Serbia announces five million aid package for Srebrenica

Serbia’s prime minister said Wednesday his country is donating 5 million euros ($5.4 million) to rejuvenate the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, where Serbs slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men and boys during the war 20 years ago.

Vucic, a former ultra-nationalist turned pro-European, laid a wreath of white roses at Srebrenica’s memorial, in the presence of the town’s Muslim mayor and Bosnian Muslim leader Bakir Izetbegovic.

His trip highlights a remarkable reversal of fortune.

“But, we can look to the future, take care of people living in Srebrenica, so there will be more of them in the future and so they could live in peace”, he added.

During a previous visit to Srebrenica in July, Vucic was chased out of a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre by an angry crowd of Bosnian Muslims, who attacked him with sticks and stones.

The premier was forced to run for cover, shielded by his bodyguards.

The Serbian Prime Minister attended a two-day investment forum in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica and offered cash to redevelop the town, infamous as the site of a massacre in 1995.

“This morning, the Serbian government made a decision to allocate 5 million euros for Srebrenica…”

“We paid tribute to the innocent victims… but we came also to invest in a common future and celebrate life”, Vucic said.

During a visit to Sarajevo earlier this month, Vucic called for improved ties between Serbs and Muslims, saying this was “crucial” for the stability in the volatile Balkans.

“We would like that Srebrenica becomes a bridge for co-operation” between Serbia and Bosnia, the Serbian premier added.

Bosnian Serbs, backed by Serbia, expelled the entire Muslim population and executed 8,000 Muslim men and boys when they overran the town by the end of the 1992-95 war which became known as the worst massacre in Europe since the Nazi era.

Srebrenica is now part of the Serb Republic, one of two autonomous regions in Bosnia – along with the Bosniak-Croat Federation – set up under the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the ex-Yugoslav republic’s ethnic war. Srebrenica is in Republika Srpska.