Mother said 'Here my children died. He had to go back '

Mother said 'Here my children died. He had to go back '

Suhra Malic says proudly that she was the first Muslim woman to set foot on Srebrenica after barbarism. Returned with her husband in 2001. "If my children died here, I want to die here," he argues. Now a widow with 79, can barely walk with the aid of two crutches, and lives alone in a two-story house whose facade still visible impacts of bullets. Even so it resists leaving.

He lost two sons in Srebrenica -Fuad and Suad, 36 and 34, respectively, and a third, Edem, was seriously injured. Suhra speaks in spurts, and answers more than what is asked with a speech endlessly, as if there were not enough words to describe all that has suffered. "We had a good life. We were owners of several houses and a farm, and a hostel regentábamos" he laments. The hostel remains in the same place in Srebrenica, but is abandoned.

Srebrenica is now part of Republika Srpska. With the signing of the Dayton Accords that served to stop the war in December 1995, Bosnia-Herzegovina was divided into two entities: the so-called Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which occupies 51% of the territory and is primarily made up of Muslims and Croats (Catholics); and Republika Srpska, with 49% of the area whose population is overwhelmingly Bosnian Serb and Orthodox Christian. Each entity has its own president and House of Representatives, but above there is a central presidency and parliament. All administrative framework.

In practice, people can move freely between the two territories, and the only difference with the naked eye between the two zones is that in the Republic Srpska waving the Serbian flag-rather than the official Bosnia, and mainly uses Cyrillic alphabet, not Latin.

"Srebrenica was a rich zone. The formed 81 villages, had two salt mines and five lumber mills," says Hajra Catic, 71, who lists it knowingly, as he worked in the city for three decades until he was forced to leave his home in July 1995, like many other Muslim families. "Before, 75% of the population of Srebrenica was Muslim. Now almost all are Bosnian Serb" he continues.

She returned to the enclave in 2003 and did so for the same reason that Suhra: "Here I was born, here I had all the best and here lived the worst," he summarizes. Her husband was executed and her son Nino, 25, does not know what became of him. He has not found his body. "Serbs killed our men to huyéramos, but here we are. If they had known we would return, we also have executed us women," she says convinced. "All we would have to go back!" Urges.

But only one thousand of the thousands of women forced to leave has returned. Who wants to go back to the place of slaughter, reliving the nightmare that destroyed his family and live among strangers where there was previously only known? When Hajra returned home, a Serbian family occupied. When they left, they took everything. And they could not carry with them, they destroyed. "Even the windowpanes were carried and cut electricity wires," he explains. Suhra a similar picture was found in his home.

"We're not happy, but also Serbs," says Hajra. "Now, in Srebrenica there is no work," he argues. All the economic wealth of the area was ruined by war. "And not like the Memorial to the victims of genocide. But like it or not, now you have to do every day." The eerie cemetery is located at the entrance to Srebrenica receives 136 bodies identified during the year in Tuzla today. And has more than 6,000 tombs: one for each of the victims whose remains have been found. And yet to be reached.

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Mother said 'Here my children died. He had to go back '