More Srebrenica victims buried
Thursday, July 12, 2007
THOUSANDS of Bosnian Muslims attended the funeral ceremony yesterday of 465 more victims of the Srebrenica massacre on the 12th anniversary of one of Europe's darkest days since World War II.
Up to 30,000 people braved heavy rain to reach the Bosnian town organisers said.
Bosnian Serb troops overran the UN-protected enclave on July 11, 1995, summarily killing some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the days that followed.
The torrential downpour yesterday filled the freshly dug graves at the memorial cemetery just outside the town where more than 2,400 victims of the massacre are already buried. Mourners struggled to remove the water. But the rain stopped just before the ceremony.
To the sound of prayer and sobbing of mourners, the remains in caskets wrapped in a green cloth were carried to be laid in the graves.
Among the new victims that were being buried was one 75-year-old woman, while all the others were male, aged between 13 and 77. They were retrieved from mass graves and later identified by DNA analysis.
"May grief become hope. May revenge become justice. May mothers' tears become prayers. That Srebrenica never happens again. To no one and nowhere," said Mustafa Ceric, the head of Bosnia's Islamic community, during the ceremony.
UN chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte attended the ceremony along with the international community's top envoy, Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia and the country's leaders. "Serbia finally, finally has to fulfill its obligation," the prosecutor of the Hague-based tribunal told reporters.
The two people considered the most responsible for it Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic remain at large.
AFP
Up to 30,000 people braved heavy rain to reach the Bosnian town organisers said.
Bosnian Serb troops overran the UN-protected enclave on July 11, 1995, summarily killing some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the days that followed.
The torrential downpour yesterday filled the freshly dug graves at the memorial cemetery just outside the town where more than 2,400 victims of the massacre are already buried. Mourners struggled to remove the water. But the rain stopped just before the ceremony.
To the sound of prayer and sobbing of mourners, the remains in caskets wrapped in a green cloth were carried to be laid in the graves.
Among the new victims that were being buried was one 75-year-old woman, while all the others were male, aged between 13 and 77. They were retrieved from mass graves and later identified by DNA analysis.
"May grief become hope. May revenge become justice. May mothers' tears become prayers. That Srebrenica never happens again. To no one and nowhere," said Mustafa Ceric, the head of Bosnia's Islamic community, during the ceremony.
UN chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte attended the ceremony along with the international community's top envoy, Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia and the country's leaders. "Serbia finally, finally has to fulfill its obligation," the prosecutor of the Hague-based tribunal told reporters.
The two people considered the most responsible for it Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic remain at large.
AFP
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