In need of hope

Jun 11, 2015

By Gerard O'Connell
From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has given particular attention to “the peripheries” of the world. Bosnia-Herzegovina, with its capital city Sarajevo, is one of those peripheries. Life is hard there. The economy is weak, unemployment is high and tensions are never far from the surface in this country of around 3.8 million people, sandwiched between Serbia and Croatia, 40 per cent of whom are Muslim (Bosniaks), 31 per cent Orthodox Christian (Serbs) and 15 per cent Catholic (mostly Croats).

Francis is keenly aware of the threat to peace and social harmony because of the unstable situation and the fact that reconciliation has never really been achieved in any substantial way since the end of the war between the members of the different ethnic-religious communities in this land. Nor has reconciliation been realized in this historic city of Sarajevo that was once known as ‘The Jerusalem of Europe’ because Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together here in peace for many centuries. But Sarajevo is also the city where the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated on June 28, 1914, an act that triggered the First World War.

Mir Vama (“Peace be with you”) was the motto of Francis’ visit. He went on a mission of peace, to encourage harmonious relations among all the inhabitants of this city, and of this country, as they struggle to recover from the devastating three-and-a-half year war (1992-95) that was fought over whether the country should remain in the Yugoslav Federation or become an independent state. That conflict, inflamed by nationalist politics that exploited ethnic and religious bonds, caused the deaths of 100,000 people and spawned ethnic cleansing which forced two million people to leave their homes, many of whom have never returned.

The Dayton Peace Accord, at the end of 1995, brought an end to the war and led to the recognition of the independent state of Bosnia-Herzegovina under international administration, composed of two separate entities: the Bosnian Serb Republic (with 49 per cent of the territory) and the Bosnian-Croat Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (with 51 per cent of the territory). Each entity has its own president, government, parliament, police and other bodies. The independent state, on the other hand, has a collegial presidency of three members — Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim), Croat and Serb, elected by their own communities for a period of four years. The presidency is rotated among them every eight months. There is also a national parliament, to which 28 deputies are elected every two years, 14 from each of the two separate entities.

This complex political solution to the war has contributed to a dysfunctional government over the past twenty years. Critics claim the solution reinforced nationalism and separatism at the expense of integration and reconciliation, and effectively entrenched the results of ethnic cleansing. The European Court of Human Rights has judged that the constitution is discriminatory, but its verdict changed nothing. Thus, with an economy further weakened by the recent international crisis and with widespread corruption, tensions continue to simmer below the surface. They exploded in 2013 over the census (requested by the European Union), and then erupted into violence against the political class in early 2014. For the majority of ordinary people struggling every day to survive with dignity, life is often extremely difficult and change is arriving at the pace of the snail. Not surprisingly, therefore, hope is in short supply.

The people of Bosnia and Herzegovina are in dire need of hope and encouragement, and that is what Pope Francis embodies. He was invited by the Republic’s three presidents and by its Catholic bishops, and his visit was warmly welcomed on all sides, and nowhere was that enthusiasm more tangible than in Sarajevo.

Source: America