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SBS Australia
12-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
'My heart is wounded': Rukija's husband was killed in the Srebrenica genocide 30 years ago
Rukija Avdić cries as she recalls the night 30 years ago when her family and home were torn apart. It began with shouts. Run, run! The Serbian army has entered! Srebrenica is falling! Run! Avdić calls it "that catastrophe" — the massacre of around 8,000 mostly Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces in the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the largest mass killing in Europe since World War Two. Among the dead was Avdić's husband and twin brother. "I don't know which was worse, losing my brother or my husband," she tells SBS News. "My heart is wounded." Rukija Avdić cries as she looks at photos of husband and brother who were killed in Srebrenica. She says around 40 members of her extended family were killed during the war. Source: SBS News She last saw them on 11 July 1995 when Bosnian Serb forces under General Ratko Mladić entered the small mountain town, which was then a United Nations safe zone. Mladić's soldiers were later found by a UN war crimes tribunal to have carried out the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims — known as Bosniaks — who were the majority ethnic group in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time. In 2017, Mladić was found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The fall of Srebrenica Recalling the moment the town came under attack, Avdić says, "there were screams and cries". "My husband wasn't with me at that moment. I was alone with my four children and my mother. "When I saw and heard the screams, I ran down the stairs and quickly grabbed the children. I thought they were going to burn us alive." Avdić says she heard Mladić shouting and telling people to leave for nearby Potočari. On her way there with her children, she stopped near her uncle's home. "When night fell, my husband appeared. He wanted to see where I was, to see the children, to say goodbye. My brother was there too," Avdić says. My husband said: 'Rukija, please, take care of yourself. Here, take this ring from my finger. Take care of the children. We may never see each other again. May Allah help you.' "My brother said too: 'Dear sister, I know you're my twin, I can't live without you, but I have to. "He gave me his prayer beads and his prayer mat. He was very religious." Avdić says her husband and brother then fled to hide from Mladić's troops. "The kids screamed and cried: 'Daddy, daddy, come back!' He turned and walked into the forest. But they were ambushed there. The army was waiting for them. They were prepared." Along with tens of thousands of other Bosniak women and children who lost husbands, fathers, brothers and sons, Avdić was put on an evacuation bus and forcibly displaced. After a night in Potočari, she recalls the chilling words of the man who to this day remains in prison in the Hague as a war criminal. Bosnian Serb military commander General Ratko Mladic on the second day of his trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands in 2012. Source: SBS News / AP "Mladić came and spoke. I saw him, heard his voice," Avdić says. "He said… 'Kill, kill, only if it's a male child, kill him.' "I panicked. I took my headscarf and wrapped it around my son Jusuf, put him in girls' clothes. I did the same with Halid, dressed him in traditional girls' pants, so they would think they were girls. "Halid was two; Jusuf around five years old. They were all so little." Avdić remembers witnessing massacres with her own eyes. "When I passed through Potočari, I saw our men. They were all bound, naked. And I heard the gunshots. I witnessed a huge number of our men killed. But I still had hope that [my husband] would return. That he would come back and bring joy to his children." For five years, Avdić and her four young children lived in tents. They moved into an abandoned home in central Bosnia before coming to Australia in 2000. Refugees in the Tuzla camp, after being displaced from Srebrenica and surrounding Bosniak villages. Source: Getty / Patrick Robert - Corbis/Sygma via Getty Images Remains found decades later Like many of the mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of Srebrenica, it wasn't until decades after the "catastrophe" that Avdić found out what happened to the men in her family. In 2012, she received confirmation that her husband's remains had been found. "It was terrible. We were heartbroken," she says. "My father-in-law told me I had to come to bury him. That was the hardest part." Two years earlier, she had also buried her twin brother. Every year, more and more bodies are found. Even after 30 years, many haven't been identified. It was also difficult for children left fatherless by the genocide to bury fathers they hardly remembered. Avdić says her son broke down seeing his father's coffin, though he was only six when he last saw him. "When he lowered it, he screamed. He pulled his own hair out. In that moment, he nearly went mad," she says. "He wanted to gather four stones to bring them back to Australia for his sisters, his brother, and himself to have something to remember that day by. To never forget it. It was very hard for them." Victims of the Srebrenica genocide are buried at the Memorial Center in Potocari, Bosnia. Source: AAP / Darko Bandic/AP War and the collapse of Yugoslavia The armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina broke out three years before the genocide, in 1992, amid the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Bosnia and Herzegovina were one of six social republics that made up the former Yugoslavia. In 1991, Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia declared independence from the bloc. Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence the following year, not wanting to remain in a country that would thereafter be run by Serbia, the largest of the republics, and its nationalist leader Slobodan Milošević. For centuries, Serbs, Croats and Muslims across the socialist bloc lived together but when Yugoslavia collapsed, fighting broke out between the ethnic groups. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbian-aligned armed forces launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the majority Muslim population, with the aim of establishing the Bosnian Serb Republic. What became known as the Yugoslav Wars resulted in an estimated 140,000 deaths, according to the International Center for Transitional Justice. An estimated 100,000 people were killed in the Bosnian War alone — most were Bosnian Muslims. The Bosnian capital Sarajevo was under siege for nearly four years, while Bosniak villages in the east, near the border with Serbia, came under attack and mass killings of Muslims were reported from 1993. Thousands were sent to concentration camps, where there were reports of killing, torture and starvation. Malnourished Croatian and Bosnian Muslim prisoners of war in Manjaca, the largest Serbian concentration camp, 1992. Source: Getty / Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Avdić says she had been living "a good life" in the town of Osat, about 20km east of Srebrenica, until war came to her doorstep. She was pregnant with her fourth child at the time. "There were barricades, we couldn't get to town," she says. "I went into labour alone at home. I gave birth by myself. It was very hard." The years of conflict leading up to the genocide were traumatic for Avdić. "I remember the grenades the most, the fear. Then my husband went to the front line, because he had to protect Srebrenica, to defend the town. I was always afraid that someone would come to the door to take the children. "In 1993, when I was at home, a grenade fell close to me, maybe five metres away. I was holding my child in my arms. And then I lost my hearing. The grenade damaged my left ear." Avdić was among the tens of thousands of people who left their homes for Srebrenica believing it to be safer. But the enclave was frequently shelled. According to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Bosnian Serb forces controlled the access roads and impeded the supply of international humanitarian aid, such as food and medicine, into the town. The UN declared Srebrenica a safe zone in April 1993 and days later called for a total ceasefire in the town, deploying United Nations Protection Forces. Troops rotated and Dutch peacekeepers were on duty when the Srebrenica genocide began to unfold. They were not permitted to use force except in self defence and were later found to have been partly responsible for some of the deaths in Srebrenica. 'No peace without justice': The war crimes tribunal Atrocities were reported from the start of the collapse of the Yugoslav Republic in 1991, and in response, the UN Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993. The tribunal's task was to prosecute those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law. Australian lawyer Graham Blewitt AM, who had in the early 1990s prosecuted Australians believed to have participated in Nazi war crimes, went to the Hague in 1994 to become the deputy prosecutor for the ICTY, a post he held for a decade. "There were reports coming in daily of massacres and atrocities being committed throughout the Balkans," Blewitt tells SBS News. When he arrived, the ICTY had barely started its work and he was responsible for setting up the tribunal. "It was left to me to start recruiting and to set up the office," he says. "I relied on my experience both doing the Nazi war crimes work and my work at the National Crime Authority to design the prosecutor's office." Graham Blewitt (front right), with the judges and prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 1994. Credit: Supplied Once set up, Blewitt says they started investigating and prosecuting war crimes. "It was a lot of pressure … the tribunal could not fail because if it did, it would set back the initiatives that were taking place then to establish a permanent international criminal court. "By November [1994], we had already issued our first indictment, which kept the judges very happy." Blewitt says while his team were "up to [their] necks" investigating many other atrocities that had already occurred, he distinctly remembers hearing reports that "something terrible" had occurred in Srebrenica in July 1995. "Within a few days, the reports started to gather momentum and it became very clear that there was something very serious happening in Srebrenica," he says. At that stage, we had no idea that it was going to turn into a genocide. But we realised it was serious enough that we needed to get a team on it straight away. Blewitt says he pulled people from other teams and formed a special investigation unit, which began gathering evidence. With assistance from the US, the team sourced aerial imagery of mass grave sites, determining the location of victims who had been executed. "Once the Serbs found out that we were aware of the grave sites … they started to remove the bodies from those graves, took them to more remote locations and buried the bodies in secondary graves," Blewitt says. "We were able to identify both the primary grave sites and the secondary sites, and we decided