ŽIVKOVIĆ RAJILIĆ: THE END OF WAR SHOULD BE CELEBRATED, NOT ITS BEGINNING

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 27 /SRNA/ - Božica Živković Rajilić, president of the Association of Women Victims of War of Republika Srpska, believes it is regrettable that the Federation of BiH /FBiH/ celebrates March 1 as a holiday, a date that reminds Republika Srpska and the Serbian people of war and suffering.

"For Serbs, March 1 marks the beginning of the war in BiH. How can anyone be so persistent as to celebrate the start of a war? Surely it is the end of the war, peace, and progress that should be celebrated," Rajilić told SRNA.

According to her, it is abnormal that politicians in the FBiH are so persistent in celebrating March 1.

"What does that day mark? The signing of the peace agreement should be celebrated. That is when peace, recovery, and a new life begin. Those are reasons for celebration. Celebrating the beginning of a war is the same as celebrating death instead of life," Rajilić said.

In parts of the FBiH with a Bosniak majority, March 1 is observed as the so-called Independence Day of BiH, as an illegal referendum on independence and secession from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was held on that date. Serbs in Republika Srpska remember March 1 for the killing of a Serbian wedding guest in Sarajevo, which served as the trigger for the outbreak of the war.

This tragic date is not celebrated in Republika Srpska; instead, November 21 is observed - the day when the General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH was initialed at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, marking the end of the civil war in BiH.