OSTOJIĆ: REPUBLIKA SRPSKA TO OBSERVE DAY OF MOURNING TOMORROW

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 28 /SRNA/ – A Day of Mourning will be observed tomorrow in Republika Srpska, marking 34 years since the beginning of the tragic conflict in BiH, Republika Srpska Minister of Labor and Veterans’ and Disability Protection Radan Ostojić told SRNA.

He stated that the decision to declare the Day of Mourning was adopted by the Government of Republika Srpska at the initiative of the line ministry and the Republika Srpska Veterans’ Organization /BORS/. In 2025, the BORS Presidency adopted a conclusion at one of its sessions requesting that the competent institutions of Republika Srpska declare March 1 a Day of Mourning in Republika Srpska. BORS believes the proposal is justified because March 1, 1992, is associated with the beginning of the war in BiH and the suffering that followed. On that date, BORS noted, an illegitimate referendum on BiH’s secession from Yugoslavia was held without the participation of the Serb people, and a wedding procession was attacked in Sarajevo’s Baščaršija, during which Nikola Gardović was killed, Orthodox priest Radenko Mirović was wounded, and the Serb flag was burned. This was followed by a series of events - the entry of Croatian forces into Bosanski Brod on March 3, the crime against Serbs in Sijekovac on March 26, and in Kupres on April 3 - which were direct triggers for the outbreak of the civil war in BiH, in which, while respecting all victims, the Serb people suffered the most, according to a BORS statement. In parts of the Federation of BiH with a Bosniak majority, March 1 is marked as the so-called Independence Day of BiH, as an illegal referendum on independence and secession from the former Yugoslavia was held on that date 32 years ago. Serbs in Republika Srpska remember March 1 for the killing of a Serb wedding guest in Sarajevo, which was the trigger for the outbreak of 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.