BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: DELEGATIONS FROM ARAB COUNTRIES ATTEND THE CEREMONY MARKING THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SREBRENICA MASSACRE

Record ID: 648281

  • Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: DELEGATIONS FROM ARAB COUNTRIES ATTEND THE CEREMONY MARKING THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SREBRENICA MASSACRE
  • Date: 10th July 2005
  • Summary: (MER1) POTOCARI, THE OUTSKIRTS OF SREBRENICA, BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA (JULY 11, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE VIEW OF CEREMONY MARKING THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SREBRENICA MASSACRE 0.05 2. SV BOSNIANS HOLDING A BANNER 0.09 3. SLV DANCERS DURING THE CEREMONY 0.15 4. SV COFFIN BEFORE BURIAL 0.19 5. SV CROWD HOLDING BOSNIAN FLAGS 0.25 6. MCU MEN FROM ARABIAN GULF ATTENDING CEREMONY 0.28 7. LV WOMEN SITTING DURING CEREMONY 0.34 8. CU WOMAN LISTENING TO SPEECH 0.39 9. SV WOMAN NEXT TO GRAVE 0.42 10. CU OF GRAVE 0.46 11. SV MEN PRAYING 0.51 12. SV MUSLIM CLERICS DURING CEREMONY 0.55 13. MCU (Bosnian) MUBERA GABELJIC, WHO LOST TWO SONS AND A HUSBAND IN THE MASSACRE, SAYING: "This son (the one she is burying) was found in 1996 in a shallow grave ; the other one was found recently, actually they found only the legs, I have no information what so ever about my husband. (weeps). oh my sons, you left me completely alone in this world forever." 1.20 14. LV OF CEREMONY 1.25 15. SV/CU PEOPLE LOOKING FOR NAMES OF VICTIMS ON A LIST (2 SHOTS) 1.34 16. SLV COFFINS 1.37 (MER1) POTOCARI, THE OUTSKIRTS OF SREBRENICA, BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA (JULY 10, 2005) (REUTERS) 17. MCU (Arabic) NASER AL AMMAR, KUWAITI GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE FOR HUMANITARIAN AID TO BOSNIA SAYING: "We as the Kuwaiti delegation, we came to this country, to Srebrenica, to share with these Muslim people their hard time and memory of the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, to show that as Muslims that this issue is important to us and it truly pains us to witness this mass grave, and this grave which holds more than 600 martyrs we hope that they will be welcomed by god the almighty as martyrs." 2.24 18. SLV KUWAITI DELEGATION PRAYING AT CEMETERY 2.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: POTOCARI , THE OUTSKIRTS OF SREBRENICA, BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA
  • Country: Bosnia
  • Reuters ID: LVA2B4ZMYX0M1A6EXTS0HWKDE2IY
  • Story Text: Delegations from Arab countries attend the ceremony
    marking the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre.




    Victims of the Srebrenica massacre dug out from
    nameless death pits were buried on Monday (July 11, 2005) at a
    ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of Europe's worst
    atrocity in 50 years.

    The 610 green-draped coffins were the latest remains to
    be identified by DNA analysis from scores of mass graves
    dug by Bosnian Serb forces to hide evidence of their
    slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men between July 11 and July 18,
    1995.

    Up to 50,000 mourners attended the memorial, among them
    former U.S. Balkans envoy Richard Holbrooke who brokered
    the Dayton accord that brought Bosnia an uneasy peace.

    Delegations from Arab countries, including Kuwait, also
    attended the ceremony.

    Serbia's President Boris Tadic attended the ceremony,
    although some Muslims said they would not welcome him.

    Over 1,500 Bosnian Serb police backed by European Union
    troops were to enforce security, heightened by the
    discovery near the site last week of two large bombs "ready
    to detonate".

    The massacre, in the final two months of a 43-month war, aimed to
    ensure there were no Muslims to fight back or
    re-claim Serb-occupied land or homes in the future.

    Bosnian Serb army commander General Ratko Mladic and
    the rebel state's "president", Radovan Karadzic, were
    indicted for genocide for the atrocity. But to the anger of
    Bosnians and the embarrassment of Western powers who
    intervened belatedly to stop the war which claimed 200,000
    lives, both remain at large.

    Monday's funerals will raise the number of Srebrenica
    graves at the Potocari cemetery to about 2,000. But 7,000
    body bags remain to be analysed and 20 more mass graves to
    be exhumed.

    Mubera Gabeljic, who lost two sons and a husband in the
    massacre, buried one of her sons on Monday.

    "This son (the one she is burying) was found in 1996 in
    a shallow grave ; the other one was found recently ,
    actually they found only the legs, I have no information
    what so ever about my husband. Oh my sons, you left me
    completely alone in this world forever", she said.

    Delegations from the Arab and the Muslim world also
    attended the ceremony, among them a group representing the
    government of Kuwait.

    "We as the Kuwaiti delegation, we came to this country,
    to Srebrenica, to share with these Muslim people their hard
    time and memory of the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica
    massacre, to show that as Muslims that this issue is
    important to us and it truly pains us to witness this mass
    grave, and this grave which holds more than 600 martyrs we
    hope that they will be welcomed by god the almighty as
    martyrs," said Naser al- Ammar, a representative of his
    country's humanitarian aid to Bosnia.

    A newly opened pit, 18 by three meters (60 by 10 feet)
    in size, was uncovered during the memorial. Experts expect
    it to contain at least 50 bodies.

    Each opened grave gives hope to relatives trying to
    find the bodies of their loved ones.


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