BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: Thousands demonstrate in Sarajevo in support of special status for Srebrenica

Record ID: 788740

  • Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: Thousands demonstrate in Sarajevo in support of special status for Srebrenica
  • Date: 12th June 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) MUNIRA SUBASIC, HEAD OF THE ASSOCIATION 'WOMEN FROM SREBRENICA' ADDRESSING CROWD AND SAYING: "We've been waiting for twelve years for criminals to be punished for their crimes and genocide. We've been waiting for twelve years for all the mass graves to be found so that our diarists could be found. We've been waiting for twelve years for the world and Europe to denounce the genocide." (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) MUNIRA SUBASIC, HEAD OF THE ASSOCIATION 'WOMEN FROM SREBRENICA' ADDRESSING CROWD AND SAYING: "Is there anywhere in the world you can see criminals guarding their victims? Yes, you can see it in Srebrenica." DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING POSTERS
  • Embargoed: 27th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACLFPG6JYY3ZM1UBQJN1KF69GZ
  • Story Text: Supporters of Srebrenica's Muslims rally to call for special status for the town. Such a move is opposed by authorities in Bosnia's Serb Republic. Thousands of demonstrators gathered on Monday (June 11) to express their support for self-rule which has been requested by Muslims in Srebrenica. The move is vehemently opposed by authorities in Bosnia's Serb Republic, which administers the town.
    The 1992-95 war between Serbs, Croats and Muslims ended with a peace deal splitting Bosnia into two parts, the Serb Republic and Muslim-Croat Federation. Srebrenica, site of the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces, came under the Serb authority. The town, 90 percent Muslim before the war, is now mostly Serb, but the remaining Muslims say the crime means Serbs should have no authority and Srebrenica should run its own affairs.
    On Monday, approximately 2,000 people came out on the streets of Sarajevo to support the move to self-rule. Muslims say they have waited too long for things to happen.
    "We've been waiting for twelve years for criminals to be punished for their crimes and genocide. We've been waiting for twelve years for all the mass graves to be found so that our diarists could be found. We've been waiting for twelve years for the world and Europe to denounce the genocide," said Munir Subasic, the head of the association 'Women from Srebrenica', as she addressed the crowd.
    The International Court of Justice ruled that the July 1995 massacre in the U.N. "safe area" constituted genocide.
    This, said Haris Silajdzic of the Bosnian tri-partite presidency, must be taken into account.
    "The international community, all member states of the United Nations, are required by the international law not to recognise as lawful the results of genocide and to work together to eliminate the consequences of genocide," Silajdzic said.
    "This is what these people want. They want justice. Or let them tell us that international law is not applied here and that justice is not applied here, that we do not have right even to the verdict of the International Court of Justice. The International Court of Justice has named the perpetrator and the perpetrator is protected by the international community today," he added.
    It is unclear how Srebrenica could gain a status of a neutral district without the agreement of the Serbs at a parliamentary level. And if it ever came to a popular vote in the town, it would almost certainly be opposed by the Serb majority.
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