Although Mrkonjic Grad and Sipovo as well as the villages in these two municipalities had been systematically looted, demolished, burned and/or vandalized and made unsuitable for living for at least several coming months, a small number of the refugees from these places has regardless, returned to their homes.

The war destruction of these places during the first ten days of September, 1995, was horrible. This can be seen from the fact that over 4,000 high caliber grenades were fired on Mrkonjic Grad during one day. The damage inflicted in such a way still hasn't discouraged the inhabitants of Mrkonjic Grad and Sipovo, who on Sunday morning, flooded back to see their destroyed homes. Their emotional reactions were reserved for that portion of damage which had been inflicted, prior to their withdrawal, by the soldiers from the HVO [Bosnian Croat Army] and the regular Croatian Army [from Croatia proper]; at the time when they controlled this area, after the Dayton peace agreement had already been signed.

We'll use a story from Sipovo to illustrate the extent of destruction: It is Sunday, about 3p.m.; it is raining and we are standing at the Freedom Square in front of building number 5. It hasn't been burned down. A man is looking at us from the second floor, probably surprised to see journalists out here. We ask, "What is is like up there?" "Come and see for yourself," responds the stranger.

We approach the entrance in spite of warnings that it is dangerous to enter buildings because of mines. The house is flooded: the water comes almost to our knees. Carefully, we climb the stairs, which are covered with piles of plaster. The walls look as if someone tried to "dig" through them with a hoe or something like that.

Ostoja Antic, 36 years old officer of the VRS [Bosnian Serb Army], dressed in civilian clothing (uniforms and arms are banned in the separation zones) waits for us on the second floor; before the war Mr. Antic was a mechanical engineer; he is a father of two small children, who had fled with their mother, a physics teacher, to Serbia.

Ostoja helplessly surveys his apartment. The tiles in a narrow corridor had been pulled out; the only piece of furniture in the corridor is a small side cupboard. In a room on the left side, there is no furniture, only a huge pile of plaster in the middle. The windows had been pulled out, the walls are damp. In the other room, the parquet floor has risen so high because of the dampness that it is impossible to step over it to the other half of the room! In a corner of one of the rooms there are a few pieces of a chair and that is all that's left.

The bathtub is full of plaster. The kitchen is empty, the windows had been taken from there as well. We enter the last room: a couch had been ripped apart. Parquet floor has risen because of the dampness. On a small table, next to the "window" we find an empty photo album. "Did you take the photographs?" we ask. "No, not even a single one. They took everything and deliberately left the empty photo album. That's their message," Ostoja says quietly.

We are standing, there's nowhere to sit. Ostoja admits that he feels hopeless and humiliated, "it is my misery to have eyes and be forced to look at all this."

What are his expectations now? "I don't know," he says, "there's not a single square foot of livable space here..."

This Sunday, a lot of "Ostojas" from Mrkonjic Grad and Sipovo stared at the remnants of their hard earned property. A small number decided to stay and a substantial return cannot be expected before the Spring and the time to start the farm work. As far as the towns are concerned, the return can be expected when the hospital, the post office and other institutions receive the most basic equipment...

At this time, window panes, windows and doors are the most sought item.

At least to stop the draft for those who had returned.

[Bosnian Serb News Agency]
SRNA,
April 1, 1996,
Id#: 80953

CRVENKA. The oldest Yugoslav refugee, grandma Andja Miletic is 104 years old now. She lived to see the end of third great war now [WWI, WWII and Yugoslav civil wars]. She is here in Crvenka with the youngest of her ten children. She is waiting a letter from her son from Mrkonjic Grad to tell her what is left of her possessions in the nearby village of Trnovo.

This story is reported by SRNA's journalist Zarko Janjic in his article entitled "The third peace of grandma Andja Miletic."

Evropske Novosti,
by Boro Maric
Belgrade,
Yugoslavia,
February 7, 1996

Mrkonjic Grad and Sipovo are, after a several months long occupation by the HVO [Bosnian Croat militia] and the Croatian Army, former towns: not even a single house in them stays untouched. The houses have been looted, all factories and commercial spaces looted and demolished.

Where are then more than 32,000 Serbs who, according to the last prewar census from 1991, lived in these two municipalities supposed to return?

The Croats, probably won't return. If they had an intention of living here, they wouldn't, although until the capture of Mrkonjic Grad and Sipovo its Croat inhabitants had lived peacefully in the Republic Srpska, left their houses and followed the Croatian troops to Herceg-Bosna.

The HVO and the Croatian Army have probably with the destruction of these places, also closed the door of return to their federal partners, Muslims.

In view of these developments, the guarantee of return for all refugees and expelled individuals to their homes in the Dayton agreement, seems meaningless. Will the international community, besides the good will, show the readiness to financially aid the rebuilding of not only Mrkonjic Grad and Sipovo, but also of Grahovo, Mostar, Derventa, Sarajevo and other in this war destroyed places in the former Bosnia-Hercegovina?

Or, will the world, as when the Croatian troops destroyed and burned Mrkonjic Grad and Sipovo, only stand on the sidelines and observe the events while stating that the behavior of the Croatian soldiers cannot be justified.