to carry out exhumations of the bodies in those grave sites." LISTEN TO SBS English 05/08/2024 07:19 English The ICTY's investigations quickly established that Mladić and the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić were primarily responsible for the killings and took steps to indict them. "Towards the end of 1995 after Srebrenica happened, it was quite clear there was a genocide, and the international community set up peace talks in Dayton [Ohio]," Blewitt says. But there was concern a peace treaty might see Karadžić and Mladić evade accountability, so the ICTY issued their indictments in November. "Our view was that you can't have peace without justice and they were the primary persons responsible for the genocide, so they had to be prosecuted." Defining genocide Both Karadžić and Mladić were found guilty of war crimes and genocide in 2016 and 2017 respectively and handed life sentences. They remain in prison in the Hague. In 1999, then Serbian president Slobodan Milošević was charged with a total of 66 counts of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes across Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, becoming the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes by an international tribunal. Milošević was found dead in his cell in the Hague while on trial in 2006. Graham Blewitt holding the indictment for the Slobodan Milošević, then the Serbian President, in 1999. Credit: Supplied The ICTY determined the mass killings of Bosnian Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica constituted the crime of genocide. "Just looking at the definition of genocide, that there has to be the intent to destroy in whole or in part a political, ethnic, or religious group," Blewitt says. "Looking at Srebrenica, what the Bosnian Serbs were trying to do and in fact did do, was to kill all the men and boys from Srebrenica, and there were thousands of them. In our view that met the criteria for the definition of genocide and that then led to the charge genocide being brought. The tribunal ultimately indicted a total of 161 individuals. "[All of them were] either arrested, stood trial, some were convicted, some were acquitted, some died. But at the end and certainly in my point of view it was a complete and utter success," Blewitt says. "Something I'm very proud of being able to have been involved in." Remembering the victims Commemorations are being held around the world this week, including in Potočari, Bosnia, and by Australia's Bosniak community. Kissing the photos of her husband and brother, Avdić says it's important to tell their stories, so future generations know what happened in Srebrenica. "It's for my children, and my grandchildren," she says. "Because my heart, it can never be young again. It destroyed my best years, my youth. I was only 29 years old." This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Bosnian.
CNN
11-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘Pure Evil': Amanpour marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre
'Pure Evil': Christiane Amanpour marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre On July 11, 1995 a massacre of more than 7,000 men and boys took place in Srebrenica, part of the approximately 100,000 who would be killed during the Bosnian war. CNN's Christiane Amanpour reflects on her reporting of the conflict's atrocities thirty years later, including her interview with convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. 02:58 - Source: CNN Vertical World News 16 videos 'Pure Evil': Christiane Amanpour marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre On July 11, 1995 a massacre of more than 7,000 men and boys took place in Srebrenica, part of the approximately 100,000 who would be killed during the Bosnian war. CNN's Christiane Amanpour reflects on her reporting of the conflict's atrocities thirty years later, including her interview with convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. 02:58 - Source: CNN Eight children killed by Israeli strike at clinic The bodies of women and children were left scattered on the streets of central Gaza after an Israeli airstrike landed in front of a Project HOPE health clinic on Thursday. CNN Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond reports on the young victims of this attack that the Israeli military said was targeting a Hamas militant. 01:48 - Source: CNN Analysis: Do Trump's words affect Putin's actions? President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin out for throwing "bullsh*t" on peace talks with Ukraine - hours later, Russia launched its largest ever drone attack on Ukraine. CNN's Matthew Chance analyzes whether the US leader's comments have an impact on Russia's military operations. 01:23 - Source: CNN Rubio meets Russian foreign minister Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, days after President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for not engaging in peace talks with Ukraine. 01:22 - Source: CNN Drones swarm Kyiv for second night Russia attacked Ukraine with hundreds of drones for a second consecutive night, killing two people and causing significant damage in Kyiv. In recent weeks Moscow has scaled up its air attacks on Ukraine, as negotiations towards a peace deal have slowed down. 00:52 - Source: CNN Doctors in Gaza struggle to keep babies alive CNN's Paula Hancocks reports on the situation in Gaza as doctors try to keep preterm babies alive in a warzone where formula, medicine and fuel are in short supply. 