Thousands march in Bosnia to mark 1995 Srebrenica genocide

A solemn peace march has been held through forests in eastern Bosnia in memory of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since World War II.

The annual 100km (62-mile) march held on Saturday retraces a route taken by thousands of men and boys from the Bosniak ethnic group, made up primarily of Muslims, who were slaughtered as they tried to flee Srebrenica after it was captured by Bosnian Serb forces late in the 1992-95 war.

The march is part of several events preceding the actual date and commemorating the massacre on July 11.

Nearly 4,000 people joined this year’s march, according to the organisers. The event comes as ethnic tensions in Bosnia continue to persist, with Bosnian Serbs openly calling for separation.

“I come here to remember my brother and my friends, war comrades, who perished here,” said Resid Dervisevic, who was among those who marched.

“I believe it is my obligation, our obligation to do this, to nurture and guard [our memories].”

Osman Salkic, another Srebrenica survivor, said: “Feelings are mixed when you come here, to this place, when you know how people were lying [dead] here in 1995 and what the situation is like today.”

The Bosnian conflict erupted in 1992 after the former Yugoslavia broke up and Bosnian Serbs launched a rebellion and a land grab to form their own state and join Serbia.

More than 100,000 people died before the conflict ended in 1995.

In July 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak males were separated by Serb troops from their wives, mothers and sisters, chased through woods around Srebrenica and killed.

Bosnian Serb soldiers dumped the victims’ bodies in numerous mass graves scattered around the eastern town in an attempt to hide evidence of the crime.

A United Nations war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands, has sentenced to life both the wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and the former military commander Ratko Mladic for orchestrating the genocide.

So far, the remains of more than 6,600 people have been found and buried at a vast and ever-expanding memorial cemetery outside Srebrenica.

The remains of 30 more victims will be put to rest there on Tuesday as remains of newly identified victims are continuously being unearthed from mass graves and reburied each year on July 11, the day the killing began in 1995.