Nearly 30 years have passed since the signing of the “Dayton Agreement,” which ended the bloody civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although its signing was accompanied by great optimism and a political bet on the possibility of ensuring stability and ending ethnic conflicts there, that did not happen as many had hoped.
This topic is explored in the French documentary “The Dayton Legacy: Bosnia, A Fragile Peace.” It was co-produced by Al Jazeera Documentary and Al Jazeera Balkan, and written and directed by “Pierre Olivier François” (2023).
The film examines in depth the Bosnian situation, in connection with the re-emergence of nationalist conflicts on the surface, and the biases that accompany them, which deepen the political and ethnic division, and encourage corruption and exploitation of influence, until all of them have become a threat to the “fragile” peace, and raise a fear that the specter of war will return to the region. It suffered calamities and destruction.
The Bosnian war...a burning fire in a region of diverse ethnicities and religions
In its opening, the French documentary passes in front of the facade of the Historical Museum located in the same place that witnessed the assassination of Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo, at the hands of a Serbian student. The incident was the cause of the outbreak of World War I, as if its maker Frenchman Pierre Olivier François refers to a trace of a historical wound that has not yet healed.
To refer to it, he traces the historical stages that Bosnia went through, and the Ottoman presence - which lasted for nearly 400 years - constituted a prominent mark in its Islamic culture, then it was followed by the long dominance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire over it, and then after World War II it turned into a part of the unified Yugoslavia.
All of these stages and their interactions made it a meeting place between the West and the East, and a place that witnessed the intermingling of different religions and ethnicities, but because of that ethnic diversity, conflicts emerged, the last of which was the civil war, which was sparked by extremist Serbian nationalists in 1992, during which they committed heinous massacres against Bosnian Muslims, claiming the lives of nearly 100,000. man.
The war did not stop until the United States intervened in it. Due to the advance of Bosnian and Croatian forces under American air cover, Serbian leaders were forced to negotiate to stop the war that lasted 3 years, and was classified as the worst civil war that Europe witnessed after World War II.
“Dayton Agreement”... stopping artillery and perpetuating division
The flames of the Bosnian war and the ethnic and national conflicts did not die down, even after the signing of the “Dayton Agreement” in 1995 under international auspices. The documentary devotes a good amount of time to its details and the circumstances of its signing, and gives some of its participants the opportunity to talk about its positive and negative aspects.
Among those speakers is Ivo Komšić, who tells the documentary that the agreement succeeded in stopping the war, and the ambition of the European and American leaders sponsoring it was merely to stop it, without taking into consideration what its provisions would lead to later.
Komšić believes that the agreement has shackled Bosnia, perpetuated the division, and distanced it from the principles of democracy. It also created a complex administrative and legal system that allows corruption and exploitation of influence, and politically provides a climate for secession whenever the opportunity arises for those demanding it.
European fear of the war spreading from Ukraine to Bosnia and Herzegovina
The documentary presents the case of Republika Srpska, which obtained an important share of Bosnian territory according to the treaty, and is today run by Bosnian Serbs. Although it enjoys great relative independence, strong separatist tendencies have emerged in it in the past, led by their leader, Milorad Dodik, who demands the establishment of a completely independent entity. Regarding Bosnia, he publicly declares - in video recordings shown in the film - that he does not recognize the existence of a federal state called the “Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
The peace procession...a reminder of the horrors of war that will never be forgotten
Because of Milorad Dodik’s movements and China and Russia’s encouragement for him to secede, and his biased positions towards Russian President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the countries of European unity moved to curb that trend, for fear of the expansion of the war and its transfer from Ukraine to Bosnia and Herzegovina, so they announced their acceptance of a candidate country to join European unity. .
The documentary believes that Chinese and Russian influence within Republika Srpska (or Republika Srpska) poses a threat to the Western world, and opens the way for Putin to create a split within its ranks, in order to achieve his political dreams.
The calls of the Serbian nationalist leader for secession - along with the Croatian leaders who left the treaty without obtaining an independent region - raise fears of the return of the civil war and its horrors again, a war whose memories have not disappeared from the minds of those who lived through it, and who lost dear ones and loved ones in its massacres that became a “massacre.” “Srebrenica” is a symbol of it.
The film documents the “Peace March,” in which thousands of people go out annually, as a reminder of the horrors of what happened in Srebrenista, and the genocide that Muslims were subjected to at the hands of Serbian General Ratko Mladic, and their repeated calls for it not to happen again.
But Leader Dodik's movements confirm his lack of interest in these peaceful calls and his continued insistence on claiming that secession is the only guarantor of the rights of Orthodox Christians. This proposal is similar to that of the Croatian leaders who claim that the "Dayton Treaty" has deprived Catholic Christians of their real share in the country.