02:48 - Source: CNN Trump praises Liberian leader's English. It's his native language During a White House meeting with leaders of African nations, President Donald Trump complimented Liberian President Joseph Boakai's English pronunciation, even though English is Boakai's native language. 00:49 - Source: CNN Houthi rebels release video of attack on commercial ship in the Red Sea Video released by the Houthi media center shows the bulk carrier "Magic Seas" being attacked and later sinking in the Iran-backed rebel group's first attack this year on a commercial shipping vessel in the Red Sea. 00:55 - Source: CNN Russia turns up the heat after Trump slams Putin At least one person has been killed after Russia launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine just hours after US President Donald Trump pledged more military support for Kyiv and accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of throwing 'bullsh*t' over peace talks. 01:19 - Source: CNN Who speaks for Hamas in ceasefire talks? With a possible Gaza ceasefire deal coming by week's end, CNN's Audie Cornish speaks with senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Ghaith Al Omari about who speaks for Hamas. 01:51 - Source: CNN Trump told donors he threatened to bomb Moscow on Putin call Donald Trump told a private gathering of donors last year that he once sought to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine by threatening to 'bomb the sh*t out of Moscow' in retaliation, according to audio provided to CNN. The audio was obtained by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf, who detailed some of the exchanges in their new book, '2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.' The Trump campaign declined to comment on the content of the tapes. 01:36 - Source: CNN Three men found guilty of Wagner-backed arson on Ukraine-linked businesses in London Three men were found guilty on Tuesday of committing arson attacks on Ukraine-linked businesses in London on behalf of Russia's Wagner private mercenary group. Two others, ringleader Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves, had already pleaded guilty to offenses under the UK's new national security act. 01:38 - Source: CNN Mexicans protest immigrants from US Residents of Mexico City are protesting against gentrification that is forcing some people out, and they partially blame the United States. More than 1.6 million US citizens already reside in Mexico, according to the US State department. 01:30 - Source: CNN Drone shows rare site: Greece's Acropolis with no tourists Authorities in Athens, Greece closed the country's most popular tourist destination for several hours on Tuesday, sighting scorching temperatures nearing 108˚ Fahrenheit (42˚C) as a health concern. Drone video by Reuters captured the rare instance of the site being empty of visitors. 00:41 - Source: CNN Russian minister dies shortly after Putin fired him Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit died by suicide on Monday, just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin fired him from the job, officials said. Asked by reporters for the reasons behind Starovoit's dismissal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied this was due to a 'lack of trust,' but he did not give any alternative reason. 00:49 - Source: CNN Analysis: How could America arm Ukraine? President Trump said on Monday that the US will send additional defensive weapons to Ukraine after previous shipments were paused last week. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh analyzes which weapons Ukraine most needs right now. 01:27 - Source: CNN
CNN
11-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘Pure Evil': Amanpour marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre
'Pure Evil': Christiane Amanpour marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre On July 11, 1995 a massacre of more than 7,000 men and boys took place in Srebrenica, part of the approximately 100,000 who would be killed during the Bosnian war. CNN's Christiane Amanpour reflects on her reporting of the conflict's atrocities thirty years later, including her interview with convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. 02:58 - Source: CNN Vertical World News 16 videos 'Pure Evil': Christiane Amanpour marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre On July 11, 1995 a massacre of more than 7,000 men and boys took place in Srebrenica, part of the approximately 100,000 who would be killed during the Bosnian war. CNN's Christiane Amanpour reflects on her reporting of the conflict's atrocities thirty years later, including her interview with convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. 02:58 - Source: CNN Eight children killed by Israeli strike at clinic The bodies of women and children were left scattered on the streets of central Gaza after an Israeli airstrike landed in front of a Project HOPE health clinic on Thursday. CNN Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond reports on the young victims of this attack that the Israeli military said was targeting a Hamas militant. 01:48 - Source: CNN Analysis: Do Trump's words affect Putin's actions? President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin out for throwing "bullsh*t" on peace talks with Ukraine - hours later, Russia launched its largest ever drone attack on Ukraine. CNN's Matthew Chance analyzes whether the US leader's comments have an impact on Russia's military operations. 01:23 - Source: CNN Rubio meets Russian foreign minister Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, days after President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for not engaging in peace talks with Ukraine. 