20 years after the greatest war crime since World War II, which took place in the Bosnian Srebrenica, reconciliation of Serbs and Bosniaks is still distant. On Saturday, Europe honors the memory of more than 8 thousand murdered in 1995 during the war that tore the Balkans.
20 years – that passed since the greatest genocide that took place after World War II. Bosnians are demanding to be named precisely this word events that occurred in Srebrenica. In turn, the Serbs are trying to term “genocide” to avoid.
Perhaps the way to reconciliation, this issue should go down by the wayside, because there can be no single “correct” word for killing more than 8,000 vulnerable people – men, boys, fathers, sons, brothers. No terms may give the enormity of the suffering and scale of the atrocity crimes, which all the time as a splinter stuck in the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Passivity greatest sin
In the case of massacre , which occurred in Srebrenica, 20 years old is as much as anything. This time was not enough even to that, to identify all the victims or give the exact number of dead. On Thursday, the Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, drove transport carrying the bodies of another 136 identified victims. Before the presidential palace gathered thousands of people who wanted to pay homage to them.
A ceremonial funeral will be held Saturday at Srebrenica, during the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the crime. So far in its place were buried 6241 people whose identity could be established. Still, it is not known when the work will be completed, aimed at least in part to give peace of mind to the families of victims of the massacre by Bosnian Serbs. If you can even talk about the fact that relatives killed in 1995, to the end of their will be able to find peace.
The history of wars shows clearly that the specific atrocities are able to commit them all the parties conflict. In the case of the war in the Balkans confirmed Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who during the conflict for three years was the UN Special Rapporteur. Human rights. He documented, among others, ethnic cleansing, in which Europe did not initially wanted to believe.
After the events in Srebrenica Mazowiecki resigned his office, in a recent report saying that all parties violated human rights. It contains the testimony of witnesses who survived the massacre. The resignation was a gesture of opposition against the inaction of the UN forces in relation to the drama that played out properly before their eyes.
“We are also – each of us – responsible for how goes the world. Human freedom is like this limit, that man can not get rid of your choice. Whatever was not his place in the world and in society, the choice of what makes his conduct, does not disappear into nothingness, but either increases it, which raises hope, or supplies what is evil and despair. “- is part of the article programming monthly” bond “of 1958, whose creator was Tadeusz Mazowiecki.
the paramilitary nature of the fighting units, which was a place not only for people with a criminal past, which criminals deliberately undergoing amnesty in order to sow terror among the civilian population and enemy troops – a part played a role in the Srebrenica massacre.
this war was shocking especially because almost overnight changed the neighbors in enemies. People who knew each other for years, suddenly found themselves on both sides of the barricades. At the moment, where everyone knows each other, when the killing began, witnesses could not escape. Unfortunately, in this, that the people of the Balkans have to go through hell on earth, its share was also passivity of the West.
Without a single shot
Ongoing in years 1992-1995 war, which occurred as a result of the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Srebrenica and its surrounding area was one of the so-called safety zones, security zones (although there have also to the fact that the paramilitaries have used them as hiding places).
civilians in this place had to guard UN peacekeepers – Dutch troops under the command of Colonel Thom Karremansa, stationed in the strength of 400 people in a remote village about 6 kilometers potočari.
Bosnian Serbs won the next villages and towns, forcing the Bosnian army to withdraw a. Despite requests Karremansa command decided not to increase the quota, and in the face of impending danger is not granted or air support. This led to the fact that both soldiers and civilians who sought refuge in potočari, found themselves in a lap. Few forces Bosniak could not stop the Serbs, in addition to a dozen Dutchmen went into captivity.
11 July 1995, after the invasion of attackers, Karremans was interrogated by commanding the troops of the Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, the war one of the most wanted criminals war. Aggressive Serbian general, threatened Dutch colonel, who has received any choice – the picture appears in the eyes of the viewer in the video.
