Salaam
Ten years ago on this day, 7,500 muslim men and children were massacred whilst under the protectorate of the UN Peace Keepers. They had the troops, the weaponry and the knowledge of what was happening, but decided not to get involved, even though it was the UN itself which declared the area a protected area.
In a bloody war where many muslims (and also a few non muslims) were brutally massacred, this was probably the first time the UN lost all respect and credibility amongst muslims. I was a kid then, but I remember the despair and anger felt by others.
The guilty have still not been caught, and Serbia has been unwilling to apologise for any of the massacre. (In this case the transgressors were Bosnian serbs.)
May the scars of a nation heal quickly, and may noone ever forget these events.
AMEEN
its shocking that the west actually realise their mistakes...and they feel regret because it aint something that you hear everyday
This is BBC version of the massacre:
11 JULY 1995
Serbs overrun UN 'safe haven'
The Bosnian Serb army has seized control of the United Nations "safe area" of Srebrenica after Dutch peacekeepers were forced to withdraw.
Some 1,500 Serb troops overran the lightly-armed Dutch troops, despite two Nato air strikes on Serbian tanks inside the enclave.
The Bosnian Prime Minister, Haris Silajdzic, called the Nato response "too little, too late" and said the people of Srebrenica had been "betrayed".
Up to 30,000 refugees from the mainly Muslim town are now reported to be fleeing to the north and the United States has questioned the UN's ability to carry out its "humanitarian mission" in the region.
UN spokesman Alexander Ivanov told reporters: "It is our understanding that Srebrenica has fallen to the Bosnian army.
"Thousands of refugees are fleeing to a town called Potocari in the north of the enclave. The Dutch company that was in Srebrenica has also withdrawn to Potocari."
Thirty Dutch peacekeepers had been captured during the Serbian advance, Mr Ivanko added.
The 400-strong UN battalion had set up a "blocking position" south of Srebrenica in an attempt to defend the town.
Nato air strikes hit two Serbian tanks, but Dutch Defence Minister Joris Voorhoeve requested they were suspended after receiving "terror threats" from the Serbs.
Mr Voorhoeve said: "They threatened to shoot dead the 30 Dutch soldiers they are holding hostage and to raze the Dutch battalion's headquarters to the ground. And to raze Srebrenica to the ground."
But the Bosnian Serb Army commander, General Ratko Mladic, said in a letter to the UN that the offensive had been necessary to "neutralise terrorists" and accused the UN of failing to demilitarise the area.
And the general said that civilians and peacekeepers had no need to fear the Serb advance.
With Serb sights now set on the nearby Zepa safe area - according to a broadcast by a Serbian-controlled television station in Pale - US Defence Secretary William Perry said the now UN faced a serious challenge.
"This raises the question as to whether the UN force will be able to stay in Bosnia to perform the humanitarian mission," he said.
In Context
What happened in the weeks after the Serb offensive have since been described as the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.
On 12 August 1995 the UN announced an investigation into reports up to 2,700 Muslim men had been shot dead with machine-guns and buried in mass graves. US aerial photographs appeared to show evidence of mass graves close to Srebrenica.
It is now thought that between 7,000 and 8,000 Muslim men were killed by Serb soldiers following the fall of Srebrenica.
Refugee accounts claimed General Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander, addressed the Muslim captives and warned that 1,000 refugees would be killed for every Serb who died.
General Mladic was later indicted by the War Crimes Tribunal for genocide but is still at large. One senior Bosnian Serb, General Radislav Krstic, has been jailed for genocide for his part in the Srebrenica tragedy.
There have been a number of investigations into the massacre. In 2002 the entire Dutch government resigned after an inquiry blamed officials for giving the poorly-armed troops an impossible task to defend the enclave.
Initial findings of a commission involving the Bosnian Serbs admitted for the first time in June 2004 that Serbs had taken part in the killings.
15 JULY 1995
Serbs force Muslims out of Srebrenica
Thousands of Muslim refugees are fleeing the captured "safe area" of Srebrenica forced out by the Bosnian Serbs.
