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Background

Overview
Where and what is Omarska
The Omarska camp
Life in the region today
Mittal Steel and the Omarska mine

The Memorial Project

The story so far
In the press
Participants
Who is it for?
What is it for?

The Debate

The issues
What you can do to help
Online Petition
Points of View

27-08-04: Ed Vulliamy comment piece for IWPR on why the issue of commemorating Omarska is so important

"There exists, then, the terrible possibility that Omarska as physical history will disappear, that the rooms in which women were serially raped will become administrative offices, and that the canteen where men lined up for bowls of watery soup will become a place to serve employees' fast food. It is possible that the area of tarmac upon which men were slaughtered will become a car park for glistening new Skodas; that the hangar in which prisoners were crammed and from which they were called to their death will return to its old use as a storage space for industrial plant; and that the Red House and the White House, where men were slashed, shot and beaten to death, will be demolished, or used as site offices or as sheds for machine tools."

02-12-04: Ed Vulliamy covers the initial survivors approach to Mittal:

"There is no doubt whatsoever that there are bodies as yet unfound within the mine of Omarska and its vicinity," said Amor Masovic, president of the Bosnian government's Commission for Tracing Missing Persons, which exhumes the graves. "We are not talking about dozens of bodies here, we are talking about hundreds."

04-12-05: Times of India talks about Mittal's mis-step in Omarska:

Should Mittal now bow to local demand and set aside a part of Omarska for a memorial? Yes, on both counts, though one hesitates to prescribe too rigid a code of corporate omnipotence and care. But Omarska may underline the wisdom of that old-fashioned belief in putting down roots or at least learning to love and know a community before one presumes to buy from or sell to it.

15-04-05: Iron Ore Enriched with Human Bones by Snjezana Mulic for Dani

"The New Mines Ljubija has exported 750 tons of the iron ore to the Czech Republic and is planning to produce one million tons in this year, the mining proceeds, the iron ore enriched with calcium and phosphorus from human bones is traveling across Europe, the Mittal family gains new millions"

11-05: Article in Human Rights House Network by David Mutton

"...it would appear that the project has already been compromised by local denial and the commercial agenda of Mittal Steel. At this stage it appears that beyond a basic recognition that something occurred at Omarska mine, the memorial will not contest the details of what happened. The local Bosnian Serb community will avoid confrontation of the past, perpetuating their own version of history."

18-11-05: The Times reveals that the memorial project is actually an attempted reconciliation project:

There are other memorials across Bosnia, but what makes this project unique is that the Serbs are participating actively and willingly, thanks largely to the intervention of a British clergyman.

21-11-05: For the BBC, the story is no longer about the victims, but the involvement of Serbs in designing the memorial: "Ex-foes make peace at Omarska" (video clip)

"This is a mainly Serb area, but young Serbs have got involved in the project," says the Reverend Donald Reeves, from Soul of Europe, a British charity that has been encouraging the reconciliation process in Bosnia.

21-11-05: Bosnia erects world's first memorial for Bruce Lee in Mostar with no mediation required:

"He's far enough away from us that nobody can ask what he did during World War II, during World War I, or what his ancestors did under Turkey. He's ... not Catholic, not Orthodox, not Muslim," says Veselin Gatalo, head of Mostar's Urban Movement group. "Bruce Lee is part of our idea of universal justice - that the good guys can win."

01-12-05: Reuters Alertnet news item that suggests survivors asked Mittal to erect a memorial, rather than do it themselves:

Groups of survivors had protested against the sale and exploitation of the mines and eventually asked Mittal to erect the memorial.

02-12-05: The Financial Express of India covers the Mittal announcement:

"We are a commercial company but we are also a socially responsible company," said William Smith, a representative of Mittal Steel.

13-12-05: More4 News covers the Soul of Europe press conference and the Memorial Project

"I am not going to say what happened at Omarska and no conference should be convened to tell us what happened," said Prijedor mayor Marko Pavic.