Thousands gather to mark 30th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide
Such funerals are held annually for the victims who are still being unearthed from dozens of mass graves around the town.
Relatives of the victims often can bury only partial remains of their loved ones as they are typically found in several different mass graves, sometimes kmiles apart. Such was the case of Mirzeta Karic, who was waiting to bury her father.
A flower is seen on a monument with the names of those killed in the Srebrenica genocide,(Armin Durgut/AP)
'Thirty years of search and we are burying a bone,' she said, crying by her father's coffin which was wrapped in green cloth in accordance with Islamic tradition.
'I think it would be easier if I could bury all of him. What can I tell you, my father is one of the 50 (killed) from my entire family,' she added.
July 11 1995 is the day when the killings started after Bosnian Serb fighters overran the eastern Bosnian enclave in the final months of the inter-ethnic war in the Balkan country.
After taking control of the town that was a protected UN safe zone during the war, Bosnian Serb fighters separated Bosniak Muslim men and boys from their families and brutally executed them in several days.
The bodies were then dumped in mass graves around Srebrenica which they later dug up with bulldozers, scattering the remains among other burial sites to hide the evidence of their war crimes.
The UN General Assembly last year adopted a resolution to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide on the July 11 anniversary.
Scores of international officials and dignitaries attended the commemoration ceremonies and the funeral.
Among them were European Council President Antonio Costa and Britain's Duchess of Edinburgh, Sophie, who said that 'our duty must be to remember all those lost so tragically and to never let these things happen again'.
Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said he felt 'humbled' because UN troops from the Netherlands were based in Srebrenica when Bosnian Serbs stormed the town.
People mourn during the funerals in Srebrenica (Armin Durgut/AP)
'I see to what extent commemorating Srebrenica genocide is important,' he said.
In an emotional speech, Munira Subasic, who heads the Mothers of Srebrenica association, urged Europe and the world to 'help us fight against hatred, against injustice and against killings'.
Ms Subasic, who lost her husband and youngest son in Srebrenica along with more than 20 relatives, told Europe to 'wake up.'
'As I stand here many mothers in Ukraine and Palestine are going through what we went through in 1995,' Ms Subasic said, referring to ongoing conflicts. 'It's the 21st century but instead of justice, fascism has woken up.'
On the eve of the anniversary, an exhibition was inaugurated displaying personal items belonging to the victims that were found in the mass graves over the years.
The conflict in Bosnia erupted in 1992, when Bosnian Serbs took up arms in a rebellion against the country's independence from the former Yugoslavia and with an aim to create their own state and eventually unite with neighbouring Serbia.
More than 100,000 people were killed and millions displaced before a US-brokered peace agreement was reached in 1995.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
29 minutes ago
- Reuters
UN's Haiti appeal has received lowest funding of any response plan, coordinator says
Aug 12 (Reuters) - The United Nations' Haiti appeal for 2025 has received the lowest funding of any response plan worldwide, the organization's humanitarian coordinator for the Caribbean nation said on Tuesday, as armed gangs continue to paralyze transport routes and fuel hunger. This year's humanitarian response plan aims to raise over $900 million, mainly from U.N. member countries, but is just 9.2% funded, the coordinator, Ulrika Richardson, said in a briefing marked "the lowest level of funding for any response plan in the world." Ukraine's $2.63-billion appeal for this year is by comparison 38% funded, according to U.N. financial tracking data, while a $4-billion flash appeal for the Palestinian territories received $890 million, or 22% of its target. "We have tools, but the response from the international community is just not at par with the gravity on the ground," Richardson said. More than 3,100 people have been killed this year in a conflict with heavily armed gangs that has pushed more than half the population into food insecurity and around 1.3 million from their homes. More than 8,000 people living in makeshift camps face famine-level hunger. A partially-deployed U.N.-backed force led by Kenya and based on voluntary contributions, deployed a year ago but has had little effect in helping a cash-strapped police force reclaim territories. Meanwhile, many aid organizations have had to cut back services due to the difficulty of bringing in supplies and ensuring the safety of the people they work with. Richardson said strangling the trafficking of arms - which the U.N. estimates are largely shipped from Florida - into Haiti was key to stopping the violence, as well as sanctions against those involved in financial support of the gangs. "Haiti can quickly spiral up again, but the violence needs to end," she said.
