A group of nineteen war veterans from the Army of RBiH, the Croatian Army, the Army of Republika Srpska, the Croat Defence Council and the Army of Yugoslavia and four CNA activists joined the commemoration events organised to honour those killed in the war in the areas of Sanski Most, Prijedor and Novi Grad.
A commemoration was held at Hrastova Glavica in the Sanski Most Municipality on 5 August to honour the memory of the one hundred and four detention camp prisoners from the Prijedor camps of Keraterm and Omarska who were killed there. We were invited to the commemoration by the Former Camp Prisoners Association from Sanski Most, who were among the organisers. We paid our respects to those killed and Adnan Hasanbegović addressed the gathering on behalf of CNA. He pointed out the importance of meeting each other on dates that remind us of our painful past and that by showing compassion towards victims and their families, we pave the way towards reconciliation and lasting peace.
In the evening of the same day, our group arrived in Trnopolje for the traditional memorial event called “Night in Trnopolje”, which is organised by the Kvart Youth Centre from Prijedor in the former detention camp. The event commemorates 5 August 1995 when the world public was informed about the existence of the Prijedor camps. Unfortunately, due to harsh weather and because the event was to take place in the open, the programme did not proceed as planned.
We were invited by the Veritas Documentation and Information Centre to attend the commemoration of Serb victims killed in Operation Storm carried out by the Croatian Army. The commemoration is marked on a number of days and in a number of cities in Republika Srpska and Serbia, and we attended the one organised in Novi Grad on 6 August. Together with the other participants, we attended the sites of memory – the Bridge of Salvation which was crossed in 1995 by more than a hundred thousand refugees from Croatia, the memorial to killed civilians and soldiers in the Tunjica settlement and the memorial to killed civilians in Svodna. The organiser thanked our group for attending and showing compassion and understanding for the victims and their families.
It should be noted that at the commemorations, the organisers pointed out the presence of a group of war veterans from different, even “enemy” armies as and important milestone. In this way, they made our need to remember victims with dignity and our efforts at constructive dealing with the past an integral part of the commemorations.
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Media reports:
http://rtrs.tv/vijesti/vijest.php?id=214787