25/12/2022
The populations of Srebrenica and Žepa, two adjacent areas in East Bosnia, shared the same fate during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Countless attrocities were perpetrated against the Bosniak population accross region including the areas of Višegrad, Vlasenica, Bratunac and Zvornik. However, Žepa and its related narrative remained in the shadow of the July 1995 massacre in and around Srebrenica which two international tribunals classified as genocide - the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The narrative about the war time suffering occupies much space in the public domain in today's Bosnia but both Žepa and Srebrenica are also known for their beautiful landscapes.
It is between the dark past and hopeful future that the people of the region have been trying to rebuild their lives. It took several years after the war ended and the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord before the first Bosniaks attempted to return to their pre-war places in the area.
Leveled to the ground and turned to ashes, hundreds of houses had to be rebuilt from scratch in the villages and hamlets scattered in the hills surrounding Žepa - once the biggest village in the area.
The number of Žepa's population was several thousand before the war. It does not exceed several hundred today. However, even though life in the area can in no way be compared to that which existed there until 1992, it persists in a rather unique way as the returnee population adopts to the new conditions and realities of post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina.