prijava
ŽEPA, July 28 (FENA) - Bosnia and Herzegovina's Presidency Member Šefik Džaferović attended yesterday the opening of the Memorial in Žepa and the marking of the 24th anniversary of the fall of the United Nations Safe Area of Žepa.
The opening ceremony was attended by the raisul-ulama of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina Husein ef. Kavazović, Federation Minister for Defense and Liberation War Veterans Salko Bukvarević, Vice President of Republika Srpska Ramiz Salkić, President of the Association “Mothers of the Srebrenica and Žepa enclaves” Munira Subašić, representatives of local authorities, family members and friends of victims and returnees and displaced persons.
He reminded that there were no Bosniaks in Žepa on the same day yesterday in 1995.
“Death squads commanded by Ratko Mladić on that day began to systematically plunder and destroy Bosniak houses, and in the end they even bombed a mosque. They wanted to eradicate the traces of our existence in this area, in our Podrinje, which was one of the goals of the Greater Serbian aggression in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today, there is an opportunity to recall the shameful role of the UN Ukrainian battalion, which left the Safe Area to Mladić's death squads without the slightest resistance. The people of Žepa were betrayed but they also grossly neglected their mandate, which was confided to them by the United Nations,” Džaferović said.
He stressed in this context that the UN allowed Mladić's army, within the UNPROFOR base in Žepa, to first kidnap and then shoot the Commander of the Žepa brigade of RBiH Avdo Palić, as well as members of the war management of Žepa Mehmed Hajrić and Amir Imamović.
Pointing out that Žepa was a symbol of suffering in the collective memory, but also a symbol of resistance, because the people of that region heroically opposed and resisted the fierce aggression of the RS army during the entire three years of siege, Džaferovic said that Žepa was the last refuge for thousands of refugees from the surrounding areas and it is due to this that thousands of people managed to survive.
(FENA) L. N.
