Srebrenica & Zepa

Srebrenica MapBosnian Serb Army massacres of Muslim soldiers and civilians at supposedly U.N. protected safe havens Srebrenica and Zepa in summer 1995 were the turning point in the West's resolve. Heavy NATO bombing followed and all restraints were removed from Croatia in its initiative to re-take Krajina. Mass killings ended after BSA "ethnically cleansed" both cities. A reporter from Christian Science Monitor, David Rohde, was cought trying to take close pictures of the mass-graves discovered earlier by sattelite photos. Yet, the Serbs were allowed to retain Zepa and Srebrenica by the recent Dayton peace accord. Read here about the background story of Sreebrenica. And the French Parliamentry Committee on Srebrenica has finally come out with its report on December 1, 2001.

People from Srebrenica now live in exile in their own country and abroad. Men from Srebrenica are mostly dead. Women from Srebrenica joined together to form the Women of Srebrenica and Podrinje, Potocari Association. Here is the list of their demands:

For 7 years the 'international community' dragged its feet from the responsibility for the fall of Sreebrenica, a UN designated 'safe haven.' Finally, in April 2002, the NIOD report was published, and the entire Dutch government resigned. Following such dramatic events, Zejneba Sarajlic and Stanojka Avramovic of 'Women of Podrinje' received a 2002 "Voices of Courage" award, for their outstandng work in promoting peace in Bosnia. Two of them with a strong belief in co-existence between various ethnic groups in Bosnia, Zejneba and Stojanka have devoted themselves to facilitation the return of displaced families to their homes. they are courageously building peace and reconciliation in a region where return of the ethnic minorities is still fraught with extreme tension and animosity. Following the conviction of army and police of Republika Srpska by International Court of Justice in March 2007 for committing genocide in Srebrenica, there is a struggle in Bosnia to save the victims of Srebrenica massacres to be continuously exposed to their perpetrators, lead by Haris Silajdzic. For that he is portrayed as an "obstructionist" by the internationals in charge of keeping the status-quo in Bosnia. To stave off the collapse of Dayton accords, emphasizing individual responsibility, instead, the new high representative, Miroslav Lajcak, first thing he did is to fire 35 policemen of Republika Srpska connected to Srebrenica massacres. Silajdzic, in his quest for abolishion of Republika Srpska, is becoming popular with Al Jazeera, though:

In 2007 there is 45,000 Bosnian refugees in St. Louis, MO - read about their Srebrenica commemoration.

Women of Srebrenica issued a new newsletter on Monday, publishing a a copy of a memo signed between Karadzic and Holbroke, promising Karadzic safety in return for his political retirement.

Srebrenica camp in Sarajevo closed down, before any of the demands were met - people of Srebrenica feel betrayed again both by international community and their own Sarajevo-based Bosniac SDA politicians.

Srebrenica 12 years after: 446 more victims buried, under protection of 1000 police officers from both RS and FBiH entities, together with internationals from EUPM. So much police, so little justice. See pictures.

Srebrenica 11 years after: 505 victims were buried in presence of Carla DelPonte, who promised not to close the doors of ICTY until Karadzic and Mladic go through them:

Return to The Map or to the accord page.