Peace March to Srebrenica Set for Wednesday

On Wednesday more than 2,500 Peace March participants will leave Nezuk, near Zvornik, and walk 110 km before arriving in Potocari, near Srebrenica, on July 11.  

This will be the fourth successive year that the Peace March has been organized to honour those Srebrenica residents who fled through the woods in July 1995 in an attempt to reach territory controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The march will last for three days. The march participants will arrive at the Potocari Memorial Center on July 11, where they will attend the burial of more than 500 deceased Srebrenica residents.

Some participants will start the march in Zepa, located in the vicinity of Srebrenica.

March participants who begin their journey in Nezuk will walk around 35 kilometers per day, while those starting in Zepa will walk for 25 km per day for two days. 

Peace March organizers say that their goal is to pay respect to the genocide victims and remind everyone of "the massive and frightening crime committed against Bosniaks from Srebrenica by the Army and police of Republika Srpska". 

Another goal is to motivate all "relevant actors to arrest and try all those who are charged with this crime, as soon as possible, with the aim of serving justice and creating preconditions for building permanent peace and tolerance among the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina".

Apart from participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, people from the Netherlands, Croatia, France, Switzerland, Serbia, Italy, the USA, Australia and other countries take part in the Peace March every year.

In a resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on April 16, 1993, Srebrenica was declared a protected zone, which was supposed to be demilitarized. Members of the UN Protection Force were deployed in the town on April 18, 1993.

Forces under the command of Republika Srpska General Ratko Mladic entered the town on July 11, 1995. At that moment about 35,000 people from Srebrenica and the surrounding villages, who had sought shelter in the town, were in Srebrenica.

Following the arrival of the Serb forces, women, children and the elderly, as well as some men, converged on Potocari seeking protection from the Dutch UNPROFOR Battalion which was based there. A short time later they were surrounded by Serb forces. The men were separated and taken prisoner. Many of them, including boys, were later killed.

The women and children were deported, on buses and trucks, to territory controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Shortly after the arrival of the Serb forces, some Srebrenica residents headed through the woods and over the mountains in an attempt to reach territory contrlled by the Bosnian army. A small number survived the difficult journey after spending days moving quickly and following indirect routes. 

In 2007 the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that the crime committed at Srebrenica constituted genocide. 

Individuals accused of commmiting genocide in Srebrenica are currently on trial in four separate cases being heard before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.

The trial of eight senior police and military officials of Republika Srpska is underway at the Hague Tribunal. Ratko Mladic, who is on the run, and Radovan Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, who is awaiting trial at the Hague, are charged, among other things, with the genocide committed in Srebrenica.

(By BIRN - Justice Report - www.bim.ba)