DOCSLIB.ORG

An Ethnography of Contested Return: Re-Making Kozarac

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

An Ethnography of Contested Return: Re-making Kozarac Phd Dissertation Sebina Sivac-Bryant, UCL December 2011 Supervisors: Michael Stewart & Dennis M.Last Acknowledgement: I am grateful for the financial support of the Economic and Social Research Council Page 1 of 235 Abstract This PhD dissertation looks at the experience of a small returnee community in Kozarac, North-West Bosnia. It is a longitudinal study of a group of people who set out to reclaim their homes and rebuild their community after expulsion and violence at the hands of their neighbours. The aim is to investigate how these traumatic experiences were utilised as a motivational vehicle for the return, and how they influenced the character of the post-return community. The study also looks critically at the “memory industry” and trauma studies that claim to put the victim at the centre, but sometimes, through their intervention and focus on narrative, actually deprive their subjects of agency. Returning home is explored as a journey in which social actors actively seek to re-establish social and individual relations as part of a process of recovery, focusing on how they use rituals of mourning and remembering to do so. The thesis centres around a qualitative case study based on several years of participatory observation. Avoiding interviews, my aim was to reach a deeper understanding of the communal everyday social practices and individual coping strategies in a place that continues to be burdened with the legacy of a violent past, embodied in its physical landscape and asymmetrical power relations. I also consider the international dimension to the locale, and the role of international actors, considering whether local power struggles are only the result of the war experience and a continuation of nationalist post- war politics, or whether the presence of international agencies may also have had “unanticipated consequences” in contributing to a lack of progress in Bosnian society. The study draws from various anthropological sources on memory and social reconstruction, but also clinical and cognitive psychologists’ analyses of what the experience of forcible expulsion entails for an individual and their health. Whilst some studies have concluded that people have relocated within the country in search for safety and economic advantages within their own ethnic group, my findings illustrate that emotional ties to the original home, for the inhabitants of Kozarac, remain the key driver for return. However, the study also suggests that post-return, the Kozarac community has moved on to focus on other issues that will ultimately determine whether the community can be sustained over time. Page 2 of 235 Vandalised sign at the entrance to the town of Kozarac Page 3 of 235 Table of Contents Abbreviations!.............................................................................6 Introduction!................................................................................7 Notes on Methodology!................................................................................7 Resilience in War Trauma Survivors: A word on theoretical considerations !..................................................................................................................12 How does a community that suffered ethnic cleansing and expulsion remake itself in a situation of contested return?!........................................25 Outline of Chapters!...................................................................................26 Chapter 1: The Army of the Dispossessed!............................30 The Formation of the "#th Brigade!............................................................32 The Croat-Muslim War in Central Bosnia!..................................................40 Conquering Mount Vlasic, overcoming fear!...............................................46 The Journey Home!....................................................................................52 Dayton Peace Plan: Legalising division!.....................................................56 Chapter 2: Return!.....................................................................65 Spontaneous Return "$$%-"$$$!.................................................................68 Kozarac: Contested Return!.......................................................................71 War crimes, fear and delay!.......................................................................75 The Role of Srcem do Mira!.......................................................................78 Online community as a network bridge!.....................................................85 Chapter 3: Victimhood and the Politics of Remembering!....90 On Loss: “As If They Were Present”!.........................................................96 Unearthing the Missing!.............................................................................97 At Home: Group Belonging as Communal Healing!.................................108 Rebooting Community!............................................................................115 Mass Funerals: “Come Remember with Us”!...........................................117 The religious dimension of funeral practice!............................................123 The Memory of Bones!.............................................................................129 Page 4 of 235 Kamicani Cemetery: “Our best memorial”!...............................................132 Chapter 4: Imposed Reconciliation and The Project to Commemorate the Former Camp of Omarska!....................137 On Collective Remembrance of the Camp!.............................................144 Approaching Mittal Steel!..........................................................................151 The Mediators: Soul of Europe!...............................................................152 A Framework of Mediation: Critical Yeast, not Critical Mass!...................153 Closed-door Negotiations!........................................................................156 The Survivor Community!........................................................................161 Online Debate: A new public sphere!.......................................................163 Online Petition: Moving towards structure!...............................................168 Chapter 5: How Would Justice and Healing Look Like If Victims Were Consulted?!......................................................173 The Making of Local Experts!...................................................................175 Svjedocenja: Bearing witness within the survivor community!.................183 Telling the Story: Creation of a survivor and its social implications!.........190 An Experience of Telling: The “Torture of Witnessing”!............................196 The Futility of a Violent Story!..................................................................198 Conclusion!.............................................................................205 Re-making Kozarac!.................................................................................205 Bibliography!...........................................................................209 Books and Publications!...........................................................................209 Documentaries!........................................................................................231 Research Aids!.........................................................................................231 Websites!..................................................................................................232 A list of Prijedor’s non-Serb intellectuals who were killed as part of the Serbian campaign of ethnic cleansing in the area!...................................233 Photo Credits!..........................................................................................235 Page 5 of 235 Abbreviations ARBiH: The Army of Bosnia and Hercegovina CEH: Commission for Historical Clarification DPA: The Dayton Peace Accords ECMM: European Union Monitoring Mission HOS: The Croatian Defence Force (right-wing militia) HV: Croatian Army HVO: Croatian Defence Council (in Bosnia) HRW: Human Rights Watch JNA: Yugoslav National Army ICG: International Crisis Group IDP: Internally Displaced Persons ICTR: International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ICTY: International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia IFOR: US-led NATO peace Implementation Force IWPR: Institute for War and Peace Reporting NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGO: Non-governmental Organisations OHR: Office of the High Representative (of the United Nations Security Council) OSP: Owen-Stoltenberg peace plan OSCE: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe RDC: Research and Documentation Centre RS: Republika Srpska SFOR: NATO-led Stabilisation Force SoE: The Soul of Europe VRS: The Bosnian Serb Army VOPP: Vance-Owen Peace Plan UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency UNPROFOR: UN Protection Force TO: Territorial Defence Page 6 of 235 Introduction This thesis is essentially the story of a group of people - from my own home region, but most of whom I did not know upon starting on my research journey - who have been individually and collectively picking up the pieces of their lives after the trauma of ethnic cleansing. I have followed their progress over a period of eight years as they attempted to return to the town of Kozarac, which had been comprehensively destroyed, and recreate their community in the middle of an aggressively nationalistic new
Recommended publications
  • UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo Order Online

    UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo Order Online

    UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo Order online Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Glossary 1. Executive Summary The 1999 Offensive The Chain of Command The War Crimes Tribunal Abuses by the KLA Role of the International Community 2. Background Introduction Brief History of the Kosovo Conflict Kosovo in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Kosovo in the 1990s The 1998 Armed Conflict Conclusion 3. Forces of the Conflict Forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslav Army Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs Paramilitaries Chain of Command and Superior Responsibility Stucture and Strategy of the KLA Appendix: Post-War Promotions of Serbian Police and Yugoslav Army Members 4. march–june 1999: An Overview The Geography of Abuses The Killings Death Toll,the Missing and Body Removal Targeted Killings Rape and Sexual Assault Forced Expulsions Arbitrary Arrests and Detentions Destruction of Civilian Property and Mosques Contamination of Water Wells Robbery and Extortion Detentions and Compulsory Labor 1 Human Shields Landmines 5. Drenica Region Izbica Rezala Poklek Staro Cikatovo The April 30 Offensive Vrbovac Stutica Baks The Cirez Mosque The Shavarina Mine Detention and Interrogation in Glogovac Detention and Compusory Labor Glogovac Town Killing of Civilians Detention and Abuse Forced Expulsion 6. Djakovica Municipality Djakovica City Phase One—March 24 to April 2 Phase Two—March 7 to March 13 The Withdrawal Meja Motives: Five Policeman Killed Perpetrators Korenica 7. Istok Municipality Dubrava Prison The Prison The NATO Bombing The Massacre The Exhumations Perpetrators 8. Lipljan Municipality Slovinje Perpetrators 9. Orahovac Municipality Pusto Selo 10. Pec Municipality Pec City The “Cleansing” Looting and Burning A Final Killing Rape Cuska Background The Killings The Attacks in Pavljan and Zahac The Perpetrators Ljubenic 11.
  • The-Prijedor-Genocide 1

    The-Prijedor-Genocide 1

    PART 1. THE PRIJEDOR GENOCIDE The Prijedor genocide [1][2][3] , refers to numerous war crimes committed during the Bosnian war by the Serb political and military leadership mostly on Bosniak civilians in the Prijedor region of Bosnia-Herzegovina. After the Srebrenica genocide, it is the second largest massacre committed during the Bosnian war in 1992. Around 5,200 Bosniaks and Croats from Prijedor are missing or were killed during the massacre period, and around 14,000 people in the wider region of Prijedor (Pounje). [4] Contents • 1 Background • 2 Political developments before the takeover • 3 Takeover • 4 Armed attacks against the civilians o 4.1 Propaganda o 4.2 Strengthening of Serb forces o 4.3 Marking of non-Serb houses o 4.4 Attack on Hambarine o 4.5 Attack on Kozarac • 5 Camps o 5.1 Keraterm camp o 5.2 Omarska camp o 5.3 Trnopolje camp o 5.4 Other detention facilities • 6 Killings in the camps • 7 References • 8 See also • 9 External links Background Following Slovenia’s and Croatia’s declarations of independence in June 1991, the situation in the Prijedor municipality rapidly deteriorated. During the war in Croatia, the tension increased between the Serbs and the communities of Bosniaks and Croats. Bosniaks and Croats began to leave the municipality because of a growing sense of insecurity and fear amongst the population which was caused by Serb propaganda which became increasingly visible. The municipal newspaper Kozarski Vjesnik started publishing allegations against the non-Serbs. The Serb media propagandised the idea that the Serbs had to arm themselves.
  • Local Memory Practices of the Memorial Complex at Mrakovica, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Local Memory Practices of the Memorial Complex at Mrakovica, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Manuela BRENNER The Construction, De- and Reconstruction of History and Memory: Local Memory Practices of the Memorial Complex at Mrakovica, Bosnia and Herzegovina THE CONSTRUCTION, DE- AND RECONSTRUCTION OF HISTORY AND MEMORY: LOCAL MEMORY PRACTICES OF THE MEMORIAL COMPLEX AT MRAKOVICA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Manuela BRENNER University of Regensburg UDK: 069(497.6 Mrakovica):94(4)“1941/1945“ 069(497.6 Mrakovica:355(497.6)“1992/1995“ Prethodno priopćenje Primljeno: 07.10.2013. Prihvaćeno: 05.01.2014. This paper examines the memory practices of the memorial complex at Mrakovica at the Kozara National Park in the Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The original concept of the memorial site, founded in 1972, was to keep the Kozara-epos alive. The erected monument, the memorial wall and the museum were built to remember one of the biggest battles during the Second World War on Yugoslav soil during which more than ten thousand Partisan fighters and civilians lost their lives. During the communist era the memorial site fit into the official memory frame: the high number of casualties, especially civilians, was put into the foreground and the Partisans in their struggle for liberation were glorified. The key component of the official narrative was the slogan brotherhood and unity. After the armed conflict in the 1990s, the site underwent several transformations. New memorial frames were set by nationalists; thus history and memory were thereby de- and reconstructed. The new narrative included not only victims of the Second World War but exclusively those victims belonging to the ethnic group of Serbs of the First World War and the conflict in 1992-95.
  • Download (1233Kb)

