Potocari, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 12/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The annual commemoration of the 11 July 1995 massacre, witnessed for the first time on Monday, the extremely symbolic presence of Serbian president Boris Tadic, and leaders of the Serbia Republic of Bosnia (SR). The ceremony took place peacefully. A senior European diplomat said that he was relieved at the end of the commemoration, as he had been afraid of hostile demonstrations, particularly from mothers and wives of the victims or from Serbian leaders and Bosnian-Serbs. The most senior Muslim dignitary in Bosnia, Mustafa effendi Ceric, who led the religious ceremonial, declared at the ceremony that “revenge is not our religion, it is not our destiny, it is not Bosnian”. He called, on the contrary, for “truth and justice”.
Jack Straw, the United Kingdom's foreign affairs minister and acting president of the Council of the European Union, alluded to the Srebrenica massacre during his speech and the county's aspiration to join the European Union. But as the only European minister to be invited to speak during the commemoration, he paid homage to the victims and apologised to them on behalf of the United Kingdom and not the European Union. The Greens/EFA group at the European Parliament had sent a delegation to the ceremony and addressed a letter of protest to Straw on Monday evening over his “choice of words and choice of function, which effectively absented the Union from participating in such an important event”. The Greens are convinced that he was invited to speak as a representative of the European Union. European Commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, represented the European Commission but did not make an official speech.