Bosnia buries Srebrenica massacre victims

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SREBRENICA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of grieving Bosnian Muslims attended a somber burial ceremony on Saturday for 534 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, one of the bloodiest events in the 1992-95 Bosnia war.

Bosnian Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic seized Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia, and slaughtered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in July 1995.

Every year thousands of Bosnians gather on the July 11 anniversary of the attack for burials, family reunions, and to remember their relatives and friends lying beneath the thousands of white tombstones in the special memorial cemetery.

For Fata Mehmedovic, sitting on the grass at a muddy grave where her youngest son was to be buried next to his brother and father, the massacre brought family life to a shattering end, though it was years before the bodies were found.

In 2006, her husband's remains were found in a mass grave, and since then she has buried two sons in successive years. Her third son was killed before the massacre and buried in a village near Srebrenica where she now lives alone.

"At every mealtime, I cannot eat or drink without thinking of my children," she told Reuters, staring sadly ahead.

More than 3,200 massacre victims have so far been buried in the cemetery after being unearthed from hundreds of mass graves over many years and identified. More than half the victims have yet to be given formal burial.

Local and foreign dignitaries joined the bereaved to pay their respects to the dead on Saturday. Only Bosnian Serb leaders were absent, reflecting their denial that the massacre was an act of genocide.

DARK DAY IN EUROPEAN HISTORY

Bosnian Serb forces attacked Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, brushing aside Dutch U.N. troops stationed there to protect the civilian population.

After releasing the women and children, the Bosnian Serbs took away some 8,000 men and older boys and killed them over the following week. Those who tried to escape through the woods were hunted down and killed.

"The world failed to act, failed to protect the innocent of Srebrenica," said U.S. Ambassador Charles English. "The massacre was a stain on our collective consciousness," he said, repeating words used by President Barack Obama in Cairo last month.

Hundreds of mothers, sisters and daughters stood near freshly dug graves during the religious ceremony. The women, wearing headscarves, were allowed to pray alongside men kneeling on blankets in the rain.

Tears merged with raindrops on the face of Mubera Gojak, who buried her father. "I've already buried two brothers here. They tried to escape through the woods but were killed," she said.

Bosnians themselves still disagree on Srebrenica -- the Muslims and Croats say it was genocide, the Bosnian Serbs deny it and blocked a parliamentary initiative this week to declare July 11 a day of national commemoration.