Srebrenica deserves a better future and the US will help it go towards reconciliation and prosperity, US Ambassador Eric Nelson said on Monday as he visited the eastern town and paid his respects to the victims of the 1995 genocide.
Nelson met with representatives of victims associations during his stay. He said it was his first time visiting the town.
“I wanted to come here and personally visit the Memorial Centre in Potocari, meet with the Director of the Memorial Centre and talk to those who survived the genocide. The US will continue supporting all those who actively seek justice for those who lost their lives in the genocide, as well as all those who want to work on peace and reconciliation,” Nelson said.
“Srebrenica has a painful history which we must never forget and from which we all must learn,” he added.
Munira Subasic, the head of the ‘Movement of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves’, said that the Srebrenica mothers familiarised Nelson with the problems returnees and survivors face in the area.
She named, among other things, genocide denial and the issue of a lack of a Bosnian language curriculum in the education system as some of those issues.
“Also, we cannot mark the places where our loved ones were killed, there is also the glorifying and non-prosecution of war criminals. All of these were issues we discussed with Ambassador Nelson,” Subasic said, adding that Nelson said he will attend the burial ceremony for the newly identified victims of the genocide on July 11.
Nelson also met with Srebrenica mayor Mladen Grujic and his deputy Hamdija Fejzic to “find out what they are doing regarding reconciliation and progress of the local community.”
