Mirsad Tokaca, Director of the war crimes research and documentation centre
, today added his name to the growing list of people who believe that the commemoration of the Omarska camp is too important to be rushed through by a handful of people without consultation.
Mr. Tokaca was in Prijedor this week to present the interim results of his project "Losses in BiH 1992-1995" that has been collecting data on wartime deaths since 1993. He stated that the civilian losses in Prijedor were second only to Srebrenica as a proportion of population. However, as he told Emir Suljagic in an interview with Dani published in December 2005, "genocide is not a matter of numbers."
"These numbers only strengthen my belief that 1992 was the decisive year, that genocide took place then. Genocide is not a matter of numbers, especially following the conviction of Radislav Krstic. The Convention on Genocide likewise does not specify numbers, but speaks of the intention to destroy or kill a specific group, or indeed to expose it to conditions leading to its demise. Such demise, moreover, does not mean that the victims must be physically exterminated, but that they are forced to leave their habitat. In other words, that the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina cannot live in their homeland, that inhabitants of Zvornik no longer live in their town, and so on. This indeed was the intention of the aggressor. The figures only encourage me in the conviction that genocide is not a question of numbers: it is a matter of the identity of the victims, the way in which they died, and when they died. Take, for example, the question of Zvornik. Our research shows that the crime occurred over the period of April to August 1992, that the killing reached its peak in May-June and the population's disappearance in June-July, and that the two phenomena wholly fit together. The same picture is repeated not just in Srebrenica, but also in Bratunac, Vlasenica, Sarajevo and Prijedor. I am speaking here about civilian casualties, which occur in inverse proportion to the rising resistance: as resistance grows, the number of casualties declines."
(Source: Bosnian Institute News)
This all supports the fact that the ethnic cleansing of the Prijedor region in 1992, and the network of camps established to support the process, was a key moment in the Bosnian genocide. If one place can symbolise what happened in 1992, so that we can all learn from one of the darkest episodes in Bosnia's past, then it is the camp at the Omarska/Ljubija mine.
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Last weekend I have warned the editor of this site about the following: This site and this petition will be seen - and it is already becoming - as a kind of protest against the developments so far. By saying "too important to be rushed through by a handful of people without consultation" (and this is just an example) the hard work of a small group of people to put Omarska on the agenda of Mittal Steel Company and after the pressconference on December 1st 2005 making it worldnews, is beeing minimalised and even making negative. When this group started all this, there was no petition, there was nobody 'to be consulted'. After a year of working on the solution for a Memorial wich is presented just 2 months ago, it is just not fair to create a picture of these efforts the way it is done here. I personally signed this petition because I agree with the principles of the petition it self. But before this goes on, it would be good to hear what is going to happen with this petition. Is somebody else going to take it over from now on? If yes, you should say it right now. If not, you should give clear support to the people who succeded in their request to Mittal Steel to keep the White House the way it looked like since 1992 and to make a official and public decision to create Memorial Centre Omarska, despite the protests of local politicians and without any support. Insted of beening and creating support and becoming a first 'consulting body' (beacuse there is no organisation behind this, I call it body), this petition seems to create a 'deferent voice' without providing any alternative. I am not sure if the people who are signing this petition actually know what is it all about. One thing you at least should say is that you ar not against the people who are involved so far, beacuse this is the conclusion one will take after visiting this site. I am sure it is not your goal to create confusion. One other thing is missing here is the contact we all have with each other. I am not sure the visitor of this site will get the impression that Optimisti 2004 or NGO Srcem do Mira has any contact with you, but the oposite is the case. As I told you last week, I was free to give your e-mail to Mittal Steel representitives to contact you. As you see I decided to give you this suggestion publicly because I am getting the feeling that there is no intention from your side to clarify your position (yet). You dont have to do it now nether. Its up to you. I felt a need to say this so it will not disapear in the air after our phonecall. Omarska is to important (to me too) to lose the control of the proces which allready started, just beacuse we dont communicate enough (or at all) and just beacuse we 'seem' to want the same, but dont there to say it. Best regards and good luck. Satko Mujagic