[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 20 (Thursday, February 7, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE IN BOSNIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN W. OLVER

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 7, 2008

  Mr. OLVER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of the victims 
of genocide in Bosnia. I would particularly like to draw the attention 
of this body to the atrocities perpetrated by Serb forces against the 
Bosniak and Croat populations in eastern Bosnia. Eastern Bosnia became 
the site of a number of atrocities long before the name Srebrenica 
became known worldwide. The aggression perpetrated against the newly 
independent and sovereign Bosnia and the genocide of its Bosniak 
population took one of its earliest and most vicious forms with the 
attacks of Serb forces on eastern Bosnia in 1992. The multi-ethnic and 
multi-religious character of eastern Bosnia was systematically 
destroyed beginning in April 1992.
  The historic town of Visegrad epitomizes what happened in eastern 
Bosnia in 1992. The assault on Visegrad started on April 6, 1992 when 
Serb military units began shelling Visegrad and several of the nearby 
Bosnian Muslim villages. With the takeover of Visegrad, Serb forces 
unleashed a campaign of terror against the Bosniak and Croat population 
of Visegrad. Every day men, women and children were killed on a famous 
bridge on the Drina and their bodies were dumped into the river. Many 
ofthe Bosniak men and women were arrested and detained at various 
locations in the town. Serb soldiers raped women and inflicted terror 
on civilians. Looting and destruction of Bosniak and Croat property 
occurred daily and mosques in Visegrad were destroyed.
  As the journalist Ed Vulliamy described in The Guardian: ``For 
centuries, although wars had crisscrossed the Drina, Visegrad has 
remained a town two-thirds Bosnian Muslim and one-third Bosnian Serb. 
The communities entwined, few caring who was what. But in the spring of 
1992, a hurricane of violence was unleashed by Bosnian Serbs against 
their Muslim neighbors in Visegrad, with similar attacks along the 
Drina valley and other parts of Bosnia. Visegrad is one of hundreds of 
forgotten names . . . As elsewhere, the pogrom was carried out on 
orders from the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karaszic and his military 
counterpart General Ratko Mladic, both still wanted for genocide.'' By 
the end of 1992, the Bosniak and Croat communities in Visegrad were 
effectively ``cleansed'' through killings and deportations. Some 
survivors of the initial attacks on eastern Bosnia found their way into 
the three Bosnian government-held enclaves and United Nations-declared 
``safe havens'' of Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde. The tragic fate of 
these ``safe havens'' is well known. The fate of Visegrad and the 
pattern of genocidal violence was similar in other eastern Bosnian 
towns such as Bijeljina, Zvornik and Foca.
  As we prepare to mark another anniversary of the beginning of 
genocidal violence in eastern Bosnia and as we prepare to commemorate 
the 13th anniversary of Srebrenica, let us remember the victims of 
Visegrad and other Visegrads throughout Bosnia.

                          ____________________