PARTICIPANTS OF PATHS OF EXODUS MARCH SET OFF FROM TUMARE TOWARDS STOG

LUKAVAC, SEPTEMBER 10 /SRNA/ - Hundreds of participants of the Paths of Exodus 2025 march set off from the village of Tumare on Mount Ozren towards the settlement of Stog near Vozuća, in the municipality of Zavidovići, to mark the 30th anniversary of the expulsion of Serbs from Vozuća, the Krivaja River valley, and southern and western Ozren.

Before the march, participants attended a service at the Holy Trinity Church in Tumare and received a blessing.

The march is organized by the Homeland Association of Zavidovići Residents from Doboj, whose president, Zoran Blagojević, told SRNA that participants include citizens from Doboj, Petrovo, Derventa, Modriča, Vukosavlje, Bijeljina, Prnjavor, Srbac, Belgrade, and other places where displaced residents of this area have settled.

Among the participants is Nebojša Vidaković, Assistant Minister of Labor, War Veterans and Disabled Persons Protection of Republika Srpska, who emphasized that the exodus of Serbs from this region must not be forgotten, and that due to the inactivity of the BiH Missing Persons Institute, jurisdiction over this process must be returned to Republika Srpska’s institutions.

Among the participants is also Isidora Graorac, President of the Republika Srpska Organization of Families of Captured and Fallen Soldiers and Missing Civilians, who stated that the path taken by Serb soldiers and civilians in search of salvation from the mujahideen hordes that committed monstrous crimes in this area must not be forgotten.

"What we are doing today is a pledge for the future, to teach and show the future generations how to preserve the memory of the sacrifices made by the Serb people," Graorac told SRNA.

She said she is proud that young people are taking part in today’s symbolic march, as they are the guarantee that the legacy of the Defense-Patriotic War will not be forgotten.

The President of the Republika Srpska Veterans' Organization Radan Ostojić emphasized that this march demonstrates gratitude to the Serb people who withstood enemy attacks for four full years while defending their ancestral homes, as well as to the Serb fighters from other regions who came to their aid.

"We are here, above all, for those who are no longer with us and whose remains are still being searched for," Ostojić told SRNA.

Among the participants of the march are Petrovo Mayor Ozren Petković, students from the Doboj Jovan Dučić Gymnasium, as well as members of the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment of the Armed Forces of BiH.

The participants will follow a 22-kilometer route, during which a history lesson will be held.

It is the same truck road along the Brijesnica Gornja–Kvrga–Malčići–Borovci–Lozna–Stog route, which was used by Serbs from Vozuća and the Krivaja valley as they retreated before the forces of the so-called BiH Army.

After the march, the participants will gather at the Church of St. George in Stog, which houses a memorial dedicated to the fallen and missing soldiers, where a liturgy will be served and wreaths will be laid at the memorial chapel under construction in honor of 21 brutally murdered Serb soldiers and civilians, whose remains, mostly beheaded, were found after the war.

The Serbs from Vozuća were expelled from their ancestral homes during the offensive of the so-called Army of BiH, which, depending on the unit and the direction of the enemy forces’ attack, carried the code names "Hurricane 95," "Farz 95," and "Badr Al Bosna".

The mass suffering of the people of Vozuća lasted from September 10 to 24, 1995, as a result of the offensive by 23,000 Muslim soldiers of the Second and Third Corps of the so-called Army of BiH and the "El Mujahideen" unit, as well as NATO bombings supported by their rapid-response units, and the Pakistani contingent of international peacekeeping forces.

At that time, 30 Serb villages were burned, 1,920 Serb families comprising 7,680 members were expelled, and 459 soldiers of the Republika Srpska Army and civilians were killed, while many others are still being searched for.

The fall of Vozuća marked the end of the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the Zenica region, which had begun in 1992.

Only the former Chief of Staff of the so-called Army of BiH Rasim Delić has been sentenced to three years in prison by the Hague Tribunal for the horrific crimes committed against the Serbs of Vozuća and Zavidovići, as well as the commander of the Third Corps of the so-called Army of BiH Sakib Mahmuljin, who is not serving his eight-year sentence as he has fled BiH.

Mahmuljin is one of 19 members of the so-called Army of BiH and foreign volunteers against whom criminal charges have been filed for crimes committed against Serbs in the Ozren and Vozuća areas in July and September 1995.