ANNIVERSARY OF SREBRENICA TRAGEDY MARKED WITH ACCUSATIONS

( Editorial: --> 6863 ) SARAJEVO, July 10 (Hina - Ranko Mavrak) - The third anniversary of the Srebrenica tragedy will this year again be marked under the auspices of the Bosnian authorities. However, the official ceremony will be accompanied by another one, organised by opposition parties. The state committee for marking 11 July, 1995 - the day when the Serb forces entered the UN-protected enclave in eastern Bosnia and killed at least 8,000 Bosniaks under the command of Ratko Mladic - has announced that sirens will be sounded at 12 o'clock Wednesday, history classes will be held and the families of the missing and killed will gather in Tuzla for a protest meeting. The Association of Mothers of Srebrenica will hand to the High Representative Carlos Westendorp a list with the names of missing persons. However, the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) of Bosnia-Herzegovina has suggested that the anniversary of the Srebrenica tragedy be marked with silence. The SDP committee president for Srebrenica, Hakija Maholjic, publicly accused the Bosniak authorities of manipulating and being responsible for the Srebrenica tragedy. He accused Alija Izetbegovic of being nothing less than a KOS agent (KOS - Yugoslav Counter Intelligence Service). Gen. Rasim Delic was accused of having failed to prevent the fall of Srebrenica. "In October 1993, Izetbegovic offered us to exchange Srebrenica for Vogosca (a Sarajevo suburb)....Izetbegovic is a KOS agent and the worst enemy of the Bosniak people. Why does not he step down and lead us no further into destruction?," Maholjic told a press conference in Sarajevo Friday. The current Bosniak authorities were accused of resettling Srebrenica survivors, while concealing the fact that "it was their blood that helped in deblocking Sarajevo and signing the Dayton agreement". Abdurahman Malkic, head of the Srebrenica municipality who was elected to his office last year as a member of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), yesterday replied to his war-time fellow sufferer and now political opponent Meholjic that he was engaged in petty politics and used the Srebrenica tragedy to help his career. "It is not true", Malkic said, "that Izetbegovic asked for an exchange. He said that the exchange was being offered but when we said we did not want it he accepted our view". Gen. Delic's office said that Meholjic "has forgotten the Chetniks" and the responsibility of the international community and demanded that he apologise. Malkic and Maholjic, just like their all of their pre-war fellow- townsmen, are arguing about the fate of Srebrenica far away from their homes. Even Bosniak municipal councillors visit Srebrenica only under escort of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) and Stabilisation Force (SFOR). The head of the local administration is an American Larry Sampler. According to available data, after the Bosnian Serb forces seized Srebrenica, some 25,000 to 30,000 residents managed to escape to the territory under Bosnian army control. Some 11,000 Srebrenica residents now live in the area of Tuzla, northern Bosnia, 6,000 live in Sarajevo, 3,000 in Zenica-Doboj County, and about 4,000 abroad. The Srebrenica book of dead has still not been closed. According to the Red Cross, about 8,000 people, mainly men but also 15-years-old boys, are still registered as missing. The Hague Tribunal teams have lately been conducting investigations in the area of Zvornik, which is believed to hide about 20 mass graves. The remains of about 230 persons have been discovered in recent exhumations. According to UN spokesman Alexandar Ivanko, it can be seen on the skeletons that their hands were tied to the back and that they had blinds on their eyes, which is a proof that these people were executed as prisoners of war. The Hague investigators and a local funeral parlour have exhumed and transported the remains of some 1,700 people to a tunnel in Tuzla, which was chosen for investigation purposes. The bodies, sorted in plastic bags and cardboard boxes, are waiting for identification. Forensic experts take DNA samples from the gathered bones as this is the only way to establish the identity of victims. These days Sarajevo newspapers brings numerous stories about families who are searching for their loved ones and remind that except for Drazen Erdemovic no one has answered yet for what happened in Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. (hina) rml 101421 MET jul 98