Ljubija (town)
| Ljubija | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
  Ljubija | |
| Coordinates: 44°55′N 16°37′E / 44.917°N 16.617°E | |
| Country | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Entity | Republika Srpska |
| Municipality | Prijedor |
| Population (1991) | |
| • Total | 3,945 |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
Ljubija (Serbian Cyrillic: Љубија), - Serbian cyrilic is a copy of a Bosnian cyrilic / Bosancica, is a small town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the Bosanska Krajina region in northwest part of the country. Administratively it belongs to the Prijedor municipality.
History
In the 19th century Ljubija developed into one of the most important locations for the country's economy due to its iron ore deposits. After World War II Ljubija became one of the largest iron mines in the world which employed more than 5,000 people at any one time. Until 1965 it was governed as a separate municipality, before it was merged with Prijedor by the Yugoslav authorities as part of a major push of further serbianisation of Bosnia.
Bosnian War
On 24–25 July 1992, the Fifth Kozara Brigade and Sixth Krajina Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska and local Serb paramilitaries, totaling at 3,000, attacked Ljubija and killed 73 Bosnian Croat civilians.[1] Non-Serb workers at the Ljubija mine were dismissed explicitly because of their ethnicity.[2] The mine is believed to have been used as an execution site and to be a mass grave holding the bodies of as many 8,000 Bosniaks and Croats.[3][4]
All machinery and bank accounts of RZR Ljubija, the company behind the iron mine was plundered and either pocketed by leading Serbian officers or sent directly to Serbia. None of the stolen machinery or funds robbed were returned as of now.
The population of Ljubija is mainly scattered around Europe or USA and Australia with minority still remaining in their homes. The newer part of the town is populated by Serbian refugees from Croatia who for the main part do not dare to go back to their homeland as most would have participated in the terror attacks on Croatian authorities during the 1991-1995 Serbian war of aggression.
Notes
References
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Behind Closed Gates — Ethnic Discrimination in Employment (Report). Amnesty International. 26 January 2006. EUR 63/001/2006. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR63/001/2006/en/3ffdf870-d46f-11dd-8743-d305bea2b2c7/eur630012006en.pdf.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Unindicted — Reaping the Rewards of "Ethnic Cleansing" (Report). 9. Human Rights Watch. January 1997. D901. http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/bosnia2/.
- "Bosnian Iron Mine May Conceal Mass Grave, Report Says". Los Angeles Times. 11 January 1996.
- Hedges, Chris (11 January 1996). "Bosnian Mine Is Thought to Hold Evidence of Mass Killings". New York Times.
Coordinates: 44°55′N 16°37′E / 44.917°N 16.617°E