    Download (1233Kb)

    Original citation: Koinova, Maria and Karabegovic, Dzeneta . (2016) Diasporas and transitional justice : transnational activism from local to global levels of engagement. Global Networks (Oxford): a journal of transnational affairs . Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/83210 Copyright and reuse: The Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP) makes this work by researchers of the University of Warwick available open access under the following conditions. Copyright © and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in WRAP has been checked for eligibility before being made available. Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. Publisher’s statement: "This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Koinova, Maria and Karabegovic, Dzeneta . (2016) Diasporas and transitional justice : transnational activism from local to global levels of engagement. Global Networks (Oxford): a journal of transnational affairs ., which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/glob.12128 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving." A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version.
  • The Bosnian Case: Art, History and Memory

    The Bosnian Case: Art, History and Memory

    The Bosnian Case: Art, History and Memory Elmedin Žunić ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3694-7098 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Melbourne Faculty of Fine Arts and Music July 2018 Abstract The Bosnian Case: Art, History and Memory concerns the representation of historic and traumatogenic events in art through the specific case of the war in Bosnia 1992-1995. The research investigates an aftermath articulated through the Freudian concept of Nachträglichkeit, rebounding on the nature of representation in the art as always in the space of an "afterness". The ability to represent an originary traumatic scenario has been questioned in the theoretics surrounding this concept. Through The Bosnian Case and its art historical precedents, the research challenges this line of thinking, identifying, including through fieldwork in Bosnia in 2016, the continuation of the war in a war of images. iii Declaration This is to certify that: This dissertation comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated. Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used. This dissertation is approximately 40,000 words in length, exclusive of figures, references and appendices. Signature: Elmedin Žunić, July 2018 iv Acknowledgements First and foremost, my sincere thanks to my supervisors Dr Bernhard Sachs and Ms Lou Hubbard. I thank them for their guidance and immense patience over the past four years. I also extend my sincere gratitude to Professor Barbara Bolt for her insightful comments and trust. I thank my fellow candidates and staff at VCA for stimulating discussions and support.
  • World Bank Document

    World Bank Document

    35685 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Analysis of Administrative and Regulatory Costs in Gradiska Municipality Table of Contents INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 5 PARTNERS ON THE PROJECT ........................................................................................ 5 Gradiska Municipality........................................................................................... 5 SEED .................................................................................................................... 6 FIAS...................................................................................................................... 6 ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES AND BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AT THE LOCAL LEVEL.... 7 Method to address problems.................................................................................. 7 Gradiska as a location for entrepreneurship.......................................................... 9 COMMERCIAL AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR INVESTING INTO THE GRADISKA MUNICIPALITY ................................................................................ 10 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 10 MUNICIPAL STRUCTURE ........................................................................................... 13 BUSINESS STRUCTURE .............................................................................................
  • On the Record: Returning Refugees to Bosnia Issue 9: June 8Th, 1999

    On the Record: Returning Refugees to Bosnia Issue 9: June 8Th, 1999

    On the Record: Returning Refugees to Bosnia Issue 9: June 8th, 1999 Taking Back Kozarac Contents: From Peter's diary -- 'The people of Kozarac take back their town" Emsuda Mujagić opens the meeting - "Step by step, bit by bit..." Profile: "She would wake in the mornings to find that people had thrown garbage on her porch and spat outside her door." From Teresa's diary - "A statement of their right to be present" From Peter's diary -- "What happens to a body...?" From the AP Editorial Desk From Peter's diary -- 'The people of Kozarac take back their town" Monday, May 24. Approximately 100 Bosnians, Croatians, Europeans, and North Americans sat in a sun-blasted courtyard in the middle of the ruins of Kozarac today as Emsuda Mujagić, director of Srcem do Mira, convened the conference under the title "Building Bridges of Peace and Trust in Civil Society." In the year that has passed since the fifth annual Srcem do Mira conference, much progress has taken place. But the good will between Serb and Muslim activists that pervaded the atmosphere of last year's conference is absent today, because the members of Serb nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the municipality have chosen not to attend this conference. This is partially a reflection of the present political atmosphere in the Republika Srpska (RS), resulting from the international community's recent award of Brčko to both entities and its removal of RS President Nikola Poplašen, as well as the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) intervention in neighboring Yugoslavia. For these and other reasons, relations between Serb and Muslim NGOs in this part of Bosnia are at a low point.
  • Seeking Justice for Wartime Crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Seeking Justice for Wartime Crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina

