Keep up the Momentum of Rebuilding in Bosnia

(Commentary, International Herald Tribune, July 12, 1996)

WASHINGTON – Nothing quite prepares the visitor to Bosnia for the legacy of human tragedy that the war has left behind. Many houses are simply shells; most have lost windows, and almost all are pocked by automatic weapons fire, mute witnesses to the blighted lives of their occupants. Factories lie idle, and railways, roads and power transmission lines bear the scars of the war. Warning signs caution against straying into mine fields.

Bosnia’s broken bridges symbolize the country’s divisions. The 16th century bridge linking East and West Mostar lies at the bottom of the Neretva River, replaced by a narrow temporary span – a Band-Aid on the ethnic divisions that the war has left to fester.

The last time I had been in Bosnia, the people were looking forward to the Winter Olympics. The only building without a roof was the skating arena, which was under construction, and the holes in the streets were for the pipes being laid for Sarajevo’s new water supply and sewerage system. The country exuded optimism.

In spite of the problems the war has left, some of that former optimism is returning.

During my recent visit to see the early progress in the reconstruction program in which the World Bank, the European Commission and donor countries are engaged, the Bosnian people were experiencing their first peaceful summer for five years. Families were picnicking beside mountain waterfalls in central Bosnia; streetcars were running along Sarajevo’s Marshall Tito Street every three minutes; in other towns, markets were once again functioning, selling everything from farm produce to clothing.

The reconstruction effort is now well under way. Bridges, roads and railways on the highest priority routes are being rebuilt. Turbines in hydropower stations, flooded during the war, are being repaired, and overhead power lines are being reconnected. The enormous task of clearing landmines has begun.

Thousands of pregnant heifers will soon start arriving to build up Bosnia’s herds. Farmers are receiving seeds, equipment and support services so that Bosnia can move away from its dependence on food aid.

Schools are being repaired, teachers are being recruited to join those who struggled to maintain basic education during the war, and textbooks are being purchased so that schools can open on time in September.

The international effort to rebuild Bosnia’s housing stock is being complemented by families who are patching up their houses themselves. One inventive person had built a greenhouse out of plastic sheeting emblazoned with the initials UNHCR that is used everywhere until windows can be replaced in houses and offices.

Commerce promises to be the mortar of a lasting peace. A group of refugee women I met in Tuzla, who told harrowing stories of their escape from Srebenica and other towns, had all obtained loans of 500 Deutsche marks based on business plans they had presented to a local nongovernmental organization. One had bought art supplies and was making souvenirs, while others were making clothes with sewing and knitting machines they had bought.

Near Zenica, a Muslim farmer who is using a disused coal mine to produce mushrooms with the help of a 10,000 DM loan told me that he travels to Croatia every three months to replenish his mulch and spores.

These loans are being administered through NGOs and local banks with funds provided by the World Bank and other donors. It was encouraging to be told by the director of one of these banks that he had just started to do business in Republika Srpska.

Another encouraging sign was the number of foreign businesspeople coming to look for reconstruction contracts and long-term investment opportunities. Everyone I met – government officials, mayors, bankers, businessmen, refugees trying to start businesses – agreed that people wanted to move from humanitarian assistance to helping themselves. Everyone also wanted to move rapidly on privatisation as a key ingredient in Bosnia’s belated transition to a market economy.

One of the problems which was raised by the mayor of Tuzla, where the big chemical factory complex is inoperative, is how to start the big industries that employ a lot of people. Clearly, many big industrial concerns should not be restarted, because they do not have markets for their products.

The key is going to be to find foreign private investors who can make the commercial judgment on the feasibility of restarting particular companies. The World Bank plans to offer political risk guarantees for such investments so that investors will be protected in the event of hostilities restarting.

Summer has lifted people’s spirits and provided an opportunity for reconstruction to get started, but life in Bosnia is still a long way from getting back to normal. The winter months will make much of the rebuilding work more difficult and will be a harsh reminder that power and gas are still in short supply.

At their recent summit in Lyon, Group of Seven leaders called on all donors to accelerate payment of the pledges they made earlier in the year so that the momentum of reconstruction can be maintained. People in Bosnia are beginning to see that the first year of peace is improving their lives. The international community should not let them down.

The writer a senior advisor at the World Bank contrbuted this
comment to the international Herald Tribune.

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