04/04/1992 | Voices from the Drina

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On our way to Zvornik to celebrate Eid with grandparents. I’m terrified. Serb forces have said this Bajram will be a “bloody one”. We’ve heard about the massacres in Bijeljina. We know about Arkan. And we have to pass through Serb villages to get to Zvornik. What if they stop us?

BREAKING: A Serb journalist has circumvented the checkpoints to join the delegation in Bijeljina.

BREAKING: Serbian flags have been hoisted on Bijeljina’s two mosques. Reports of mass murders having taken place.

BREAKING: Journalists have been prevented from joining the cross-party delegation in Bijeljina. Serbian paramilitaries have stopped journalists at checkpoints around the town.

BREAKING: Serb journalist tells Arkan: “You’ll never be forgiven for what you have done to the Muslims in Bijeljina. History will judge you.”

🧵 This Eid has been like no other. I performed the Eid prayer for my congregation, which my father had come to help me with. I packed my essentials in a bag and bid my congregation goodbye. Then I set off with my father.

Weapons are being set up in positions above Zvornik. Serb forces claim they are ‘defending Zvornik.’ Defending it from what?

My father and have now arrived in our native village of Kamenica. There’s an ominous silence, as if today isn’t Eid. Evil hangs in the air.

Someone made a makeshift rifle and fired a bullet in the air to celebrate. Big mistake. We were fired upon from surrounding Serb villages with an intensity that can’t be described. The war has started for us. I don’t know where we’ll go.

Today we’re ‘celebrating’ Eid on the hill near the village. It’s all so eery.