The tampering, noted by satellite between Spt. 27 and Oct. 2, coincided with the drive for peace in the Balkans. On Sept. 27, the Bosnian Muslim, Croat and Serb foreign ministers announced agreement on basic constitutional principles for a state, the first major step toward the Dayton peace accords. Removal of bodies from the mass graves has been added to the list of what the war crimes tribunal will investigate. They fear that just as Nazi Germany came to represent all Germans in the world's eyes, the executioners of the Srebrenica Muslims will come to represent all Serbs. That, they say, is a recipe for ensuring that the killing here continues.
Sources offer differing accounts.
One Bosnian Serb has concluded that the bodies were dumped at the Jasenova and Blecevo mines. Another believes they were reburied in Zeleni Jadar near Srebrenica, where war crimes investigators last month discovered a previously unknown mass grave. There is some evidence to make the theory at least plausible. First, US satellite imagery recorded unusual activity at the defunct aluminum factory in Zvornik between Sept. 27 and Oct. 2, the same time the satellite recorded tampering at two mass graves. Second, the Zvornik aluminum factory has the capacity to dissolve scores of bodies, its former manager, Abdulah Secerbegovic, told the Globe.