02.00

The Serbian family, Abdic.  Fleeing from Croatia they took a house in Bosnia belonging to a Muslim family Recir who also had to flee because of the ethnic cleansing.  But, with the help of the UN, the family Recir are coming home.

02.30

Int. Mrs Abdic

Can someone tell me where I have to go with the children?  Can someone tell me why my husband fought?

Int. Mrs Recir

I raised nine children here.

Int. Mrs Abdic

I do not care.  I also left behind a house with 3 floors.

02.44

After the war, Bosnia was divided in to a Muslim-Croat area (dark shading) and a Bosnian-Serb area (light shading).  Before the war, the Muslim family lived in the Bosnian-Serb part.  And officially they are now allowed to go back, they say.

03.00

Int. Mrs Abdic

How can you say that.  Go. Go back to your country if I say so.

03.06

Int. Mrs Recir

Listen. In that case you are responsible yourself.

Int. Mrs Abdic

There were so many victims here, and nevertheless the international organisations came to protect the Croats and the Muslims.  Why don't they protect the Serbs in the Muslim-Croat federation?  How many died there?  My neighbours died.  Not one, but many!

03.36

Int. Mrs Abdic

Who do you believe?  Them or me, or all these people here.  You can believe her if you want.

03.44

For the refugees: someone took their homes or they were destroyed.  Take Doboj for example, a city in the Bosnian Serb area, near the border with the Muslim-Croat federation.  Mesic Ibrahim is a Muslim.  His house was bombed and he had to flee across the border.

04.07

Int. Mesic Ibrahim

There is my house, behind that white house, with the red roof.

04.13

Q. When did you leave it?

04.16

Int. Mesic Ibrahim

A. I did not leave it.  I had to flee in 1992.  Since then I've lived here.

04.25

Only a few hundred metres lie between Ibrahim's old house and the house he fled to.  And between them is a SFOR road blockade.  A buffer between the two sides.

04.41

Int. Mesic Ibrahim

It feels strange, coming out of my house each morning, and then seeing my own house.  That is hard.  Being so near my home and still so far away, that I cannot even visit my own home.

05.00

Q. Have you visited it?

05.02

Int. Mesic Ibrahim

A. Yes, in February 1996.

05.06

The former mayor of Doboj had to flee as well.  He often talks to Ibrahim about their houses just at the other side of the border.

05.16

Int. Former Mayor of Doboj Reuf Mechmedag

We have such a strong desire to go back home and we cannot imagine our lives other than going back home.  There, are our roots, there our forefathers lie buried.  We have been gone quite a long time already, but we are sure we will go back.

05.38

Some Muslims have dared to go return home, because their houses are on the edge of the city.  They are out of sight of the Bosnian Serbs.  But many Muslims fear new ethnic cleansings.

05.59

Int. Reuf Mechmedag

I have had the opportunity to visit my house.  It was hard to see my town again.  The place where I grew up and where I have lived for so many years.  I could not go back and look inside my house because it was occupied.  A Serbian family lives in my house now, they come from around here, around Maglai.

06.25

In September, Ibrahim is allowed to vote for the city of Doboj.  He is still not welcome there now, because he is a Muslim.  His future depends on whether the extreme nationalist party of Radovan Karadzic wins or loses.  Karadzic wants to leave the city ethnically cleansed.

06.43

PTC Andre Zwartbol

It is a weird situation for the elections.  Refugees have to vote for a village in which they do not live and are not welcome.  With the help of the UN some are back in their homes, but most are not.  It is almost ironic that they are allowed to vote in their village.

07.09

The Dutch government has also sent more men to protect refugees so they can vote without fear.  But there are many worries for the future.

07.18

Int. M Nijbers, UN Officer

I don not think much will change with the elections, even if the opposition takes power.  But anyway we may see some encouraging developments in some villages, that may open the door for similar developments elsewhere.  That is what we hope at least.

07.42

Int. Mesic Ibrahim

I have applied to vote in Doboj and I do not care where in Doboj it is.

07.48

Q. What do you think of the Muslims who come here to vote?

07.51

Int. K. Rosdovic, Bosnian Serb

I would kill them if they came back here.  To hell with them.  Once we lived together here.  It is good they founded their own state.  We will found our own Serb state, if I may live then.  If not, it does not matter what happens.

08.09

It is not sure if Mechmedag and Ibrahim will be able to return safely to their homes after the elections.  Especially if parties who want to keep the region ethnically cleansed win the elections.

08.30

ENDS