BY LAURA GARZA
After successive NATO bombings of Belgrade-backed forces, and arm-twisting by Washington against all the parties involved, an agreement for a cease-fire in Bosnia has been cobbled together. The accord sets the stage for the massive deployment of U.S. troops and deeper imperialist intervention in the former Yugoslav workers state.
The U.S. government is planning to send up to 25,000 troops into the region - ostensibly to keep the peace - as part of an imperialist occupying force of up to 60,000 under NATO command. U.S. defense secretary William Perry told CNN that U.S. soldiers could be spending Thanksgiving in Bosnia.
The job of the U.S. troops will be to enforce the partition of Bosnia. Negotiations are set for late October in the United States to try and settle on a final division of the former Yugoslav republic.
As the October 10 ceasefire deadline passed, however, fighting ensued in northwestern Bosnia. Each of the warring sides tried to take as much as possible on the ground and jockey for position leading up to any eventual suspension of hostilities.
In the latest wave of "ethnic cleansing," thousands of people were being driven from their homes around Banja Luka, the largest city in Bosnia being held by the armies of Bosnian Serb chauvinist leaders Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic. At the same time, Bosnian government soldiers and Croatian army units massed for an offensive around Jasenica October 9, with their sights fixed on the nearby bigger city of Prijedor.
The warring sides finally announced that the cease fire took effect after midnight on October 12. It is supposed to last 60 days or until completion of planned peace talks.
The agreement came on the heels of a two-week NATO bombing campaign in September, directed by Washington, that allowed for portions of territory held by Karadzic's troops to be taken out of their control. In a joint offensive that received Washington's blessing, the Croatian army and Bosnian government troops seized 1,500 square miles of land formerly held by Belgrade-backed Serbs.
The portion of territory controlled by Bosnian Serb troops was reduced from 70 percent to about 50 percent of the republic. This matches neatly with the "peace plan" peddled by Washington, which called for setting the division of Bosnia at 49 percent under control of Karadzic's forces and 51 percent under the control of a shaky alliance of the Bosnian government and the Croatian regime.
Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. assistant secretary of state who has been leading the negotiations for the proposed settlement, has been trying to portray the arrangement as one that preserves a united Bosnia. But the deal is aimed at establishing the division of Bosnia on a more stable foundation.
As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman noted, "Two separate entities will be created: the Serbian Republic, in the Serb-held territories, and the Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina, in Muslim-Croat areas. Each entity will have its own president, constitution, parliament and the right to affiliate with its neighbors. That is partition."
The U.S. government has been using its military might, and its central role in the bombing missions against Bosnian Serb positions, as a lever to exert pressure on Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and the government of Bosnia headed by Alija Izetbetgovic to hold on as allies and to agree to the terms of the U.S. plan.
The Tudjman-Izetbetgovic alliance, however, is not on the firmest ground. Croatian army units now control 22 percent of Bosnian territory.
While the Bosnian government forces and the Croatian army have joined in military offensives against Karadzic's troops, the control of towns ends up in the hands of one army or another with no joint agreement for what happens to the population. The Croatian flag quickly appears in towns where Zagreb's army takes over and the Croatian currency is introduced. Croatian officers have also refused to allow the return of all those driven from the towns when Karadzic's troops occupied them, especially Muslims.
The troops slated to enforce the partition will be under NATO command according to the U.S.-sponsored accord. The complete control by NATO forces gives greater weight to Washington, and marginalizes the ability of Moscow to play a direct role in determining what military actions are taken.
Washington plans to take direct control over the training of Bosnian armed forces. Who exactly among the so- called Muslim-Croat federation will receive the training and the new heavy weapons, is one of Washington's main bargaining chips in its push to impose and enforce a deal suited to its goals.
In a bid to get its piece of the action, the government of Germany announced October 11 it will send 5,000 troops as part of the NATO force. It will be the first deployment of German units into former Yugoslavia since the Nazi invasion of the country in World War II.