Bosnia reburies remains of 14 Srebrenica victims on massacre anniversary

A drone view of the gravestone at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Potocari, Bosnia and Herzegovina, July 10, 2024. /Amel Emric/File Photo

SREBRENICA, Bosnia - The remains of 14 victims of the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnia's Srebrenica were reburied on Thursday, the 29th anniversary of what became Europe's first atrocity since World War Two constituting genocide.

In May, the United Nations General Assembly declared July 11 an international day of remembrance for the Srebrenica massacre in a vote survivors hailed as historic and Serbs as a failure, reflecting enduring ethnic divisions in Bosnia.

The youngest of the 14 victims reburied on Thursday was a 17-year old boy, the eldest was 68. Their remains, originally exhumed from mass graves, were laid to rest after a ceremony in a memorial cemetery outside Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia.

About 6,750 of the massacre victims are interred in the memorial cemetery, and some others at local grave sites.

"Unfortunately, while I stand here other mothers lose their children in Ukraine and Palestine," said Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica association.

"The world and Europe have learned nothing," she told several hundred people who attended the ceremony.

The massacre unfolded after Srebrenica, a designated U.N. "safe area" for civilians in Bosnia's 1992-95 ethnic war that followed the disintegration of federal Yugoslavia, was overrun by nationalist Bosnian Serb forces.

Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic and political leader Radovan Karadzic were arrested after the war and convicted of genocide by a U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague for their role in the killings.

Bosnia was split into autonomous Bosniak-Croat and Serb entities under the 1995 Dayton peace treaty and deep differences over what happened in Srebrenica linger, with both Serbs and Serbia saying the killings could not be called genocide.

However Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, known for his strident nationalism, posted an unexpectedly emollient anniversary message on social media site X on Thursday.

"Today, Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) remember their victims and they are paying their respect," Dodik said, calling on everyone to "mark this day in peace and dignity."

Srebrenica is located in Bosnia's Serb-governed region.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan sent a video message which was played at the ceremony, Bosnian N1 news web portal reported.

"We will not forget Srebrenica and we will not allow it to be forgotten so that a similar crime is not repeated anywhere in the world," Erdogan said. "I pray that the souls of our martyrs may rest in peace and be in heaven."

-(Reuters)