Srebrenica Сребреница
Coat of arms
Location of Srebrenica within Bosnia and Herzegovina
Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Settlements	81
Government
• Mayor	Osman Suljić (Alliance of SDA and Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina) [1]
Area
• Total	527 km2 (203 sq mi)
Population (1991)
• Total	?
• Municipality	36,666
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Area code(s)	56
Website	www.srebrenica.gov.ba

Panorama of Srebrenica

Srebrenica (Cyrillic: Сребреница, pronounced [sr ̏ɛbrɛnitsa]) is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre, determined to have been a crime of genocide.^[2] On March 24, 2007, Srebrenica's municipal assembly adopted a resolution demanding independence from the Republika Srpska entity (though not from Bosnia's sovereignty); the Serb members of the assembly did not vote on the resolution.^[3]

Demographics[link]

In 2005 there were about 4,000 Bosniaks in the municipality, about a third of the population.

The borders of the municipality in the 1953 and 1961 census were different. In 1953, Muslims by nationality had been yet to emerge as an ethnicity leading Slavic Muslims to identify as Yugoslavs. As Yugoslav was itself not adopted in 1948, they were all classified as other.

The town of Srebrenica[link]

Economy[link]

Before 1992, there was a metal factory in the town, and lead, zinc, and gold mines nearby. The town's name (Srebrenica) means "silver mine", the same meaning of its old Latin name Argentaria.

Before the war Srebrenica also had a big spa and the town prospered from tourism; nowadays, Srebrenica has a pension (boardinghouse), a motel, and a hostel http://hostelsrebrenica.com/ which together have fewer than 100 beds.

Local communities[link]

The municipality (општина or opština) is further subdivided into the following local communities (мјесне заједнице or mjesne zajednice):^[4]

History[link]

The earliest reference to Srebrenica was in 1376, by which time it was already an important centre for trade in the western Balkans, based especially on the silver mines of the region. The existence of ore was already known at the time of the Roman Empire, and the settlement of Domavia was near a mine. By the time of the first reference to Srebrenica, a large number of merchants of the Republic of Ragusa were established there, and they controlled the domestic silver trade and the export by sea, almost entirely via the port of Ragusa (Dubrovnik).^[5] During the 14th century, many German miners moved into the area.^[6]

In the middle of the 1420s, the army of King Tvrtko II of Bosnia fought to gain control of the town, which was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1440.^[7] The Franciscan monastery was converted into a mosque, but the large number of Catholics, Ragusa and Saxon, caused the transformation of the town to Islam to be slower than in most of the other towns in the area.^[8]

With the town in the Ottoman Empire and less influenced by the Republic of Ragusa, the economic importance of Srebrenica went into decline, as did the proportion of Catholics in the population.

In early January 1941, the Chetniks entered Srebrenica and killed around a thousand Muslim civilians in the town and in nearby villages.^[9]

War, genocide and demographic transformation[link]

The town of Srebrenica came to international prominence as a result of events during the War in Bosnia (1992–1995). The strategic objectives proclaimed by the secessionist Bosnian Serb Presidency included the creation of a border separating the Serb people from Bosnia's other ethnic communities and the abolition of the border along the River Drina separating Serbia and the Bosnian Serbs' Republika Srpska.^[10] The Bosnian Muslim/Bosniak majority population of the Drina Valley posed a major obstacle to the achievement of these objectives. In the early days of the campaign of forcible transfer (ethnic cleansing) that followed the outbreak of war in April 1992 the town of Srebrenica was occupied by Serb/Serbian forces. It was subsequently retaken by Bosniak resistance groups. Refugees expelled from towns and villages across the central Drina valley sought shelter in Srebrenica, swelling the town's population.

The town and its surrounding area was surrounded and besieged by Serb forces. On 16 April 1993, the United Nations declared the Bosnian Muslim/Bosniak enclave a UN safe area, to be "free from any armed attack or any other hostile act", and guarded by a small unit operating under the mandate of United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR).

Srebrenica and the other UN safe areas of Žepa and Goražde were isolated pockets of Bosnian government-held territory in Eastern Bosnia. In July 1995 despite the town's UN-protected status it was attacked and captured by the Army of Republika Srpska. Following the town's capture, all the men "of fighting age" who fell into Bosnian Serb hands were massacred in a systematically organised series of summary executions. The women of the town and men below 16 years of age and above 55 were transferred by bus to Tuzla.

