Bego Halilovic was caught up in the war in the third grade of high school in Bratunac. As a minor fighter, he escaped to Srebrenica. In July 1995, he managed to avoid the fate of numerous Bosniak men killed in the genocide committed by the Army of Republika Srpska (RS). Because of his mother, Bego decided to walk almost 1,800 kilometers this year, from The Hague to Potocari.
In his confession, Bego recounted his painful experience.
“In April 1992, I left school, return to the village that was immediately attacked because it is close to Serbia, then I joined the unit as a minor fighter. In 1993. I’m coming to Srebrenica, and the municipalities of Zvornik, Milici, Vlasenica are falling, we’re all coming to Srebrenica. Then the Dutch battalion entered, they declare Srebrenica a protected and demilitarized zone, we remain bare-handed. Units are being formed, even though we don’t have weapons, they just exist, where men from various municipalities who happened to be in Srebrenica join my unit,” said Bego, and continued:
“When we came to Susnjari, it was decided that my unit would go to the front, since there were guys who knew that territory. We were shelled along the road, they shot at us, but it was the worst at Baljkovica. I was young and stuck with colleagues who knew the terrain. I had that courage because I was driven by the fact that at least someone from the family would pass.“
In an interview, Bego told how he lost his father, who was separated from his mother and sister by the Serbs “in front of the Dutch” in Potocari.
“I had no brothers, but my father, whom I did not see during the fall of Srebrenica, he decided to go with mother to where the Dutch Battalion is. He counted on being one hundred percent protected, and we didn’t know what would happen to them, the only thing I heard was that he was separated from mother and sister in front of the Dutch in Potocari. The sister asked where you are taking him, they said ‘you are going towards Kladanj, and we will interrogate some of them, they will come after you‘and those were the words. They found his remains in Kamenica, probably a secondary grave. He was buried in 2007 with an incomplete body, no right hand and no toes on the left foot,” he revealed.
A mother like any mother, Bego said, when she saw that he had survived, on the one hand she was happy because he was an only child, and on the other hand she was sad because…
“When all family members are included, more than 60 of us perished. Sadness, because I feel sorry for every other mother as well as my mother”.
Bego says that he is fine now, the 28th year after the terrible genocide in Srebrenica, because we should look forward, not back, but we should not forget.
“I am most moved today because of those mothers who have not yet found the bones. I buried my father, and on July 11th I will go to his grave, and where will that mother go who doesn’t know where her child is, some of them died and didn’t get to see where are their children? The victims are still insulted today, but considering what kind of fighters they were in the war, today I am not surprised by what they do”.
It was because of mothers that Bego decided to walk almost 1,800 kilometers this year, to endure one of the most difficult experiences, from The Hague to Potocari, N1 reports.
E.Dz.
