March 14, 1996

As Sarajevo Suburb Changes Hands, Muslim Scavengers Reign

By KIT R. ROANE

LIDZA, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- They knocked on the door and tried to kick it in, a constant swarm of suitors sizing up the homestead and furniture. They threatened and cajoled, unhindered by the international police monitors living next door or by the pleadings of the owner, a 65-year-old Bosnian Serb who gave his name only as Aco.

They said they would be back.

"I feel a kind of sickness inside, all these hooligans riding around, these uncultured people," Aco said from his front yard. "My father, grandfather and great-grandfather were born on this property, and I didn't participate in this war. It is very unpleasant to be harassed like this."

Hundreds of Muslim thugs have been wandering Ilidza since it was turned over to the Muslim-Croat federation Tuesday. With guns, knives and grenades, the gangs swagger through the streets, intimidating the 3,000 or so Serbs, most elderly or ill, still left in this Sarajevo suburb. They hang signs of ownership on homes they never saw before and cart off people's belongings while the owners are out shopping for eggs.

The only hint of embarrassment came when whole families of looters were confronted dragging large items like water heaters through newly smashed doors.

The anarchy officials feared from the transfer of Serb-held suburbs has come true here.

NATO forces and the international police monitors have beefed up their presence, but both now support what just days ago seemed a drastic measure: bringing in more Muslim officers from the federation police, even though this would skew the careful ethnic balance between Croats, Serbs and Muslims.

"The few Serbs that were willing to stay are now informing the United Nations that they have no choice but to leave -- another blow to the multi-ethnic character of Sarajevo, thanks to the thugs of Sarajevo," said Alexander Ivanko, a police monitor spokesman.

"It is a shame, really a shame, that some of the people who have come from Sarajevo are behaving in the same appalling and outrageous manner as some of the Serbs were before they left."

Aco was also considering drastic measures as young Muslim men walked his street with sacks of loot, eyeing his home: he has prepared a room to offer police monitors at no charge. "I'll even fry them eggs if they come," he said.

Dusan Sehovac, the interim Serbian mayor of Ilidza, who has a few more days in office, said, "There is not a single pensioner who stayed and has not had a problem. When we are saying we are happy because no one has been killed yet, you understand the situation we are in."

Before the transfer of Ilidza, Bosnian Serbs had been pressing their people to leave. The Serbs who stayed were terrorized by their own. Departing residents burned apartment buildings and looted factories, thus destroying the idea of harmonious suburbs where Serbs, Croats and Muslims could live together.

As Aco spoke of how the new looting seemed to complement the destruction left by his people, his neighbor, Lena Srkvenjas, 61, was shooing out last night's interlopers. More than 50 people had come to her door, wanting to take over her home.

"We had three who wanted to occupy our house," she said. "I had to cook them lunch and dinner. What could I do? It's not pleasant, but we have to survive."

One of the men who was looking at another house said, "She was a nice old lady." His bag held Mrs. Srkvenjas' radio.

"She offered us this stuff," he said, "and said she will trade her house for one in Srebrenica. We will come back later."