Srebrenica marks another sad anniversary

Jul 11, 2008, 13:34 GMT

Bosnian Muslim women mourn over a casket a the Potocari Memorial Center during the burial of 308 Bosnian Muslims killed by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica 13 years ago takes place in Srebrenica, Bosnia, on 11 July 2008. EPA/FEHIM DEMIR

Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina - A woman kneels over caskets, cries and wipes her tears with the ends of a white scarf covering her head as a symbol of grief among Bosnian Muslims.

Ramiza Omerovic came Friday to the Memorial Centre of Potocari, near the eastern town of Srebrenica, to bury her three brothers killed on July 11, 1995, in a massacre in the town.

Just a couple of years ago she buried her father and another brother in Potocari.

'I feel like I do not exist at all,' Ramiza said.

Besides Ramiza's three brothers, another 305 victims of the Srebrenica massacre were buried Friday in Potocari, during a commemoration ceremony to mark the 13th anniversary of the killings.

More than 30,000 people gathered in Potocari to attend the commemoration and funeral for 308 recently identified victims of the massacre in which Bosnian Serb troops killed up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men after capturing the Srebrenica area during the 1992-95 war.

The massacre took place while the entire enclave was under the protection of the United Nations as a 'UN safe zone.'

Soon after troops led by Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic captured Srebrenica, Dutch UN troops left the area, leaving the local Muslim population at the mercy of the Bosnian Serb soldiers.

With the funeral on Friday, the number of Srebrenica victims buried in Potocari will total 3,215.

The youngest victim to be buried today was a 15-year-old teenager and the oldest an 84-year-old man.

'We should pray that sadness becomes hope, that justice replaces revenge, and that a mother's tears are a prayer for the tragedy of Srebrenica never to happen again,' the head of Bosnia's Islamic Community, Reisu-l-ulema Mustafa Ceric, said during the religious service.

Ceric also called for justice, as did the chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, Haris Silajdzic, who warned that all those responsible for the massacre in Srebrenica must finally be apprehended.

The international administrator in Bosnia, Slovak Diplomat Miroslav Lajcak also said 'the requirement of justice is to find and punish all of those who were involved in the genocide.'

'On this day when we remember, with sorrow and with resolution, the crime that was committed here I want to reiterate that the pursuit of justice will never be abandoned,' Lajcak said.

Commending Bosnia-Herzegovina's progress towards integration with the EU and NATO, Lajcak said nothing could 'diminish the horror of what was done at Srebrenica 13 years ago.'

'While joining NATO and the European Union will provide for future security and prosperity, that will not in and of itself help us overcome this greatest of crimes against humanity,' Lajcak said.

'Somewhere between Bosnia's past and its future lies justice,' he added.

While no Bosnian Serb officials were seen at the commemoration, a group of women from Belgrade, known as the Women in Black Association, came to Potocari to share the grief with Muslim women from Srebrenica.

They also warned that those responsible for the worst atrocity in Europe since the World War Two must face justice.

'Our message is that we will not stop demanding responsibility for the massacre in Srebrenica,' Stasa Zajovic of the association said.

She also said they would continue demanding Serbian authorities apprehend those responsible for the Srebrenica massacre who are still at large.

The list includes the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his army commander general Ratko Mladic.

Just a few weeks after massacre, The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicted both Karadzic and Mladic for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and severe breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

While Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia, Karadzic's whereabouts remain unknown.

Commenting on the 13th anniversary of Srebrenica massacre, Serbian President Boris Tadic said in Belgrade the new Serbian authorities are determined to successfully complete cooperation with the ICTY by apprehending Ratko Mladic.

'The victims of the massacre in Srebrenica remain a constant warning that oblige us to have all those indicted for war crimes end up in The Hague,' Tadic said in a statement.

All war criminals, regardless of their ethnicity or religion, he said, must receive proper punishment.

More than a year ago, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) cleared Serbia of responsibility for genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995, accusing at the same time Bosnian Serb wartime authorities for the atrocity.