If that is the case, than the return of the refugees and the expelled people will be a slow and difficult process which will never be completely finished. Since, the rebuilding of Bosnia-Hercegovina requires, according to the official estimates of the government in Sarajevo, $15 billion.

The economy of Bosnia-Hercegovina, even if it were capable of tomorrow returning to the prewar level, couldn't produce that amount of money even by the end of the first half of the next century. A good part of the homeless will not be among the living by then.

The living, probably, won't care about the return. The international community would practically condone ethnic cleansing, for which it has reserved the strongest condemnation, besides war crimes, during the Bosnian bloodbath.

As far as Mrkonjic Grad and Sipovo are concerned, the fire in which the fruits of labor of generations of their inhabitants had been destroyed had been started in peace, after the signing of the peace agreement in Dayton. No one has ever warmed himself on that sort of fire.

Voice of America,
DATE= April 25, 1996
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-33101
TITLE= BOSNIA / SERBS RETURN
BYLINE= DOUGLAS ROBERTS
DATELINE= GENEVA

INTRO: FEW REFUGEES FROM THE BOSNIAN CONFLICT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES. U-N AND RELIEF AGENCY OFFICIALS FEAR UNLESS RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS ARE ACCELERATED, THERE ARE LIKELY TO BE SUBSTANTIAL DELAYS IN THE REPATRIATION PROCESS. BUT IN ONE PART OF CENTRAL BOSNIA, LARGE NUMBERS OF REFUGEES HAVE RETURNED. UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYES OF BRITISH TROOPS PART OF THE NATO PEACEKEEPING FORCE, MORE THAN 30-THOUSAND SERB CIVILIANS HAVE GONE BACK TO THEIR HOMES IN THE TOWNS OF MRKONJIC GRAD AND SIPOVO. DOUGLAS ROBERTS FILED THIS BACKGROUND REPORT FROM MRKONJIC GRAD.

TEXT: /// ACT OF SOUND ON A MRKONJIC GRAD STREET CORNER

ON AN EARLY SPRING MORNING, SMALL CROWDS HAVE GATHERED ALONG A NARROW STREET NEAR THE MAYOR'S OFFICE IN THIS MARKET TOWN. THE CROWDS, MOSTLY MEN, SIP POTENT PLUM BRANDY, CHATTING AND SMOKING CIGARETTES UNDER PALE SUNSHINE.

FOR MANY OF THESE SERBS, IT IS A REUNION OF SORTS, SEEING EACH OTHER FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THEY FLED THEIR HOMES LAST AUTUMN WHEN CROAT FORCES CAPTURED THIS AREA IN ONE OF THE FINAL OFFENSIVES OF THE BOSNIAN CONFLICT.

/// SANKO JAGUZEVIC ACT IN SERBO-CROAT

THEY DROVE US OUT, SAYS STANKO JAGUZEVIC, AND THEN THEY LOOTED AND BURNED EVERYTHING.

MR. JAGUZEVIC COMES FROM A SMALL FARMING VILLAGE A FEW KILOMETERS OUTSIDE MRKONJIC GRAD. HE SAYS THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF THE VILLAGE NOW AND ALL HIS LIVESTOCK WERE SLAUGHTERED.

FOR THE TIME BEING, HE IS LIVING IN AN ABANDONED APARTMENT. HE HAS NO WORK AND LITTLE MONEY. HE CLUTCHES A SMALL PLASTIC BAG. INSIDE IS A ROUND LOAF OF BREAD, DONATED BY A HUMANITARIAN AGENCY. IT IS ALL HE EXPECTS TO EAT THIS DAY.

VIRTUALLY ALL THE SERBS WHO HAVE RETURNED TO MRKONJIC GRAD AND NEARBY AREAS ARE FACING A SIMILAR PLIGHT.

THIS REGION, KNOWN AS THE ANVIL, WAS THE LARGEST CHUNK OF TERRITORY TO CHANGE HANDS AS A RESULT OF THE DAYTON PEACE PLAN.

THE CROAT TROOPS WHO CAPTURED THE AREA WITHDREW WHEN NATO PEACEKEEPING FORCES ARRIVED IN DECEMBER. BUT BEFORE THEY LEFT, THE CROATS WENT ON A RAMPAGE OF LOOTING AND BURNING THAT LEFT MUCH OF THE AREA IN RUINS.

BRITISH ARMY COMMANDERS ESTIMATE ABOUT 60-PERCENT OF THE HOMES IN MRKONJIC GRAD WERE DESTROYED. IN NEARBY SIPOVO, THE FIGURE IS CLOSE TO 90-PERCENT.

FROM THE OUTSIDE, THE HILLTOP ORTHODOX CHURCH IN SIPOVO LOOKS UN-TOUCHED. BUT THAT ILLUSION IS QUICKLY SHATTERED WHEN FATHER RADE STAVROFOR, THE BLACK-ROBED ORTHODOX PRIEST, PULLS BACK THE WOODEN PLANKS COVERING THE ENTRANCE AND ESCORTS A VISITING REPORTER INSIDE.

