Serbs remember Bosnia dead

KRAVICE, Bosnia -- A memorial to Bosnian Serbs killed in the 1992-95 war has been unveiled -- a day after Bosnian Muslims remembered those who died in the Srebrenica massacre.

The ceremony was attended by hundreds of Serbs in the eastern Bosnian village of Kravice, a few kilometres from Srebrenica, where thousands were killed by Serb forces in 1995.

On Wednesday, a Muslim woman returning to her home in eastern Bosnia was shot dead, in what the U.N. refugee agency said was a second attack in two months, Reuters reported.

The Bosnian Serb ceremony on Thursday included an open-air Orthodox church service, hymns, nationalist poetry and speeches.

IN-DEPTH Srebrenica: Five days of evil   • Survivor's Story   • Gallery   • Massacre background   • Rebuilding Srebrenica   • Prayers for the dead   • Grief of the widows   • Mass grave found   • War crimes defendants   • Profile: Radko Mladic   • Profile: Radovan Karadzic

Serbs drove Muslims from eastern Bosnia during the conflict, creating an "ethnically clean" mini-state legalised by a peace treaty in 1995.

The Srebrenica massacre, regarded as the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War Two, was not mentioned at the ceremony on Thursday and one organiser said it was a "lie."

Bosnian Serb President Mirko Sarovic told the crowd it was right that the Muslim ceremony had not been disrupted by Bosnian Serbs.

"Without these days there'd be no one on earth who would understand us," Sarovic said.

"We must convince the world that we are also victims, that we have suffered, that we are a people of culture and civilisation who respect the achievements of the world, modern human rights and freedoms."

There were cries of "long live Radovan" from the crowd, referring to Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, charged with genocide over the Srebrenica events.

Sarovic's own party was founded by Karadzic, though party officials say they have cut links with the fugitive.

Organisers of the event held to commemorate 1,300 Serbs, mainly soldiers, killed in eastern Bosnia, complained that prominent international officials had not attended, as they had for the Srebrenica commemoration.

Asked about the up to 8,000 Srebrenica men and boys who died unarmed and in cold blood, Milivoje Vasic, aide to the Bosnian Serb minister of science and culture, told Reuters: "That's a lie."