Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visits Srebrenica

SARAJEVO, Bosnia – Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited the Srebrenica memorial centre on Sunday and met with the families of the victims of the 1995 slaughter of over 8,000 men and boys at the end of Bosnia’s war.

Together with the British Ambassador Edward Ferguson, Sturgeon laid a wreath and paid tribute to the victims of the crime qualified by the World Court as genocide.

The victims were Muslim Bosniaks, executed by Serb forces that overran the east Bosnian town in the worst carnage in Europe since World War II.

Sturgeon told reporters her country has strong links with Bosnian people and she was keen to pay tribute on behalf of Scotland “to those who were murdered in the genocide but also to learn how we can use the memory of what happened in Srebrenica to help tackle intolerance and hatred wherever it occurs in the world.”

Sturgeon also visited a day-care centre in Sarajevo.

The 1992-95 war divided Bosnia in two semi-autonomous mini states. The prewar, predominantly Muslim town of Srebrenica ended up in the Serb region which still aspires to break away from the country.