Leaders and survivors mark 25 years since Srebrenica
Since the Second World War it is the only crime in Europe declared as a genocide
Dozens of world leaders yesterday joined survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia to remember the victims of the only crime in Europe since the Second World War that has been declared a genocide.
Most international speakers urged tolerance and reconciliation in Bosnia, still ethnically divided 25 years since the brutal execution in July 1995 of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys.
But the Bosniak Muslim member of the country’s tripartite presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic — one of a few officials attending in person — went further, urging the world to demand Serb leaders finally accept responsibility and open the way for true reconciliation.
Yesterday, the recently identified remains of nine victims were reburied in a memorial cemetery and centre just outside the town in eastern Bosnia.
Ethnic fissures
The Bosnian war pitted the country’s three main ethnic factions — Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims — against each other after the break-up of Yugoslavia. More than 100,000 people were killed in the conflict. When the war ended in a US-brokered peace deal in 1995, a Serb-run entity was formed within Bosnia, of which Srebrenica became part.
The Srebrenica massacre is the only episode of Bosnia’s 1992-95 war to be defined as genocide, including by two UN courts. But leaders in Serbia still refuse to acknowledge they amounted to a genocide.
Body parts are still being found in mass graves and are being put together and identified through DNA analysis. Close to 7,000 of those killed have been found and identified.
Dozens of world leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Spain’s Pedro Sanchez, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Britain’s Prince Charles, addressed the commemoration ceremony, via pre-recorded video messages.