Bosnian Serb Police Merely Watch as
Mobs Attack Muslims on Visit to Homes
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Officials slammed Bosnian Serb authorities on Friday for not doing more to stop an attack on international police, journalists and Muslims who wanted to visit their homes. The criticism directed at Bosnian Serb police for the Thursday incident in Rjecica Donja contradicted the comments of some of the Muslims involved, who said they thought the police had done their best to control an angry crowd.The 40 Muslims wanted to visit former homes near government-controlled Maglaj in central Bosnia, and there seemed to be an agreement between the Bosnian government, Serbs and officers of an international police force. Such visits are a continued source of tension in Bosnia. Although the Dayton peace agreement guarantees freedom of movement for everyone, in practice many civilians are unwilling to allow their former enemies to visit homes and cemeteries on the other side of the dividing line.
Three people were killed near Serb-held Doboj last week in an incident that still is under investigation. About a dozen Muslims were hurt in a separate incident south of Sarajevo when a convoy of buses under heavy guard by French soldiers was attacked by angry Serbs. In Rjecica Donja, an angry crowd waiting for the Muslims broke through Serb police lines. Two shots were fired and an international police truck was damaged. A Bosnian TV cameraman and AP photographer Vadim Ghirda were roughed up and their equipment damaged.
U.N. police spokesman Alexander Ivanko told reporters in Sarajevo on Friday that the United Nations regarded the attack as an “extremely serious one,” and he castigated Bosnian Serb police. “It is appalling that they would refuse to control an angry mob,” he said. He said the deputy chief of police from the nearby Serb-held town of Doboj was present. But Ivanko’s comments contrasted with those of several of the Muslims on the scene.
Two men, Mustafa Hasanic and Sadik Sahman, said they recognized a Serb man who attacked the Bosnian TV cameraman as Perica Stojanovic, a Serb military commander at the start of the war. Of the police, Sahman said, “We thank them. They did their best.”
May 9 · Serbs Attack UN and Media Accompanying Muslims
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