Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Commemoration of the Srebrenica massacre will be held on July 11, when newly identified bodies will be buried. In 1995, Serbian forces, according to International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), massacred around 7500 Bosnian Muslims.

A controversy arose after mothers of murdered Muslims in Srebrenica made a statement saying that the Serbian President, Boris Tadi?, is not welcome in Srebrenica: “Tadi? coming to Srebrenica is a planned provocation of the ones who will bury their families on July 11.” The Serbian President will still attend the ceremony.

Abdurahman Malki?, the president of the Srebrenica municipality, guaranteed safety to Tadi? and all other officials. Other attendees include Theodor Meron, the president of ICTY.

So far, 2,032 bodies have been identified. It is expected that by July 11 another 550 bodies will be identified and ready for burial.