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Trump's Washington takeover begins as National Guard troops arrive
It comes after the White House ordered federal forces to take over the city's police department and reduce crime in what the president called — without substantiation — a lawless city. The influx came the morning after Mr Trump announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the department. The US president's bid to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement (Alex Brandon/AP) He cited a crime emergency — but referred to the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably. The president holds the legal right to make such moves for at least a month. Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to work alongside the federal officials Mr Trump has tasked with overseeing the city's law enforcement, while insisting the police chief remained in charge of the department and its officers. 'How we got here or what we think about the circumstances — right now we have more police, and we want to make sure we use them,' she told reporters. It is unclear how visible and aggressive the federal presence in Washington could be (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP) The tone was a shift from the day before, when Ms Bowser said Mr Trump's plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and call in the National Guard was not a productive step and argued his perceived state of emergency simply did not match the declining crime numbers. Still, the law gives the federal government more sway over the capital city than in US states, and Ms Bowser said her administration's ability to push back was limited. Meanwhile, attorney general Pam Bondi called the Tuesday morning meeting productive in a social media post and said the justice department would 'work closely with the DC city government' to 'make Washington, DC, safe again.' While Mr Trump invokes his plan by saying that 'we're going to take our capital back', Ms Bowser and the MPD maintain that violent crime overall in Washington has decreased to a 30-year low after a sharp rise in 2023. Carjackings, for example, dropped about 50% in 2024 and are down again this year. Ms Bowser, a Democrat, spent much of Mr Trump's first term in office openly sparring with the Republican president. Washington mayor Muriel Bowser said crime in the city had been dropping steadily (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP) She fended off his initial plans for a military parade through the streets and stood in public opposition when he called in a multi-agency flood of federal law enforcement to confront anti-police brutality protesters in summer 2020. She later had the words 'Black Lives Matter' painted in giant yellow letters on the street about a block from the White House. In Mr Trump's second term, backed by Republican control of both houses of Congress, Ms Bowser has walked a public tightrope for months, emphasising common ground with the Trump administration on issues such as the successful effort to bring the NFL's Washington Commanders back to the District of Columbia. She watched with open concern for the city streets as Mr Trump finally got his military parade this summer. Her decision to dismantle Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this year served as a neat metaphor for just how much the power dynamics between the two executives has evolved. Now that fraught relationship enters uncharted territory as Mr Trump has followed through on months of what many DC officials had quietly hoped were empty threats. The new standoff has cast Ms Bowser in a sympathetic light, even among her long-time critics. 'It's a power play and we're an easy target,' Clinique Chapman, chief executive of the DC Justice Lab, said. A frequent critic of Ms Bowser, whom she accuses of 'over policing our youth' with the recent expansions of Washington's youth curfew, Ms Chapman said Mr Trump's latest move 'is not about creating a safer DC. It's just about power'. Ms Bowser contends that all the power resides with Mr Trump and that her administration can do little other than comply and make the best of it. For Mr Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. Protesters demonstrate against Mr Trump's planned use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP) The District of Columbia's status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime. 'Let me be crystal clear,' attorney general Pam Bondi said during Mr Trump's announcement news conference. 'Crime in DC is ending and ending today.' Mr Trump's declaration of a state of emergency fits the general pattern of his second term in office: He has declared states of emergency on issues ranging from border protection to economic tariffs, enabling him to essentially rule via executive order. In many cases, he has moved forward while the courts sorted them out.
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Trump's Washington takeover begins as National Guard troops arrive
The influx came the morning after Mr Trump announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the department. The US president's bid to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement (Alex Brandon/AP) He cited a crime emergency — but referred to the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably. The president holds the legal right to make such moves for at least a month. Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to work alongside the federal officials Mr Trump has tasked with overseeing the city's law enforcement, while insisting the police chief remained in charge of the department and its officers. 'How we got here or what we think about the circumstances — right now we have more police, and we want to make sure we use them,' she told reporters. It is unclear how visible and aggressive the federal presence in Washington could be (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP) The tone was a shift from the day before, when Ms Bowser said Mr Trump's plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and call in the National Guard was not a productive step and argued his perceived state of emergency simply did not match the declining crime numbers. Still, the law gives the federal government more sway over the capital city than in US states, and Ms Bowser said her administration's ability to push back was limited. Meanwhile, attorney general Pam Bondi called the Tuesday morning meeting productive in a social media post and said the justice department would 'work closely with the DC city government' to 'make Washington, DC, safe again.' While Mr Trump invokes his plan by saying that 'we're going to take our capital back', Ms Bowser and the MPD maintain that violent crime overall in Washington has decreased to a 30-year low after a sharp rise in 2023. Carjackings, for example, dropped about 50% in 2024 and are down again this year. Ms Bowser, a Democrat, spent much of Mr Trump's first term in office openly sparring with the Republican president. Washington mayor Muriel Bowser said crime in the city had been dropping steadily (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP) She fended off his initial plans for a military parade through the streets and stood in public opposition when he called in a multi-agency flood of federal law enforcement to confront anti-police brutality protesters in summer 2020. She later had the words 'Black Lives Matter' painted in giant yellow letters on the street about a block from the White House. In Mr Trump's second term, backed by Republican control of both houses of Congress, Ms Bowser has walked a public tightrope for months, emphasising common ground with the Trump administration on issues such as the successful effort to bring the NFL's Washington Commanders back to the District of Columbia. She watched with open concern for the city streets as Mr Trump finally got his military parade this summer. Her decision to dismantle Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this year served as a neat metaphor for just how much the power dynamics between the two executives has evolved. Now that fraught relationship enters uncharted territory as Mr Trump has followed through on months of what many DC officials had quietly hoped were empty threats. The new standoff has cast Ms Bowser in a sympathetic light, even among her long-time critics. 'It's a power play and we're an easy target,' Clinique Chapman, chief executive of the DC Justice Lab, said. A frequent critic of Ms Bowser, whom she accuses of 'over policing our youth' with the recent expansions of Washington's youth curfew, Ms Chapman said Mr Trump's latest move 'is not about creating a safer DC. It's just about power'. Ms Bowser contends that all the power resides with Mr Trump and that her administration can do little other than comply and make the best of it. For Mr Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. Protesters demonstrate against Mr Trump's planned use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP) The District of Columbia's status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime. 'Let me be crystal clear,' attorney general Pam Bondi said during Mr Trump's announcement news conference. 'Crime in DC is ending and ending today.' Mr Trump's declaration of a state of emergency fits the general pattern of his second term in office: He has declared states of emergency on issues ranging from border protection to economic tariffs, enabling him to essentially rule via executive order. In many cases, he has moved forward while the courts sorted them out.