    SEEKING JUSTICE FOR WARTIME CRIMES IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA General Allegation regarding the application of statutes of limitations and court fees to victims 1 SUBMITTED BY TRIAL International Yale Law School’s Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic SIGNED BY ANIMA Kotor Association for Missing Persons from Hadzici Association NasGlas Association of Detainees Bosanski Novi Association of Detainees Kozarac Association of Detainees of Hercegovina-Neretva Canton Association of Detainees of Zenica-Doboj Canton Association of Detainees Prijedor 92 Association of Prijedor Women “Izvor” Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide Center for Democracy and Transitional Justice Center for Woman’s Rights Center for Women War Victims ROSA Croatian Association of Detainees of Homeland War in Bosnia and Herzegovina Forum ZFD Foundation CURE Foundation United Women Banja Luka Municipal Association of Detainees Sanski Most Network for Building Peace Organization of Families of Martyred Soldiers and Missing Persons “Vrbanja” Kotor Varos Regional Association of Detainees Višegrad Regional Union of Detainees of Banja Luka Region Sarajevo Open Centre Society for Threatened Peoples Vasa prava Bosnia and Herzegovina Vivezene Tuzla Women in Black 2 “It was an additional humiliation for everyone, because they believed in a little bit of justice regardless of everything. I am angry at the country, at the prosecution offices, and at the courts. They did nothing for victims of torture, absolutely nothing.”1 – A former camp detainee whose civil claim was dismissed on the basis of statutes of limitations “We filed the claim hoping to receive at least some kind of satisfaction for the beatings, illegal detainment. However, the opposite happened ..
  • The International Criminal Tribunal

    The International Criminal Tribunal

    MICT-13-55-A 2970 A2970-A2901 15 March 2017 AJ THE MECHANISM FOR INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNALS No. MICT-13-55-A IN THE APPEALS CHAMBER Before: Judge Theodor Meron Judge William Hussein Sekule Judge Vagn Prusse Joensen Judge Jose Ricardo de Prada Solaesa Judge Graciela Susana Gatti Santana Registrar: Mr Olufemi Elias Date Filed: 15 March 2017 THE PROSECUTOR v. RADOVAN KARADZIC Public Redacted Version RADOVAN KARADZIC’S RESPONSE BRIEF ________________________________________________________________________ Office of the Prosecutor: Laurel Baig Barbara Goy Katrina Gustafson Counsel for Radovan Karadzic Peter Robinson Kate Gibson No. MICT-13-55-A 2969 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 4 II. THE PROSECUTION’S APPEAL .................................................................................. 5 1. The Excluded Crimes were Rightly Excluded .............................................................. 5 A. The Trial Chamber committed no legal error in identifying another reasonable inference ...................................................................................................... 7 B. The finding that the Excluded Crimes did not form part of the JCE was reasonable .................................................................................................................... 10 1. The Trial Chamber never found that President Karadzic knew the Excluded Crimes were necessary to achieve the common criminal purpose.........
  • MSF and the War in the Former Yugoslavia 1991-2003 in the Former MSF and the War Personalities in Political and Military Positions at the Time of the Events

    MSF and the War in the Former Yugoslavia 1991-2003 in the Former MSF and the War Personalities in Political and Military Positions at the Time of the Events

