Duraković: The only butcher shop closed, we will prosecute those who take loans for business and then shut it down

After four months of operation, the only butcher shop in Srebrenica has closed. Municipal Mayor Ćamil Duraković confirmed this information for the Patria news agency and added:

- In the past four years, the municipality has helped various trades. Through loans, we helped open a bakery, a butcher shop, an auto mechanic workshop... Unfortunately, most people abuse the goodwill of the local community, take loans, and then close the shops within a short time. We will do everything to prosecute those individuals.

Duraković poses what he says is a logical question: if there is no one to buy meat, or if it is not economically viable to keep a butcher shop, how did the late Ahmo Begić manage to have a shop and work for more than 10 years?

- There is, of course, the economic dimension, but I repeat, we were ready and will always help open shops; it's just a matter of supply and prices and how honest individuals really are when they approach us for financial loans to start a business. You cannot get rich overnight, especially not in Srebrenica, Duraković says.

The owner of the butcher shop said at the opening that he received a loan of 10,000 KM from the municipality to start the business, and that he would repay the funds without interest. For three years now, no bakery has been operating in Srebrenica.

Mayor Duraković emphasizes that Serbs who live and work in Srebrenica mostly buy everything they need in neighboring Bratunac or Bajina Bašta in Serbia. 

-Srebrenica serves them only for getting salaries, while they leave their money elsewhere, not in their own city, Duraković notes.