Mothers invited Obama to come to Srebrenica on July 11

Associations of genocide survivors invited the US President Barack Obama to attend the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, which will be marked this year, reports the Patria News Agency.

When Hotić from the Association "Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa" stated for BIRN that Obama was invited to the commemoration through the US Embassy in Sarajevo, which will mark the 20th anniversary of the massacre in July in which more than 7,000 Srebrenica men and boys were killed.

"Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize and we want him to be in Srebrenica on that day, at this special commemoration. We hope he will realize that this is the right thing to do, that he will feel it is his obligation to come, to pay tribute to our small town of Srebrenica in our small Bosnia, where such a great crime was committed," Hotić said on Friday.

"We want him to come there and globally condemn this crime. We want him to show the world that this genocide was horrific and that such a crime should never have happened. We must fight for Srebrenica to be recognized globally, so that this crime is never repeated," she added.

The anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica will be marked in July at the Potočari Memorial Center, where more than 6,000 victims are buried. The Memorial Center was opened in 2003 by former US President Bill Clinton.

"We remember this terrible crime and we dare not forget, because we must pay tribute to innocent lives, including many children, extinguished in what must be called genocidal madness," Clinton said at the opening of the Memorial Center.

"I hope that the mere mention of the name Srebrenica will remind every child in the world that pride in our religious and ethnic heritage does not require and does not allow us to dehumanize or kill those who are different," he said.