Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle today (10 July) issued the following statement on the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre:

“Fifteen years after the atrocity that was the Srebrenica massacre, our thoughts are with the victims, their families and relations. Germany and its international partners are agreed: Srebrenica must never be allowed to be repeated.

We have made progress with the judicial scrutiny of the war crimes committed. Radovan Karadzic is standing trial for genocide at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. However, another one of the accused, Ratko Mladic, whose name is closely linked with the Srebrenica massacre, is still at large. Efforts to arrest him must be further intensified.

I appeal to the politicians in the region to look beyond the painful recollections of the events of the war and to seize the opportunity to cooperate successfully for a common European perspective.”

Some 8000 Muslim men and boys were killed in the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995. On Sunday (11 July) an international ceremony is being held in Srebrenica to remember the victims.