Blog 05: The Bosnian “Safe Havens": Srebrenica, the darkest hour

The Bosnian “Safe Havens": Srebrenica, the darkest hour

Wallpicture in Dutchbat's Potocari compound

On the same day (24-4-2018) that we visited Srebrenica and Potocari (compound of Dutchbat) it was announced that the UN Appeal Judges urged to maintain life sentence to Karadzic who was during the war the leader of the Bosnian Serbs. As leader of the Bosnian Serbs he is seen as the bad "genius" behind the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. After the start of the ethnic cleansing by the Bosnian Serbs and massacres in East Bosnia in the beginning of the Bosnia War, Bosnian Muslim survivors fled into three eastern enclaves where the Bosnian republican army had resisted: Gorazde, Zepa and Srebrenica. The population of Srebrenica swelled from 9,000 to 42,000, and by March 1993 the situation was so horrific that Philippe Morillon on 12 March 1993 lead a convoy into the pocket and promised: “You are now under the protection of the UN forces. I will never abandon you.” In the following movies you can find his promises.

On 16 April 1993 with the United Nations Council Resolution 819 & 836 Srebrenica was declared as “Safe haven”. In July 1995, UNPROFOR's a few hundred Dutchbat soldiers in Srebrenica failed to prevent the town's capture by the VRS—and the subsequent massacre. The Dutchbat soldiers were based in Potocari, a disused battery factory. Dutchbat III was protecting the Muslim enclave when it was over-run by Bosnian Serbs under the command of former general Ratko Mladić. The fall of Sebrenica lead to the Srebrenica genocide which was the July 1995 genocide of more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks, mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica. During the Bosnian war more than 100,000 people have been killed and also on other places in Bosnia thousands of people were massacred, however the size of the Srebrenica massacre was unique in Europe’s history after WWII.

Never such a high amount in such a short period were murdered, stabbed to death and killed by shooting as in Srebrenica and the area around Srebrencia as Bratunac, Kravica, Konjević Polje, Nova Kasaba, Luke, Lolici, Grbavci and Orahovac, Petkovići, Branjevo and Kozluk. Some of the executions were carried out at night under arc lights, and bulldozers then pushed the bodies into mass graves, some were buried alive and beside these killings, many women and girls suffered rape and sexual abuse and other forms of torture.

The killings were executed by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of Ratko Mladić. Also the Scorpions, a paramilitary unit from Serbia, who had been part of the Serbian Interior Ministry until 1991, also participated in the massacre.

The pictures below are showing General Mladic during the fall of Srebrenica.

After the fall Mladic promised that all civilian will be transported to safe areas, however this was a lie. The following movie contains the interview with Mladic and his promises.

However only the old men, women, children and young boys were allowed to leave Srebrenica.

For many people the Dutch UN peacekeepers have been seen from some views as partly liable for the deaths of about 300 Muslim men massacred near Srebrenica. Following this view the Dutch forces should have known that the men seeking refuge at their base would be murdered by Bosnian Serb troops if they were turned away to the Serbs. It is easy to state this after a long period of analyses, however deciding under such chaotic situation, very weak rules of engagement, very weak communication and command structure from upper headquarters, the enormous effort to support all the ten thousands refugees during these days, nearly no weapons to defend, the thread of the Serb’s to shell the refugees with artillery and the lack of air support is never efficient. I think Dutchbat is blamed much too easy. Of course they could starting defend their positions which should cost lives but no any politician and military commander considered this drama. If you compare the backing of Dutchbat with the threads and fightings in and around Gorazde in 1994 and 1995, which was controlled by a British contingent, these British UN soldiers in Gorazde were much more backed by their higher command and politicians. In April 1994 the Serbs were bombed by American F-16’s and they stopped their shelling on Gorazde. Also in April 1994 a British Harrier was shot down during bombing, and even in Gorazde these attacks lead to several hostage incidents and these cat and mouse “games” resulted most of the times in favour of the Bosnian Serbs, however Gorazde was never occupied by the Serbs.

Personally I think based on the results of the bombings and the related hostage incidents and the history of killings and massacres in a.o. Zvornik and Visegrad in East Bosnia prior to the Srebrenica massacres it should have known that this massacre could be the result of an Serbian attack on the enclave and the higher military command and politicians should be prepared for this, but they weren’t.

On 24th April we traveled from Sarajevo via Kladanje and Vlasenica to Bratunac and Srebrenica. During this trip it is easily to recognize that bringing in a few hundred poor equiped peace keepers into a mainly Serbian area far from any other UN units was a big mistake and was a big risk for both the Dutch soldiers but also to make a sufficient fist to the Bosnian Serbian Army. Even the limited amount of escape routes (which were efficiently blocked by the Serbs) and the rough terrain didn't help.

Based on the poor wording in the several Resolution, the UN send poorly equipped soldiers to Srebrenica with a vague and limited mandate and with no clear escape in a worst case scenario. Also the United Nations bureaucracy was so maddeningly complex and was a kind of black hole and didn’t support a proper command structure in case of attacks. It is easy to blame Dutchbat but mainly the drama is caused by the lack of heavy weapons which were not allowed for Dutchbat by the Serbs, the lack of airpower which was available but not used, the lack of communication and also the fact these infanterists from Dutchbat were never trained sufficiently for this civil drama and nobody (even the politicians who agreed and confirmed that Dutchbat should operate under these bad conditions and never did anything to optimize this) ever had considered these massacre.

