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BOSNIAN
AMERICAN INFORMATION
CENTER
671
S. Green Bay Road, Lake Forest, IL 60045
Tel.
(847) 234-7150 *
Fax (847) 234-7179
The
Honorable William Jefferson Clinton
President
of the United States
The
White House
Washington,
D.C. 20500
September
9, 1999
Dear
Mr. President :
We,
Bosnian Americans, are condemning the SFOR failure to prevent
the cowardly artillery attack of the Serbian military forces
during the night of September 7, 1999 against the peaceful
Bosnian civilians who have just returned ten days before to
their demolished houses in their village of KULA FAZLAGICA,
county of GACKO, in the southeastern region of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. These refugees of Bosnian Muslim origins have
been expelled from their ancestral homes in June of 1992 by
the Yugoslav Army and Serbian paramilitary forces. After
enduring brutalities for several months in Serbian
concentration camps they were expelled to the Bosnian city of
Mostar. Subsequently, when Mostar was attacked, first by the
Yugoslav Army and later by Croatian military forces, these
refugees had to endure another round of sufferings and horrors
for three years. The Dayton Agreement had put
end to the naked aggression and war sufferings but it
had never enforced its provisions to return most of the
refugees to their homes.
After
negotiations and a signed agreement with Mr. Milan Radmilovic,
Serbian President of the County Board of GACKO, and the
Bosnian Muslim representative Mr. Dzevad Memic, it was agreed
that 50 Bosnian Muslim families may return to their ancestral
village of KULA FAZLAGICA in the county of GACKO. They
returned on August 25,1999 as agreed. The Spanish contingent
of SFOR troops were assigned to provide security for these
returned Bosnian refugees. However, this Spanish contingent of
SFOR troops failed miserably in performance of their duties to
secure the safety of these Bosnian returnees in accordance
with the provisions of Annex 7 of the Dayton Agreement.
Mr.
President, as American citizens of Bosnian descent we are
naturally concerned about the safety of our relatives and
friends in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Mr.
President, we are respectfully requesting that you use your
good offices to alleviate
suffering of our relatives and friends in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and to assign our American troops to replace the
Spanish troops in that area and arrest well known war
criminals and thus provide adequate security and justice for
all. That would finally usher peace, democracy and prosperity
into the area. Mr. President, thank you and God bless you.
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