Bosnia's soccer stars support refugee return

DIVIC, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Six members of Bosnia's national soccer team took Tuesday part in a symbolic match between two local clubs in eastern Bosnia, organized to boost refugee return. Braving pouring rain, thousands of Muslim Bosnian returnees came to watch the match between local clubs Drina 93 and Mladost from Divic, near the border with Serbia, mainly to see the six Bosnian stars who were born in this area. During Bosnia's 1992-95 war, the Serb ethnic cleansing campaign drove the Muslim Bosnian population out of the area. Thousands were killed. Although after the war eastern Bosnia remained under Bosnian Serb control, almost 90 percent of the Bosniak residents of Divic returned to their devastated homes and farms and started rebuilding them. The six Bosnian soccer stars came Tuesday to show their appreciation for the returnees. They promised to help in any way they can and urged the local youth to participate more in sports through the two local clubs. Samir Muratovic, who plays for Austria's Sturm, was born in a nearby village of Snagovo, where forensic experts have uncovered hundreds of bodies of Bosnians from mass graves in the past decade. "Before the war my village was a beautiful place to live and grow up," Muratovic said. "Now, it's known for the mass graves and difficult life of returnees. I hope events like this will help people return to normal life," he said. Among the visiting stars were striker Edin Dzeko, who plays for Wolfsburg which won the Bundesliga, Sead Salihovic of Hoffenheim, Miralem Pjanic of Olympic Lyon, Seid Huseinovic, Werder, Bremen and Elvir Rahimic of CSKA Moscow. – AP