Corrupt deals... interests threatened by calls for peace and unity
The demand for quotas and secession threatens the existence of Bosnia, undermines its federalism and unity, and strengthens the position of the large parties that feed nationalist and ethnic ideas in it. That is why other new parties are emerging today calling for respect for human rights, rejecting extremist nationalist political discourse, and putting the right man in the right place, without regard to... His nationality or religion.
Different discourse for new parties with different political orientations
But this proposal conflicts with the interests of the separatist leaders and limits their corruption, which is why they criticize those parties and accuse them of treason.
To find out what the leaders of the “Republic of Srpska” gain from the ambiguous situation created by the treaty, the documentary goes to interview “Ivana Korajelic,” whose colleagues call her “the fighter against corruption,” to learn about the nature of the widespread corruption in the “Republic of Srpska,” and to know its sources.
Chinese companies: sabotaging the environment and plundering wealth and resources
It is clear from the words of the anti-corruption activist, Ivana Kuragelic, that commercial investments - especially those related to the petroleum industry - are managed independently of the government center, and that the deals concluded between investors in them remain secret, and their profits enter the pockets of the leaders of the republic, who open their doors to Russian investments. Thanks to it, they are getting closer politically and economically with President Putin, who is very popular there, and his pictures appear everywhere in its streets and residential neighborhoods.
Chinese companies are active in Republika Srpska and conclude illegal business deals, without the government center in Sarajevo being aware of them.
These companies intend to exploit the natural wealth in western Bosnia, and establish projects that are harmful to the environment called “small dams,” which lead to the waste of large quantities of fresh water supplied by large rivers that are today exposed to depletion and pollution, due to the actions of companies that do not take into account legal controls and cannot Federal government control.
“The High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina”... the sponsor of peace and the source of conflict
The documentary dwells for a long time on the weakness of the federal government’s control, because of the danger it represents that encourages corruption and perpetuates division. It appears from an interview with former German Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt, who is responsible for managing the High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the highest political authority in the country. The European Union appoints its official, and he is entrusted with the task of supervising the civil peace agreement approved by the “Dayton Agreement.”
The peace march is a reminder of war and its horrors
During the interview, Schmidt reveals the extent of the complexity and complexity of the state’s administration, as it was formed of leadership bodies that required the presence of representatives of the three ethnic groups (Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats), and no decision is taken except after the approval of the representatives of those groups.
One of the ironies of the ambiguous situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina today is that the presence of the representation - as a guarantor of the desired peace - has become a source of conflict, and this becomes clear after Schmitt rejected the request of Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs, to secede from the federal union. He later attacked the representation, describing it as It is a hybrid entity whose existence constitutes a violation of the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A country in which a foreign man makes the most dangerous decisions does not deserve to be called a state!
Abolishing the cantonal system...a popular demand to end the state of division
The documentary stops at a fact that is striking in its strangeness. The Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik’s talk about violating sovereignty is met with him opening the doors of his republic to European leaders who share with him the ideas of nationalist extremism, and they exploit their presence within European unity to prevent any step that would expose his rampant corruption, and among them is the president of Hungarian Minister Viktor Orban, a right-wing extremist who supports his separatist calls within the unit, prevents legal bodies from investigating him on any corruption charge raised against him.
On the Bosnian side, voices are rising calling for the rejection and abolition of the “canton” system established by the treaty, as it further weakens the control of the federal government, and makes it incapable of managing the country as it is supposed to, because it represents the population majority. Therefore, the Bosnians have the right to assume the reins of leadership, according to what the majority stipulates. Constitutions in the world.
But this matter is not applied in practice, which makes the division a reality, as even the European unity countries are unable to prevent it, because the treaty - according to the opinion of a number of participants in the documentary - focused mainly on guaranteeing the rights of conflicting ethnic and national groups, without paying attention to rights and freedom. Individuals.
Population migration... political interests that change the popular composition
The migration of Bosnians - especially young people - to neighboring European countries has increased due to political chaos and division. According to 2013 statistics, one-fifth of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina has emigrated from it, which constitutes an imbalance in the population balance. If migration continues as it is currently doing, the proportion Older people will prevail and overtake their demographics within the coming decades.
Ethnic diversity that nationalist leaders do not want
At the administrative and political level, the large ruling parties seek to limit their slogans and goals to national and ethnic issues, without paying attention to the ordinary citizen and his economic problems. This alone is enough to push young people to leave politics and its tricks to traditional politicians, which is something that those keen to keep the country united want to change and put in the interest of the citizen. Above the interest of leaders whose influence increases at the expense of the country's natural wealth and the efforts of its people.
In confirmation of this desire for change and to remain in the country, the documentary at its conclusion conveys a picture of a mother with her young daughter, as they pick the vegetables that they planted in a field near their home, and they speak directly in front of the documentary camera about their confidence in the future and their adherence to the unity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the severity of its divisions and new dangers. surrounding it, due to the greed and selfishness of corrupt nationalist leaders.