11TH ANNIVERSARY OF SKABRNJA MASSACRE MARKED

SKABRNJA, Nov 18 (Hina) - Government and parliament officials, Zadar County and city officials, representatives of Homeland War associations and Skabrnja municipal officials on Monday laid wreaths at a monument erected at a mass grave at the local graveyard in Skabrnja to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the Serb massacre of civilians and soldiers from the southern municipality. #L# Wreaths were laid by a government delegation, led by minister Gordana Sobol, a parliamentary delegation, led by vice-president Ivica Kostovic, and delegations of Zadar County, the City of Zadar, Homeland War associations, Skabrnja municipality and many others. Sobol reminded that 86 lives in Skabrnja were given for Croatia's freedom but that children in the village were still endangered by unexploded mines. The government will do all it can to restore security in Skabrnja, Sobol said. "Not even today, 11 years after the horrendous massacre, is this Croatian tragedy less shocking, but we are not here to instigate hatred and division but warn about the morality of the Homeland War," the minister said. Parliament vice-president Kostovic said it was incomprehensible that the suffering of Croats from Vukovar to Skabrnja was being forgotten due to the theory of equal responsibility as promoted by the Hague tribunal. One must not insult the Croat people with indictments which the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague is issuing against Croatian officers and which mention genocide and ethnic cleansing, he said. (hina) rml sb