Serb Civic Council

“We represent the Serbs of the territories controlled by the legal authorities of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (…) We are convinced that at this very critical moment it is essential to point out that Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic cannot be given the right to represent the Bosnian Serb point of view. It is as much in the interest of Serbs as of anyone else to maintain a unified, sovereign Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within its recognized international borders.  (…) We are particularly opposed to any division of Bosnia and above all one based on ethnic principles. (…)”

In September 1995 this letter was published in “The Guardian” in the UK, signed by Mirko Pejanović and Tanja Ljujić-Mijatović, members of the Presidency of BiH, Jovan Divjak, deputy chief of staff of the Army of BiH, and other members of the “Serb Civic Council” (Srpsko građansko vijeće). This organization had been created in Sarajevo in 1994 in order to counteract the SDS’s claim to speak for all Serbs in BiH, and also to defend the rights and interests of Serbs in the territories controlled by the government of BiH. They became an important interlocutor for Bosnia solidarity groups in other European countries who wanted to show to the public opinion that it was important to avoid generalisations about “the Serbs” and to support these alternative Serb voices. Members of the Serb Civic Council were therefore invited, for example, to UK, France and also Serbia (by the group “Ziveti u Sarajevo”), in order to meet politicians, media and other civic groups.