01:22 - Source: CNN Drones swarm Kyiv for second night Russia attacked Ukraine with hundreds of drones for a second consecutive night, killing two people and causing significant damage in Kyiv. In recent weeks Moscow has scaled up its air attacks on Ukraine, as negotiations towards a peace deal have slowed down. 00:52 - Source: CNN Doctors in Gaza struggle to keep babies alive CNN's Paula Hancocks reports on the situation in Gaza as doctors try to keep preterm babies alive in a warzone where formula, medicine and fuel are in short supply. 02:48 - Source: CNN Trump praises Liberian leader's English. It's his native language During a White House meeting with leaders of African nations, President Donald Trump complimented Liberian President Joseph Boakai's English pronunciation, even though English is Boakai's native language. 00:49 - Source: CNN Houthi rebels release video of attack on commercial ship in the Red Sea Video released by the Houthi media center shows the bulk carrier "Magic Seas" being attacked and later sinking in the Iran-backed rebel group's first attack this year on a commercial shipping vessel in the Red Sea. 00:55 - Source: CNN Russia turns up the heat after Trump slams Putin At least one person has been killed after Russia launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine just hours after US President Donald Trump pledged more military support for Kyiv and accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of throwing 'bullsh*t' over peace talks. 01:19 - Source: CNN Who speaks for Hamas in ceasefire talks? With a possible Gaza ceasefire deal coming by week's end, CNN's Audie Cornish speaks with senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Ghaith Al Omari about who speaks for Hamas. 01:51 - Source: CNN Trump told donors he threatened to bomb Moscow on Putin call Donald Trump told a private gathering of donors last year that he once sought to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine by threatening to 'bomb the sh*t out of Moscow' in retaliation, according to audio provided to CNN. The audio was obtained by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf, who detailed some of the exchanges in their new book, '2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.' The Trump campaign declined to comment on the content of the tapes. 01:36 - Source: CNN Three men found guilty of Wagner-backed arson on Ukraine-linked businesses in London Three men were found guilty on Tuesday of committing arson attacks on Ukraine-linked businesses in London on behalf of Russia's Wagner private mercenary group. Two others, ringleader Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves, had already pleaded guilty to offenses under the UK's new national security act. 01:38 - Source: CNN Mexicans protest immigrants from US Residents of Mexico City are protesting against gentrification that is forcing some people out, and they partially blame the United States. More than 1.6 million US citizens already reside in Mexico, according to the US State department. 01:30 - Source: CNN Drone shows rare site: Greece's Acropolis with no tourists Authorities in Athens, Greece closed the country's most popular tourist destination for several hours on Tuesday, sighting scorching temperatures nearing 108˚ Fahrenheit (42˚C) as a health concern. Drone video by Reuters captured the rare instance of the site being empty of visitors. 00:41 - Source: CNN Russian minister dies shortly after Putin fired him Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit died by suicide on Monday, just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin fired him from the job, officials said. Asked by reporters for the reasons behind Starovoit's dismissal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied this was due to a 'lack of trust,' but he did not give any alternative reason. 00:49 - Source: CNN Analysis: How could America arm Ukraine? President Trump said on Monday that the US will send additional defensive weapons to Ukraine after previous shipments were paused last week. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh analyzes which weapons Ukraine most needs right now. 01:27 - Source: CNN
CNN
11-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘Pure Evil': Amanpour marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre
'Pure Evil': Christiane Amanpour marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre On July 11, 1995 a massacre of more than 7,000 men and boys took place in Srebrenica, part of the approximately 100,000 who would be killed during the Bosnian war. CNN's Christiane Amanpour reflects on her reporting of the conflict's atrocities thirty years later, including her interview with convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. 02:58 - Source: CNN Vertical World News 16 videos 'Pure Evil': Christiane Amanpour marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre On July 11, 1995 a massacre of more than 7,000 men and boys took place in Srebrenica, part of the approximately 100,000 who would be killed during the Bosnian war. CNN's Christiane Amanpour reflects on her reporting of the conflict's atrocities thirty years later, including her interview with convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. 02:58 - Source: CNN Eight children killed by Israeli strike at clinic The bodies of women and children were left scattered on the streets of central Gaza after an Israeli airstrike landed in front of a Project HOPE health clinic on Thursday. CNN Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond reports on the young victims of this attack that the Israeli military said was targeting a Hamas militant. 