Serbians say sorry for 1995 Srebrenica massacre

Parliament stops short of calling killings genocide after debate showing divisions over Balkans conflict role

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/31/serbians-sorry-1995-srebrenica-massacre

Serb massacre 8,000 Muslims & they call Muslims "Terrorists"

"I didn't want to come back here until I was able to give my son a proper burial," said Beguna Alic, 52, as she prepared to attend the ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the fall of the town of Srebrenica.

Ten years ago to the day she watched her husband and two sons disappear into the forested hills that surround the town, a designated United Nations "safe area" at the time, as Bosnian Serb troops closed in. Only one of them came back alive

"My son, Jasmin, made it. But I never saw my husband and other son alive again. Today, I am burying my son Atif."

Atif is just one of 610 people being buried in the vast memorial cemetery built for the victims of Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.

Nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were systematically slaughtered in the surrounding countryside when Bosnian Serb forces captured Srebrenica on 11 July 1995.

The small, lightly armed and demoralised UN troops from the Netherlands were powerless to defend the Muslim population.

Sombre ceremony

A decade on and only 2,000 of the victims have so far been identified.

For Monday's ceremony, coaches brought the widows and relatives of the victims from across Bosnia and beyond.

The coffins were laid end-to-end in the centre of the cemetery. Simple green clothes covered them.

They were small and light because, as is usually the case, only partial remains of the victims have been found.

Among the guests, the president of neighbouring Serbia, Boris Tadic, the first time such a senior politician from Belgrade had attended the anniversary commemoration.

But he did not make a speech, perhaps that would one step too far on such a sensitive occasion.

Nevertheless, his appearance was a significant gesture on the slow and painful road to reconciliation.

Apology

"We mourn the thousands killed here. It was to the shame of the international community that this evil took place under our noses and we didn't do enough to stop it," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, representing the European Union.

"I bitterly regret this and am deeply sorry for it," he said.

A children's choir, dressed all in white, sang Srebrenica Inferno - a moving moment for the thousands present.

And among those thousands one of the Dutch soldiers who was in Srebrenica the day it fell.

'Real mess'

Col Jerry Kremer was a surgeon with the Dutch military in the six months prior to the final battle for the town. This was his first time back since those dark days.

SREBRENICA MASSACRE

1: Bosnian Serb forces advance on Srebrenica. Thousands of Bosnian Muslims flee

2: More than 20,000 people flee to Potocari, seeking help from Dutch peacekeepers. But Serb forces enter the camp, killing the men and boys

3: Killing sites include a football field in Nova Kasaba

4: Thousands of males are killed trying to reach the Muslim-controlled city of Tuzla

"When I was last here in 1995, the circumstances were appalling. There were 5,000 refugees inside our compound. All hungry and thirsty."

"It was a place of crying people, smelly people. There were children born dead and alive. There were old people dying. There were people with terrible wounds from the mortar shells. It was a real mess. You can't describe it."

Ten years on and the two main, alleged perpetrators of the Srebrenica massacre, the former Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, remain on the run.

They are believed to be hiding in Serbia and Montenegro.

And at the end, when the VIPs had left, and the journalists had packed their bags, I watched two young women pushing yellow and red roses into the freshly turned earth of the graves.

They sat down next to each other and cried.

Story from BBC NEWS:

Published: 2005/07/12 01:11:54 GMT

© BBC MMV

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Serbians say sorry for 1995 Srebrenica massacre

Parliament stops short of calling killings genocide after debate showing divisions over Balkans conflict role

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/31/serbians-sorry-1995-srebrenica-massacre

The Guardian, Wednesday 31 March 2010
Article history

Bosnian Serbs led by Ratko Mladic killed thousands. The Serb parliament stopped short of calling the killings genocide. Photograph: Srdjan Ilic/AP

Serbia's parliament has apologised for the Serb massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 but stopped short of calling the killings genocide, after a debate showed deep divisions over the country's role during the Balkans conflict.

A document put forward by Belgrade's ruling coalition of democrats and socialists condemning "the crime" and apologising that "not all was done to prevent this tragedy" was narrowly carried as Serbia continued its bid to become a member of the EU and attract business investors.

"We are taking a civilised step of politically responsible people, based on political conviction, for the war crime that happened in Srebrenica", said Branko Ruzic, whose Socialist party was led by Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s. Milosevic died while on trial for war crimes at the UN tribunal in The Hague in 2006.

A coalition deputy Jelena Trivan said: "We will clear the face of the nation with this declaration" but opponents rejected the move as "shameful" and "unjust".

They denied western accusations of mass executions and one, Slobodan Samardzic, warned: "Serbia will sign its own guilt with this declaration." Another, Velimir Ilic, said that in Srebrenica, "the crime was no greater than in other places", citing Croatian moves against Serbs.

Bosnian Serbs led by General Ratko Mladic killed thousands of men and boys after taking over the eastern enclave that was meant to be under UN protection. The Bosnian Serb political leader at the time, Radovan Karadzic, is being prosecuted at the Hague for allegedly masterminding Serb atrocities, including that at Srebrenica. He has refused to enter a plea but insists he is innocent of the charges.

Belgrade applied for EU membership in December but must capture Mladic and send him to the war crimes tribunal before starting talks. Families of victims expressed disappointment that the declaration failed to call the killings genocide, the term applied to the massacre by both the European Parliament and the International Court of Justice.

Sabra Mujic, whose husband was killed at Srebrenica, said: "As long as we are alive, we will pass on to the future generations that it was genocide."

Munira Subasic, head of a Srebrenica women's association who lost her son and husband, said: "Many criminals who slaughtered and killed our children fled to Serbia where they live as free citizens."

Meanwhile a retired US general has apologised for suggesting gay Dutch soldiers were partly to blame for the massacre. John Sheehan made the comments during testimony in the Senate where he was opposing proposals to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the US military.

The Dutch ministry released an email from Sheehan to retired Dutch general Hank van den Breeman in which he said: "I am sorry my recent public recollection of those discussions of 15 years ago inaccurately reflected your thinking on some specific social issues in the military."

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