The peacekeepers were disarmed, like all the men who were then in Srebrenica. It was a condition of Mladic, who guaranteed that those who throw the weapon will live. It’s hard to believe that the Dutch could not know how it will end for the Muslim population. Surrendered without firing a shot.
preserved recordings, where you can see how before leaving the zone Karremans receives from Mladic gifts for himself and his wife, and together with Bosnian Serb drink brandy. Soldiers dancing in a circle, drinking beer and singing, some people have on their heads the blue berets peacekeepers. In the next picture Mladic waving to the departing Dutch and salutes them.
In 2002, the reports on Srebrenica spowodowału resignation of the government of Wim Kok. In 2014, a Dutch court ruled that the state bear the civil responsibility for the deaths of 300 Muslim men and boys killed in Srebrenica. This number is only a small percentage of all those who were affected.
“First evacuate women and children”
– You know who I am? My name is Ratko Mladic. Do not worry, you’re safe, no one will do you any harm. First you have to evacuate women and children. Keep an eye on, so no not lost – he said the Bosnians gathered in front of potočari buses that soldiers deported from Srebrenica Bosniak women and children. In total, there were more than 20,000. Then he thanked, not yet knowing the fate of the men who were in the city – their husbands, sons, fathers.
After the departure of those who were unable to fight, he began lasting four days the mass murder of men and boys. Before this happened witnesses also reported rapes and crimes on civilians, including children.
Men between the ages of 12 to 77 years, were shot and buried in mass graves in Srebrenica and surrounding villages. Some of those who managed to flee before the troops entered the city struggled through the surrounding forests to Tuzla. There was another security zone of the United Nations. For them hunt began.
Initially, the number of victims was estimated at several thousand people. Gradually, along with the subsequent discovery of mass graves, eyewitness and creating lists of missing has risen to over 8,000. The massacre accused primarily of Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic (the former president of the Serb Republic of BiH) and Radislav Krsticia. The latter, commanding troops during the crime, was sentenced in 2001 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to 46 years in prison, among others, as genocide. Judgment serving in Poland, he was transferred after the three Muslim prisoners tried to murder him in an English prison in revenge for what they have committed.
The image of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic is still in Serbia is twofold. Despite the changes, which occur all the time in the country, some people continue recognizes them as patriots, heroes and victims of the policy of the great powers towards Serbia. Others are of the opinion that the criminals should face the consequences of what committed and in which participated. It is known, however, that the wine can not focus only on them, just as war crimes were not only the participation of the Serbs.
When Karadzic was captured (2008), in Belgrade nationalists organized a protest against the release of his tribunal in The Hague. They gathered them about 15 thousand, singing patriotic songs, holding portraits of their hero in his hands. In the process today is not ‘judgments.
Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General, after a decade of events in Srebrenica acknowledged that the United Nations has not responded adequately to the situation, and the idea of impartiality has not worked in the case of a conflict in Bosnia. He also assured that no matter how long it takes the discovery of truth, the United Nations will do everything in order to create a full and proper assessment of the crime.
– Without justice there can be reconciliation and peace for the families of the victims – he said. However, you can get the impression that the sense of justice does not feel virtually none of those who have suffered.
Srebrenica needs peace
In the days before the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the crime Srebrenica the European Parliament urged the politicians of Bosnia and Herzegovina to reconcile with the past, reconciliation and cooperation. The problem is that the Srebrenica massacre was still treated as a card used in political competition. Not only in Bosnia but also in Serbia.
– It’s time to show that Serbs are ready for reconciliation and for that to bow our heads before the victims of other nations – said Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who is supposed to represent country on Saturday ceremony in Srebrenica. He added that Serbia is able to admit that its citizens have committed a crime worthy of condemnation and answer for it.
Russian veto on the resolution on Srebrenica once again made the discussions flared up again, as in Serbia, as well as in Bosnia. Russia, the only permanent member of the UN Security Council, did not consent to the use of the resolution of the term “genocide” in relation to the events in Srebrenica.
All of this does not help in this extremely difficult reconciliation that still seems distant. Srebrenica. 20 years after the war ended, the living and the dead in Srebrenica need peace above all politics – can be read on the Serbian radio and television Radio-Televizija Srbije.
Paul Słójkowski, PolskieRadio.pl, IAR
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