Bukovica engleski.qxd - Fond za humanitarno pravo

Bukovica engleski.qxd 15.3.2003 13:53 Page 26
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Bukovica
citizens took part or are now taking part in the Bosnian
war on all sides. Individuals have suffered and this has
triggered a destructive process to which the intensive
border crossing contributes.“ 46
Unproven accusations against Bukovica Muslims were
set out also by the head of the community office in
Kovačevići, Branko Stevanović. In late August, the Montenegrin
daily Pobjeda quoted him as saying: ”According
to some information, 98 young men from Bukovica
are fighting with the Green Berets in Sarajevo and
Goražde. Their parents say that they are in Germany,
Turkey... The Serb villagers are afraid that they will come
one night and slaughter them all.“ 47 In the same report,
Pobjeda recalled that during his visit to Pljevlja, President
Bulatović told the leader of the local organization
of the Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA) that he
had been informed that local Muslims had 350 rifles.
The attempts of officials to balance out the blame were
backed by the paper’s reporter who wrote that ”Illegal
weapons were found in every single Muslim house that
was searched.“ 48
Commenting on the reporting of the state media, leader
of the Pljevlja SDA organization Šefket Brković told
Monitor many of them ”want to present the Pljevlja Muslims
as a destabilizing factor in this region. I maintain
that no Muslim has committed even a major traffic
offense, still less anything more serious. The ambiguous
statements of some people could lead an observer without
knowledge of the situation to believe there is a kind
of symmetry: that ultra-nationalism exists on both sides.
That simply is not true, and nor are statements that what
46 ”We May Have Been Wrong,“ Pobjeda, Podgorica, 17 August 1992.
47 ”Is Bukovica Armed?“ Pobjeda, Podgorica, 25 August 1992.
48 Ibid.