Bosnia and Herzgavina is marking the
30th anniversary of the Srebanich
massacre when around 8,000 people mostly
Bosnian Muslim men and boys were
systematically murdered by Bosnian Serb
forces. It was Europe's worst atrocity
since the world second world war. Well,
our correspondent guide Aloney is at
Srebanich at the memorial. This is
Potachari Cemetery and this is opposite
the Shrebbrin memorial center where the
killing started really and these days
the shremit memorial center is a museum.
It's got a lot of exhibits connected
with the massacre, a lot of
documentation. And right at this moment,
there is a commemoration ceremony going
on in there with a lot of dignitaries.
But behind here, you can see all of the
gravestones of the people who've been
buried at Potchari Cemetery. And they're
among the 8,000 people who were murdered
during the Srean. It's a massacre. And
among these graves, there have been
seven graves freshly dug ready for
today's commemoration. And that's
because seven people have been
identified over the past year as victims
of the Sberonita massacre. And they will
be laid to rest today in a funeral
ceremony. And that's going to be the
heart of these commemorations that every
year we've got a few more people
identified and laid to rest in in Potari
Cemetery. And it means that their
families can find some sort of peace at
last. But as you can see, tens of
thousands of people are coming here to
pay their respects. It's not just
important for the family members of the
victims of the Srebanitz massacre, but
an awful lot of other people in Bosnia
and her governor as well want to
remember and the phrase is remember you
see that everywhere. People do want to remember
remember
>> Guy Deloneyi there. Well, let's speak to
Dr. Jasmine Muja Novich, senior fellow
at the New Lines Institute. That's a
think tank based in Washington DC
specializing in the Western Balkans. Uh,
welcome to BBC News. We saw there some
of the commemorations today. How is this
anniversary viewed across the spectrum?
>> Well, for Bosnia Herzuggavina, the 30th
anniversary of the Serban genocide
because of course it was a genocide, not
merely a massacre. Um is is a deeply
deeply important uh occasion. Um it
signifies of course the apex horror of a
broader genocide that was committed
against the Bosnjak people during the
aggression on Bosnia Herzuggavina by the
then regime in Belgrade under Sabbad
Milosvich between 1992 1995.
Unfortunately we are still dealing with
great a great deal of systematic denial
and negationism on the part of governing
authorities in the RS entity in
Bosnavina as well as the government of
Serbia. Uh but for most people in BIH uh
this is a moment of remembrance. This is
a moment of mourning but it is also a
moment of resilience.
>> You say there in some entities and some
areas people still refuse to accept that
this happened. Then
>> u that's right unfortunately in the
smaller entity in Bosni Herzuggavina
which is unfortunately where most of the
Serb uh populace lives today. um as well
as in Serbia uh we still have a very
hardline political commitment to um
negationism uh to revisionism and also
increasingly unfortunately to genocide
triumphalism. So what we've seen over
the last few years is not merely that
the facts of the genocide in Bosnia and
Serbanita are denied by authorities in
Belgrade and Bunyuka but in fact that
the perpetrators are celebrated and
glorified. And so 30 years on, what do
you think needs to change to try and
unite what remains a divided area over this?
this?
>> Well, uh there's a categorical
commitment on the part of the people of
Bosnerina to build a better future for
themselves. Uh this obviously requires
greater assistance on the part of in
particular the European Union but the
international community more broadly in
particular to bring Bosni Herzugguina's
constitutional regime in line with the
European Convention on Human Rights as
well as binding rulings by the European
Court of Human Rights. Um, we still have
one of the most hardline sectarian
regimes, a deeply illiberal regime in
Bosi Herzuggavina and it is very
difficult to imagine lasting peace and
reconciliation taking place under such circumstances.
circumstances.
>> Okay, thank you very much for sharing
your thoughts on that story. Jasmine
Mujanovic uh speaking to us from the New
Lines Institute in Washington DC. I
think we can take you to live images as
the remembrance
continues on. Those images there of
course marking
three decades on since the Serbanich massacre.
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