Happy Bosnia and Herzegovina Independence Day!

March 1, 2007
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hi all,

Happy Bosnia and Herzegovina Independence Day!

When I sent the aforementioned greeting to my friend Goran this afternoon he responded with: "And a happy Independence Day to you also. But the question is, are we really independent?" Good point Goran. In reality, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains an international protectorate governed by the Orwellian-sounding "Peace Implementation Council" whose High Representative (currently a German) is the supreme authority in the country able to impose laws and sack un-cooperative politicians at will. Whether this protectorate arrangement pleases you or pisses you off as a citizen of this country has much to do with your ethno-national-religious-political leanings, affiliations, and/or aspirations.

Independence Day (happy or not so happy) is, either way, a day off from work and the perfect opportunity for me to send y'all a wee update. Given the focus of the day I thought I would also accompany this e-mail with a link to two appropriately-themed new sets of photos from my travels in other recently independent or soon-to-be independent countries in the region.

>> Kosovo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewcurran/sets/72157594564282826/show/

Last fall I was in Kosovo for a conference on 'Good Urban Governance.'
Independence is the main issue on people's minds in that UN-administered protectorate (with sightings of pro-independence graffiti greatly out-numbering sightings of pro-Serbia graffiti). On a side note - I managed to squeeze in an evening game with the Independent Pristina Ultimate League!

>> Montenegro
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewcurran/sets/72157594564550767/show/

Holding its first post-Yugoslav elections this past September, Montenegro is the world's newest independent country. In the fall, I drove to the Kosovo conference with my boss Aleksander, taking in the rugged Montenegro countryside en route. And last weekend I returned with a few friends for another little tour of the coast.

UPDATE: WORK, POLITICAL, and PERSONAL

Much has transpired in this neck of the woods, both personally and politically, since I last wrote.
On the WORK front, my supervisor opted not to renew his contract at the beginning of December and so I have been the sole UN-HABITAT staff person in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) since the New Year. At first this situation was a tad overwhelming, especially given the lack of English speakers in the city's planning department and my rusty Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (or 'local language' for the politically correct among us). Now that I'm sharing my office with an English-speaking planner recently returned from maternity leave, however, we are actually making some progress towards commencing the development of a new Spatial Plan for the re-unified city. All-told, work has been sometimes frustrating, generally rewarding and always fascinating - although more often than not in a 'wow. I didn't think things could get more dysfunctional' kind of fascinating.

On the POLITICAL front, the situation in this region is as problematic as ever but decidedly more fragile than just a year ago. The World Court ruled on Monday that acts of genocide were indeed committed against Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995 and that the state of Serbia was complicit but not directly responsible (causing quite the stir around here). This ruling spares Belgrade from paying billions of dollars in reparations and, with this small victory in hand (say some observers), might make it more willing to give up Kosovo. Or - given the success of the right-wing nationalists in Serbia's January election - maybe it won't. Either way, the final round of Kosovo's status negotiations is currently underway in Vienna and tensions are high in Pristina.

Back in BiH, Bosnian Serb leaders are threatening that if Kosovo gets independence from Serbia, then Republika Srpska (the war-time created Serb 'entity') will secede outright from Bosnia and Herzegovina. All this talk of secession, combined with what was seen by many Croats as an unsatisfactory October national election - the Bosnian Croat community is reviving its war-time project of an autonomous ethnically Croat 'third' entity with (west) Mostar as its capital. Of course, the Bosnian Muslim leadership (representing the eastern half of this still segregated city) will have none of it and are ramping up their own nationalist rhetoric in response. While a return to armed conflict is most unlikely given the heavy international presence - the situation is certainly far from warm and cuddly.

Despite this fragility, on the personal SAFETY front I am just fine (with the risk of harm to my person being much lower here than in, for instance, the United States). As long as I avoid the land-mined areas and stay on the asphalt (golden rules to which I adhere diligently) all is well and dandy.

In the PERSONAL realm, life is good: I cook lots and eat well - taking full advantage of the cheap local produce, wine, bread and cheese all of which is available at more than a dozen shops on the lively pedestrian street not fifty feet from my front door; I've made some wonderful friends here with whom I share regular pot-luck dinners and semi-regular weekend excursions to the coast or (with a bit more snow!) to the ski hills; I walk or bike to work past stunning mountain vistas; I've managed to recruit some college students into regular pick-up games of ultimate; and I'm making time for evening runs usually against the backdrop of a vibrant pink sunset illuminating the valley walls.

To top it all off, the wonderful Jane Storey was able to hop over the pond for the Christmas holidays to join me for a little Balkan tour: Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Mostar, and Dubrovnik, followed by island-hopping up the Croatian coast to Pula. It was fabulous. And I took way too many photos - some of which will find their way to your inbox in the very near future.

Until then,
ciao ciao
Andrew