The American diplomat heading the team in Bosnia that is supposed to determine whether fair elections are feasible there instructed his staff last week to focus more on positive developments in their weekly reports, rather than detailing the litany of obstacles to free elections.
The decision by Robert H. Frowick, head of the Bosnian mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to reorient the internal reporting of his staff has angered many within the mission.Frowick's chief of staff, William Stuebner, also an American, resigned two weeks ago over the apparent decision by Western governments to push through elections despite the serious impediments to a free and fair vote, staff members close to Frowick's office said. Stuebner has since left Sarajevo, and efforts to reach him were unsuccessful.
The Clinton administration as well as some European governments have made it clear that they want the national elections to proceed this September, as called for under the Dayton peace accord, almost no matter what the situation on the ground, to avoid a collapse of the peace efforts and to avoid delays in the departure of NATO troops.
Frowick, in a telephone interview from Sarajevo, acknowledged that he had ordered a change in emphasis in field reports, saying that he could not make a decision on election conditions solely "on the basis of negative human rights reporting." But he denied that his new directive would serve to minimize the reporting of conditions that could impede free elections.
"I understand the human rights situation is not good," he said. "I don't need chapter and verse all the time from my own cadre, because I can learn that by reading the newspapers, watching television and listening to the radio. I need a balanced picture, even if it's a limited one, of progress on realization of the conditions, as well as continuing accurate reporting on violations and the problems."
Angry OSCE staff members in Bosnia, some of whom have been harassed in the field, especially by ethnic Serbs and Croats, say that the conditions laid out in the Dayton agreement for elections do not exist.
"We were told that from now on our reports would have to be more positive," said one staff member, who asked to remain unidentified. "The effect will be to downplay all human rights violations and play up everything that can be used to promote the holding of elections."