- Title: BOSNIA: 70 000 BOSNIAN SERBS FLEE GOVERNMENT TROOPS
- Date: 18th September 1995
- Summary: BANJA LUKA AND SURROUNDING AREA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (SEPTEMBER 18, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) NEAR BANJA LUKA 1. SLV TRACTORS CARRYING REFUGEES AND THEIR POSSESSIONS DRIVING DOWN ROAD 0.13 2. SLV/SV REFUGEES BY THEIR VEHICLES (7 SHOTS) 0.47 3. LV CONVOY ON ROAD 0.51 4. SV OLD WOMAN DRIVING HORSE CART 0.57 5. SLV HORSE CART CROSSING FIELD 1.01 6. SLV/SV MILITARY STANDING ON ROAD (2 SHOTS) 1.11 7. LV MILITARY VEHICLE DRIVING DOWN ROAD BETWEEN REFUGEES 1.16 8. SV OLD MAN DRIVING HORSE CART 1.21 9. SLV/SV MORE OF REFUGEES ON THE ROAD (4 SHOTS) 1.41 BANJA LUKA 10.SV NIKOLA KOLJEVIC, VICE PRESIDENT OF REPUBLIKA SRPSKA, SPEAKING (ENGLISH) 2.18 NEAR BANJA LUKA 11.LV/SV HORSE-DRAWN CARTS AND TRACTORS CARRYING REFUGEES AND THEIR POSSESSIONS (4 SHOTS) 2.37 SEQUENCE 10 TRANSCRIPT: KOLJEVIC: "THE GREATEST AND THE MOST TRAGIC PARADOX IS THAT THE NUMBER OF KILLED CIVILIANS IS MUCH MUCH GREATER THAN THE NUMBER OF MILITARY CASUALTIES. WE HOPE THAT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WILL STOP THIS OFFENSIVE, THIS AGGRESSION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IF IT REALLY WANTS THAT THE PEACE CONFERENCE CONTINUES OR BEGINS AFTER ITS PRELIMINARY MEETING." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 3rd October 1995 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEAR BANJA LUKA AND BANJA LUKA, BOSNIA
- Reuters ID: LVA8AT201AY1A2WC98CSUU1H2PXP
- Story Text: A refugee catastrophe has hit northern Bosnia-Herzegovina where as many as 70,000 Serb civilians fleeing government troops have descended on the town of Banja Luka, clogging roads and forcing local aid workers to deliver relief supplies by horseback.
Bosnian government and allied Bosnian Croat militia and Croatian army troops have made huge gains in northwest Bosnia over the past week, capturing a series of major towns and sending civilians fleeing in panic.
Banja Luka, the largest Serb-held city in Bosnia, has been the refugees' primary destination but there have been reports that some people had begun fleeing east from that location as allied forces moved closer from the west and south.
A Reuters Television crew filmed long convoys of peasants fleeing eastwards on horse carts, tractors and trucks, towing canvas-covered trailers with their belongings, along the road between Bosanska Petrovac, Prijedor and Banja Luka.
In Banja Luka, Bosnian Serb officials accused Moslems and Croats of delibrately targeting civilans.
Nikola Koljevic, Serb vice-president of the self-styled Republika Srpska, speaking in Banja Luka late on Monday (September 18), said the most tragic aspect of the fighting was the number of civilians caught up in it. He called on the international community to bring pressure to bear to stop it.
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