Bosnian Muslims gather in Srebrenica for anniversary of 1995 massacre by Serbs

BOSNIA:TENS OF thousands of Bosnian Muslims gathered in Srebrenica yesterday for the anniversary of the 1995 Serb massacre in the town, and to bury 308 newly identified victims.

In Belgrade, Serb president Boris Tadic called for the arrest of those accused of responsibility for the worst atrocity in Europe since the second World War: former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and his military henchman Ratko Mladic.

Hundreds of cars and buses trundled into Srebrenica from the early hours, bringing some 30,000 people to the cemetery and memorial complex for 8,000 Muslim men and boys who were murdered when Gen Mladic's forces overran an area that the United Nations had declared a "safe haven".

The commemoration took place a day after a court in the Netherlands ruled that it had no jurisdiction to hear a case brought by relatives of the Srebrenica victims against the UN, which they accuse of failing to protect them.

"The UN will never acknowledge their mistake, even though the crime happened on their watch, before the eyes of the world," said Hafiza Klepic (36), who came from Denmark to bury the remains of her husband, after burying her brother last year.

"But we will not give up, justice must be done," she said.

About 3,000 Srebrenica victims are buried at the cemetery, which adjoins a huge swathe of ground that awaits the bodies of thousands more who have yet to be found or identified, as forensic work continues at scores of mass graves across Bosnia.

Scientists reconstruct the bodies of many victims from remains found at different sites, often dozens of miles apart, after they were crudely reburied several times by Serbs who sought to conceal crimes committed during Bosnia's 1992-5 war.

As relatives prayed beside 308 coffins wrapped in green cloth, Bosnian Muslim political leaders urged the world not to give up the hunt for Gen Mladic, who is believed to be in Serbia, and Mr Karadzic, who is thought to be hiding in the remote, mountainous region where Bosnia and Montenegro meet.

"The new Serbian authorities are entirely committed to . . . arresting war crimes indictee Ratko Mladic," vowed Serb president Tadic in Belgrade.

"By punishing the criminals, by respecting one another and by reconciliation, we create the conditions for integration into our common place in the European Union and for a better life for all nationalities and citizens in the region."