STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK Thursday May 31, 12:04 PM War feeling revives in Bosnia MAGLAJ, Bosnia-Hercegovina, May 31 (AFP) - War feeling has revived in the Maglaj area, 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of Sarajevo, as Bosnian Croats demand a change of municipal borders along ethnic lines. The inhabitants of four mountain villages in the vicinity of Maglaj -- Mladosevica, Strupine, Galovac and Bese, with a total population of 1,200 Croats -- are demanding that their area become a part of the Zepce municipality, which has a Croat majority. However these new borders would cut off the town of Novi Seher where some 5,000 Muslims live, from the town of Maglaj, said Dzevad Galijasevic, a Maglaj town councillor. Muslim inhabitants of Novi Seher, who were mostly evicted or captured by Croat troops in 1993 and who started returning to their pre-war homes in 1997, organized a protest on Tuesday. "We are very worried about the Croat initiative. I am afraid that the outcome will not be a nice one," said Ismeta Dzuhera, 51, one of the protestors. Muslims and Croats fought side-by-side against the Serbs in 1992, defending both Zepce and Maglaj. However, when war broke out between Muslims and Croats in 1993, Croats around Maglaj joined forces with Serbs, pushing Muslims out of their homes in the area between Zepce and Maglaj. "I simply do not trust Croats any more. They betrayed us by joining with the Serbs in 1993," Avdo, a 38-year-old Muslim, said. "A lot of bad things happened during the war and it will take a lot of time to heal the wounds so that we are able to live together," he said. Following the signing of the Dayton peace accords that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war, Croats around Zepce, including the four disputed villages, opposed integration into the institutions of the Muslim-Croat federation, and set up parallel structures. Last October, the top international envoy in Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, announced the integration of the municipality of Zepce, appointing an international supervisor to oversee implementation of the decision. Petritsch's decision moved four villages into the municipality of Maglaj, which has a Muslim majority. "We feel safer being with our ethnic group," said Jelica, a 40-year-old Croat living in Galovac. "Croats from these villages have been gravitating towards Zepce since the beginning of the 1992-95 war," her friend Sanja said. "There was a war here. Do you think that a Croat woman whose son was killed in the Muslim-Croat war would want to deal with Muslims when she needs her passport to be renewed," she added. "At the beginning of the war, all Croats in the region joined the Zepce brigade of the HVO (Bosnian Croat army) which, according to us, makes our demands legitimate," said Marinko Kavalic, who heads the local branch of the nationalist Croat Democratic Union Party (HDZ). The HDZ and a few other nationalist parties proclaimed "temporary Croat autonomy" in early March in areas with a Croat majority, boycotting the country's institutions. "Petritsch himself is the only one who can make the decision," Kavalic, who started the initiative, said. "On the other hand, I am aware that we (Croats) make up only ten percent in the region and that we must live together with Muslims," he added. "Tensions have risen in the past weeks," said Ante, a Croat from Mladosevica. "The situation is very serious and we must not forget that many people still keep weapons from the recent war," he added. Maglaj authorities have meanwhile demanded a special session of the Muslim-Croat federation parliament on the ethnic issue. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
