Bosnian Refugee Situation
After 8 years of international funding, the future of hundreds of thousands of Bosnian refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is still far from resolved.
The 1995 Dayton agreement, which ended conflict, specified that refugees should be allowed to return home. However, latest UNHCR figures place 367,000 IDPs in Bosnia, and 372,000 refugees across the rest of Europe.
Of the IDPs, many live with relatives. In Banja Luka, THE 2ND LARGEST CITY IN BOSNIA, it's common for six people to live in a one bedroom apartment. Here, quarter of the 300,000 residents are displaced. Those not fortunate enough to have family are housed in refugee camps.
The camps consist of either wooden barracks or fibreglass huts with aluminium roofs, which are baking hot in summer and sub-zero in winter. Built as temporary accommodation, these camps have become permanent homes to thousands. Families cram into these tiny huts and share inadequate washroom facilities with other refugees.
These families receive as little as $36 per month in foreign aid, and even this is under threat. Donor fatigue has set in, and funding organisations are now focusing on hotspots such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Red Cross officials predict a humanitarian disaster in face of these decreasing aid levels.
The complex nature of the Bosnian conflict has exacerbated the problem. The three major ethnic groups - Serbs, Muslims and Croats - had lived together for decades until Bosnia claimed independence. The issue polarised communities, and neighbours began to kill each other.
Ethnic cleansing radically altered the population mix and caused huge refugee movement. For example, pre-war Banja Luka was 55% Serb, 15% Muslim and 15% Croat. Now it's 95% Serb. The majority drove out the other ethnic groups once Serb refugees from Croatia flooded the town. Militia dynamited all 14 mosques to discourage the Muslim community's return.
The cleansing of Banja Luka was unusually peaceful. In other towns, murder, rape and robbery became commonplace. Those homes that weren't burned down were either illegally occupied, or the owners forced to sign over their property at gunpoint.
After years of such bitter conflict, in which atrocities were committed by all sides, The Dayton Agreement froze the conflict lines and split the country into two entities: The Serbian Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Towns that were predominantly Muslim or Croat now lie in Serb-controlled areas, and vice-versa. This hampers refugee return, as there is still much mistrust and hatred between the groups. People are afraid to return to communities where those who abused them still live. In towns where return is high, there have been strong tensions and revenge attacks.
Drvar, a town of some 10,000 inhabitants, suffered more damage after the war than it did during it. In 1998, bitterness against the returning Serb refugees erupted in a night of violence. Furious Croats rioted, killing people in the street and burning Serb homes and businesses. The offices of the Refugee Return Service were destroyed. In face of such venom, it's little wonder return is slow.
Billions has been spent on building new homes, and the EU regularly settles property claims (although the eviction of illegal occupants creates more IDPs), but throwing money at the country won't totally resolve the problem. As long as inter-ethnic tensions remain - and there is little to suggest that anyone has forgiven or forgotten - many will remain displaced.