Also the court case of the The Hague Court from June 2017 showed clearly that deterrence through strength never was possible (several thousands of military should be necessary for that mission) and that deterrence by presence should be sufficient in the eyes of the politicians and that was a risky case.

The story of Srebrenica (by BBC) is very realistically and dramatically covered by the BBC.

The most grieving part is the tearfull scene of Ramo Osmanovic shouting for his 18 years old son Nermin (1h03min) to convince him that he and his son are in safe Serbian hands. Later they have been killed and their bodies are found in two mass graves in Zeleni Jadar and Snagovo. Ramo’s wife, who lost her other son Edin 5 days earlier during a shelling, survived and finally returned to her village in 2009, and start living on her own in the house that she all once lived in happily together.

Also Dutchbat lost one of their men. On the 8th of July 1995 Dutchbat lost one of their soldiers, Raviv van Renssen. After the withdrawal from one of the observation posts due thread of the Serbian Army, a hand grenade from the Muslims deadly injured Raviv.

memorial stone on the location where Raviv lost his life

I am aware that the above mentioned story is very fragmented and lots of books are much better describing the drama, the role of Nasser Oric which was the Bosnian military leader of Srebrenica and his disappearance prior to the fall of Srebrenica, his role in Bosnian massacres of Serbs before the fall of Srebrenica, the rumors about the deal between the Serbs and Bosnians to handover Srebrenica to the Serbs, the rumours about Greece volunteers fighting together with the Serbs in Srebrenica and the role of Dutchbat. Nobody of us knows the exact true but at the end God will judge who was guilty.
In 1994 I left Bosnia just before the Srebrenica massacre and from my holiday address in Austria (and I can promise you that this holiday didn’t feel as a holiday) I followed the horrible stories in the news and on the TV.
I will never forget these days........

After the war Serbian Generals Mladic and Tolomir have been arrested and with several other key-players they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Srebrenica today
On 24th April we visited the Memorial centre in Potocari and Srebrenica itself. The atmosphere during trip to Bratunac and Srebrenica via Vlasenica is very strange and morbide, it is like you can still feel the death. Every place in this area is part of this massacre and the whole area is a "open air" memorial centre. I thought that I felt this only, but all the other Bosnian people I have spoken after the visit and during our trip through Bosnia told me that all Bosnian people are feeling the same during their visits.
During our trip from Vlasenica to Zvornik we passed the small village of Kravica, which is a centre of Serbian nationalism. Alongside the road a destroyed and war carved warehouse of the Kravica Agriculture cooperative can be found.

warehouse of the Kravica Agriculture cooperative

In this hall more than 1,300 of the detained Muslims were massacred by grenades, guns and knifes and this warehouse is only one of the locations where the Bosnian Serbs killed their detained Muslims. The name of nearly every village around Srebrenica and Bratunac can be found in the reports of the Bosnian court cases from the Yugoslavian tribunal.
Also a memorial loaction of the Bosnian Serbs (see picture below) can be found in Kravica to remember the Serbian victims.

Following the Serbian stories the more than 3,000 Serbs, mainly women, children and elderly where killed during raids of the Bosnian Muslims under the command of Naser Oric which took place during the most important Serbian Orthodox holidays. I don't know the exact truth and stories but in the court cases against him Naser Oric was cleared of war crimes and from all charges brought against him
I didn't make any pictures of present small city of Srebrenica because it doesn't make any sense and I think none of the Srebrenica citizens will be happy to show the "end of world" atmosphere of this doomed city.
Several buildings are rebuilt by funding from countries of all over the world, but some are still empty because the fathers and the sons who owned these houses have been killed and there daughters and wifes decided to live somewhere else.
After our drive through Srebrenica we stopped in Potocari were the former Dutchbat compound still exists. Pictures saying more than thousands words.

One of the former observation posts still exists

Entrance of the former Dutchbat compound

The buildings

The former factory is one big memorial room

Dutchbat signs everywhere

Even the location where the weapons should be stored during a drink or during breakfast, lunch or diner

Former weapons room

I even recognized the names of my collegues who where in the same training class. They were sent to Srebrenica, I was sent to a more safe place.

In July 1995 this halls were filled up with refugees

Also these halls are still full of war signs

However also new life in this place of sorrow and death in one of the fire fighting cabinets in one of the hall's.

8371 Men and Boys killed only because their Muslim background.....

.....and 1 Christian.

Of these 6,504 graves at the Srebrenica-Potočari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery, only one is Christian, the one of Rudolf Hren. Nine of the victims killed in Srebrenica were ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) staff. Rudolf Hren was one of them. His body was found in a mass grave on 13 November 2009, 15 years after he was killed. Rudolf Hren grew up in Srebrenica and had many Muslim friends. His mother, in deciding to bury him at the genocide cemetery, said, "He died with them. Let him rest with them."