Srebrenica (Cyrillic: Сребреница) is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Republika Srpska entity. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa.
In the 1991 census, the municipality of Srebrenica had 37,213 residents: 27,118 Bosniaks (72.9%), 9,381 Serbs (25.2%), 372 Yugoslavs (1%), 40 Croats (0.1%), and 302 others (0.8%). The town of Srebrenica itself had 5,754 residents: 64% Bosniaks, 29% Serbs, 5.3% Yugoslavs, 1% others, 0.7% Croats.
Before 1992, there was a metal factory in the town, and lead, zinc, and gold mines nearby. The town's name (Srebrenica) means "silver mine".
During the War in Bosnia (1992-1995), the town became a Bosniak enclave surrounded by the Bosnian Serbs, and a safe area guarded by United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). In July 1995, the town was captured by the Bosnian Serb Army who deported the population of over 20,000 people. Srebrenica's surroundings became the site of the Srebrenica massacre, where approximately eight thousand Bosniak men and boys were killed by the Bosnian Serb Army.
The town contains a memorial cemetery for the victims of the massacre, unveiled by former US President Bill Clinton in 2003.
July 11, 2005 marked the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. The responsible political and military persons are still at large.
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