MUHAMED DURAKOVIC wandered the hills and forests for 37 days after Srebrenica, his home town, fell to Bosnian Serb forces on July 11th 1995. He survived, but 8,000 men and boys did not. The victims were, like him, Bosnians of Muslim heritage, also known as Bosniaks.
The murder of Srebenica’s menfolk, rounded up as they tried to reach friendly territory, was the worst single crime committed in Europe since 1945. According to Mr Durakovic, who runs a summer school where students learn what happened, “some places are meant to be symbols, and Srebrenica is the Bosniak Auschwitz.”
Exactly 20 years later, the name of Srebrenica has emerged as a talisman of evil, but it has also become an object of bitter contention, both in the region and globally. At the UN Security Council, a British-sponsored resolution denouncing the Srebrenica genocide and its denial was vetoed by Russia, which said the text was one-sided and lacked the consent of local parties. The last statement is, sadly, true; and it reflects a new flare-up of acrimony.
This marks a troubling reversal. For a decade after American-led military action and diplomacy brought an...
from The Economist: Europe http://ift.tt/1HPTXqt
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