Former British officer and commander of the British battalion within the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force in BiH, Bob Stewart, and a group of British MPs visited Ahmici near the Bosnian town of Vitez Wednesday to pay tribute to Bosniak civilians killed in the 1993 massacre in that village.
Atif Ahmic, the head of the Victims’ Association “16. April Ahmici,” welcomed the guests from Great Britain and thanked Stewart and the MPs for their visit.
“Bob Stewart was one of the eyewitnesses who saw it all. I don't know how to thank him because he passed that information on to the world at that time, so that the whole world was aware of what the Croatian Defence Council did in Ahmici on April 16, 1993. It is unfortunate that such an organized attack took place. However, we can’t change what happened, we have to continue living and have a common life because we don’t have another homeland,” said Ahmic, noting that it is very important that the British MPs visited Ahmici to learn more about what happened.
Stewart pointed out that it is very important that people never forget what happened in April 1993 in Ahmici.
“I have brought fifteen members of parliament with me this time so that the British Parliament has an understanding of the act of genocide that took place. To be clear, this was genocide,” Stewart said, adding:
“This was a failure of the United Nations because 116 people were killed. That wasn’t supposed to happen and it was in my zone. I didn't know it was happening. I had 800 people to cover the area from Tomislavgrad to Tuzla and if my men and my soldiers saw this happening, they would take steps and measures and stop it. We came too late and we were in the wrong place while this was happening, so I take responsibility for that.”
He noted that the people who lived in Ahmici and who experienced the massacre were completely innocent.
“I came that very way and the minaret of the mosque was demolished on the ground, which became a symbol of genocide. The village that stretches a kilometre above was completely destroyed. We drove tanks along this road to the end of the village and I set up soldiers on both sides of the road. They were ordered to find out what happened. Very quickly they began to discover bodies, women, children, men, animals. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The reaction of my soldiers was even more difficult, especially in one house where we found women and children burned to death. We need to know that the people in Ahmici lived for hundreds of years and when their houses were destroyed, they had nowhere else to go and they just came back here and rebuilt their houses. Croat houses in the village were not destroyed,” Stewart recalled.
During the visit, the delegation, which also included the British Ambassador to BiH Matthew Field, visited the Museum of Remembrance and laid a wreath for the victims.
Representatives of the Association “16. April Ahmici” awarded Stewart an honorary plaque of the Association.
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