Bosnians pray for hope after Srebrenica

A simple marble stone marks the gravesite

The former Muslim residents of Srebrenica looked out from the buses at the place from which they had been expelled six years ago.

Every one of the thousands of survivors who returned have lost someone: father, brother, husband, son.

The women - and most of them were women - wore flowered skirts and headscarves. Even those who normally went bareheaded had covered themselves for the Muslim prayer service which formed the centrepiece of the day's events.

Many found returning to the town extremely harrowing

They trooped into the maize field opposite the former United Nations compound and arranged themselves on the ground as though for a picnic.

Soon though, the call to prayer brought them streaming towards the foundation stone for the planned memorial centre - a three-ton chunk of white marble.

As the prayers began so did the tears. The head of Bosnia's Islamic community called for hope to replace despair, and justice to replace revenge.

Many of the returnees said they wanted to come back to Sreberenica to live, but that will be difficult as they know.

There were well-founded fears that Bosnian Serb nationalist demonstrators would try to disrupt the day. In the event it passed off peacefully, helped by the presence of 1,300 local police.

Many of them served in the Bosnian Serb army - now they were forced to protect the very people they had helped to drive out six years ago.

Many Muslim clerics attended the ceremony

The Serbs who now live in Srebrenica and the surrounding area watched with sullen hostility as the convoy of buses drove past, but they did nothing.

The Srebrenica anniversary had been planned for months. In the event, it was over very quickly.

The buses arrived shortly before 1300 local time. By 1500 they were gone, leaving only a series of strips of marker tapes in a maize field to show where the cemetery for the victims of the Srebrenica massacre will be.

Under a tree stands the cornerstone to the memorial centre. The inscription reads simply "Srebrenica July 11th 1995".

Protecting it against vandalism will be the responsibility of the local police.

Whether they will actually do it will be a test of their commitment to the reconstruction of Bosnia.

And what about reconciliation? The imam of the village near Srebrenica said he thought it was possible to talk about reconciliation, but he added that it would not be possible to forgive and forget.