SREBRENICA, Bosnia and Herzegovina
A peace march attended by thousands of people from all over the world to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide has come to an end in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The walk began three days back on Wednesday in Nezuk town near the Bosnian city of Tuzla and concluded at a cemetery in Potocari, a village in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina, just northwest to Srebrenica town, on Friday.
At the end of the walk, the participants prayed and observed silence for the victims at the cemetery. A funeral prayer and burial ceremony for 136 Srebrenica victims whose remains were recently discovered would also be held there on Saturday.
The Srebrenica anniversary ceremony on Saturday is expected to see the attendance of world leaders, including Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Since 2005, thousands of people have attended the Mars Mira (which means Peace March in local Bosnian language), which follows the same forest path that was used by Bosniaks when they were fleeing the Srebrenica genocide. The path from Srebrenica to Tuzla is commonly known as "Death Way".
Srebrenica was besieged by Serb forces between 1992 and 1995 during the Bosnian War. Back then, Serb militias were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form their own state.
The UN Security Council had declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. However, Serb troops led by General Ratko Mladic – who now faces genocide charges at The Hague – overran the UN zone despite the presence of around 450 Dutch soldiers tasked with protecting innocent civilians as UN peacekeepers.
The Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing about 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone. Some 15,000 Srebrenica men fled into the surrounding mountains but Serb troops hunted down and slaughtered 6,000 of them in the forests.
A total of 6,166 victims have been buried at a memorial center; another 230 victims were laid to rest outside of the village of Potocari in July last year.