    MSF AND THE WAR IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA 1991 - 2003 This case study is also available on speakingout.msf.org/en/msf-and-the-war-in-the-former-yugoslavia P MSF SPEAKS OUT MSF Speaking Out Case Studies In the same collection, “MSF Speaking Out”: - “Salvadoran refugee camps in Honduras 1988” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [October 2003 - April 2004 - December 2013] - “Genocide of Rwandan Tutsis 1994” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [October 2003 - April 2004 - April 2014] - “Rwandan refugee camps Zaire and Tanzania 1994-1995” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [October 2003 - April 2004 - April 2014] - “The violence of the new Rwandan regime 1994-1995” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [October 2003 - April 2004 - April 2014] - “Hunting and killings of Rwandan Refugee in Zaire-Congo 1996-1997” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [August 2004 - April 2014] - ‘’Famine and forced relocations in Ethiopia 1984-1986” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [January 2005 - November 2013] - “Violence against Kosovar Albanians, NATO’s Intervention 1998-1999” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [September 2006] - “War crimes and politics of terror in Chechnya 1994-2004’” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [June 2010-September 2014] - “Somalia 1991-1993: Civil war, famine alert and UN ‘military-humanitarian’ intervention” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [October 2013] - “MSF and North Korea 1995-1998” Laurence Binet - Médecins Sans Frontières [November 2014] - “MSF and Srebrenica 1993-2003”
  • PROSECUTION WITNESSES PROSECUTION (Exclusively for the Use of the Media

    PROSECUTION WITNESSES PROSECUTION (Exclusively for the Use of the Media

    PROSECUTION WITNESSES PROSECUTION (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) Witness Code / Witness Name and Mode and Time Information on previous testimony (if applicable) and background information Calling Order1 of Testimony Previously testified before the Tribunal: Brđanin case: 7, 17 and 18 June 2002 Milošević case: 3 December 2003 Krajišnik case: 26 July 2004 KDZ263 Partial 92r te 2 1. Ahmet ZULIĆ Ahmet Zulić has previously testified about the general political situation in Sanski Most and about the brutal conditions, 1 hour3 beatings and killings in the detention facilities in which he was held. For more information, please see the “Prosecutions second notification of admission of written evidence pursuant to Rule 92ter with appendices A and B witness Ahmet Zulić” of 24 February 2010 (Document available from ICTY Court Records). Previously testified before the Tribunal: Krajišnik case: 2 and 3 September 2004 Sulejman Crnčalo has previously testified about events in the municipality of Pale in 1991 and the first half of 1992. “The witness was a Muslim factory worker who lived in Pale from 1978 until the time he was expelled on 2 July 1992. He describes the persecution of Muslims in Pale from 1991 until July 1992, when almost all the remaining Muslims were transferred out of the municipality, and the participation of the Bosnian Serb forces (including, in particular, the police, acting in cooperation with paramilitary units) in this campaign…” (Krajišnik case, 2 Sept. 2004, transcript page 5291) KDZ183 2. Sulejman 92ter CRNČALO From the Prosecution submission in the Karadžić case, 2 November 2009: 0.5 hours “… The Witness is a crime-base witness from Pale municipality, who was expelled from Pale to Sarajevo in July 1992, and lived in Sarajevo with his wife and children until the end of the siege.
  • Northwestern Bosnia

    Northwestern Bosnia

    February 1996 Vol. 8, No. 1 (D) NORTHWESTERN BOSNIA Human Rights Abuses during a Cease-Fire and Peace Negotiations SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................2 RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................4 BACKGROUND...............................................................................................................................6 ABUSES IN THE SANSKI MOST AREA.......................................................................................7 Summary Executions...........................................................................................................7 AEthnic Cleansing@ of Villages and Towns in the Sanski Most Area...................................9 Stari Majdan .........................................................................................................9 Sanski Most ........................................................................................................13 Kijevo .................................................................................................................15 Poljak..................................................................................................................16 Podbreñje ............................................................................................................17 ehovci ...............................................................................................................18