Saratoga News

Biljana Plavsic

St. Michael the Archangel hosts president of Srpska

By John Pancharian

Saratoga played host to a presidential visit May 22 when Biljana Plavsic, president of the Republic of Srpska, visited the city.

Plavsic spoke at St. Michael the Archangel Serbian Orthodox Church, addressing roughly 250 local Serbs and residents at a dinner event. Saratoga was the last stop in an informal tour of the United States and Canada which Plavsic undertook to acquaint North American Serbian communities with the current situation in the Republic of Srpska.

The Republic of Srpska is one of two Bosnian entities created by the Dayton Peace Accords in 1996. The Dayton Accords ended roughly four years of bitter warfare among the nations of the former Yugoslavia. When the new republic was created, Plavsic was named president for a two-year term.

"My impression is that the U.S. has provided fertile ground for the integration of the Serbian community here," Plavsic said through an interpreter. "I'm pleasantly surprised by the extent to which Serbs in Canada and the U.S. cherish their traditions," she said.

Plavsic went on to say that she will likewise try to lead the Republic of Srpska back onto the European stage with its national traditions and heritage intact.

Plavsic also spoke of the importance of continued U.S. and European support for the Republic of Srpska as it tries to rebuild and maintain the letter of the Dayton Accords. She said the United States has promised $5 million in aid monthly, which her government plans to apply to the backlog of unpaid pensions for elderly Serbs. She said other aid has been used to rebuild the country's infrastructure, schools and hospitals.

The Rev. Radmilo Stokich, of St. Michael the Archangel, said it was hectic preparing for the president's visit because he only had about six days' notice. "It was very successful," he said. "I was very pleased with the whole program. [Plavsic] was very happy."

Stokich said this was the first time a Serbian national leader has visited Saratoga.

"She had originally planned to go to San Francisco," he said, "But then she changed and came here." Stokich said Plavsic came to Saratoga partly to visit him--the two have been friends since 1993, when they met in the Bosnian war. "So on a personal note, I was very happy to play host," he said.

Plavsic earned a doctorate in biology and completed postdoctoral studies in New York and London before taking a position at Sarajevo University. She entered politics in 1990 and rose to vice president of the prewar Serbian Republic in 1992.

Some journalists say Plavsic supported the hard-line nationalist views of Karadzic--who has been indicted for war crimes by the United Nations--but others say that she is more willing to cooperate with efforts to enforce a peace treaty and that therefore the U.S. and Europe support her.

"The Serbs have oftentimes been winners in war but lost the peace. Now that we have lost the war, hopefully we can win peace," she told her Saratoga audience.

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