Returning Muslim Refugees and Rival Ethnic Groups May Clash During Religious ObservanceSARAJEVO, April 26 (Reuters) — NATO commanders and U.N. officials in Bosnia are bracing for a weekend of potentially violent confrontations between refugees anxious to return to their homes and rival ethnic groups vowing to block them. "We believe there will be at least two of these attempted movements on Saturday and six on Sunday," said Mans Nyberg, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"Most of them will involve Muslims trying to cross into Republika Srpska to visit the graves of dead relatives for Bajram. If all these visits take place it will be a hectic and possibly dangerous weekend," he said. Korban Bajram is a Muslim religious observance which traditionally includes the slaughter of sheep and visits to the graves of relatives and friends. The three-day period officially begins on Sunday evening.
"We've got contingency plans for all of the possible confrontations we know about this weekend and we'll be there in support of UNHCR and the IPTF (U.N. International Police Force)," said NATO spokesman Major Simon Haselock. "We'll monitor events and intervene if the need be but we are calling for authorities and people on all sides to behave in a restrained and sensible manner."
The NATO-led peace force in Bosnia has been increasingly involved in recent weeks in trying to separate hostile ethnic groups fighting with stones, fists and clubs, along the boundary line between Muslim-Croat and Serb-controlled land. Two grenades exploded during a Muslim-Serb confrontation in Mahala in eastern Bosnia on Thursday in which one Muslim was wounded.
Refugees and displaced persons, who total more than two million as a result of Bosnia's 43-month war, are finding it virtually impossible to move home across the boundary, which is not supposed to be a border but an administrative demarcation. When refugees on one side of the line, instigated by local officials, try to cross they are blocked by residents organised by local officials on the other side.
NATO is loathe to send combat troops to control crowds but its soldiers have fired warning shots twice recently to disperse crowds after situations got out of hand. Alliance officers have also improvised and used the powerful rotor blast of NATO helicopters hovering close to the ground to break up confrontations.
NATO argues its combat troops are not well-suited by training, equipment or temperament to deal with crowd control and that the confrontations in Bosnia are catastrophes waiting to happen. Despite this warning there has been no move by NATO or the international community to bring in additional military or civilian police or non-lethal technology like rubber bullets or water canons to handle the problem. NATO and U.N. officials acknowledged on Friday that they feared violence could erupt over the weekend because of the emotionally-charged nature of Bajram.
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