Originally published on the CGS blog on July 12, 2010.
Sunday, July 11th marked a sober anniversary for Bosnia, Europe, and the world. Fifteen years ago, approximately 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were massacred at Srebrenica by Serb forces, in the worst incident of genocide on the continent since World War Two.
On July 11, 1995, Serbian forces arrived at Srebrenica, which had served as a safe haven for Bosnian Muslims. The Serbs overpowered the Dutch UN peacekeepers protecting the town and forced them to open the gates of the UN military base. The Serb troops then took away thousands of Muslim men and boys, whom they later massacred.
Former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic is currently on trial in The Hague after being indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal for genocide related to the Srebrenica massacre in 1995. Former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, leader of the Serb troops in Srebrenica, remains a fugitive from justice.
To commemorate this tragedy, 775 coffins holding the bodies of victims of the massacre were buried yesterday in a mass funeral ceremony in Srebrenica. The event was attended by Serbian President Boris Tadic, who described his presence at the ceremony as an “act of reconciliation.” He was welcomed by Kada Hotic, representative of the Srebrenica widows, who told him “
