Reliving History: How the Srebrenica genocide unfolded 30 years ago today
Experience the fear and desperation inside the besieged enclave, hear the voices of those who lived through it, and see the events as they happened.
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Al Jazeera
11 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
The witnesses of the first nuclear bomb
What is the threat of nuclear war today? With tensions on the rise, a new telling of firsthand accounts of the creation of the atomic bomb and the Manhattan Project shows the echoes of those decisions today. Eighty years after the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we hear an oral history from the people who built the bomb in secrecy, to those who suffered its consequences.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Separatist Bosnian Serb leader Dodik removed from office
Bosnia's electoral authorities have stripped separatist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik of his post as president of the Serb entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska. The formal step follows an earlier appeals court verdict that sentenced him to one year in jail and banned him from all political activity for six years. A Sarajevo court in February sentenced Dodik for failing to comply with rulings by the international envoy overseeing Bosnia's 1995 peace accords, following war there in the early nineties. The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) decided to apply the law which lays down that an elected official is automatically forced out of office if sentenced to more than six months in jail, commission member Suad Arnautovic told reporters on Wednesday. The commission's decision against Milorad Dodik will take effect after an appeals period expires. An early election for president of Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic would then be called within 90 days, Arnautovic said. Dodik's lawyers said they planned to take the case to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 'Surrender and giving up do not exist. Surrender is not an option,' Dodik wrote in a post on X, adding that he pledges to continue his duties as president. 'Politically motivated', says Bosnian Serb government On Friday, the appeals court in Bosnia and Herzegovina upheld the February court ruling, which had sentenced Dodik to prison and banned him from political activity. As a result, his mandate as Bosnian Serb president was revoked. Dodik had also rejected the court ruling then and added that he would continue to act as Bosnian Serb president as long as he had the support of the Bosnian Serb parliament. The Bosnian Serb government said it does not accept the court ruling because it is 'unconstitutional and politically motivated'. Dodik has received support from international allies, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic as well as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The European Union, meanwhile, said last week that the 'verdict is binding and must be respected'. Bosnia is a candidate for EU membership – however, Dodik's separatist and pro-Russian activities have stalled progress towards this. Dodik has repeatedly called for the separation of the Serb entity to join Serbia, prompting the former United States administration to impose sanctions against him and his allies. His separatist threats have stoked fears in Bosnia, particularly among Bosniaks. From 1992 to 1995, war erupted when Bosnian Serbs rebelled against independence from the former Yugoslavia and moved to form a mini-state, aiming to unite it with Serbia. About 100,000 people were killed and millions were displaced. The US-sponsored Dayton Accords ended the war and created two regions in Bosnia, Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation. The regions are largely autonomous but have some joint institutions, including the army, top judiciary and tax administration. Bosnia also has a rotating three-member presidency made up of Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats. Dodik has repeatedly clashed with the top international envoy overseeing the peace, Christian Schmidt, and declared his decisions illegal in Republika Srpska.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Hiroshima marks 80 years since atomic bombing
Thousands of people have gathered in Hiroshima to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the world's first wartime use of a nuclear bomb – as survivors, officials and representatives from 120 countries and territories marked the milestone with renewed calls for disarmament. The western Japanese city was flattened on August 6, 1945, when the United States dropped a uranium bomb, codenamed Little Boy. Roughly 78,000 people were killed instantly. Tens of thousands more would die by the end of the year due to burns and radiation exposure. The attack on Hiroshima, followed three days later by a plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki, led to Japan's surrender on August 15 and the end of the second world war. Hiroshima had been chosen as a target partly because its surrounding mountains were believed by US planners to amplify the bomb's force. At Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park on Wednesday, where the bomb detonated almost directly overhead eight decades ago, delegates from a record number of international countries and regions attended the annual memorial. Reporting from the park, Al Jazeera's Fadi Salameh said the ceremony unfolded in a similar sequence to those of previous years. 'The ceremony procedure is almost the same throughout the years I've been covering it,' Salameh said. 'It starts at eight o'clock with the children and people offering flowers and then water to represent helping the victims who survived the atomic bombing at that time. 'Then at exactly 8:15… a moment of silence. After that, the mayor of Hiroshima reads out the declaration of peace in which they call for the abolition of nuclear weapons around the world,' he added. Schoolchildren from across Japan participated in the 'Promise of Peace' – reading statements of hope and remembrance. This year's ceremony also included a message from the representative of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, urging global peace. Hiroshima's mayor, Kazumi Matsui, warned of the dangers of rising global militarism, criticising world leaders who argue that nuclear weapons are necessary for national security. 'Among the world's political leaders, there is a growing belief that possessing nuclear weapons is unavoidable in order to protect their own countries,' he said, noting that the United States and Russia still hold 90 percent of the world's nuclear warheads. 'This situation not only nullifies the lessons the international community has learned from the tragic history of the past, but also seriously undermines the frameworks that have been built for peace-building,' he said. 'To all the leaders around the world: please visit Hiroshima and witness for yourselves the reality of the atomic bombing.' Many attendees echoed that call. 'It feels more and more like history is repeating itself,' 71-year-old Yoshikazu Horie told the Reuters news agency. 'Terrible things are happening in Europe … Even in Japan, in Asia, it's going the same way – it's very scary. I've got grandchildren and I want peace so they can live their lives happily.' Survivors of the bombings – known as hibakusha – once faced discrimination over unfounded fears of disease and genetic effects. Their numbers have fallen below 100,000 for the first time this year. Japan maintains a stated commitment to nuclear disarmament, but remains outside the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons.