The Srebrenica massacre is considered the worst massacre in post-World War II European history to this day.^[11]

In 2001 the Srebrenica massacre was determined by judgment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to have been a crime of genocide (confirmed on appeal in 2004).^[12] This finding was upheld in 2007 by the International Court of Justice. The decision of the ICTY was followed by an admission to and an apology for the massacre by the Republika Srpska government.^[13]

Under the 1995 Dayton Agreement which ended the Bosnian war Srebrenica was included in the territory assigned to Bosnian Serb control as the Republika Srpska entity of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although guaranteed under the provisions of the Dayton Agreement the return of survivors was repeatedly obstructed. In 2007 verbal and physical attacks on returning refugees continued to be reported in the region around Srebrenica.^[14]

Fate of Bosnian Muslim villages[link]

In 1992, Bosniak villages around Srebrenica were under constant attacks by Serb forces. The Bosnian Institute in the UK has published a list of 296 villages destroyed by Serb forces around Srebrenica three years before the genocide and in the first three months of war (April - June 1992)^[15]:

More than three years before the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, Bosnian Serb nationalists - with the logistical, moral and financial support of Serbia and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) - destroyed 296 predominantly Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) villages in the region around Srebrenica, forcibly uprooting some 70,000 Bosniaks from their homes and systematically massacring at least 3,166 Bosniaks (documented deaths) including many women, children and the elderly.

According to the Naser Oric trial judgement:^[16]

"Between April 1992 and March 1993, Srebrenica town and the villages in the area held by Bosnian Muslims were constantly subjected to Serb military assaults, including artillery attacks, sniper fire, as well as occasional bombing from aircrafts. Each onslaught followed a similar pattern. Serb soldiers and paramilitaries surrounded a Bosnian Muslim village or hamlet, called upon the population to surrender their weapons, and then began with indiscriminate shelling and shooting. In most cases, they then entered the village or hamlet, expelled or killed the population, who offered no significant resistance, and destroyed their homes. During this period, Srebrenica was subjected to indiscriminate shelling from all directions on a daily basis. Potočari in particular was a daily target for Serb artillery and infantry because it was a sensitive point in the defence line around Srebrenica. Other Bosnian Muslim settlements were routinely attacked as well. All this resulted in a great number of refugees and casualties."

Gallery[link]

See also[link]

• Srebrenica massacre
• Bosnian Genocide
• History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Srebrenica Genocide Memorial
• Srebrenica Massacre of Children 1993

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

• Opština Srebrenica - Srebrenica Municipality (Bosnian)
• Official site of a Bosnian NGO Citizens Associations "Women of Srebrenica" (Bosnian)
• The Advocacy Project partners with Bosnian Family (BOSFAM)
• Balkan Travel: Srebrenica
• Fiction stories about Srebrenica women: "Integration Under the Midnight Sun" by Adnan Mahmutovic [2]

v t e Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina v t e Entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Republika Srpska v t e Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina      Una-Sana  Central Bosnia  Posavina  Herzegovina-Neretva  Tuzla  West Herzegovina  Zenica-Doboj  Sarajevo  Bosnian Podrinje  Canton 10 v t e Districts of Bosnia and Herzegovina Brčko distrikt v t e Municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina Capital Sarajevo Municipalities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Banovići Bihać Bosanska Krupa Bosanski Petrovac Bosansko Grahovo Bugojno Busovača Bužim Čapljina Cazin Čelić Centar, Sarajevo Čitluk Drvar Doboj East Doboj South Dobratići Domaljevac-Šamac Donji Vakuf Foča-Ustikolina Fojnica Glamoč Goražde Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje Gračanica Gradačac Grude Hadžići Ilidža Ilijaš Jablanica Jajce Kakanj Kalesija Kiseljak Kladanj Ključ Konjic Kreševo Kupres Livno Ljubuški Lukavac Maglaj Mostar Neum Novi Grad, Sarajevo Novo Sarajevo Novi Travnik Odžak Olovo Orašje Pale-Prača Posušje Prozor-Rama Ravno Sanski Most Sapna Široki Brijeg Srebrenik Stari Grad, Sarajevo Stolac Teočak Tešanj Tomislavgrad Travnik Trnovo (FBiH) Tuzla Usora Vareš Velika Kladuša Visoko Vitez Vogošća Zavidovići Zenica Žepče Živinice Municipalities of Republika Srpska Berkovići Bijeljina Bileća Brod Bratunac Čajniče Čelinac Derventa Doboj Donji Žabar Foča Gacko Grad Banja Luka Grad Istočno Sarajevo Gradiška Han Pijesak Istočni Drvar Istočna Ilidža Istočni Mostar Istočni Stari Grad Istočno Novo Sarajevo Jezero Kalinovik Kneževo Kostajnica Kozarska Dubica Kotor Varoš Krupa na Uni Kupres Laktaši Ljubinje Lopare Milići Modriča Mrkonjić Grad Nevesinje Novi Grad Novo Goražde Osmaci Oštra Luka Pale Pelagićevo Petrovac Petrovo Prijedor Prnjavor Ribnik Rogatica Rudo Šamac Šekovići Šipovo Sokolac Srbac Srebrenica Teslić Trebinje Trnovo Ugljevik Višegrad Vlasenica Vukosavlje Zvornik

Coordinates: 44°06′N 19°18′E / 44.1°N 19.3°E / 44.1; 19.3

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