Presidency and Army Command Sacrificed Srebrenica
From Slobodna Bosna,
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina, July 14, 1996
Ibran Mustafic, (Muslim) representative in Bosnian and Federal
Parliaments, founder of SDA in Srebrenica
and the captive of the Serb
Army after the fall of this town, talks about the events
about which he had
unsuccessfully tried to speak in the Bosnian Parliament.
Who are the people you accuse and the people you don't
trust?
Scenario for the betrayal of Srebrenica
was consciously prepared. Unfortunately, the Bosnian presidency and the Army
command were involved in this business; if you want the names, figure it out
yourself. I understood the situation in Srebrenica and, you can trust me on this, had I not been
prevented by a group of criminals, many more inhabitants of Srebrenica
would be alive today. Had I received an order to attack the Serb army from the demilitarized zone, I would have rejected
to carry out
that order without thinking and would have asked the person
who had issued
that order to bring his family to Srebrenica
so that I can give him a gun and
let him stage attacks from the demilitarized zone. I knew
that such
shameful, calculated moves were leading my people to a
catastrophe. The orders came from Sarajevo and Kakanj.
What were the consequences of the attacks staged from the
demilitarized zone for the inhabitants of Srebrenica?
That was a consciously providing a pretext to the Serb
forces to attack the demilitarized zone.
Who in Srebrenica accepted to
carry out those orders?
Those individuals who, in the Summer of 1995, without a
scratch left Srebrenica (...). It is well
known that that team managed to get
out and take with along the elderly, children and horses. I
can only thank
God, that a number of honest people and patriots managed to
get out with them. (...) According to our custom when someone finishes
the foundations for a house, an animal must be slaughtered on top of them. It
seems that Srebrenica was a sacrificial lamb
for the foundation of this state.
Do you think that the events would have been different
had Srebrenica truly be
demilitarized?
Had some people then, or later, in 1994 and 1995 accepted to
evacuate the people and to concede the territory, that would have represented
the public division of Bosnia. It seems that they want to divide this state in
a secret, perfidious way.
Who are you talking about?
About the official authorities.
Why wasn't then, as you suggest, Srebrenica
surrendered in 1993?
What was the goal of such "games" with Srebrenica?
The basic goal of that game was the illusionary freedom of
Sarajevo and the Bihac region.
What hurts the most is the attitude
toward the survivors from the Drina
valley who were in Srebrenica in July 1995.
Present attitude of the authorities towards those people is
enough to
convince me that the authorities expected that the number of
the
survivors would be smaller; it seems that the number of
survivors is too high for
their calculations. They made me say this: "It seems
you are afraid of
living Srebrenica inhabitants."
What makes you say that?
In the Bosnian Parliament, I initiated the formation of a
special committee whose task would be to search for the survivors from the
enclave (I claim that there are survivors!). There are certainly quite a few
survivors from Srebrenica. I am convinced that at
least someone out of those men who were separated in Potocari,
among whom I was, must have survived, if I have survived. Otherwise, they
wouldn't have released me as a witness.
Secondly, when the column which was trying to get out of Srebrenica was
cut in half, the privileged team, which I mentioned earlier
and which had a permission to get out of the enclave, simply continued and kept
throwing fliers behind them; the majority of the people was so confused that
they simply surrendered in huge numbers. I personally believe that the majority
surrendered alive.
Who was throwing fliers, and what was on those fliers?
They left behind them signs saying that the terrain was
mined in
order to confuse the people who had been following them as
much as possible. The column
was cut, people were out of their minds. I talked to a lot of
people who came from Srebrenica
without injuries and didn't belong to
that team; when they told me about what happened on the way,
I was outraged.
I cannot even think about that, let alone speak; these
things are horrible.
Do you think there is no will to find those people?
The fact that in the Bosnian Parliament no one has asked me
about that is enough to demonstrate that no one cares about
that.
You suggested something else in the Parliament.
I suggested that a special fund be formed in order to assist the
people who have survived that catastrophe. Unfortunately,
when I spoke
about that, prime minister Muratovic
had left the hall, as if he had had a
premonition that he shouldn't hear that. I think that a lot
of money has
been collected for Srebrenica and
is flowing into the Federal, cantonal
and other budgets. I believe that the authorities, from
cantonal over
Federal to republican, have benefited much more from those
funds than the people
for whose use the funds had been supposedly earmarked. I've
heard that the
Srebrenica authorities had
received more that DM 2 million a few months
ago. How are they
using those funds, I don't know.
