Rebuilding the Balkans
The great hope felt by the world in 1989 with the fall of
the Berlin Wall was legitimate cause for celebration. The
citizens of Central and Eastern Europe danced upon concrete
fragments, confident that Western freedom and economic opportunity
would soon be theirs. Enthusiasm quickly faded with the ensuing
collapse of many countries that had symbolically been east
of the Wall. As one of the most successful Communist states,
Yugoslavia suffered perhaps the most wrenching demise, splintering
into five countries and two less clearly defined, relatively
independent political entities, sparking a series of vicious
ethnic and nationalist wars.
 |
| Carl Mabbs-Zeno |
Carl Mabbs-Zeno, Senior Economic Advisor to the U.S. Agency
for International Development’s Bureau for Europe and
Eurasia was sent on several brief trips to Montenegro beginning
in 1998, before the Kosovo crisis, to help the U.S. Government
make good on the promise of a better life in the region.
Charged with designing assistance for dairy farmers, Mabbs-Zeno
found that most of those he met did not long for a return
to the past, but desperately hoped for the reestablishment
of dairies to process their milk, banks to give them loans,
transportation to markets for their commodities, and innumerable
other basic business structures. Despite the rapid deterioration
of conditions over the preceding decade, the farmers remained
optimistic about their future.
 |
| View from the former USAID office location
in Montenegro |
A few months after Mabbs-Zeno’s departure, economic
development lost its priority as a new wave of violence shook
Kosovo and quickly overburdened its vulnerable neighbor,
Montenegro. This moment in history gave Montenegro a choice
between continuing its partnership with Serbia in yet another
internal war and confronting its relatively powerful neighbor
by siding with NATO. The Montenegrin government faced a constant
risk from the Serbian troops, including many already located
within its borders. The tiny nation endured NATO bombing
of selected targets within its territory and freely accepted
tens of thousands of Kosovar refugees, adding to the economic
burden of many thousands of refugees from recent wars to
the north. The Government’s cooperation and willingness
to transition to an open market economy garnered support
from the United States, who quickly became Montenegro’s
most generous donor.
As the NATO forces completed their military campaign, Mabbs-Zeno
was tasked with administering U.S. financial support—a
mix of technical assistance, support through non-governmental
organizations, and financial assistance—designed to
help the elected Montenegrin government rebuild its economy.
By breaking with Serbia, Montenegro not only faced the prospect
of hostile military action, it had to learn how to convert
from the equivalent of a very small American state of 600,000
citizens into an effective country with almost no viable
industry. Mabbs-Zeno was faced with a dilemma: how could
he move millions of dollars into an emerging country that
his own nation did not consider safe enough for entry, while
complying with intricate laws and regulations that ensure
U.S. assistance serves its proper purposes?
By hiring an international accounting firm that could go
into Montenegro to check the government’s books, Mabbs-Zeno
thought he had found a safe and legal solution. Funds flowed
into the country and were used to buy medical supplies, import
electricity and pay pensions. Mabbs-Zeno was on another assignment
in the summer of 2000, when his boss called to him to an
emergency meeting on the border of Montenegro to figure out
what had happened to a large block of the funds—it
seemed that their procedures were better at tracking than
controlling the movement of funds.
 |
| Dubrovnik, Croatia |
After a long bus ride along the Adriatic coast, Mabbs-Zeno
reached Croatia’s southernmost coastal city, Dubrovnik.
In a hotel room overlooking the ancient walled city, his
boss explained that the chain of data proving how the U.S.
funds were used was incomplete. Although there was no suggestion
of impropriety, USAID needed a full accounting. Quite simply,
the Montenegrin government had not understood USAID accounting
requirements. The language barrier and lack of experience
in working together posed considerable challenges. Montenegro
had no Embassy in Washington to facilitate communication
and USAID staff were not permitted to travel to their offices.
The Minister of Finance, with some of his deputies and clerks,
arrived in Dubrovnik with boxes of records to resolve the
situation.
Over the course of two days, the talks droned on with excruciating
details of bookkeeping. The small Republic was just formulating
accounting procedures that were independent of the usual
controls from Serbia. In the end, the meeting provided a
valuable educational opportunity for this fledgling government—a
practicum in transparent, accepted accounting practices.
Not only did the Government of Montenegro see that USAID
would demand proof that its funds were used properly, it
saw that such proof could be compiled during a period of
crisis.
Though ambitious in scope, USAID assistance was vigorously
embraced by the host Government. Montenegro has moved from
one crisis to another and yet during the past three years,
but the lesson learned that summer endures. The Government
has upheld accounting standards and maintained current records
on foreign assistance ever since. Mabbs-Zeno believes that
his experience in Dubrovnik is a testament to Montenegro’s
commitment to realizing the promise of democracy. He sums
up his experience in Montenegro thus: “The U.S. Government
will long remember the positive role played by Montenegro
during the Kosovo crisis and, I hope, the people of Montenegro
will long benefit from the U.S. role in strengthening the
capacity of their Government to perform its role in a democratic
and market-oriented economy.”
* * * * *
Since graduating from Virginia Tech in 1980 with a PhD in
Agricultural Economics, Mr. Mabbs-Zeno spent 12 years at
USDA’s Economic Research Service, interrupted by a
two-year stint in southern Africa with USAID. He has been
posted with USAID since 1993 and is currently Senior Economic
Advisor with the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia. Over the
course of his career, Mr. Mabbs-Zeno has worked in roughly
35 countries through USAID and temporary assignments with
the United Nations Development Programme, FAO, World Bank
and several universities.
Back to Top ^
|
