Srebrenica refugees return

Many refugees have never before been back

About 250 Muslim refugees from the Bosnian municipality of Srebrenica have returned for the first time to the ruins of their former homes.

It is the largest such group since the Dayton peace accords ended the Bosnian war more than five years ago.

More than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men from Srebrenica were killed in July 1995 in Europe's worst massacre since World War II.

Only here is my home where I can live with my memories of my beloved ones

Hajra Ademovic, refugee

The return is being held up by the United Nations as one of the most significant milestones in the restoration of Bosnia as a multi-ethnic society.

Hajra Ademovic, 51, was among the group who returned to the six villages around Srebrenica in what is now the Bosnian Serb Republic.

Memories

"I lost three sons, three grandsons and most of the rest of my male family that July", she told the Associated Press news agency.

Aljo Hadzic examines the remains of his home

"But I do want to return here", she said, close to tears. "Only here is my home where I can live with my memories of my beloved ones."

Aljo and Fata Hadzic, both 51, returned to the village of Rosevici, but found only ruins where their home once stood, a tree sprouting where their bathroom had been.

They told how their 21-year-old son had been killed during the Serb shelling and they had buried his body in their garden. "But it used to be a good life", Fata Hadzic said.

Emotional return

The UN which organised the visit had expected about 150 people, but had to lay on extra buses after an extra 100 people showed up at the bus station in Tuzla on Friday morning.

The convoy of buses could not make it past the village of Potocari up the rugged tracks to the villages, so the refugees completed their journey on foot or waited for lifts.

Thousands of Muslims were killed in Srebrenica

Almost all were returning on Friday to their temporary homes in Sarajevo and Tuzla, where most have been living since the war. But a group of about 20 were planning to camp out for the night.

International observers are hoping that the visit will prove to be more than symbolic, although they are aware that previous efforts to persuade refugees to return have had little success.

Srebrenica now has a Muslim mayor again, but the police force and civilian population are still overwhelmingly Serb.

Srebrenica massacre

1993 Srebrenica declared UN safe area

11 July 1995 Serbs overrun Srebrenica

23,000 women and children deported in 30 hours

Men aged 12-77 are separated for 'interrogation for suspected war crimes'

16 July 1995 first reports of massacres

Many Serbs believed to be involved in the massacre are still living in the area and there have been numerous arson attacks since the first refugees went home last year.

Last month the Nato-led stabilisation force, S-For, opened a base near Srebrenica in an effort to boost security and encourage returns.

Reconstruction

The BBC's Alix Kroger went to Srebrenica and says only when the relief agencies are satisfied that the refugees are determined to stay will they start handing out money and materials to aid reconstruction.

But she says the Serbs of Srebrenica, who already have trouble finding work, are resentful of aid directed exclusively at refugees.

A memorial and cemetery for the victims of the massacre is being built near the place where many of them were last seen alive.

Diplomats say they hope the first of the bodies can be buried before the sixth anniversary of the massacre in July.