Ex-Balkan fighters visit massacre site

Sunday, November 18, 2012

— Veterans from opposite sides of the Balkan wars of the 1990s paid their respects Saturday to the victims of the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.

The small group of former fighters from Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia laid flowers at the memorial dedicated to more than 8,000 Muslim Bosnian men and boys executed in 1995 by Serb forces in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

The visit was organized by the Centre for Nonviolent Action, a nongovernmental organization that promotes nonviolence and dialogue and encourages former foes to deal constructively with their past.

For most, this was the first time they had faced the magnitude of the crimes committed by their own forces. Participants said the visit left them “shocked” and “speechless.”

Novica Kostic, a former soldier from Serbia said the group had visited other marked and unmarked places where people suffered during the wars “but this is heavy.”

After watching a documentary about the massacre, the group walked along a wall engraved with the names of the victims.

Many were overwhelmed by the thousands of graves that fill the valley near Srebrenica.

The bodies of the victims are still being found in mass graves hidden in the area.

The bones are identified through DNA analysis and returned to their families, who bury them at the memorial center.

Front Section, Pages 11 on 11/18/2012