Moslem refugees seek to vote in Serb-held town .
Samir Arnaut
MATUZICI , Bosnia 1996-08-25
Thousands of Moslem refugees denounced Bosnia 's elections as a farce on Sunday because Serb incomers would be able to vote in their old home town , cementing partition of the country .
They said they were ready to force their way back across post-war ethnic lines to Serb-held Doboj , one of several towns where NATO troops fear violence involving refugees determined to vote where they once lived .
The refugees , rallying in Matuzici on government territory two km from Doboj in northeast Bosnia , waved banners calling the polls a farce staged by the United Nations and the European Union . "
We demand to vote in Doboj , " other banners said .
Bosnia 's Moslem-led central government and many displaced Moslems are angered by a key provision of the Western-organised September 14 elections allowing people to vote in post-war " new places of residence . "
As a result , separatist Serb authorities have packed former Moslem majority towns with refugees of their own or registered other Serbs to vote there .
Critics say that what was billed as an electoral process to reintegrate Bosnia as a single , multi-ethnic state is shaping up as a referendum on partition , de facto or de jure .
" Only our physical presence in Doboj will mean that the Dayton peace treaty has truly been implemented , " Edhem Efendija Camdzic , Doboj 's Islamic imam-in-exile , told the refugees .
" The main point of this rally is to highlight to the world powers what misfortune they brought upon us , " said Reuf Mehemdagic , head of Doboj municipality-in-exile .
" Eleven thousand Serbs who came from elsewhere to Doboj will vote there .
How can we then expect the reintegration of Bosnia ?
But no one will stop us from returning to our homes . "
Mirhunisa Komarica , a government refugee official , said : " We want to vote where we were thrown out from .
This is a protest of warning and the next step is entering our town using all means possible , so let them shoot . "
Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic , a Moslem , told the refugees : " We have a message for the Serbs who are now in our homes not to plan the future of their children there because there will be no good fortune in that . "
To loud applause , he added : " We will enter Doboj , untie the Doboj knot and ensure free movement for all .
We have to enter Doboj to free the Serbs from their own ( separatist ) politics . "
The Dayton peace accords guaranteed refugees the right to return to their homes and ensured freedom of movement across ethnic lines .
But local police , controlled by nationalist parties in Moslem , Serb and Croat sectors of Bosnia , and civilian mobs have turned ceasefire lines into virtually impassable borders .
The majority of refugees from Bosnia 's 1992-95 war are Moslems from the Serb-controlled north and east .
NATO-led peace troops beefed up their presence in the Doboj area on Sunday to deter any sudden emotional attempt by the refugees to cross the Inter-Entity Boundary Line into Doboj .
But the crowd dispersed without incident .
Moslems and Serbs have scuffled several times along the line in the past when Moslem refugees tried to surge into the town .