United Nations officials say it is the biggest "ethnic cleansing" operation since World War II.
Some 40,000 women, children and elderly people have been ordered to leave the compound at Potocari where they had been under the protection of Dutch peacekeepers.
The Dutch soldiers - part of the UN peacekeeping force - appear to have been powerless to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs who seized control of the town on 11 July.
Atrocities
Reports say all Muslim men over 16 were rounded up as they attempted to flee the advancing Serbs - but these have not yet been confirmed.
The Bosnian Serbs have refused access to journalists and international organisations.
There are many tales of atrocities - rape, massacres and psychological torture - circulating among the refugees now arriving in the northern Bosnian town of Tuzla.
The biggest fear is for the men who have been left behind. Many wives and families fear they will never see them again.
One woman told relief workers she had seen the Serbs slit her husband's throat and that she had seen at least eight other bodies.
The Bosnian Prime Minister, Haris Siladjdzic, has blamed the Bosnian Serbs for the atrocities.
"Massive massacres were committed by Serbian terrorists upon the civilians of Srebrenica," he said.
"There are hundreds of witnesses that arrived yesterday to Tuzla, speaking of horrendous crimes there; hundreds of bodies, naked, stabbed and killed by Serb terrorists."
The refugees are huddled together in flimsy shelters in a temporary UN camp.
Anne-Marie Huby of Medecins Sans Frontieres said: "These people are already survivors of earlier waves of ethnic cleansing in 1992 and 1993.
"They really thought, when they saw the Serbs come in this time, that it was their last hour. Our aid workers say people are absolutely convinced they will not see their men again."
Dehydrated
The makeshift camp has virtually no toilets and aid workers are warning that diarrhoea could become endemic within days.
Thousands spent last night sleeping rough and have no daytime shelter from the strong winds and blistering sun, leading to fears of mass dehydration and heat exhaustion.
The United Nations has begun busing refugees out of the reception camp to other sites so they can be better cared for.
The Bosnian Serbs now appear to have their sights set on Zepa and Gorazde, two other UN-designated "safe areas". If they succeed in taking them, then there will be virtually no Muslims left in the eastern half of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In Context
More details of the atrocities committed in the capture of Srebrenica emerged over the following weeks.
On 12 August 1995 the UN announced an investigation into reports up to 2,700 Muslim men had been shot dead with machine-guns and buried in mass graves. US aerial photographs appeared to show evidence of mass graves close to Srebrenica.
Refugee accounts claimed General Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander, addressed the Muslim captives and warned that 1,000 refugees would be killed for every Serb who died.
General Mladic was later indicted by the War Crimes Tribunal for genocide but is still at large. One senior Bosnian Serb, General Radislav Krstic, has been jailed for genocide for his part in the Srebrenica tragedy.
It is now thought that between 7,000 and 8,000 Muslim men were killed by Serb soldiers following the fall of Srebrenica.
The massacre is regarded as the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.
There have been a number of investigations into the massacre. In 2002 the entire Dutch government resigned after an inquiry blamed officials for giving the poorly-armed troops an impossible task to defend the enclave.
Initial findings of a commission involving the Bosnian Serbs admitted for the first time in June 2004 that Serbs had taken part in the killings.
Timeline: Siege of Srebrenica
In the summer of 1995, two years after being designated a United Nations Safe Area, the Bosnian town of Srebrenica became the scene of the worst massacre in the Bosnian war.
This is an account of the critical days leading up to the killings.
6 - 8 July 1995: Bosnian Serb forces had laid siege to the Srebrenica enclave, where tens of thousands of civilians had taken refuge from earlier Serb offensives in north-eastern Bosnia.
They were under the protection of about 600 lightly armed Dutch infantry forces. Fuel was running out and no fresh food had been brought into the enclave since May.
Serb forces began shelling Srebrenica. Bosnian Muslim fighters in the town asked for the return of weapons they had surrendered to the peacekeepers but their request was refused.
