Bosnian Serb Parliament Off to Rocky Start

If the opening of its parliament Saturday was any indication, the future government of the Bosnian Serb half of this country is headed for turbulent times.

The seating of the 83-member legislature marks a showdown between supporters of the Western-backed Bosnian Serb president, Biljana Plavsic, and hard-line nationalists loyal to indicted war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic. For the first time, his followers don’t hold a majority in parliament.

Whoever ultimately wins this phase of an ongoing, 6-month-old power struggle will determine the shape and tenor of the new government of the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia-Herzegovina--whether that government is one that cooperates with the West or one that continues to obstruct the Bosnian peace process.

The United States has invested considerable money and diplomatic muscle to boost Plavsic.

Saturday’s session, however, showed that obstructionism and division remain the order of the day. The nationalists managed to block the swearing-in of the new assembly for hours and also stymie television transmission of the event.

The opening session in the northeastern city of Bijeljina finally adjourned late Saturday. No major decisions were taken, and the rival factions failed to reach agreement on a new prime minister to head the government of Republika Srpska, as the statelet is known.

A second meeting was tentatively scheduled for Jan. 12.

The outcome was seen as a setback to Western efforts to install moderates in Bosnia and push postwar politics toward democracy.

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International diplomats in attendance lambasted the nationalists’ delaying tactics, which seemed aimed at maintaining a status quo that essentially leaves them in power and the legislature paralyzed.

Saturday’s session began two hours behind schedule and found members still arguing over procedural matters nearly three hours later. In all, the session lasted eight hours.

Hanns Schumacher, a German diplomat representing the central international peacekeeping agency in Bosnia, took the podium and lashed out at the legislators.

“I am absolutely disappointed that, taking into account the overwhelming problems your people are facing, you have more or less wasted four, five, six hours to discuss an agenda,” Schumacher said. “I urge you . . . to tackle matters of substance. You owe this to your people.”

Schumacher accused the information minister, a member of the Karadzic faction, of conniving to hide the parliamentary shenanigans from public view by blocking a televised broadcast despite promises to allow full journalistic access.

Svetlana Siljegovic, the information minister, told parliament that she had received “so many” requests from television stations to cover the inaugural session that she had to select one, and she chose a pro-Karadzic station that will provide tapes of the proceedings to other broadcasters--for a fee.

Citing newly expanded powers granted to international peace mediators, a flabbergasted Schumacher threatened to fire Siljegovic if she did not immediately allow a live broadcast of the session.

That sent the parliament into an uproar, with members splitting along factional lines.

One of the most hard-line Karadzic supporters, Savo Knezevic, evoked memories of Nazi bombardments of Serbia during World War II.

“Herr Schumacher,” he said, “we were not afraid of your threats in 1941, and not today either.”

“This,” countered Svetozar Mihajlovic of Plavsic’s newly formed party, “is more proof of why we need a new government as soon as possible.”

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When she was finally allowed to speak, Plavsic nominated a new prime minister, moderate economist Mladen Ivanic, who was immediately rejected by the pro-Karadzic forces.

Plavsic dissolved parliament in July after launching a daring challenge to Karadzic, her former mentor.

Parliamentary elections were held Nov. 22-23, with Karadzic’s Serbian Democratic Party winning 24 seats, compared with 45 in the earlier legislature. The allied Serbian Radical Party won 15 seats; together the two parties are three short of a majority.

Plavsic’s new party also took 15 seats, while parties representing Muslim and Croatian refugees expelled from Republika Srpska won 18 seats.

The Muslim and Croatian legislators, who were bused into Bijeljina for Saturday’s meeting under international guard, stood for the Republika Srpska anthem, which pledges defense of “Serbian lands,” but then announced that they will refuse to do so in the future.

They later walked out rather than take a swearing-in oath administered by three Orthodox priests.

Schumacher and other international guests, including U.S. Ambassador Richard Kauzlarich, also walked out rather than stand during the religious ceremony.