Today marks 29 years since the crime committed by the Serbian forces, Dimitar Ruskov, the special envoy of BGNES in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said.
Three decades ago, Serbian forces commanded by Generals Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic massacred more than 9,000 people in just a few days in the Bosnian enclave, declared a "safe zone" by the United Nations.
What happened was the largest massacre of civilians in Europe since World War II.
At noon, another 14 victims were buried in Potochari. The youngest of them was only 17 years old in 1995. Every year more remains are discovered.
On May 23, 2024 The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Genocide. Importers were Germany and Rwanda. Bulgaria was a co-author of the resolution.
On July 8, about 5,000 people went on a "Peace March" from Nezuk to Potochari to pay their respects to the thousands of men and boys killed. A few survivors led the crowd.
Today in Potochari, ministers and diplomats laid flowers on the memorial plaque. The Bulgarian Minister of Education and Science Prof. Galin Tsokov was also there.
The attempt of the BiH Council of Ministers to declare July 11 a day of mourning failed this year as well. There was no consensus on such a decision because ministers from one entity, Republika Srpska, voted against it once again.
The European Union condemned the denial of the genocide and called it "one of the darkest moments in modern history".
Some women lose their son, husband and father at the same time.
The chairperson of the Mothers of Srebrenica, Munira Subasic, today expressed regret that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, was not the sponsor of the Resolution on the Srebrenica Genocide in the UN General Assembly.
"I want to thank all the ambassadors who supported the decision. For those who did not vote or abstained, the time will come for them to vote, and if not, let them be ashamed," Subasic said in his address.
"A large number of war criminals are still walking around Srebrenica and laughing at us, sometimes in our faces, and I think the evil is awakening," she added.
The high representative of the international community, Christian Schmidt, emphasized that "The resolution condemns all denial of the genocide and all actions that glorify convicted criminals".
"The wounds will never heal. This tragedy cannot be forgotten," 30-year-old Meho Osmanovic told BGNES. Several of his relatives were killed in Srebrenica. His uncle only 7 years old.
70-year-old Mavlida Begich lost her two uncles. She herself, together with her three young children, was imprisoned in a Serbian concentration camp in Rogatica for three months.
"I am disappointed with the UN forces. Europe did not protect us, but left us in the hands of the Serbs," said Begić.
She subsequently fled to Austria, but her entire male line was massacred - 38 people.
Osmana Vatresh survived three years in the Lukavica camp after unsuccessfully seeking shelter in the UN "protected" enclaves during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And her husband is imprisoned in Rogatitsa. Her 6-year-old nephew was killed in Srebrenica by the Serbs.
"We do not want inter-ethnic hatred. We are all human beings, regardless of faith and ethnicity. This crime must never be repeated again," emphasized Vatresh.
The Bosnian chairman of the BiH presidency, Denis Becirovic, said that Sarajevo wants peace but is "threatened by the politics of the regime in Belgrade and Vucic.
"In 1992, the goal was Greater Serbia. Today, the leaders of Republika Srpska say that Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a state. Let's answer the question of whether there are similarities between the situation in the early nineties and today," he noted.
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During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) (1992-95), tens of thousands of Bosniaks from the surrounding areas, fleeing attacks by Bosnian Serb forces on their towns and villages, sought shelter in Srebrenica. For three years, Bosnian Serb forces besieged the enclave and shelled it. They control access routes and impede international humanitarian aid such as food and medicine. People are camping in the stairwells and corridors of apartment buildings, in cars and in public buildings such as the school and sports centre, while others have no shelter at all and huddle outside in temperatures that drop to -25ºC at night in winter.
In April 1993, when the city came under tank and artillery fire from the Serbs, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 819 declaring Srebrenica a "safe zone".
Two years later, on July 11, the Bosnian Serb army led by General Radko Mladic captured Srebrenica, prompting tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the Dutch forces' compound in Potocari on the outskirts of the city.
The peacekeepers retreat ingloriously to the UN base, along with thousands of refugees, mostly women and children.
Urging the Muslim population of Srebrenica to surrender, Mladic promised that those who lay down their arms and submit would be spared.
"Allah can't save you, but Mladic can," the war criminal convicted in The Hague told Ibrahim Nuhanovic, a Muslim civilian interpreter, during a videotaped meeting a few hours before the massacre began.
A systematic extermination by the Bosnian Serbs followed in the next few days. The bodies of the victims were dumped in mass graves. Later, the Serbs dug up many of them and reburied them to cover their tracks. Survivors are counted on fingers. | BGNES
