Catholics all over the world celebrate Easter today – one of the most important Catholic holidays. Before more than 100, 000 believers Pope John Paul II led the Easter Mass in St. Peter basilica. In his message urbi et orbi, Pope congratulated in 57 languages and prayed for peace in Albania, Africa and Near East.
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Cardinal, Vinko Puljic led the traditional Easter Mass in Sarajevo Cathedral. We are tired of manipulations, of provocation to achieve hatred among people. Tired of this injustice, of the destruction of churches and mosques, of the burning down of other peoples symbols. It hurts us, therefore stop it, Cardinal Vinko Puljic said his address.
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The Catholics of the Tuzla region began their holiday this morning with a solemn Easter Mass in Apostles St. Peter and Pauls Church in Tuzla led by friar Petar Matanovic. Friar Petar Matanovic and friar Marko Stekic in their addresses pointed out a large light which a human being carries in himself believing in Christ’s resurrection, as well as an understanding of his sufferings. We can never ignore the worries and sufferings of our neighbours. And this happens often these days. Let us try after this Easter, to live in a new Christ-like way, is one of the messages of the Easter mass in Tuzla.
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After this morning’s mass in St. John’s church in Zenica, a traditional reception was organised for the representatives of the political, cultural and religious life in the Croatian Hall King Tomislav. In the name of the host, the Croatian Cultural Association Napredak, as well as HDZ communal organisations, Caritas, Zenica Canton and its affiliations, Josip Pojavnik pointed out that this Easter celebration in the light of the forthcoming Pope’s visit to BiH, represents another proof of the possibility to live together in our joint state BiH. A manifestation The Croatian Days has been opened in Zenica and will last until 6 April.
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Easter was also celebrated in the Una-Sana Canton region, and the most solemn celebration was in Bihac and Velika Kladusa.
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Police in Jajce have confirmed that a house, in which Emina Sejdic was residing, was set on fire in Jajce this morning. The women was tortured by unknown men who tried to abuse her. The neighbours brought Emina to the hospital after which she was urgently transferred to the hospital in Travnik. The IPTF Office first refused to give any information, and they then reported to have information, but they couldn’t make it public.
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Klaus Kinkel, German Foreign Minister, and Hans van den Brooke, EU Commissioner for Foreign Affairs have announced their visit to Sarajevo to try to make better conditions for the return home of refugees from Germany.
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Follows reports of the returnees problems. For example of 360 requests to return to Makljenovac, near Doboj, only 67 permits were issued. We are not going to wait any longer, we neither accept pilot projects nor returns in small groups any more, the interviewed residents told TV.
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Summary SRT News
Banja Luka – RS President Biljana Plavsic, Deputy President Mirjanic and RS Government representatives met a delegation of various Serb societies from Germany, to discuss more efficient measures of financing children of Serb soldiers killed in the war. They agreed to open bank accounts in Banja Luka and Germany which will speed up the process of sending financial aid [scholarship] to those children. They also agreed to send financial aid to help invalids of war in finding a job suited to their condition.3:00
Commentary: ITN, British TV, propaganda footage which showed the refugee camp Trnopolje as the Balkans ‘Holocaust’ was the reason for the US politicians change in position towards Bosnian Serbs, George Kenny [as heard], the former US State Department representative said to a German newspaper ‘Novae’. Kenny resigned in ’92 protesting against the US policy towards former BiH. Now, he is one of the best analysts of US foreign policy. He said that a new generation of journalists had found fertile soil in BiH for testing their media power and influence on the foreign policy of the western governments. They [journalists] were eager to report lies about Serbs, and their so called ‘camps of death’ without paying attention to what was happening in Croat and Muslim concentration camps. The West is not interested in ethnic cleansing and expulsions of Serbs, only information about some concentration camps and ‘the brutal butchers’ [the nickname for the Serbs] are circling the world. The summer of ’92 was the turning point for the west to start hating everything that was Serb.
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World News: Mostar – Minister of Interior, Coric and his Deputy, Dziho failed to agree on the establishment of joint police forces which would have kept order in Mostar. Coric said that the joint police forces should be established at the Cantonal level and not only in Mostar.
Travnik – The Catholic religious holiday, Easter, dawned with a Croat flag hanging from a destroyed mosque in Ahmici, a Muslim village near Vitez, Muslim radio reported. The village was ethnically cleansed by Croats in 1992 when 99 Muslims were slaughtered. Muslim authorities from Travnik strictly demanded from the Croat leadership to order the local criminals to remove the flag.
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