Therefore, this state hasn't fulfilled its obligations
towards the refugees from Srebrenica?
After all, taking into account the local situation, we have
to
ask ourselves whether this is a state after all. Take Srebrenica for
example. No one from Srebrenica
has been arrested in this state. And I
claim that a good number of people from Srebrenica
should have been arrested
by now. They are still showing off, though.
What kind of crimes are you talking about?
The authorities in Srebrenica were
not set up in accordance with
the Constitution; it was private matter of a group of
individuals. One
could write pages and pages about looting, murders, terror,
pressures,
maltreatment and other events in Srebrenica.(...)
In Srebrenica, it was
always possible to buy at the market anything one might have
wanted.
Hardly anything was lacking. Still the only source of goods
was humanitarian
aid. Since not one
commercial convoy had ever reached Srebrenica. Some
people
established contacts across the frontline, but as soon as
the official
authorities heard about that, that someone had managed to
buy something
at a lower price, they would intervene immediately, since
they wanted to be
the only source for
supplies and hold a monopoly in Srebrenica.
You were the victim of two assassination attempts.
Yes, I was. The first attempt on my life was made on may 25,
1993, when someone fired a mortar shell from 20 meters away
at a room in
which I slept at the time. That shell destroyed the room,
but I, thank
God, wasn't hurt. The second attempt occured
on May 19 1995. I was with the
former Srebrenica police
commander, Hamed Halilovic.
He died in that
assassination while I received serious injuries. A whole
frame was fired
at me. When the assassins realized that I was still alive,
they fired a
bullet in my head from point blank range. I was severely
wounded and consider
that to be a double attempt at my
life.
Who were the attackers?
The Srebrenica police commander at
the time, Hakija Mehuljic,
should know. I can say that the people from the top of Srebrenica
authorities were involved in that assassination(...). That
team which
was in Srebrenica gathered around
it only uneducated people. They killed
"brains" to get rid of potential competition. As
an example, I'll mention the
case of Nurif Rizvanovic.
He came from Tuzla to Konjevic
Polje in the summer of
1992 with 450 soldiers; the soldiers were in uniforms, armed
and well
trained. Rizvanovic, only because
he was potential competition to someone, was
shamefully executed in the fall of 1992. That is the reflection
of
everything that happened in Srebrenica
and around it.
At the beginning of our interview you mentioned that your
goal
is to reveal the truth about Srebrenica.
Let me again mention that session of the Bosnian parliament.
At
that session it was clear who was hiding the truth about Srebrenica. My
foremost task is to stay safe and secure in this state. If
something
happens to me, the authorities will be responsible.(...)
How do you see the present situation and the solution for
the people from Srebrenica?
We are in this state 10th class citizens, left to fend for
ourselves. I hope that this people will recognize current
political situation and I think that their situation can only improve
after the elections. The elections should bring some new people who
can appreciate people and human values. The complete ruling team has failed
at that test.
The Drina valley inhabitants are
in the news because of another problem - moving into Serb houses in the suburbs of
Sarajevo. What does the Dayton Agreement bring to them, in view of those events?
Can we hope for a return?
The official policy is consciously working for the division
of Bosnia-Hercegovina. I will repeat
my words from the Parliament: I'm
convinced that the Serbs would have signed the Dayton Agreement
in 1991
or 1992, without a single bullet. I don't think that people
should be
forced against their will to live together (..). The only
possibility for the
survival of the Muslim-Bosniak
people is to return to the Drina. If we
accept this persecution, I am convinced that my sons, who I
hope to have
one day, will have to go farther. As far as moving into
other people's homes
is concerned, Srebrenica people
hadn't left tents behind them. We need
accommodations. Let them return our property and we will
return to
Srebrenica. And we also want to be
told what happened with our missing
men.
Are there any new developments regarding that?
Taking into account that a lot of lies are circulating in
this state, one can not trust anyone. I found out through some people who are
close to the Croatian secret service who in their turn have contacts with Serb
secret service, that some 5,600 Srebrenica
inhabitants are still alive and held in different locations. Recently, Ms. Merhunisa Komarica has
told me that she had received some data from the Helsinki
Committee for Human
Rights which mention 4,500 people. I am ready to go anywhere
and negotiate with anyone in order to win the release of a single person from Srebrenica.I prefer two living Srebrenica
inhabitants to dead Radovan Karadzic.
Finally, I would publicly state that some men are still alive. The fact that
the precise number of missing is still not known, demonstrates how much the
state cares about those people.
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