATION OF THE PAKRAC AND LIPIK COMMUNITIES. THIS COMMITTEE WOULD CONSIST OF FIVE MEMBERS, TWO OF WHICH WOULD ALWAYS BE SERBS, INCLUDING THE COMMITTEE'S PRESIDENT. ALTHOUGH SUPPORTIVE OF CREATING JOINT LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES, DZAKULA INSISTED THAT CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 04 ZAGREB 02227 01 OF 02 091142Z THE SERBS MUST HAVE A SAY IN THE CREATION OF SUCH STRUCTURES, AND NOT HAVE THEM IMPOSED. HE CRITICIZED THE FACT THAT THE GOC-PROPOSED BODY WOULD HAVE A CROAT MAJORITY, AND THAT IT WOULD ONLY HAVE ADVISORY DUTIES, WITH ACTUAL IMPLEMENTATION DEPENDENT ON ACTION BY THE OVERWHELMINGLY CROAT COUNTY COUNCIL. ¶5. DZAKULA SUGGESTED SEVERAL CONCRETE CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES THAT MI GHT CREATE GOODWILL BETWEEN THE LOCAL SERB POPULATION AND RETURNING CROATS. A CONVOY SHOULD BE ORGANIZED TO TRANSPORT OVER ONE HUNDRED SERBS DISPLACED IN 1991 TO SEE THEIR DESTROYED HOMES IN THE NORTHERN, CROAT- CONTROLLED AREA OF FORMER SECTOR WEST. IMMEDIATE CREDITS TO REBUILD HOMES NEEDED TO BE MADE AVAILABLE TO BOTH CROATS AND SERBS IN THE REGION. SUCH FUNDING OUGHT TO BE DONE ON AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL, HE SUGGESTED, SINCE THE GOC HAD SUPPLIED NO SUCH CREDITS TO SERBS SO FAR. A THIRD SUGGESTION FOCUSED ON REBUILDING THE ECONOMIC BASIS FOR THE LOCAL PEOPLE. MANY LOCALS IN THIS AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY WHO HAD REMAINED HAD SOLD THEIR LIVESTOCK AND FARM EQUIPMENT IN THE PAST MONTH TO CROATS AT EXTREMELY LOW PRICES, AND WERE LEFT WITH NO READY SOURCE OF FOOD OR CONFIDENTIAL NNNNPTQ1906 CONFIDENTIAL PTQ1906 PAGE 01 ZAGREB 02227 02 OF 02 091142Z ACTION EUR-01 INFO LOG-00 AID-00 CIAE-00 SMEC-00 OASY-00 SRPP-00 EB-01 FBIE-00 H-01 TEDE-00 INR-00 IO-08 LAB-01 L-01 ADS-00 M-00 NSAE-00 OIC-02 OMB-01 PA-01 PM-00 PRS-01 P-01 SCT-00 SP-00 SS-00 STR-01 TRSE-00 T-00 USIE-00 PMB-00 PRME-01 PRMC-01 DRL-09 G-00 /031W -------------- CE1D3B 091142Z /38 P 091225Z JUN 95 FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6080 INFO USLO SKOPJE AMCONSUL MUNICH NATO EU COLLECTIVE AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA USMISSION GENEVA SECDEF WASHDC NSC WASHDC AMEMBASSY BELGRADE AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 02 OF 02 ZAGREB 002227 SIPDIS USVIENNA ALSO FOR USDEL CSCE BRUSSELS ALSO FOR USEU E.O. 12356: DECL: 5/10/1996 CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 02 ZAGREB 02227 02 OF 02 091142Z TAGS: SUBJECT: SERB LEADER DZAKULA SUGGESTS MEASURES FOR CONFIDENCE-BUILDING AND ENCOURAGING SERB RETURN METHOD TO TILL THEIR LAND IN THESE SUMMER MONTHS. DZAKULA SAID THAT SUCH FAMILIES SHOULD BE GIVEN THE CONFISCATED ANIMALS OF SERBS WHO HAD LEFT THE REGION (UNTIL THE LATTER GROUP RETURNED) AND SHOULD BE SOLD BACK THEIR EQUIPMENT TO CONTINUE THEIR LIVELIHOODS. ¶6. THE CROATS MUST NOT WAIT FOR THE OTHER THREE SECTORS TO BE REINTEGRATED TO SOLVE THE "SERBIAN PROBLEM." THAT PROCESS MUST BE STARTED NOW, INSISTED DZAKULA. LOCAL SERBS BELIEVE THERE IS AN EXTREME RESISTANCE ON THE PART OF THE CROATIAN GOVERNMENT TO COOPERATION WITH THE SERB POPULATION. THE REMAINING SERBS WERE QUICKLY LOSING FAITH AND THEIR WILL TO STAY. GROUPS SUCH AS "THE ASSOCIATION FOR CROATIAN REFUGEES" MUST BE RENAMED AND BEGIN WORK TO RETURN ALL REFUGEES IN CROATIA, INCLUDING SERBS, CROATS AND OTHERS. THERE WERE 14,000 DISPLACED CROATS FROM THE AREA, BUT 75,000 DISPLACED SERBS, HE SAID. (NOTE: THE 75,000 FIGURE IS FOR SERBS DISPLACED IN 1991 AND SINCE.) THE GOC MUST BEGIN TO SHOW IT WAS INTERESTED IN SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF ALL THESE PEOPLE. ONLY THEN WOULD THE FLEEING SERB POPULATION BEGIN TO RETURN. GALBRAITH CONFIDENTIAL NNNN