Srebrenica under spotlight in Bosnia's municipal vote

Bosnia voted in local polls on Sunday with all eyes on the eastern town of Srebrenica, where 8,000 Muslim men were massacred in 1995, amid fears that Serbs could take power in the once Muslim-majority city. New electoral rules have paved the way for the Serbs to win office in Srebrenica, a move that has fuelled inter-ethnic disputes in the town that became a gruesome symbol of Bosnia's 1992-95 war. Local Muslim politicians complained that they have been abandoned by the international community, while their Serb opponents continued to deny that the events of 1995 constituted genocide, despite the rulings of two international courts. Srebrenica Mayor Camil Durakovic, himself a massacre survivor, said Sunday's vote in which he is running for re-election would be "the most important one since the end of the war". In his tiny campaign office in the centre of the once flourishing mining town, the 33-year-old Muslim said the vote "is not a fight for my personal victory". "This is a fight between two politics that dominate our country: those denying genocide and those who do not, between good and evil." Although Bosnian President Milorad Dodik, who visited Srebrenica during the election campaign, has denied genocide, Serb mayoral candidate Vesna Kocevic avoided the term while acknowledging that war crimes had been committed. "Muslims have nothing to fear if I win, and I am convinced I am able to do more to rebuild confidence between the two communities," Kocevic told AFP.The centre of the town that is now home to just 6,000 people was crowded on Sunday, many residents sipping drinks in cafes that are side-by-side despite being run by former Muslim and Serb foes. Electoral officials said the turnout in Srebrenica reached 55 percent three hours before the vote closed at 1700 GMT, compared with 44 percent nationwide. No major incidents were reported during the vote, even where both Serbs and Muslims were casting their ballots. Bosnian Serb forces summarily executed some 8,000 Muslim men and boys after they captured the town in July 1995. Two international courts have ruled the massacre a genocide. The Muslims who survived were expelled and most of them never returned to Srebrenica, which now lies in the Serb-dominated part of the Balkan country. For almost 17 years, Srebrenica Muslims who fled the town were allowed to vote in local elections, assuring them of a Muslim mayor. But this year, they have been stripped of that right after complex local voting laws were reformed, prompting fears that Serbs, who have a slight majority in the town, can now vote in their candidate as mayor. Some 14,000 registered voters are divided almost equally between Muslims and Serbs.Muslim retiree Hasan Mesanovic, 64, said of the vote: "What the Serbs failed to obtain with their ethnic cleansing, by genocide, they would do now if they win." Mesanovic, whose four brothers were killed in the massacre, said he had hoped to spend his retirement in Srebrenica. "But if Serbs win, I will never come back. Who could guarantee that they would not do the same again?" he asked. However Danko Mitrovic, a 50-year-old Serb builder, said his vote for a Serb candidate should not be seen as a threat to Muslims. "After all the tragedies we have survived here, I would like us to live together, that everyone can live freely," he said. Like many, Mitrovic was more worried about the economic hardships in the impoverished country. "One thing is certain, if neither Serbs nor Muslims can earn a living here, they will all leave" the town, he said. With an unemployment rate of almost 44 percent and an average monthly salary of around 420 euros ($550), debate over pocketbook issues often dominated the campaign. No polling was held in the southern town of Mostar, where local Muslim and Croat parties failed to agree on new electoral rules. Nationwide, some 550 candidates, including 40 women, are running for 140 mayoral posts, while more than 30,000 candidates, 35 percent of them women, are contesting seats in local councils. Preliminary results are expected around midnight (2200 GMT).