February 26, 1996
Web posted at: 5:00 p.m EST (2200 GMT)
ILIJAS, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- A convoy of Bosnian Serb military trucks entered Sarajevo's demilitarized zone Monday, trying to speed up the slow exodus of civilians.
The trucks' passage, under NATO escort and supervision, follows days of chaos in Serb-held districts, as thousands of people flee before the area falls under Muslim-Croat federation control over the next three weeks.
The rush to leave shows no sign of easing.
In addition to stripping their homes of all valuables, many Serb families are carrying the bodies of dead relatives with them so they can be reburied in Serb soil.
At a 150-year-old cemetery in Ilijas, the Rev. Yeremia Staro-vlah prayed as the coffin was dug up that contained the body of Veso Damyanovic, a Serb soldier killed two years ago.
More than 500 Serb soldiers are buried in the cemetery. But after the exodus from Ilijas, only 20 of the soldiers' bodies will remain, the Serb Orthodox priest said.
"Families want to take them to Serb territory, so they can always be with them," Staro-vlah said. "That's the tragedy and reality of what's happening now."
The suburb of Ilijas was a Bosnian Serb stronghold around Sarajevo throughout the 43-month war, and French soldiers uncovered ammunition in some of the apartment buildings Serbs have vacated.
For Staro-vlah, once the bodies have been transferred, he expects to be one of the last to leave his district -- his congregation scattered; his parish duties at an end.
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