Through Bosnian Eyes: The Political Memoirs of a Bosnian Serb

VIII The Bosnian Army and Its First Commander, Sefer Halilović

M. Pejanovic, THROUGH BOSNIAN EYES VIII. THE BOSNIAN ARMY AND ITS FIRST COMMA·NDER, SEFER HA.LILOVIC Units of the Bosnian Army started forming in June 1992, while the Territorial Defense still consisted ofpolice units under the Ministry of the Interior.40 Units formed spontaneously or were organized in Sarajevo and other cities of Bosnia, even where there was total breakdown in communications between Sarajevo and these other places. At the very start of executing my Presidential mandate, I became chairman of the Advisory Board for the Protection of Constitutional.Order, on which sat a representative of the Ministry of the Interior and a representative of the armed forces. Together we tried to deal with the constant problems of the defense of Sarajevo and the whole country. I was therefore deeply involved in the creation and development of the Bosnian Army. The foundation for recruiting armed state forces was the Platform on the work of the Presidency. This had, in essence, defined the character of Bosnia's army. Its concept was of recruitment based on the patriotism of the citizens and peoples, for the sake of defending their peace and freedom, and a multiethnic Bosnia as an internationally acknowledged state. This was the first, most fundamental step. The second step was constitution of the leadership of the Bosnian Army, and the third was defining the Armys relationship with the 40 On April 15, 1992, the Presidency ordered that all armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina be consolidated under the unified command of theTerritorial Defense Forces (TO - Teritorijalna odbrana). This day has been celebrated since 1992 as the "Day of the Army," but in fact units that were referred to as the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina were not formed untilJune. InApril the term "armija" was still associated with the JNA, which was then initiating hostilities against the civilian population. 85 M. Pejanovic, THROUGH BOSNIAN EYES Presidency as the High Command, specifically over issues such as mobilization. I enjoyed excellent cooperation with Sefer Halilovic, then Staff Commander of the Territorial Defense, as we worked to create the Army. Our relationship dated back to our work together on preparing the Platform, and our concepts of the Army were virtually identical. Sefer Halilovic was persistent in his vision of the Army as a multiethnic and multinational force of all citizens and all peoples. At this period there was a very high percentage of Serb and Croat involvement in the Territorial Defense Staff and its affiliated units, especially in units of cities such as Sarajevo, Mostar and Tuzla. General Jovan Divjak, aSerb, commanded the army units defending Sarajevo. Membership in the armed forces was 12-15% Serb, and 15-18% Croat in the affiliated units. There were units in the field that were up to 20% Serb and over 20% Croat. There were also Croat unit ·commanders, in Gradacac for example. In Sarajevo and Tuzla Serbs held lower and middle command posts. For a long time the Serb Momcilo Duric was the commander of an operative antiaircraft defense unit in Tuzla. To begin with, Sefer Halilovic, together with Jovan.Divjak and the Croat Stjepan Siber, implemented the concept of a BosnianArmy primarily founded on multiethnic components. Zeljko Knez and .Andeljko Makar, both Croats, were in command of the Tuzla Second Corps. In units throughout all territory controlled by· the Bosnian Army, there were a great number of Bosnian Croats and Serbs who commanded platoons and companies or were deputy Brigade and Corps commanders. Serbs and Croats were in the leadership of the Sarajevo First Corps throughout much of the war. The Serb Zlatko Petrovic, for example, was an assistant commander of the First· Corps for legal issues until almost the end of the war. Zlatko was the son of the well-known general Stanimir Petrovic of the Sarajevo army command. Today Zlatko Petrovic practices as a lawyer in Sarajevo, and is one of the activists of the Serb Civil Council. In July 1992 a rather sharp dialogue took place between Minister of Defense Jerko Doko and myself. We were both with Presidency member Fikret Abdic at the time: we had dropped in to congratulate him on the festival of Bajram. As we talked, the topic arose of Serb participation in the Army, and the form this should take. Doko said that we were mistaken in not forming a separate Serb "Council 86 M. Pejanovic, THROUGH BOSNIAN EYES of Defense,"-a Serb counterpart...