01:48 - Source: CNN Analysis: Do Trump's words affect Putin's actions? President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin out for throwing "bullsh*t" on peace talks with Ukraine - hours later, Russia launched its largest ever drone attack on Ukraine. CNN's Matthew Chance analyzes whether the US leader's comments have an impact on Russia's military operations. 01:23 - Source: CNN Rubio meets Russian foreign minister Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, days after President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for not engaging in peace talks with Ukraine. 01:22 - Source: CNN Drones swarm Kyiv for second night Russia attacked Ukraine with hundreds of drones for a second consecutive night, killing two people and causing significant damage in Kyiv. In recent weeks Moscow has scaled up its air attacks on Ukraine, as negotiations towards a peace deal have slowed down. 00:52 - Source: CNN Doctors in Gaza struggle to keep babies alive CNN's Paula Hancocks reports on the situation in Gaza as doctors try to keep preterm babies alive in a warzone where formula, medicine and fuel are in short supply. 02:48 - Source: CNN Trump praises Liberian leader's English. It's his native language During a White House meeting with leaders of African nations, President Donald Trump complimented Liberian President Joseph Boakai's English pronunciation, even though English is Boakai's native language. 00:49 - Source: CNN Houthi rebels release video of attack on commercial ship in the Red Sea Video released by the Houthi media center shows the bulk carrier "Magic Seas" being attacked and later sinking in the Iran-backed rebel group's first attack this year on a commercial shipping vessel in the Red Sea. 00:55 - Source: CNN Russia turns up the heat after Trump slams Putin At least one person has been killed after Russia launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine just hours after US President Donald Trump pledged more military support for Kyiv and accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of throwing 'bullsh*t' over peace talks. 01:19 - Source: CNN Who speaks for Hamas in ceasefire talks? With a possible Gaza ceasefire deal coming by week's end, CNN's Audie Cornish speaks with senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Ghaith Al Omari about who speaks for Hamas. 01:51 - Source: CNN Trump told donors he threatened to bomb Moscow on Putin call Donald Trump told a private gathering of donors last year that he once sought to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine by threatening to 'bomb the sh*t out of Moscow' in retaliation, according to audio provided to CNN. The audio was obtained by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf, who detailed some of the exchanges in their new book, '2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.' The Trump campaign declined to comment on the content of the tapes. 01:36 - Source: CNN Three men found guilty of Wagner-backed arson on Ukraine-linked businesses in London Three men were found guilty on Tuesday of committing arson attacks on Ukraine-linked businesses in London on behalf of Russia's Wagner private mercenary group. Two others, ringleader Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves, had already pleaded guilty to offenses under the UK's new national security act. 01:38 - Source: CNN Mexicans protest immigrants from US Residents of Mexico City are protesting against gentrification that is forcing some people out, and they partially blame the United States. More than 1.6 million US citizens already reside in Mexico, according to the US State department. 01:30 - Source: CNN Drone shows rare site: Greece's Acropolis with no tourists Authorities in Athens, Greece closed the country's most popular tourist destination for several hours on Tuesday, sighting scorching temperatures nearing 108˚ Fahrenheit (42˚C) as a health concern. Drone video by Reuters captured the rare instance of the site being empty of visitors. 00:41 - Source: CNN Russian minister dies shortly after Putin fired him Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit died by suicide on Monday, just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin fired him from the job, officials said. Asked by reporters for the reasons behind Starovoit's dismissal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied this was due to a 'lack of trust,' but he did not give any alternative reason. 00:49 - Source: CNN Analysis: How could America arm Ukraine? President Trump said on Monday that the US will send additional defensive weapons to Ukraine after previous shipments were paused last week. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh analyzes which weapons Ukraine most needs right now. 01:27 - Source: CNN
BBC News
11-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Thirty years on from Srebrenica and communities remain divided
The silence is shattered by a guttural scream. A group of people scrabble on the ground, sifting through the soil. One of them holds up a watch they have uncovered; another, a scene on stage at Sarajevo's War Theatre is uncomfortably familiar for the audience at the world premiere of the Flowers of Srebrenica. The play reflects the grim reality of the events not just of July 1995 – but the ensuing decades of unresolved grief and divisions in Bosnia and Srebrenica Massacre remains the most notorious war crime committed in Europe since World War Two. Bosnian-Serb forces overran Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia, where thousands of Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, had taken refuge, believing they were safely under the protection of the United Dutch soldiers stood aside as Bosnian-Serb General Ratko Mladić directed his troops to place women and the youngest children on buses for transport to majority-Bosniak areas. Then, over the following days, he oversaw the systematic murder of around 8,000 people – most, but not all of them, men and boys. Mladić's troops dumped the bodies in mass graves. But later, to cover up their crimes, they exhumed then reburied the remains in multiple a result, body parts were distributed across multiple graves, causing endless anguish for the victims' families. Many of them are still searching for their relatives' remains decades later, though DNA testing has helped thousands of families to bury their family members at Potočari Cemetery, adjacent to the former UN have been able to identify body parts through scraps of clothing or personal belongings – as depicted in scenes in the Flowers of play also reflects the apparently deepening divisions in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the audience in Sarajevo delivers a standing ovation to the cast and crew, in majority-Serb Republika Srpska, political leaders repeatedly deny that genocide took place at Srebrenica, despite Mladić's conviction for the offence at an international tribunal in The Hague, as well as the earlier conviction of the Bosnian-Serb political leader Radovan Karadžić."I thought that when 30 years passed, we'd come to our senses," says Selma Alispahić, the lead actress of the Sarajevo War Theatre – herself a former refugee from Bosnia's conflict. "People get tired of proving the truth that's been proven so many times, even in international courts. The story of the hatred and spinning of facts serves only the criminals who profited from the war and who want to preserve their fortune today."Genocide denial is not the only symptom of the country's divisions. The Dayton Peace agreement brought an end to the war, just four months after the massacre. But it also divided Bosnia and Herzegovina into two "entities", on ethnic grounds. Most Bosniaks and Croats live in the Federation, while the majority of Serbs are in Republika is also a state-level government, with a member of the presidency for each of the three main ethnic groups. But most of the power lies at the entity recent months, Republika Srpska's president has been exploiting that to make mischief. Milorad Dodik has been pushing through legislation to withdraw from numerous national institutions, including the judiciary. This has brought him into conflict with Bosnia's ultimate power, the international High current holder of that position, Christian Schmidt, annulled the laws concerned. But Dodik refused to recognise those this year a court sentenced him to a year in prison and a six-year ban from public office for ignoring the High Representative's decisions. The verdict is currently under shenanigans have ensued – including legislation to establish a "reserve police force". The same terminology was used for murderous Serb militia during Bosnia's conflict."This is dangerous, playing with the memory of those who have experienced the 1990s," says Mr Schmidt."I see the irresponsible part of the political class playing with this. We need a clear presence of the international community on a military level – so EUFOR [the EU peacekeeping force] gets more responsibility in the sheer presence, promising people they will be supported in a peaceful manner." In the centre of Sarajevo, reminders of the anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre are hard to miss. Hundreds of people huddled under umbrellas in the pouring rain to pay their respects to the convoy carrying the remains of seven recently-identified victims who will be buried at Potočari Cemetery during the commemoration. Outside the city's shopping centres, video screens urge passers-by to "Remember Srebrenica".But just 15 minutes up the road, in East Sarajevo, there are no public references to the massacre. The Cyrillic script signs and Jelen Beer umbrellas indicate that this is Republika Srpska. And in the entity government's building, there is little enthusiasm for the state-level foreign trade minister Saša Košarac – a leading member of Dodik's SNSD party – claims that Srebrenica is used to deepen divisions and prevent reconciliation."In this country, Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs were killed – and crimes were committed on all three sides. It's important, when thinking about the future, that all the perpetrators, on all sides, should be held accountable," he says."Bosniaks insist on talking only about Bosniak victims. A crime has been committed in Srebrenica – no Serbs deny that – but we have the right to point out the crimes against Serbs in and around Srebrenica."But thousands of other people are focusing on solidarity with Srebrenica. On the eve of the commemoration, the Memorial Centre and Potočari Cemetery were already busy with people paying their respects. And they cheered the arrival from around the country of groups of cyclists, runners and motorcyclists. Mirela Osmanović says this support is crucial to Bosniaks who have returned to live in the area where their family members died. She was born two years after her two brothers were murdered at Srebrenica and now works at the Memorial Centre. But the recent tensions have left her rattled."The intense atmosphere produced by Republika Srpska's leaders really disturbs us, making us feel we're not protected anymore – and we're really worried about our future.""My parents say it looks the way it looked in 1992."For Milorad Dodik, manipulating the cycle of tensions is just part of his strategy to remain in power. But for people in Srebrenica, the ongoing ethno-political games only make the healing harder.