/// ACT OF STAVROFOR IN SERBO-CROAT ///

THE WALLS AND CEILING ARE FIRE-BLACKENED. THERE IS A LONG FUSE MARK ON THE MARBLE FLOOR. THE PRIEST DISPLAYS THE REMNANTS OF AN ANTI-TANK MINE. IT APPARENTLY FAILED TO EXPLODE, BUT DID IGNITE A FIRE THAT BADLY DAMAGED THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH.

THE PRIEST'S ADJOINING HOME WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED. AND SINCE HIS RETURN IN FEBRUARY, FATHER STAVROFOR HAS BEEN SLEEPING IN HIS CAR.

MANY OF THE BRITISH TROOPS OPENLY VOICE ADMIRATION FOR THE SERB CIVILIANS WHO HAVE RETURNED, DESPITE THE DEVASTATION AND THE HARSH CONDITIONS.

MAJOR RUPERT JANES IS A BRITISH ARMY INFORMATION OFFICER.

/// JANES ACT
I AM AMAZED BY THEIR RESILIENCE, THE FACT THAT THEY COME BACK HERE. I THINK THEY TAKE IT AS A MATTER OF COURSE THAT THEY WERE DRIVEN FROM THEIR HOMES. THEY CAME BACK. THEY FOUND THEM TRASHED. BUT THEY JUST GET ON WITH THEIR LIVES. AND THAT IS JUST THE NORMAL STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THE BALKANS. I THINK. IT IS VERY SAD AND VERY IMPRESSIVE AT THE SAME TIME.
/// END ACT

MANY OF THE SERB RETURNEES SAY THEY CAME BACK PRINCIPALLY TO RECLAIM THEIR PROPERTY, TO ENSURE THEIR HOUSES AND APARTMENTS WERE NOT TAKEN BY OTHER REFUGEES.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS TO POSSESS A HOME, SAYS RATMIR TODOROVIC AS HE ESCORTS A VISITOR THROUGH HIS DENUDED FOURTH FLOOR APARTMENT IN THE CENTER OF SIPOVO.

/// TODOROVIC ACT IN SERBO-CROAT

MR. TODOROVIC SAYS THERE IS NOTHING LEFT. EVEN THE LIGHT SWITCHES AND BATHROOM FIXTURES WERE STOLEN. HE RETURNED IN FEBRUARY TO FIND THE FLOORS LITTERED WITH SHATTERED GLASS AND PILES OF TRASH.

A SOFT-SPOKEN HIGH-SCHOOL BIOLOGY TEACHER IN HIS FORTIES, MR. TODOROVIC STAYS IN HIS APARTMENT ONLY ON WEEK-ENDS, TO CLEAN UP AND REPAIR WHAT HE CAN. HIS WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN REMAIN IN THE SERB STRONGHOLD OF BANJA LUKA TO THE NORTH. HE DOES NOT KNOW WHEN HE WILL ABLE TO BRING HIS FAMILY BACK. HE SAYS THERE IS NOTHING FOR THEM HERE, NOT EVEN A SPOON.

THE U-N REFUGEE AGENCY PROVIDES THE RETURNING SERBS WITH SOME BASIC SUPPLIES -- PLASTIC SHEETING, WOOD-BURNING STOVES, AND EMERGENCY RATIONS.

BRITISH ARMY ENGINEERS HAVE STRETCHED THE LIMITS OF THEIR PEACEKEEPING MANDATE BY RESTORING ESSENTIAL SERVICES, INCLUDING WATER, ELECTRICITY, AND THE SEWAGE SYSTEM -- AND HELPING TO CLEAR AWAY THE MOUNDS OF RUBBLE AND TRASH THAT LINE VIRTUALLY EVERY STREET.

U-S ARMY CIVIL AFFAIRS ADVISORS ARE WORKING ALONGSIDE BRITISH FORCES, HELPING TO ASSESS THE DAMAGE AND TO DETERMINE THE REGION'S INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL RECOVERY NEEDS.

BUT THERE IS NO SIGN OF ANY SIGNIFICANT RECONSTRUCTION EFFORT IN THIS REGION SO FAR. AID AGENCY REPRESENTATIVES SAY THERE ARE AS YET NO FUNDS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND SEEDS SO BADLY NEEDED HERE.

BRITISH COMMANDERS FEAR UNLESS A FULL-SCALE RECOVERY PROGRAM BEGINS SOON, THE BOSNIAN PEACE PROCESS COULD BE PUT IN JEOPARDY.
(SIGNED)

NEB/DBR/ADEN/RAE
25-Apr-96 11:55 AM EDT (1555 UTC)
NNNN

Notice that these Brits are probably the same ones that only few months earlier mercilessly shelled the same Serbian population. The Brits did it in support of their allies the Croat Nazis who were only to come with knives and slaughter the Serbs - all those who did not manage to run away. Double standard *IS* the British standard. It comes to them so naturally as they murdered and pillaged across the globe and over many generations while at the same time always pretended to be an epitome of mercy and culture.

Take a look at this NATO/SFOR link to see proud Brits pretending to be good guys while sitting in Mrkonjic Grad; the very place they help turn into a place of carnage and the mass slaughter.

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