Srebrenica Bosnia

Our second organised tour started in the heart of Sarajevo. Aden our driver took us to the town of Srebrenica. Along the way he exclaimed how the political system works here. There are 3 presidents each representing a section of the Bosnian community. Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croates. It seems so odd to me to align your self by religion, if you call yourself a Bosnian here you are in the minority, other others make up about 95% of the population. As you can imagine with 3 presidents it is extremely difficult to make decisions and move the country forward. This arrangement was put in place as part of the peace accord to end the war in 1995, it was only meant to last for 15 years so that the country to sort out how to run the country efficiently.

The war from 1992 to 1994 can be seen throughout the country where we have travelled. There are still many building and homes in ruins, shrapnel marks clear for all To see as a reminder. More than 100000 were killed and approx 2 million displaced during this ware.

Srebrenica was a town where over 8000 were killed - an act of genocide. Many have been found guilty in the International Criminal Tribunal. There is a memorial to those that were killed. Apart of this is a very cut to the bone movie. A women, who was 13 when the war broke out, also told us of her life during this time where she lost both parents a brother and sister. It was touching to listen to her, you can tell it still hurts today to explain this.

Every time I visit a place where genocide has taken place I’m astounded how the world can continue to let this occur. We are so lucky in Australia and New Zealand.Read more