Bosnia Serbs, Muslims vie for Srebrenica mayor

SREBRENICA, Bosnia - A mayoral election in Bosnia on Sunday could see a Serb take control of Srebrenica for the first time since the mass killing of Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces in the town in 1995.

Some 8,000 Muslims, or Bosniaks, in the once predominantly Muslim region were slaughtered in five days by Bosnian Serb forces, the worst atrocity of the 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 people in total.

Local elections are being held across the impoverished country, and in Srebrenica the prospect of a Serb victory at the site of Europe's worst mass killing since World War Two has seen a rush to register voters by both sides.

Srebrenica was overwhelmingly Bosniak before the war, but refugee flight has tilted the balance and now Serbs form a majority of people living there.

Bosnia's international peace overseers intervened in previous elections to allow those Bosniaks who had not returned and were not registered in Srebrenica to still vote for the mayor and local council. (continue reading...)