BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: BOSNIAN MOSLEM REFUGEES ALLOWED TO VISIT GRAVES OF RELATIVES IN SERB-HELD DOBOJ

Record ID: 275120

  • Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: BOSNIAN MOSLEM REFUGEES ALLOWED TO VISIT GRAVES OF RELATIVES IN SERB-HELD DOBOJ
  • Date: 28th April 1996
  • Summary: DOBOJ AND NEAR SANSKI MOST, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (APRIL 28, 1996) (RTV (A/W) - ACCESS ALL) DOBOJ 1. SLV CROWD OF MOSLEMS STANDING NEAR BUSES 0.03 2. SVS LOCAL POLICE SPEAKING TO MOSLEMS (2 SHOTS) 0.11 3. SV MOSLEMS SQUEEZED NEXT TO BUS TRYING TO GET ON 0.17 4. SV MOSLEMS BOARDING BUS 0.22 5. SVS MOSLEMS GETTIN
  • Embargoed: 13th May 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DOBOJ AND NEAR SANSKI MOST, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
  • Reuters ID: LVACX03M9POCQBZP2Z4SCVSH1389
  • Story Text: INTRO: Bosnian Moslem refugees allowed to visit graves of relatives in Serb-held Doboj during Moslem celebration of Bairam, but others trying to visit graves in Prejidor are prevented from doing so because Serbs failed to guarantee their security.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bosnian Moslems were allowed to visit the northern town of Doboj on Sunday (April 28) and pray at the graves of their relatives for the first time since 1992 when Serbs expelled them from their homes there.

    Sunday marked the beginning of Bairam, a three-day Moslem celebration which traditionally includes visits to the graves of dead relatives and friends.

    Two buses escorted by international police brought 60 Moslems to Doboj following an agreement reached between Bosnian Federation government and Serb representatives.

    The visiting Moslems encountered Serbs who screamed insults at them.

    About 600 Bosnian Moslem refugees tried to visit their former homes in the Serb-held northwest Bosnian town of Prijedor but had to turn back when Serbs failed to guarantee their security.

    Prijedor became notorious for an "ethnic cleansing" campaign that killed or expelled thousands of non-Serbs in 1992 and 1993.

    The 600 Moslems, some of whom had travelled from Germany, arrived in buses and cars at a NATO checkpoint on the so-called "inter-entity boundary line" north of Sanski Most.

    The group, which stopped at the Milin Birt checkpoint just outside Serb territory, said they had asked the Serbs for security guarantees, but these had not been provided.

    The NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR), which nominally supervises the movement of refugees, said it was worried that inter-ethnic tensions could lead to violence.

    IFOR forces also stopped another three busloads of Moslems before they could enter Serb territory at Teslic "because a crowd of Serbs had gathered and it was considered there was a potential for a breakdown in civil order".

    Earlier in the day Bosnian Serbs warned of "bloodshed" if expected crowds of Moslem refugees tried to cross into Serb-held territory at several key towns along the ethnic boundaries, during the Moslem "Bairam Holiday".

    The failure of the refugees to reach Prijedor was another setback to implementing civilian aspects of the Dayton peace accord, which halted the 43-month Bosnian war last December.

    On paper, the Dayton agreement preserved Bosnia as a single country divided into a Moslem-Croat federation and a Serb republic, with an administrative demarcation between them. Under terms of the agreement refugees are allowed freedom of movement and the right to return to their homes.

    In actual fact the demarcation line, named the "inter-entity boundary line" has become a de facto border where freedom of movement and the right of refugees to return to their homes are routinely blocked.


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