To commemorate the Srebrenica massacre that saw the murder of 8372 Bosniak Muslims by Serbian forces, a total of 8372 cups of traditional coffee were made for the victims.
#8372 fildžana sa kafom u znak sjećanja na žrtve genocida u #Srebrenica pic.twitter.com/7cwe9AX5ZC
— TV N1 Sarajevo (@N1infoSA) July 10, 2020
Images published by TV N1 Sarajevo depict thousands of cups full of coffee, lined up next to each other. The images not only symbolise the sheer number of boys and men that lost their lives but the fact that 25 years later, they are deeply missed by their families.
The massacre took place in July 1995 in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War. The murders were committed by units of the Bosnian Serb Army under the control of Ratko Mladic.
Within two weeks of entering the town, more than 8000 were dead- the worst act of mass killing on European soil since WWII. The United Nations peacekeepers were criticised for not doing enough to stop the atrocity. Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan later said “The tragedy of Srebrenica will forever haunt the history of the United Nations.”
Bosniak Muslims were targetted following Bosnia-Herzegovina’s 1992 declaration of independence. Bosnian Serbs were not in agreement and backed by the Serbian government, attacked the newly formed country. They started a process of ethnic cleansing in an attempt to create a “Greater Serbia.”
25 years later, graves containing the bodies of victims are still being discovered. Serbia has apologised for the crime but has refused to accept it was genocide.
