In 1991, on the eve of the war, Konjevic Polje was an almost entirely
Bosnian Muslim village (4574 Muslims, 8 Serbs, 12 others), nestled in
a green valley between wooded hills, halfway between Bratunac and Zvornik.
In the 1992-95 war the village held out against Serb nationalist attacks
for almost a year, but was overrun in the spring of 1993. Konjevic Polje
was "ethnically cleansed" - the houses were burned, the village mosque
destroyed, many people were killed, the survivors expelled, their houses
burned. Two years later, in the summer of 1995, Konjevic Polje was also
among the execution and mass burial sites at which Muslim men and boys
from Srebrenica were murdered and buried. For more on what happened in
Konjevic Polje during the war, see the Milosevic trial transcripts at:

http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030509IT.htm
http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030708ED.htm

After Dayton, Bosnian Serb settlers who had taken over the land and
some of the abandoned houses in the area, erected a new Orthodox church
in Konjevic Polje on the property of a Bosnian Muslim resident, Mrs. Fata
Orlovic, whose family was among the first to return to the village.
She has been trying for several years to get the municipal authorities
in Bratunac and the RS courts to order the church built on her land
to be vacated and demolished, without success so far.

Mrs. Orlovic says her family has been threatened as a result, and a series
of increasingly nasty confrontations have ensued, as people on both sides
have seized on the issue of the illegally-built church as a symbolic focus
for all the other unresolved issues over responsibility for war crimes
and the restitution of property, which have yet to be resolved since
the war ended, almost a decade ago.

A week ago (Sep. 11), the dispute over the church turned to violence, the
first major outbreak of this sort in the area, as a group of Serbs from
nearby villages arrived with a priest to hold a service in the new church,
over the objections of Mrs. Orlovic and her neighbors. A riot ensued,
with about 50 Muslims and 50 Serbs confronting each other with fists,
rocks and clubs. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries reported.

For Konjevic Polje since Dayton and what led up to this latest incident,
see

http://www.grupa.org.yu/povratak/article1.7.html

http://www.nato.int/sfor/media/2004/ms040405.htm

http://www.tfeagle.army.mil/tfeno/Feature_Story.asp?Article=74366

http://www.tfeagle.army.mil/tfeno/Feature_Story.asp?Article=82182

AR
____________________________________________________________________
BBC International Monitoring Europe
12 September 2004

Fight breaks out between Bosniak returnees, Serbs in eastern Bosnia

Source: Federation News Agency, Sarajevo, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 11 Sep 04
Text of report by Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation News Agency FENA

Bratunac - Konjevic Polje, 11 September -- An incident broke out this
afternoon between Serbs and Bosniaks [Bosnian Muslims] before a liturgy
in a local Orthodox church in Konjic Polje near Bratunac.

"The incident took place at around 1700 [1500 gmt] when a group of Serbs
who arrived at a church in Konjevic Polje from various places with a local
[Orthodox] priest started to verbally abuse Bosniaks which escalated into
a fight. The police managed to separate the citizens of the Serb and the
Bosniak nationality. Representatives of the Bratunac municipality also
intervened to calm down the situation, head of the Bratunac municipality
Refik Begic told FENA.

He said that the reason behind the incident, like on previous occasions,
was the issue of unresolved property rights because the Orthodox church
had been built on the plot belonging to a [Bosniak] returnee Fata Orlovic.

Orlovic was detained after she attempted to once again draw attention
to the fact that the RS [Serb Republic] Chief Inspectorate had issued
an order banning the use of the church premises which had been built
on her land. She was admitted to the clinic in Tuzla after sustaining
injuries during the incident.

A total of 4,500 out of 21,500 Bosniaks have returned to Bratunac since
the war. The biggest number of the returnees has been registered in
Konjevic Polje where 418 families or 2,180 returnees have returned to
their prewar homes. The Glogova local community comes second in terms
of the return with 431 Bosniaks.
____________________________________________________________________
Agence France-Presse
11 September 2004

Serbs, Bosnian Muslims clash in Bosnian ethnic violence

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia Hercegovina, Sept 11 (AFP) - Some Bosnian Serbs and
Muslims clubbed each other and threw rocks Saturday in eastern Bosnia,
police and witnesses said.

About 50 Serbs were set upon by around 50 Muslims as they were about
to enter a Serb Orthodox church to celebrate mass in Konjevic Polje,
near the town of Bratunac, the mayor of the village said.

Tensions have risen in the past few months between Serb and Muslim
communities here after the illegal construction of the Orthodox church
on land belonging to a Muslim refugee who fled the Bosnian war in the
early 1990s.

Mayor Resik Begic told AFP that several cars were damaged in the clashes,
but despite the serious violence, the local hospital did not report any
injuries.

The fighters used their fists, clubs and even threw rocks at each other,
one witness, Nezir Hodzic, said.

