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Srebrenica Massacre Anniversary: 534 New Victims Identified
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by cyn.khoo | July 11, 2009 at 04:51 pm
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On July 11, 2009, the people of Srebrenica marked the anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre--later deemed the Srebrenica Genocide--in which Bosnian forces invaded the town in eastern Bosnia and killed approximately 8,000 Bosniak Muslims during the Bosnian War.
On the same day, the remains of 534 victims were newly identified and buried, fourteen years after the massacre.
"Although we were desperately searching for his remains for years, it was so hard to receive a telephone call telling us that my father had been identified," Nurveta Guster, 27, told AFP news agency.
"I saw him for the last time at our house in Srebrenica. He left with other men through the woods trying to escape."
About 5,000 victims had been previously identified, all of whom were originally buried in mass graves after the genocide.
The burial ceremony on Saturday was attended by thousands at the Potocari memorial cemetary near Srebrenica. The names of victims were read out as coffins passed, and US Ambassador Bosnia-Hercegovina Charles English declared, "The world failed to act, failed to protect the innocent of Srebrenica."
Bosnian Serb forces attacked Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, in spite of Dutch UN troops being stationed nearby and despite the fact Srebrenica had been declared a UN "safe haven". Victims' relatives have attempted to claim compensation from the Dutch government for their troops having allowed the Bosnian Serb attackers in.
Afterwards, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled the Srebrenica massacre an act of genocide. Radovan Karadzic, a former Bosnian Serb political leader, is currently on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Gen Ratko Mladic, leader of the Bosnian Serb soldiers who committed the massacre, is suspected to be in hiding in Serbia.
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at 18:02 on July 11th, 2009
Here is the background on Srebenica. Some sources think that there were as many as 8000 to 10,000deaths.
at 17:56 on July 11th, 2009
You mean 10,000? Thanks for the crowdsourcing, and recommendation, and background info!
at 18:02 on July 11th, 2009
yes 10,000 I corrected it:)
at 18:03 on July 11th, 2009
Yes 10,000:) I corrected it.
at 18:57 on July 11th, 2009
This is some thing we have to remember and keep remembering as much as we do remember the holocaust.
And this along with what happened in Darfour, Rwanda and Vietnam in the US lead war or what is still going on in Burma, china, Gaza and else-wear today.
How many remember what happened under pol pot?
A trial that is still under way and in danger due to ongoing corruption.
We have to remember and stop this form repeating it self.
at 19:12 on July 11th, 2009
During my tour in Bosnia-Herzogovina, I saw the mass graves in Srebenica. One of he staff officers I worked with, a French Gendarme was the desk officer for this. He was out constantly providing security so that UN agencies could do their work. For obvious reasons this was an incident that many in Bosnia wanted to cover up.