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PressInfos 1998 No 53 (December 23, 1998)Civil Society in War and Peace – New Report No 52 (December 19, 1998)Be Better Informed About the Iraq Conflict No 51 (November 23, 1998)Support Free Media and Education in Serbia Now No 50 (November 12, 1998)Negotiate a Sanctions Lifting Plan No 49 (October 22, 1998)TFF invited to the 1998 State of the World Forum No 48 (October 11, 1998)Peace Proposal: Forums for Human Rights and Peace Education in Eastern Slavonia – and elsewhere No 47 (October 1, 1998)Questions Before Bombing Serbia No 46 (September 4, 1998)Time To Try True Nonviolence In Kosovo/a No 45 (August 25, 1998)Human Rights In Kosovo/a – Not So Simple No 44 (August 25, 1998)Kosovo/a – Half Truths About How It Began No 43 (August 24, 1998)Kosovo/a – Half Truths About Demography and Ethnic Cleansing No 42 (August 17, 1998)The Kosovo War: No Failure, All Had an Interest In...

“The future of the Brcko area was the only one not settled in Dayton. Thus, it was either the most difficult of all, or the United States and the parties agreed that it would be better to have their decision concerning that hot spot appear as binding arbitration. The arbitration decision is expected by mid-February. But any solution will antagonise at least one of the groups in the Brcko area, the entities or neighbouring republics,” says Jan Øberg, director of the TFF who recently returned from the TFF’s 24th mission to ex-Yugoslavia, including a fact-finding visit to Brcko. “The Dayton Agreement created a conflict by not defining the area under arbitration, and it will create more now,” he adds. “The three options usually mentioned — give it to the Federation, give it to Republika Srpska, or make it an area under international military control — are zero-sum games and care...

“It’s easy to militarise societies andstart wars. Powerful people know how to do it. The world hasaccumulated all the needed intellectual and materialresources. Preventing, handling and stopping conflicts and warsis more difficult. We know less about what it requires, andonly tiny resources are allocated by governments. The UN –humanity’s leading conflict-management organisation – hasbeen sidetracked, exhausted and denied the minimum funds forpeacekeeping. The OSCE has a “conflict prevention centre” sosmall that it stands no chance to adequately meet thechallenges ahead,” says TFF director Jan Oberg. “In the fields of post-war reconstruction,reconciliation, peacebuilding where human beings andsocieties move from violence to sustainable peace anddevelopment, the global society is virtually without a clue.It lacks adequate research, organisation, professionals,funds, philosophy and strategy. Only a handful of smallresearch centres work with these tremendously complexprocesses – such as the War-Torn Society Project in Genevaand UNESCO’s Peace Culture programme. The global system is deplorably immature: it...

  Over the last few months, JONATHAN POWER has devoted his thought-provoking weekly columns toissues such as American policies towards Israel, Hong Kong’s fate, Mexico’s elections, and the chances of economictake-off in the Congo. He has argued that it is time to take Turkey into Europe and highlighted the fact that the world’s income distribution is worsening, thanks to globalisation and liberalization. He syndicates his articles with more than 50 newspapers around the world. For 30 years a journalist, of which 17 as columnist for the International Herald Tribune 1974-1991. The value of these critically constructive analyses extend way beyond your transient daily newspaper. Catch up and read them on TFF’s website at http://www.transnational.org. They are also frequently featured on the leading alternative news service, OneWorld http://www.oneworld.org/news/. Here are some excerpts reflecting his grip of world affairs: ON GLOBALISATION“The U.S. President, Bill Clinton and British prime minister, Tony Blair are...

Summary A United Nations mission consisting ofCivil Affairs and Civil Police should remain in EasternSlavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium in the Republic ofCroatia, after its mandate expires on January 15. UNTAES,the present mission, has achieved impressive results withinits very short period of work. However, vital work remains to be doneto provide psychological security, reconciliation and theprovision of socio-economic development and equal rights andopportunities for all citizens. The OSCE, UN as well as internationaland local NGOs should now give priority to the psycho-socialaspects of re-integration. Otherwise many Serbs may leaveand Croats not return. If so, the UN and the Croatiangovernment will have failed and we shall witness yet anotherrefugee catastrophe in the Balkans. UNTAES had asked TFF to analyse andhelp mitigate conflicts in the school sector of the region. We conclude that there are stillserious problems concerning minority rights, democracy andparticipation, language and biased textbooks, teachers’security and overall psychological well-being. More...

  New Report “Conflicts and humanitarian emergencies can be handled more effectively if five parties intensify their co-operation — governments, humanitarian organizations, civil society organizations, area experts and conflict-resolution experts. The types of conflicts we face now and in the foreseeable future require of us that we think, act and organise ourselves in new ways,” say Morten Kjarum, director of the Danish Centre for Human Rights in Copenhagen, and TFF director Jan Oberg in this report. Early analysis, early listening and early action reduce human suffering and save resources. Comprehensive information about a conflict area, the conflict itself and the actors are essential for the successful handling of complex conflicts and humanitarian emergencies. Humanitarian workers represent a great reservoir of knowledge and experience that must be utilised better. Furthermore, basic knowledge of conflict-understanding, conflict-resolution and negotiation, as well as human rights, ought to be central components in the education and...

