Two decades after thousands of Muslims were slaughtered by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica, the town remains locked in a cycle of recrimination and regret that peaks each year in the anniversary month of July.
"Here, the year ends on July 11 and the new one begins the next day. Our lives revolve around this cursed month of July," says local Serbian Orthodox priest Aleksandar Mladjenovic.
Efforts have been made to heal the wounds left by the 1995 massacre. In June, a mixed choir of Serb and Muslim children welcomed Pope Francis during a visit to Srebrenica aimed at bolstering the reconciliation efforts.
A four-person rock band mixing Muslim and Serbian musicians has also sprung up in the eastern Bosnian town.
But, every July, as Srebrenica prepares to mark another year since some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were rounded up and shot dead by Bosnian Serb forces under General Ratko Mladic, any outward signs of progress become overshadowed by memories of the massacre.
"We (people of Srebrenica) become visible only in July," said the town's mayor Camil Durakovic, himself a Muslim.
"I am a mayor who between July of one year and July of the next one continues to beg for investment. To give people jobs is the key to reconciliation."
- 'I wake up in tears' -
For many relatives of those killed, like Sabaheta Fejzic, who lost her 16-year-old son and husband, the town remains haunted by the dead.
"I do not have the strength to return to live here," Fejzic, who has been living in Sarajevo since being expelled by the Bosnian Serb forces who captured the town in 1995, told AFP during a visit to Srebenica's memorial center.
"My former Serb neighbours seem to want to renew contact, but I do not need that. I saw them in uniform the day my son was taken away. Why did they do nothing to save him?"
Nezira Sulejmanovic, on the other hand, did return to Srebrenica after the massacre, which claimed the lives of her two sons.
From her balcony, Sulejmanovic, who also lost a daughter in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, can see the memorial and cemetery where her boys were laid to rest, along with more than 6,400 other victims whose remains were recovered from mass graves.
"Even if I wake up in tears looking at my children's graves, I returned here because this is my home and I want to end up my days here," she said.
But while many in Srebrenica struggle with the past, local priest Mladjenovic is more worried about the future.
"Every day it is getting more and more difficult to be a Serb in Srebrenica," he told AFP in the garden of his Serbian Orthodox church.
"For the past 10 years, an atmosphere (of guilt) has been created to drive ethnic Serbs out of here."
- 'A permanent conflict' -
The events of Srebrenica remain divisive even 20 years on.
The killings have been declared genocide by two international courts, but Bosnian Serb and Serbian political leaders still refuse to label it as such.
On Wednesday, Russia vetoed a draft UN resolution that would have recognized the massacre as genocide, arguing that such a resolution risked stoking fresh ethnic tensions.
For Avdo Purkovic, who owns an inn in Srebenica that gets most of its business from the tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims that visit the town each year to remember the dead, such debates only make the situation worse.
"The policy of our leaders, whether Serb or Muslim, is very destructive and it chases people out not only from Srebrenica but from Bosnia in general," said the 30-year-old.
Since the Bosnian War the Balkans state has been split into two semi-independent entities -- the Serbs' Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation. The two are linked by loose central bodies.
Purkovic said concerns that the Bosnian Serb entity, to which Srebrenica belongs, could secede has scared him off from investing in the town and he is now building a house in the country's Muslim-Croat half.
"They are creating the situation of a permanent conflict. I wonder every day should I pack my bags, can I plan a life in Srebrenica for the next 20 years?"
Two decades after thousands of Muslims were slaughtered by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica, the town remains locked in a cycle of recrimination and regret that peaks each year in the anniversary month of July.
“Here, the year ends on July 11 and the new one begins the next day. Our lives revolve around this cursed month of July,” says local Serbian Orthodox priest Aleksandar Mladjenovic.
Efforts have been made to heal the wounds left by the 1995 massacre. In June, a mixed choir of Serb and Muslim children welcomed Pope Francis during a visit to Srebrenica aimed at bolstering the reconciliation efforts.
A four-person rock band mixing Muslim and Serbian musicians has also sprung up in the eastern Bosnian town.
But, every July, as Srebrenica prepares to mark another year since some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were rounded up and shot dead by Bosnian Serb forces under General Ratko Mladic, any outward signs of progress become overshadowed by memories of the massacre.
“We (people of Srebrenica) become visible only in July,” said the town’s mayor Camil Durakovic, himself a Muslim.
“I am a mayor who between July of one year and July of the next one continues to beg for investment. To give people jobs is the key to reconciliation.”
– ‘I wake up in tears’ –
For many relatives of those killed, like Sabaheta Fejzic, who lost her 16-year-old son and husband, the town remains haunted by the dead.
“I do not have the strength to return to live here,” Fejzic, who has been living in Sarajevo since being expelled by the Bosnian Serb forces who captured the town in 1995, told AFP during a visit to Srebenica’s memorial center.
“My former Serb neighbours seem to want to renew contact, but I do not need that. I saw them in uniform the day my son was taken away. Why did they do nothing to save him?”
Nezira Sulejmanovic, on the other hand, did return to Srebrenica after the massacre, which claimed the lives of her two sons.
From her balcony, Sulejmanovic, who also lost a daughter in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, can see the memorial and cemetery where her boys were laid to rest, along with more than 6,400 other victims whose remains were recovered from mass graves.
“Even if I wake up in tears looking at my children’s graves, I returned here because this is my home and I want to end up my days here,” she said.
But while many in Srebrenica struggle with the past, local priest Mladjenovic is more worried about the future.
“Every day it is getting more and more difficult to be a Serb in Srebrenica,” he told AFP in the garden of his Serbian Orthodox church.
“For the past 10 years, an atmosphere (of guilt) has been created to drive ethnic Serbs out of here.”
– ‘A permanent conflict’ –
The events of Srebrenica remain divisive even 20 years on.
The killings have been declared genocide by two international courts, but Bosnian Serb and Serbian political leaders still refuse to label it as such.
On Wednesday, Russia vetoed a draft UN resolution that would have recognized the massacre as genocide, arguing that such a resolution risked stoking fresh ethnic tensions.
For Avdo Purkovic, who owns an inn in Srebenica that gets most of its business from the tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims that visit the town each year to remember the dead, such debates only make the situation worse.
“The policy of our leaders, whether Serb or Muslim, is very destructive and it chases people out not only from Srebrenica but from Bosnia in general,” said the 30-year-old.
Since the Bosnian War the Balkans state has been split into two semi-independent entities — the Serbs’ Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation. The two are linked by loose central bodies.
Purkovic said concerns that the Bosnian Serb entity, to which Srebrenica belongs, could secede has scared him off from investing in the town and he is now building a house in the country’s Muslim-Croat half.
“They are creating the situation of a permanent conflict. I wonder every day should I pack my bags, can I plan a life in Srebrenica for the next 20 years?”
