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Bosnian Serbs on "Ethnic Cleansing" Campaign in Teslic, Over 100 Non-Serbs Forced to Leave their Homes
The Dayton accord, which ended the 43-month old war last December, envisages freedom of movement across what were meant to be porous administrative borders and the return of refugees to their homes. But in practice this has been violated by many local nationalist authorities bent on preserving their ethnically pure states.
The incidents in Teslic in effect continue the notorious practice of "ethnic cleansing" -- mass expulsion of residents of a particular ethnic group -- that began during the war. Although members of all ethnic groups were guilty of ethnic cleansing, Bosnian Serbs used murder, rape and terror to force thousands of non-Serbs from their territory.
Janowski said the Bosnian Serbs had banned UNHCR buses from crossing inter-ethnic boundaries. "The Bosnian Serbs have banned our bus from (Serb) Banja Luka to (Muslim) Zenica, just like they did with our bus in the Sarajevo area," Janowski said. He said the UNHCR would continue its bus service, set up to promote confidence and freedom of movement, despite the ban.
"As far as we are concerned these are UNHCR vehicles and nobody can stop them," he said. The first bus from Banja Luka to Zenica in the last three-and-a-half years made the trip with five passengers on Tuesday for a tearful reunion wih family members and friends.
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SARAJEVO, May 29 (Reuters) - Hardline Bosnian Serbs are expelling dozens of families from the Teslic area in central
Bosnia, dealing a blow to the peace process, a U.N. spokesman said on Wednesday. "We have had reports of at least 100 people having to leave Teslic as a result of harassment by the Serbs over the past two weeks," Kris Janowski, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sarajevo, told Reuterss. "It is outrageous," he said. "We know it has happened. We are extremely worried by it. It is a blow to the repatriation
process."
Berserkistan, These Serbs Just Wanna Have Fun The Party Scene in Teslic
United Nations UN High Commissioner for Refugees' RefWorld
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