The Dutch commander called UN Headquarters in Sarajevo asking for "close air support" after shells and rockets landed close to refugee centres and observation posts manned by peacekeepers.
9 July 1995: The Bosnian Serbs stepped up their shelling and thousands of refugees fled to the town from southern camps ahead of advancing Serbs, who attacked Dutch observation posts, taking about 30 soldiers hostage.
One peacekeeper was fatally wounded when Bosnian Muslims fired on retreating Dutch troops.
10 July 1995: Dutch Commander Colonel Karremans filed a request for UN air support after the Bosnian Serbs shelled Dutch positions. UN Commander General Janvier initially refused, but agreed after another request from the colonel. Serb attacks stopped before the planes arrived and strikes were postponed.
Some 4,000 refugees were in the town by the evening and there was panic on the streets. Large crowds were gathered around the Dutch positions.
The Dutch commander told town leaders that Nato planes would launch massive air attacks against the Serbs if they had not withdrawn from the safe area by 0600 the following morning.
11 July 1995: The Serb forces did not withdraw, but at 0900 Colonel Karremans received word from Sarajevo that his request for close air support had been submitted on the wrong form. At 1030, the re-submitted request reached General Janvier, but Nato planes had to return to base in Italy to refuel after being airborne since 0600. By midday, more than 20,000 refugees - mostly women, children and the infirm - fled to the main Dutch base at Potocari.
At 1430, two Dutch F-16 fighters dropped two bombs on Serb positions surrounding Srebrenica. The Serbs responded with a threat to kill their Dutch hostages and shell refugees, causing the suspension of further strikes.
The Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic entered Srebrenica two hours later, accompanied by Serb camera crews. In the evening, General Mladic summoned Colonel Karremans to a meeting at which he delivered an ultimatum that the Muslims must hand over their weapons to guarantee their lives.
12 July 1995: Buses arrived to take women and children to Muslim territory, while the Serbs begin separating out all men from age 12 to 77 for "interrogation for suspected war crimes".
It is estimated that 23,000 women and children were deported in the next 30 hours. Hundreds of men were held in trucks and warehouses.
About 15,000 Bosnian Muslim fighters had attempted to escape from Srebrenica overnight and were shelled as they fled through the mountains.
13 July 1995: The first killings of unarmed Muslims took place in a warehouse in the nearby village of Kravica.
Peacekeepers handed over about 5,000 Muslims who had been sheltering at the Dutch base at Potocari. In return, the Bosnian Serbs released 14 Dutch peacekeepers who had been held at the Nova Kasaba base.
16 July 1995: Early reports of massacres emerged as the first survivors of the long march from Srebrenica began to arrive in Muslim-held territory.
Following negotiations between the UN and the Bosnian Serbs, the Dutch were at last permitted to leave Srebrenica, leaving behind weapons, food and medical supplies.
In the five days after Bosnian Serb forces overran Srebrenica, more than 7,000 Muslim men are thought to have been killed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/675945.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/11/newsid_4080000/...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/15/newsid_3736000/...
so many Muslims have died in the face of terrorism but no one batters an eyelid...imagine losing all ur family, home, ur lifes not worth living anymore and the west doesnt even comprehend the thought that these innocent Muslims might actually want to fight back
Ofcourse the west didnt address this incident, bcoz then they would have to admit that something went wrong and for all they're talk the United Nations peace keepers are not worth the uniforms they wear.
Back in BLACK
True. The peacekeepers were there. They were in control. They knew what the serb soldiers were about to do. They did not lift a finger.
The UN be damned.
It is only a talking shop for the US to legitimise its foriegn policy. And its not even been doing that properly! (it opposed Iraq)
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
The UN doesnt seem to have any 'real' power of its own; only whats given to it by its supporters US, UK, and the rules by which its governed are broken by they're own supporters they choose to sit back and do nothing.
It was only a handful of countries who openly opposed the Iraq invasion, every1 else just followed like sheep.
Back in BLACK