The same warlords who took control of the town of Prijedor, in northwestern Bosnia and Hercegovina, through systematic policies of ethnic cleansing including pre-meditated slaughter, concentration camps, mass rape, and the takeover of businesses, government offices, and all communal property have retained total control over key economic, infrastructure, and humanitarian sectors of the community in the post-war period. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. While international attention has rightly focused on the atrocities committed during and after the takeover of the town, little attention has been given to the fact that the mayor, deputy mayor, police chief, hospital director and director of the local "Red Cross" got away with their crimes and became rich men in the process, having expropriated businesses, homes, and other assets of the non-Serbs of the community, estimated to be worth several billion German marks. This contact grants them a wholly undeserved legitimacy, given that they achieved their positions by "disappearing" the duly elected mayor of the town, Muhamed Cehajic, and thousands of other Bosniak or Bosnian Croat community leaders and citizens.
The architects of "ethnic cleansing," many of whom are under investigation by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, interact daily with representatives of international organizations. The same warlords who took control of the town of Prijedor, in northwestern Bosnia and Hercegovina, through systematic policies of ethnic cleansing, including pre-meditated slaughter, concentration camps, mass rape, and the takeover of businesses, government offices, and all communal property, have retained total control over key economic, infrastructure, and humanitarian sectors of the community in the post-war period.
Human Rights Watch, The Unindicted: Reaping the Rewards of "Ethnic Cleansing" in Prijedor, 1 January 1997, D901, available at:
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