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WorldBosnia marks 25 years since Srebrenica genocide amid pandemic

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Bosnia marks 25 years since Srebrenica genocide amid pandemic

Bosnian Muslims are marking 25 years since the Srebrenica genocide, the worst atrocity on European soil since the end of the second world war, with the memorial ceremony, sharply reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The event marks July 11, 1995, the day when Bosnian Serb forces marched into Srebrenica, a Muslim enclave on Serb territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina that had been under the UN protection.

After capturing the ill-fated town, Serb forces killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in a few days. So far, the remains of nearly 6,900 victims have been found and identified from more than 80 mass graves.

Bosnia had been embroiled in an ethnic war pitting the Serbs against Muslim Bosniaks and Croats between 1992 and 1995 that killed some 100,000 people.

Pandemic impacts anniversary

Organizers on Saturday said the number of people attending the anniversary – normally in the tens of thousands – was lower than usual because of lockdown measures aimed at stemming the spread of COVID-19.

A daylong commemoration is underway at Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia.

At 11:00 GMT, the remains of nine victims identified over the past year will be laid to rest at the memorial cemetery in Potocari, a village just outside Srebrenica that served as the base for the UN protection force during the conflict.

“Since this was a quarter-century anniversary, it was initially planned that this should be a big memorial service honouring the victims but everything had to be scaled down because of the pandemic,” said Al Jazeera’s Tarik Durmisevic, reporting from the burial site in Srebrenica.

“The most important effect, however, is the number of victims who were supposed to be buried here. Some families couldn’t be here as they don’t live in Bosnia any more so they withdrew their consent for the burial. As a result, only nine victims of the genocide will find their eternal peace today.”

The Srebrenica massacre is the only episode of the Bosnian conflict to be described as genocide by the international community.

The European Union leaders called the anniversary “a painful reminder” that Europe failed in its promise to avoid such tragedy on the continent.

“We must confront the past with honesty and look to the future with a determination to support the next generations,” said a statement by the EU.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Saturday said Srebrenica stood for the atrocities and crimes against humanity in the countries of the former Yugoslavia that were committed in the 1990s.

“The killings had taken place at the end of the 20th century in the middle of Europe, almost under the eyes of the global public,” Maas said. “We must oppose nationalist tendencies wherever we encounter them.”

Source: aljazeera.com

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