More than 50,000 people gathered in Potočari, a village near Srebrenica, to commemorate all those who were murdered on 11 July 1995 by Serb forces under General Ratko Mladić. In 2001 the Hague Tribunal ruled that the Srebrenica massacre was genocide. Potočari was the last refuge during the war for the people of Srebrenica to escape the advancing Serb troops. But the city fell although the UN had declared it a “safe area”. When Mladić’s troops reached Potočari, the UN Commander of the Dutch “Blue Berets”, Thom Karremans, negotiated a withdrawal for his own men. Karremans’s deal with Mladić meant the death warrant for the male refugees. Thousands of women and children were forcibly transferred to Tuzla, while men and boys were shot by a Serb death squad.
To cover up the crime, the Serb units dug up the bodies after the massacre and hastily reburied them in various places nearby. 6,481 of the Srebrenica dead have been identified to date. Of these, 4,524 were given a last resting place in Potočari. 775 recently identified victims were buried at this year’s commemoration.
Last year the European Union proclaimed 11 July the European Commemoration Day for the Victims of Srebrenica. But in Bosnia-Herzegovina itself the occasion is not recognised. Only the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the entity populated predominantly by Muslims and Croats, endorsed the decision. Republika Srpska, the other entity, which has a largely Serb population, still refuses to officially commemorate the victims of Srebrenica. The Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, conceded in an interview with the Austrian daily paper “Die Presse” in early July that the events in Srebrenica constituted a crime – but not a genocide because women and children were not killed. In Dodik’s view, Srebrenica was “the culmination of what happened in this area in the years before. Dodik’s purport is clear: Srebrenica was no different to the other war crimes. The murder of the Bosnian Muslims there was not the goal of the Bosnian Serbs in the war but a consequence of the fighting going on throughout the country. Dodik makes no mention of the fact that the former Bosnian Serb leadership around the war-crimes suspect Radovan Karadžić, who is currently on trial at the Hague Tribunal, planned the murder of the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica well in advance.
The belief that no genocide was committed against the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica is still widespread in nationalist political circles among the Bosnian Serbs. Mladen Bosić, chairman of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), announced an award to the former chairman and founder of the party, Radovan Karadžić, the day before the commemoration in Srebrenica. Bosić’s words did not draw any criticism from the incumbents in Banja Luka. What annoys Dodik more, it seems, is that the SDS is presently among the staunchest opponents of his government. The Prime Minister’s nationalist overtures are designed to woo the SDS and its voters because Bosić’s party has joined the opposition coalition “Together for Srpska”. Elections are to be held in Bosnia-Herzegovina on 3 October at national, entity and cantonal levels. The opposition coalition is pursuing the objective of ending what is essentially the single-party rule of Dodik’s Independent Social Democrats in Republika Srpska, and thus it denounces the Prime Minister at every opportunity.
Dodik’s fishing in nationalist waters shows that many politicians in Bosnia-Herzegovina still believe they can best win votes by resorting to nationalist pronouncements. No representatives from Republika Srpska were present, and Dodik was conspicuously absent from the commemoration. The Serbian side was nevertheless represented at the commemoration in Potočari: Serbia’s President Boris Tadić was among the participants. Haris Silajdžić, incumbent Bosniak Member of the Presidency and Chairman of the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina, used the attendance of Tadić to castigate the Bosnian Serbs. He demanded that the EU call on the Parliament of Bosnia-Herzegovina to pass a law making it punishable to deny the genocide in Srebrenica. Passing such law in the parliament has been impossible until now – it has always been prevented by the Bosnian Serbs.
The tone between political rivals in Bosnia-Herzegovina is becoming harsher as the elections draw nearer – Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina are no different in this regard. Such rhetoric leaves little leeway for initiatives to promote rapprochement between the constituent peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Nor can the initiatives of the neighbours do anything to change this.
Sabina Woelkner works for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. She is the Director of the Office for Bosnia-Herzegovnia.
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September 7, 2010
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From the the U.N. Secretary General’s 1999 Report on Srebrenica, it emerges that the idea of a “Srebrenica massacre” and the death number needed was planned at a September 1993 meeting in Sarajevo between Bosnian Muslim president Alija Izetbegovic and members of his Muslim party from Srebrenica. Indeed President Izetbegovic told in 1993 that he had learned that a NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina was possible, but could only occur if the Serbs were to break into Srebrenica, killing at least 5,000 of its people.” So from here are the numbers originating – two years before events in Srebrenica.
Also Bosnian Government and the Bosnian Serb party, possibly with the knowledge of one or more Contact Group States, had an understanding that Srebrenica would not be vigorously defended by the Bosniacs in return for an undertaking by the Serbs not to vigorously defend territory around Sarajevo. The capture of Srebrenica made it easier for the Bosniacs and Serbs to agree on the territorial basis of a peace settlement.
There was also a long history of atrocious Bosnian Muslim violence and treachery perpetrated against Bosnian Serbs leading up to the events of 1995. The most cruel crimes were committed by the 3rd Corps 7th Muslim Mountain Brigade, to which were subordinated foreign Muslim fighters, also known as mujahedeen, who came from Islamic countries through Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. “Demilitarized safe area of Srebrenica” served as the safe haven to this brigade lead by Bosnian Muslim leader of Srebrenica forces Naser Oric. From there the brigade went to implement series of atrocious attacks on the near-by Serbian areas.
There is also many arguments about political PR game behind exaggerated death numbers, misrepresentation of early reports and manipulated pictures. Probably a massacre happened but maybe not like that picture which main stream media has offered. The Aim of PR game played by Bosnian Muslims was to get US to fight aside of them. One part to achieve US involvement was to gain sympathy in West by implementing attacks towards its own citizens. Republican Policy Comittee of US Senate give good description about these self-inflicted atrocities as follows: http://rpc.senate.gov/releases/1997/iran.htm#top
Almost since the beginning of the Bosnian war in the spring of 1992, there have been persistent reports that civilian deaths in Muslim-held Sarajevo attributed to the Bosnian Serb Army were in some cases actually inflicted by operatives of the Izetbegovic regime in an (ultimately successful) effort to secure American intervention on Sarajevo’s behalf. These allegations include instances of sniping at civilians as well as three major explosions, attributed to Serbian mortar fire, that claimed the lives of dozens of people and, in each case, resulted in the international community’s taking measures against the Muslims’ Serb enemies. The three explosions were: (1) the May 27, 1992, “breadline massacre,” which was reported to have killed 16 people and which resulted in economic sanctions on the Bosnian Serbs and rump Yugoslavia; (2) the February 5, 1994, Markale “market massacre,” killing 68 and resulting in selective NATO air strikes and an ultimatum to the Serbs to withdraw their heavy weapons from the area near Sarajevo; and (3) the August 28, 1995 “second market massacre,” killing 37 and resulting in large-scale NATO air strikes, eventually leading to the Dayton agreement and the deployment of IFOR.
Was Srebrenica – a hoax or massacre? I would say both; a hoax due the well planned and implemented PR campaign, a massacre when the Serbs went to trap and used brutal force also against civilians. One can have different opinions about bias of ICTY but from my point of view it offers so far best forum to get some answer to questions mentioned before when both prosecutor and defence have made their case related to actions of Mr.Karadzic.