REC: The Bulletin 7/3: Republikan re-greening

B O S N I A  A N D  H E R Z E G O V I N A

Republikan re-greening

Banja Luka, with a population of some 300,000, is BiH's second biggest city, and the unofficial capital of the new Republika Srpska. In the last round of elections, Republika Srpska's only green party, Ekos, won 0.5 percent of the vote in Banja Luka. Not a landslide. "But it's a beginning," said Ekos President Miroslav Basovic.

Basovic is also a priest, engineer, and President of ORION, a young environmental NGO with less than a year's experience. ORION's ideas for future work include creating ecology books for schools, testing domestic well water, and creating a database of organizations involved with the environment in the Republika Srpska.

One major barrier, however, is that while ORION now has over 200 members, it has not been able to receive any grants. "It's a strange situation here," said Basovic. "There are many international agencies doing work in the Republika Srpska but none will give money for ecology. Maybe it's different in the Federation."

The same opinion was voiced by others attending the Travnik conference. "Federation NGOs are growing in number and level of action, while those from Republika Srpska remain fearful, mainly because of their government's pressure not to cooperate with the rest of the country or world," said Seremet. "Federation NGOs also have a better chance of getting grants and information while Republika Srpska NGOs cooperate mainly with Serbian organizations."

Basovic now intends to apply for REC grants next year. Until then, he is determined to start working, even without international support.

Expanding the network

Bojen Bujak, from NGO BiH Ecological Movement, Zenice, also attended the Travnik conference. Soon after, he became a REC Junior Fellow with activists from countries including Croatia and Yugoslavia. His NGO, with some 4,000 multi-ethnic members before the war, now has 1,500 members. Still mixed, Serb and Croat members now comprise only 2.5 percent of the total, although members are cooperating fairly well. "We are trying to create a new network of NGOs in the country for future cooperation" said Bujak. "We hardly know what NGOs now exist."

REC * PUBLICATIONS * THE BULLETIN * AUTUMN-WINTER 1997