PRESS RELEASE

8 February 1999


ICG Calls For District Status And Radical Reforms In Brcko

BRUSSELS and WASHINGTON DC, 8 February 1999: The International Crisis Group (ICG) urges today in a new report that the Brcko Arbitrators should decide now to make Brcko Municipality a District of Bosnia and Herzegovina belonging to neither entity. The report then advocates a series of radical reforms to the economic and political structure of the new District.

The 16-page report, entitled Brcko: A Comprehensive Solution, is the fourth paper which ICG has published on Brcko. With this latest report ICG hopes to show what could be achieved in Brcko by a daring and ambitious approach, and how good practice in Brcko might be used as a model for reforms elsewhere in Bosnia.

ICG urged in 1997 and 1998 that a final decision on the status of Brcko should be made without delay, and now believes that a decision is needed more than ever. An award to either the Federation or Republika Srpska would create a dangerous negative reaction and a lasting sense of grievance; ICG believes that the creation of a District would be fair to both entities, and would also create a unique opportunity to show what Bosnia could be under enlightened and reform-minded government.

ICG proposes that the three parallel Payments Bureaux operating in Brcko municipality be abolished, and their functions given to commercial banks and strengthened tax authorities. The burden of taxes and regulations upon business should be greatly reduced. Civil administrations including, crucially, police should be merged and made accountable to the Supervisor.

ICG believes that with these rapid and determined reforms Brcko could become a place where a fast-growing economy creates employment, and where the benefits of economic growth can be enjoyed in security and confidence by all members of society, including returning refugees of all groups. If this strategy succeeds, the good example of Brcko could inspire other parts of Bosnia to follow its lead. But if the Arbitrators, now meeting in Vienna, put off a final decision for yet another year, the attempt cannot even be made.

Read the full report entitled Brcko: A Comprehensive Solution

For further information and copies of the report, contact ICG in Sarajevo at (+387 71) 447 845/846, in Brussels at (+322) 502 9038, or in Washington at (+1 202) 986 9750.

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