During the 1992-95 war, Bosnian Serb troops forced the Muslim population
to flee the area. Since then many refugees have returned and demanded
their property and homes back.
____________________________________________________________________
http://www.fena.ba/uk/vijest.html?fena_id=FSA175572&rubrika=ES
Federation News Agency (Sarajevo)
12.09.2004

QUIET NIGHT IN KONJEVIC POLJE

SARAJEVO, September 12 (FENA) ­ Following an incident outside the
Orthodox Church on Saturday afternoon the night in Konjevic Polje
was peaceful, Bratunac Municipal Council Chair Refik Begic told FENA
on Sunday.

He said that the Saturday's incident was a product of problems
accumulated over years in this municipality concerning the return
of property and the passivity of relevant authorities to resolve
that problem.

Begic said that he would contact other representatives of the
local authority during the day in order to try and organise a meeting
that would gather representatives of all levels of authority, the
Serb Orthodox Church and representatives of Bosniaks.

He added that he would be in constant contact with the local police
in Bratunac in order to avoid any further incidents.
____________________________________________________________________
http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040919030552.hwuxavg1
EU Business
19 September 2004

Ethnic hatred stalks Bosnia a decade after war

A dispute over the construction of a Serb church in this small
eastern village has unleashed bitter ethnic hatreds that still
burn in Bosnians' hearts almost 10 years since the end of the
Balkan country's brutal civil war.

As the European Union prepares to take over peacekeeping duties from
NATO, local residents and observers are asking themselves whether
long-term peace is possible in the former Yugoslav republic, or
whether the seeds of a new war are being sown.

And just a week ago around 100 Serbs and Muslims clashed with sticks
and stones here, after Muslim resident Fata Orlovic said she would not
allow worshippers to attend the Serb church built on her land.

"I didn't allow this church on my land. I won't allow them to use the
church until the legal process is over, even if that costs me my life,"
Orlovic told reporters after the riots.

Muslims said Serbs from neighbouring villages shouted threats about a
repeat of Srebrenica -- the nearby town where more than 7,000 Muslim men
and boys were massacred by Serb forces in 1995.

Orlovic herself lost 29 relatives in the slaughter, Europe's worst
massacre since World War II.

"I was surprised when the incident took place. All of a sudden a
group of Serbs came from neighbouring villages and started to insult us.
They chanted: 'You will end up like those in Srebrenica' and other
horrible things," said Muslim resident Kemo Cehic.

NATO claims the danger of renewed conflict has dramatically receded since
it deployed some 60,000 troops to Bosnia at the end of the 1992-95 war.
Its troop presence has shrunk to just 7,000 and it is preparing to hand
over peacekeeping duties to an untested EU force at the end of the year.

"The general sentiment in Bosnia is about advancing towards Europe, not
returning to the violence of the past. The result is that these kinds of
(violent) incidents are very rare," said Ljiljana Radetic, a spokeswoman
for the international high representative to Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown.

Indeed the September 11 incident was the worst ethnically motivated
violence in Bosnia since a Muslim was killed during the 2001 riots
in the Serb administrative center, Banja Luka, over the rebuilding of
a mosque.

But even if actual outbreaks of violence are uncommon, many Bosnians say
they hold grave fears for the future.

"Today there's a lot of hatred between the people," said Koviljka
Petkovic, 76, one of only four Serbs who remain in Konjevic Polje.

Most of the village's 8,000 residents fled their homes during the war
and only about 2,600 Muslims have returned since 1995. Half the village
remains in ruins.

"It was not like this before the war. No one touches us but most of
our pre-war Muslim neighbours don't even say hello," Petkovic said. Her
son, Milovan, added: "The biggest problem is what happened in Srebrenica".

Local Serbs are accused of participating in the attack on Srebrenica,
when Serb forces overran the UN-protected enclave.

"There is big distrust between people. Each (Bosnian Muslim) family who
has returned here lost someone during the war, and they're still bitter,"
village head Cazim Jusupovic, 39, said.

He said the recent violence was disappointing because for almost
two years Serbs and Muslims from the area had been meeting regularly
to discuss reconciliation.

Just a few months ago Konjevic Polje signed an agreement with
the neighbouring Serb-populated village of Kravice to work together
to attract foreign investment.

Political analyst Tanja Topic said the situation here was a microcosm
of the entire country and warned that war could break out again at
"any time".

"That small incident in Konjevic Polje represents the entire Bosnian
society, which unfortunately is still motivated by nationalist principles.
A kind of virtual, false state was created in which we fear the outbreak
of new national conflicts at any time," she told AFP.

"That means that in post-war Bosnia neither local politicians nor the
international community succeeded in politically stabilising the country."
Political and military analyst Gostimir Popovic was equally pessimistic.

"The current peace in Bosnia and the region is not permanent.
This territory is still referred to as a 'powderkeg' and very little
is needed for new conflicts to emerge," he said.

Back in Konjevic Polje, neighbours watch each other nervously.

"The war wounds are not healed yet but clever people know that the dead
cannot rise. At least we have to try to live next to each other even if
we cannot live together," resident Ranka Mardzarevic-Petkovic said.

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