The Bosnia File (post 3)

“We give this town to the Serb nation…The time has come to take revenge on the Muslims.”
Ratko Mladic, military commander of Bosnian Serbs

The town of Srebrenica has become synonymous with genocide. It is a story of slaughter, of men becoming worse than animals. It is a story of UN blue helmets who were not given the mandate to protect the civilian population of Bosniaks. It is a tale of running through forests for five days in a desperate effort to live. It is a history to be learned and not forgotten.

 There is a statue in Sarajevo of Ramo who is calling down to his son Nermin: “it’s alright son, come down out of the woods. The Serbians won't do anything to us” Their bodies were uncovered together years later in a mass grave.

This is the body of a woman who was discovered in a mass grave. The image haunts me. She seems to call out from the grave to be remembered. (photo courtesy of Tarik Samarah)