Croatian president in tribute to slain Serbs

IN AN effort to promote reconciliation in the Balkans, Croatia's president laid flowers yesterday to honour Serb villagers allegedly killed by Croats during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

Church bells rang as Croatian president Ivo Josipovic placed bouquets in front of the Serb Orthodox church in the village of Sijekovac, near the Croatian border, where Croatian forces allegedly killed dozens of Serb villagers in what is known as the first atrocity of the Bosnian war.

He was joined by the Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and Sulejman Tihic, the head of the main Muslim Bosnian party who laid flowers on behalf of the Bosnian parliament.

"We came to pay tribute to the victims and their families," Mr Josipovic said. "It is important we are representing all religious groups."

As Yugoslavia was falling apart in the 1990s, Bosnia's Serbs, Croats and Muslims clashed in hostilities that also drew in neighbouring Serbia and Croatia. The violence left an estimated 100,000 people dead before it ended in 1995 but the country is still riven by ethnic tensions.

In April, Mr Josipovic told the Bosnian parliament he was sorry for the role Croatia played in the destruction of Bosnia – the clearest message of reconciliation yet from any leader of the three nationalities. He paid tribute to Bosnian Muslim victims killed by Croats but was criticised for ignoring Bosnian Serb victims.