  “Symbolic or shallow democracy will be the only outcome when foreigners impose elections under extremely adverse circumstances as is the case in Dayton-Bosnia. They could even be dangerous in their consequences because some local results are likely to be implemented by force. One increasingly wonders whether the international community is in Bosnia for the sake of the people living there or to uphold an illusory image of itself as effective post-Cold War conflict-“managers” – says TFF’s director, Jan Oberg who has followed the situation since February 1992 as head of the foundation’s conflict-mitigation team to all parts of former Yugoslavia. “The leading Croatian party, the Bosnian branch of President Tudjman’s HDZ in Zagreb, has suggested to its members and voters to boycott the elections. It argues that the conditions for fair and free elections are not in place and complain that international election officials favour Muslims over Croats in...

“The Serbs and Albanians have proved that they themselves are unable to start and sustain a process towards conflict-resolution and reconciliation. International attempts, lacking analysis as well as strategy, have failed, too. The overall situation has deteriorated and violence is escalating, slowly but surely. It simply cannot go on like that in the future and go well,” says Jan Oberg, director of the Transnational Foundation which has been engaged in the conflict in the Kosovo region of Serbia, Yugoslavia since 1991. “New thinking should be applied sooner rather than later,” he urges. “With the breakdown in Albania, Serbia has lost the argument – never very credible – that the Kosovars want to unite with Albania. President Milosevic recently visited the region with no new proposals. The pragmatic non-violent policies of the Kosovar leadership is being undermined. The Kosovars have failed to prove that Serbs as people are their friends, for...

  Det finns andra perspektiv på Balkan än Bosnien och krigsförbrytarjakt. På TFFs InternetForum kan Du nu läsa och direkt trycka ut en serie reseintryck och reflektioner av Sören Sommelius, Nordens mest produktiva och initierade Jugoslavienförfattare sedan kriget bröt ut i 1991. Sommelius är kulturredaktör på Helsingborgs Dagblad och ingår i TFF:s team av konfliktläkare. Han har skrivit böckersom “Sista resan till Jugoslavien”, “Mediernas krig i forna Jugoslavien”, “Kosova utan stjärna”, “Mot kriget” och “Liten guide till stort krig”. Under sommaren har Sommelius återigen rest på kors och tvärs, från Zagreb till Struga. Engagerad och kunnigt pekar han på gamla olösta problem och på framtida. Hans journalistik har förut visat sig vara en “early warning”. Läs honom — och bekanta Dig samtidigt med vårt omfattande forskningsmaterial och med debatten, länkarna samt PressInfo på vår hemsida. Välkommen!

  Important international actors have considered the recent Croatian election free and fair — despite the fact that approximately 250,000 Serb-Croat citizens were unable to vote in their home country. These Serbs fled Croatia during its military operations in 1995 — the largest single case of ethnic cleansing during the wars. They are refugees in Bosnia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, sometimes referred to as “expellees,” but they remain legitimate citizens of Croatia. The United States, EU governments, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and various human rights organisations could have done politically in Croatia what they did in Bosnia: insist that refugees abroad be given an opportunity to influence the future of their homeland — to which many wish to return. The relatively young state of Croatia would hardly have brushed aside such advice from President Clinton (or the very active and human rights–concerned U.S. ambassador to Croatia,...

“The current rhetoric about NATO expansion — exemplified by US Foreign Secretary Madeleine Albright’s recent article in The Economist — is pathetic, and the discourse about it lacks intellectual quality as well as creativity. If advocates of this historic step are unable to find better arguments, the idea itself is probably flawed or, perhaps, indicative of less noble motives. In addition, it is clearly divisive within NATO itself,” states TFF director Jan Oberg. “We now have a tame debate about NATO’s expansion where we ought first to clarify humankind’s post-Cold War needs for conflict-resolution, security, and development and then NATO’s contribution, if any, to new thinking and policies. NATO members failed abysmally as conflict-managers in ex-Yugoslavia 1991-95 and made UN peacekeeping “mission impossible”. Then they deployed NATO — much in need of a raison d’etre and lacking peacekeeping experience — and equated peace with what NATO/SFOR could deliver. NATO expansion...

No 29 (Nov 27, 1997)Conflict and Reconciliation in the Schools in Eastern Slavonia,Croatia. The UN Is Needed There In the Future No 28 (Oct 28, 1997)Post-War Reconciliation – Who’s Got A Clue? No 26 (Sept 18, 1997)The Conflict Consortium – New Publication No 25 (Sept 10, 1997)Bosnia’s Foreign Elections – Unwise and Dangerous No 24 (Aug 1997)Help Serbs and Albanians Settle Their Differences in Kosovo ! No 23 (Juli 26, 1997)Efter Kriget? Sören Sommelius på TFF Internet Forum No 22 (April 24, 1997)Free Elections, But For Whom? No 20 (Feb 7, 1997)Brcko Arbitration Is No Solution