Hoisting hundreds of coffins aloft, a line of weeping relatives stretched for at least a mile today as they honoured Srebrenica massacre victims on the 15th anniversary of the most severe atrocity in Europe since the second world war.
A whole hillside was dug out with graves waiting for 775 coffins to be laid to rest at the biggest Srebrenica funeral so far. Still, that was less than a 10th of the total number of Muslim men and boys murdered after Serb forces overran the UN-protected town on 11 July, 1995, during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
"I grew up without a father and I don't even remember him," said 16-year-old Hajro Ibrahimovic.
Some 30,000 Bosnian Muslims had flocked to the UN military base in the town's suburb of Potocari for refuge, when Serb forces came and the outnumbered Dutch troops opened the gates. The Serbs separated out men and boys, putting them on trucks and carting them away, the vast majority never to be seen again.
The Srebrenica memorial centre stands across the road from that former UN base. The bodies being buried were previously excavated from mass graves and identified through DNA tests.
Around 60,000 people were at the memorial Relatives of the victims mingled among the pits on one side and rows of green coffins on the other, looking for the names of loved ones. Prayers and weeping mixed with the speeches condemning the crimes and calling for the perpetrators to be punished.
Fifteen years later, no one represented the UN at the ceremony. Serbia's president was the first dignitary to arrive, saying he was coming as an "act of reconciliation". "[I want to] build bridges of trust and understanding among the nations in the region," Boris Tadic said earlier in Belgrade.
In Srebrenica, some in the crowd yelled: "Bravo, Boris!" Others asked: "Where is Mladic?" – a reference to the former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who led the Serb troops into Srebrenica.
"I wish to welcome you, we are receiving you in peace," said Kada Hotic, a representative of the Srebrenica widows, while Tadic held both of her hands.
Mladic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic were indicted with genocide by the UN war crimes tribunal in 1995. Karadzic is on trial in The Hague, while Mladic remains at large, presumably hiding in Serbia. Tadic said in a statement that he "will do everything" to apprehend all war crimes suspects in Serbia.
The US ambassador to Bosnia, Charles English, read a message from Barack Obama that urged "governments to redouble their efforts" and arrest those responsible for the war crimes at Srebrenica. The US president called the genocide a "stain on our collective consciousness" that occurred even after decades of pledges of "never again" after Nazi atrocities during the second world war.
Bosnian Serbs sent no representatives. In a deliberate snub, Karadzic's Serb Democratic party honoured him yesterday at a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the party's founding.
Despite the stirring speeches today by politicians, many of those crying and hugging coffins were not really listening. Two sisters, Amela and Bahrija, sat stonefaced next to pit number 495 holding each other's hands and not responding even to the questions of their husbands. They came to bury their father, Ejup Golic, who was 56 when he was killed.
All but one of the victims being buried were Muslims. Rudolf Hren's grave will so far be the only one marked with a cross. "They asked me if I wanted him to be buried elsewhere because this is mainly a Muslim graveyard," said his mother, Barbara Hren. "He died with them. Let him rest with them."