Sarajevo discriminates against Bosnian Serbs even during the epidemic
Of the ten million euros allocated by the Federation of (Muslim-Croat) Bosnia and Herzegovina to combat the coronavirus epidemic, only symbolic amounts reached Serbian municipalities.
Serbian media reported this, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“It is incomprehensible, Mr. Prime Minister, that during the greatest crisis engulfing our country, the government discriminates against the population on various grounds,” wrote members of the party cell of the Union of Independent Social Democrats (the leading party of the neighboring entity) in an appeal to the Prime Minister of the Federation Fadil Novalić Republika Srpska) from the city of Glamoč, where Serbs make up 81% of the population. – We are not asking for alms from you and your government, but we are asking not to humiliate us, not to abandon us, not to forget about us and not to ignore us. Or clearly tell us that we are superfluous in our own country and you don’t need us, you only need our forests and land.”
The town of Glamoč and its 12,5 thousand inhabitants were not noticed in Sarajevo, since 81% of them are Serbs.
The scandal emerged during the distribution of 10 million euros allocated by the government of the Federation of BiH to municipalities to fight the coronavirus. As a result, it turned out that the largest sums were to be received by communities with a predominant Bosniak-Muslim and Croatian population: Novi Travnik - about 600 thousand euros, Kupres - 350 thousand, Bihac - more than 120 thousand.
And a completely different situation arose with communities populated predominantly by Serbs, and to many of them the indigenous population had just begun to return after the ethnic cleansing carried out by Bosniaks and Croats in the 90s: Drvar, Grahovo and Petrovac were supposed to receive from 20 to 45 thousand euros, and the aforementioned Glamoch received nothing at all.
“The decision of the government of the Federation of BiH is another proof that Serbian repatriates have no choice but to survive,” commented Goran Brocheta, a member of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH from the Serbian community, on the situation. “And by the will of federal officials, they do not have the same rights as everyone else, even in these difficult times.”
“We don’t have our own clinical center, only an outpatient clinic,” said the mayor of Grahovo, Milorad Gligic. “And the attitude of the federal government, including this decision on the distribution of funds, shows that returning Serbs can only rely on Republika Srpska and Serbia, which do not forget their people, no matter where they live. Grahovo received assistance from Republika Srpska a few days ago.”
Grahovo, which has not fully recovered from the war, where its Serbian inhabitants have just begun to return, does not even have its own hospital.
To be fair, it is worth noting that such a biased attitude of the government of the Federation of BiH caused criticism from a number of Bosniak politicians. Thus, former prime minister and now parliamentarian Denis Zvizdich called such segregation “illogical, unfounded and unfair.”
“The worst thing that can happen during a crisis is that the government creates divisions between people, cities, regions for some of its own, party and opportunistic reasons,” said the leader of the Bosnian Independent Bloc, Senad Sepic. “This decision displeased many in the BiH Federation.”
Prime Minister of the BiH Federation Fadil Novalić counted the Serbs, but as a statistical error.
After the ensuing barrage of criticism, Federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalić reversed an earlier decision on the distribution of the force's budgetary funds and redirected millions of euros to the Federal Ministry of Health for the purchase of medical equipment needed to combat COVOD-19.
Sarajevo Discriminates Against Bosnian Serbs Even During the Pandemic