A brief History - What led to the Village of the Forgotten Widows
A brief History - What led to the Village of the Forgotten Widows
A Brief History
In late February of 1992 Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Croats vote for independence in a referendum that was by boycotted by the Bosnian Serbs. A week later, the European Union recognises Bosnia's Independence and a day later so does the USA.
The Serb political leadership uses this as a reason to start protests and it is during a protest that Serb snipers fire upon demonstrators in Sarajevo, marking the beginning of the Bosnian War. It is the 5th of April 1992, also marking the first day of the longest siege in modern warfare, the Siege of Sarajevo.
For the remainder of 1992, fighting continued over much of Bosnia, with reports of ethnic cleansing taking place in villages in Eastern Bosnia. With thousands killed in Foca and Visegrad, including at least 600 women and children.
1993 started badly, with Bosnian Prime Minister, Hajika Turajlic, being killed whilst being transported by a UN Convoy to the Airport. In April, the UN declared the enclave of Srebrenica a "Safe Area" but due to its isolation, receives little humanitarian aid. May saw the failure of the Vance-Owen Peace plan, and much of the conflict now occurred between the Croats and Bosniaks who were fighting over the parts of Bosnia they each held.
An event of note in 1993 was the Lasva Valley Case. The Lava Valley's Bosniaks were persecuted on political, racial and religious grounds, and suffered mass murder, rape, and many were imprisoned in camps. Sites of cultural significance and private properties were also destroyed.
It wasn't until February 28, 1994, that NATO became involved in the bloodshed. They shot down four Serb Aircraft for violating a UN No-fly Zone over central Bosnia; this was just days after a ceasefire agreement was reached between the Croats and the Bosniaks. This led to the "Washington Agreement" a peace agreement that effectively ended the war between the Bosniaks and Croats.
This brings us to 1995, where for the first half of the year the fighting continued. Massacres occurred both in Tuzla (71 killed) in May, and then another in Srebrenica later, in July.
From the beginning of 1995, things were getting desperate in Srebrenica. Fewer and fewer convoys were making their way to the enclave, and this meant that resources were running low. Food, medicines, ammunitions and fuel were not flowing to the area. By mid 1995 the humanitarian situation for both military and civilian people was tragic; there were reports of numerous deaths from starvation after repeated pleas to reopen the corridor of aid to the enclave.
On the 6th of July 1995 the assault from the Serbs really started. One by one UN posts fell. Some of the Dutch UN soldiers fell back into the enclave, whilst others surrendered to Serb Forces.
On 9 July, bolstered by his early success and the lack of resistance from the largely demilitarised Bosniaks, as well as the lack of any major reaction from the international community, President Karadi issued a new order authorising the VRS Drina Corps to capture the town of Srebrenica.
The next day urgent messages were sent to NATO for air support to protect the town but they didn't arrive until the next day at 2:30pm. Some VRS tanks were bombed, but the support had to be abandoned because of poor visibility and then due to threats made by the Serbs to kill Dutch Troops, French Hostages, destroy the UN compound at Potacari and to bomb the area around Srebrenica which housed the 30,000 refugees that had fled to safety.
On the 11th July, these refugees attempted to seek protection at the UN Compound in Potacari. It was claimed that the compound was full, and that conditions were unacceptable. There was little food and little water and the summer heat was unbearable.
Many hundreds, if not thousands were killed, and many women were also raped and killed during the first few days of this horrible tragedy. Locals saw their houses and livelihoods go up on flames, as Serb forces loaded others onto trucks, separating the men from the women. Men of military age, and some as young as 14 were separated and taken to place labelled "The White House". According to Dutch Soldiers, Bosniak men were seen being taken away by Serb soliders, then gunshots heard, and then the Serb soldiers returning alone. Gunshots could be heard up to 40 times an hour, with reports of bulldozers pushing bodies into mass graves behind "The White House".
For 11 days both small and large-scale massacres took place in villages across the enclave, whilst groups of Bosniak men fled into the hills to escape capture. Some of these men were captured, whilst many died from dehydration and exhaustion and even suicide. Some wandered for months, and were often lost and had to turn around to find familiar territory to find food and water, having to survive on leaves and snails.
Later in July, American Spy planes flew over the area of Srebrenica and took photos that showed the removal of ground in large areas around the town which were indicative of mass burial sites.
From August there were orders to remove bodies from major burial sites to smaller sites in order to conceal evidence of mass murders. Unfortunately this lead to the disturbance of the remains, with remains being mixed up and separated. One report was that remains from one person were found in two different burials grounds, 30 kilometres apart.
During the Srebrenica Massacre approximately 8000 Bosniak men and boys were kill in and around the area of Srebrenica. This tragedy in Srebrenica was the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II. These murders were committed by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), under the command of Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, also a Serbian paramilitary unit called the Scorpions and allegedly a unit of foreign volunteers calling themselves "The Greek Volunteer Guard".
After the Markale massacre on 28 August when 37 were killed and a further 90 wounded, NATO launched a bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina lasting from 30 August until 20 September. Eventually the Dayton Peace agreement of November 1995 effectively ended the war.
Silver Bullet films are making a documentary that will highlight the plight of the women who were left after this tragedy. For more information on the documentary project please visit http://www.facebook.com/village.of.forgotten.widows. The official website for the film is http://www.villageofforgottenwidows.com/
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