ZAGREB, May 22 (Hina) - Banja Luka Bishop Franjo Komarica has been
on a hunger strike for six days now, the Bishop's Zagreb-based
Office confirmed today. Bishop Komarica decided to take this
ultimate step due to increased Serb racist-styled terror in the
north-west Bosnian Banja Luka area.
"Continuing Serb extremists' terror over non-Serb people in
the area, including killing innocent civilians, priests and
believers, demolishing of churches and houses, along with the
indifference and inefficiency of the international community," were
the reasons of Bishop's decision to go on a hunger strike on May
17, the Office said.
New sweep of terror campaign started at the beginning of May,
after the liberation of Croatian western Slavonia (formerly UNPA
Sector West) region, when Karadzic's Serb authorities in
neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina responded by cheering "spontaneous"
vindictive frenzy, mostly in largest Bosnian Serb-controlled city
of Banja Luka and its surroundings.
The course of violence began on May 4, when a group of nuns
was expelled from the Nova Topola and Bosanski Aleksandrovac
monasteries.
- On May 5 the church in Vujnovici, Banja Luka suburb, was set
on fire.
- During the following night the explosive setup completely
demolished the Franciscan monastery and the church in downtown
Banja Luka. A disabled priest, Alojz Atlija, was killed on the
event.
- On the same night the church in near village Sargovac was
completely destroyed.
- On May 8, the church in the village of Majdan, near Mrkonjic
Grad, south of Banja Luka, was pulled-down.
- On May 12, the church and Parish Office building, of
Presnace, near Banja Luka, were blown up. Carbonized corpses of the
parish priest Filip Lukenda and of Cecilia Pava Grgic, a nun, were
found in the ruins.
- On May 18, a parish house was blown up and then set on fire
in the village of Trn, Banja Luka outskirts.
- The following day local authorities forced the believers to
overthrow the fence which was still standing around the destroyed
house.
- The local parish priest, Blaz Markovic, had been "severely
physically maltreated" ten days earlier, which, according to a
source who didn't want to be mentioned, was "only small part of
story".
In his numerous letters Bishop Komarica has been reiterating
that two thirds of his pre-war flock (about 55,000 people) had left
their homes, after continual maltreatment and intimidation.
Church's statistics said that a total of 40 churches in the area
has been destroyed so far. Another 25 were severely, and 23 lightly
damaged. Two monasteries were destroyed, and another two
confiscated.
The community of local Croats in exile has written to UN
special rapporteur on human rights, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, saying that
850 ethnic Croats-civilians were killed so far and that "killings,
robberies, inflaming and demolition of houses were happening on a
daily basis". They also said that all Banja Luka Croats and Muslims
were radically deprived of all standard human rights stated in
Geneva conventions. Mazowiecki himself has never visited the area.
Humiliated position of the survivors was also visible in the
testimonies given by refugees coming from the area. They said many
non-Serbs worked as servants on the "powerful Serbs"' estates,
without any pay, thus carrying out their "labour obligations".
Spending nights in stalls and pigpens was "far more secure than in
a bed", they said.
The Vatican and Pope John Paul II himself were the only
instances to offer an undiscerning moral support to Banja Luka
Catholics so far. "Who can stay silent and passive in front of such
a barbarity," Pope said a few days ago.
But the "Minister of Confessions" within local Serb self-
styled government, Dragan Davidovic, justified these crimes in
public last week. He said that Serbs were retaliating to Croats
this way "for Catholic clergy's hailing" the Nazi-puppet Croat
regime of the World War 2, and for new Serb losses in western
Slavonia.
"Our authorities can't stop the individuals from equalizing
relations between Serbs and Croats," Davidovic said elegantly,
apparently meaning revenge.
Two groups of refugees, now in Croatia, signed petitions with
about 1,000 signatures, asking of UN and other international
players to move their relatives out of the Serb-controlled
territory. Refugees claimed that their relatives, remaining in
Banja Luka area, were used by Serb forces as "living shields"
during the fighting, mostly in Glamoc and Sava river valley front
lines; as hostages in political blackmail, and as a bait for
humanitarian aid.
According to statistics, Banja Luka has had mainly Muslim
populated until the WW2 end. The 1948 census registered 10,861
Serbs, 9,951 Muslims and 8,662 Croats were registered out of 31,228
residents. In the coming years the number of Serbs was constantly
increasing, but the last census of 1991 still registered an
absolute majority of non-Serbs. After three years of current war
they were however reduced to a "quantite negligeable".
(Hina) bk
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