I Am Beautiful: A Celebration of Women in Their Own Words

100 Acres • PoolHot Tub • Trails20 Charming RoomsPeace & PrivacyA Lesbian Paradise^Highlands ^IP.O. Box 118-OTBethlehem, NH 03574(603) 869-3978ON THE ISSUESCheck us out on the Web:http://www.igc.apc.org/onissues/ON THE ISSUESSUBSCRIBERSERVICEP.O. Box 3000Denville, NJ 07834-9838Change of Address: Please allowthree weeks. Attach label with your oldaddress and write your new address below.New Subscriber: Fill in your name andaddress in the new address space. Check termprice of your subscription below.*Renewal: Attach label if available. Checkterm price of your subscription below.*• One year $14.95 • Two years $25.00• Three years $34.95OLD ADDRESS:NAME (PRINT)ADDRESSCITY/STATE/ZIPNEWADDRE'SS"NAME (PRINT)ADDRESSCITY/STATE/ZIP• Payment Enclosed • Bill MeCanadian subscriptions add $4 per year; other foreign add $7(surface mail) or $20 per year Airmail. Institutional rate: Add$10 first year; $5 each additional. Payable in U.S. funds only.Mail to our Subscriber Service address above. 472SSBOSNIA {continuedfrom page 32)national peace-keeping force, which includesAmerican troops). In my opinion,it is only procrastination. "At the sametime as Bosnian Serbs were foot-draggingpolitically, there were outbreaks of violence,described as the worst fightingsince the war, as Muslims tried to exercisethe right accorded them by the DaytonAccord and return to their former homes.Bosnian Serbs, determined to keep themout, however, have been destroying suchhouses by blowing them up or burningthem down, often as returning Muslimswatched from nearby. So far, of the 2.7million displaced, (more than half the formerBosnian population according to UNstatistics), less than 250,000 have beenable to return home. Even more disheartening,an estimated 90,000 have been drivenout since the war ended.The peace agreement may now be intoits second year but indicted war criminalscontinue to go free, a number livingat home in comfort without fear of arrest.Four such criminals continue towork as Bosnian Serb policemen. Onlyseven of the 75 people indicted for genocide,war crimes and crimes against humanityare in custody. This, says onecritic, is like "leaving Himmler and Eichmann,and other Nazi architects of genocidewalking the streets and in control ofa large part of the country after WWII."In November, the first sentence washanded down by the War Crimes Tribunal.A 25-year-old Croat in the BosnianSerb army confessed to being part ofan execution squad at the Srebrenicamassacre; his unit alone killed 1,200 unarmedmen in five hours. He was sentencedto 10 years, while the senior militarycommanders who ordered theslaughter remain free.Almost as daunting as keeping thepeace is the reconstruction of Bosnia, asthe statistics attest: An estimated 60 percentof housing throughout the countryhas been damaged or destroyed, entirevillages have been gutted, and in Sarajevo,many high-rise blocks of apartmentsare hollow shells. Two-thirds of the capital'swindows are still covered withUNHCR plastic sheeting instead ofglass. Forty percent of the country'sbridges are down, and as many roadshave been damaged in bombardments.The parliament building and national libraryare burned-out shells, the millionvolumes and rare manuscripts of the latterreduced to ashes, and the garden ofthe national museum is heavily landmined.A number of Bosnians who livedin cellars during the constant shellingcontinue to do so for want of any othershelter. Some communities will spend afifth winter without running water orcentral heat, as the wood stacks on highrisebalconies confirm.Before the war, Yugoslavia had perhapsthe highest standard of living ofany socialist country. It was not unusualfor Bosnians to own cars and beach vacationhomes. The same appliances foundin American homes—televisions, VCRs,computers, washing machines—werecommon. Even now, small TV satellitedishes are visible on many houses, eventhose that are burned out.A CCORDING TO THE WORLD BANK, BOS-XXnia needs $5.1 billion for the firstthree years of reconstruction. So far, onlya third, $1.8 billion, has been donated bythe world community. The U.S. share ofthat sum is $600 million over a threeyearperiod. Assuming that the $5.1 billionpackage is implemented, by the year2,000 Bosnians will be back at about halfof what they had when the war startedin 1992," says a spokesman for USAID inSarajevo.Exacerbating the problem is that largeamounts of the monies so far madeavailable are sitting in bank accounts,held up by bureaucratic sloth, or inpipelines awaiting approval. World Bankpresident James Wolfensohn has criticizedthe moribund pace of spending forBosnian reconstruction, and a report bythe Washington, D.C-based PeaceThrough Law Education Fund concludedthat, "The longer we wait to addresssuch realities, the more bitterness willswell and close the window of peace thatU.S. diplomacy and SFOR opened."Of the international funding that hasmade its way into Bosnia, accusations ofcorruption both on the grand and pettyscale are beginning to arise, and USAIDin Sarajevo admits that it is a concern.All these factors affect the women ofBosnia, of course, many of them solebreadwinners struggling to feed theirfamilies. So, too, does the fact that theformer communist country, with no experienceof NGOs, is refusing to give reliefagencies the tax exemptions theywould normally receive, particularlywhen bringing humanitarian suppliesinto the country. Without such tax exemptionsthere is also no incentive forbusinesses to contribute to programs forrefugees. "This makes it impossible forsuch projects to become self-sustaining,"56 ON THE ISSUES • Spring 1997