Editor's Note: Goran Markovic is the president of the Workers' Communist Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

PA: What do you think about the decision of the UN Court on finding the government of Serbia not directly responsible for genocide?

GM: This whole matter has been placed wrongly, namely: the hypothesis of blaming only one side for the war and war crimes which caused initial negative consequences on relations between Serbs and Bosnians, while it is not true at all that only one side is responsible for the war or the crimes committed in it.

All three nationalist movements in Bosnia and Herzegovina have practiced the same politics of ethnic cleansing during the war, although not with quite the same results. That is the basic reason why we think that this process of the court has been needless and politically harmful. The aim of all three nationalist movements, including the Serbian government under Milosevic, was to create territory under their control using the means of war and ethnic cleansing. In that way it could be said that the Serbian government has been co-responsible for war crimes because it sent its para-military troops and helped Bosnian Serbs' nationalists by military, financial and political means in creation of ethnically clean Serbian state on the Bosnian territory.

PA: As we understand it, the ruling was in two parts: 1) no direct responsibility and 2) blaming the Serbian government for not acting to prevent Bosnian Serb militias from committing atrocities. Is the distinction important? Or is it an evasion of the truth?

GM: It must be understood that the Bosnian Serbs' nationalist government was not merely a puppet government under the control of Milosevic. They had very close relations, that is correct, but basically, the Bosnian Serbs had their own state, government and the army which acted in agreement with Milosevic when it was useful for them. Milosevic was responsible for the policy which had as its inevitable consequence the ethnic cleansing but it would be a strech to claim that in each particular case he could influence military operations or war crimes. Generally, he could influence the content of the Bosnian Serb's politics.

PA: How will the ruling effect the relations of the different nationalities in countries concerned?

GM: The Serbs and the Bosnians have very different approach on the issue of the persecution. While the Bosnians hoped that this prosecution would confirm their claims of being the only victims of the Serbian aggression, the Serbs were afraid of being accused as aggressors in their own country while never being recognized as one of the victims of the war. Practically, this prosecution is just a continuation of endless discussion about the nature of the war and the verdict has already caused further deepening of hatred between the Serbs and the Bosnians, while it also seriously damaged good relations between people from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

PA: What protests are being organized and who is leading them? What are its demands and slogans?

GM: Demonstrations have been officialy organized by the organizations of demobilized soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Bosnian's national army during the war), the organizations of victims of the war and 'mothers of Srebrenica.' Practically, all these associations are very close to the main Bosnian nationalist party, the Party of Democratic Action. The demonstrations exposed and caused, also, great rage among the Bosnian population and forcibly 'helped' nationalist mobilization of the Bosnian Muslims organized around the nationalist slogans, while it caused serious counter effects among the Bosnian Serbs, who are now more sure that a joint life is not possible. Some of the slogans of the demonstrations included imbecile comments such as this would not have happened if not for the Muslims, who are not popular in Europe, etc.

PA: What is position of the Communists regrading the protests. What demands are the left making?

GM: We strongly condemn the protest. It is totally composed of extreme nationalist demands and the left could not find itself in it in any way.

Our basic demands are concentrated around firm opposition to nationalism and efforts to clarify the real nature of the war.