News in English     | 20.08.2019. 17:42 |

The 24th anniversary of death of US diplomats and a French soldier on Mt Igman

FENA Alma Zukanović

SARAJEVO, August 20 (FENA) - The 24th anniversary of the deaths of US diplomats - Josef Kruzel, Robert Frasure and Samuel Nelson Drew and French soldier Stephan Reault who were killed in a tragic accident on August 19, 1995, was marked today on Mt Igman with a ceremony and laying of flowers at the memorial.

After the national anthems of the United States of America, the Republic of France and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the laying of wreaths at the memorial on the slopes of Mt Igman and paying respect in the presence of the Honorary Unit of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the participants of the ceremony were addressed by representatives of embassies of the US and the Republic of France in BiH, the OSCE Mission to BiH and the BiH Ministry of Defense.

US Ambassador to BiH Eric Nelson said that diplomats and soldiers at this site lost their lives trying to reach peace in a conflict that lasted more than three years, and thanked everyone who paid tribute to the commitment and sacrifice of four brave people and remembered their victims.

"Their sacrifices were not made in vain, because the peace they sought became a reality only four months after that, in Dayton," said the Ambassador.

First Counsellor of the Embassy of France to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Xavier Rouard, said that their thoughts today are with families of the four brave men whose engagement will never be forgotten.

“A memory of peace should be our everyday inspiration to work on building sustainable peace needed for better future and prosperity of BiH, as wll as for BiH's accession to the European Union” he concluded.

Ambassador Bruce Berton, Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH said that these people had lost their lives in the fight for peace in BiH and that their victims should be remembered today.

Berton stressed that this is his last visit as an OSCE representative to the place where diplomats were killed, and that he will keep the memory of them, as well as everything he knows about the progress made since that tragic day 24 years ago.

Head of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina Senad Mašović recalled that BiH went through a devastating war from 1992 to 1995 that caused severe devastation and enormous human casualties and could rightly say that it was one of the most difficult periods in its history.

Joseph Kruzel, Robert Frasure and Nelson Drew, American diplomats from Richard Holbrooke's office, the Special Envoy of then US President Bill Clinton and a French soldier Stephan Reault, tragically lost their lives on August 19, 1995 on the road on Mt Igman, returning to Sarajevo after being in a peacekeeping mission.

 

(FENA) A. B.

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