In March 1992, Bosnia’s Muslims and Croats called for a referendum for Bosnianindependence. Fierce propaganda from Serbia, depicting Muslims as extremistfundamentalists, caused many Bosnian Serbs to support Milosevic’s plan for ethniccleansing as a means of creating Greater Serbia. Since the Bosnian Serbs did not inhabita single specific territory in Bosnia and lived alongside Muslim and Croat neighbors,the stage was set for war throughout the country. On April 6, 1992, the Bosnian Serbsbegan their siege of Sarajevo. Through three cold winters, Sarajevans dodged sniperfire as they collected firewood, searched for food, and tried to get to their jobs. Morethan 12,000 residents were killed, 1,500 of them children.Throughout Bosnia, Bosnian Serb nationalists and the Yugoslav National Army begana systematic policy of genocide to establish a “pure” Serb republic. They drove out allother ethnic groups by terrorizing and forcibly displacing non-Serbs through directshelling and sniper attacks. Entire villages were destroyed. Thousands were expelledfrom their homes, held in detention camps, raped, tortured, or summarily executed.Those on the outside watched passively as multi-ethnic communities were violentlytorn apart. While ordinary Bosnians suffered and died for months that turned to years,opportunities to effectively intervene were greatly ignored by Europe and abroad.6
United Nations FailureThe failure of the UN to stop the killing in Bosniaseriously harmed its credibility. When Sarajevocame under attack by Serb artillery in April 1992,the UN forces pulled out to avoid casualties,leaving behind only a small and lightly armedcontingent of peace-keepers to discourageattacks by Serbian nationalists.Bosnian RefugeesFew people could have predicted that the warwould last for almost four years, and with suchbarbarism. More than 200,000 Bosnians out ofa population of 4.4 million were killed. Some200,000 were injured, 50,000 of them children.Millions of people were deported or forced to fleetheir homes. Sixty percent of all houses in Bosnia,half of the schools, and a third of the hospitalswere damaged or destroyed. Power plants, roads,water systems, bridges, and railways were ruined.Throughout these horrors, the internationalcommunity failed to respond. It resulted in theworst case of genocide in Europe since WWII.The United Nations declared a “safe-zone” of theEastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica to be underpeace-keeping protection of poorly-equippedDutch soldiers. By July, 1995, Srebrenica easilyfell to Bosnian Serb militias. Within a week,8,000 Bosnian Muslim civilian men and boys inthis “safe zone” were murdered. The world learned of the atrocities through the courageousefforts of print and TV. Wrenching scenes were broadcast around the world showing hundredsof emaciated men and women behind barbed wire with their eyes hollow from hunger anddespair. Following the massacre of Srebrenica, a NATO (<strong>Nor</strong>th Atlantic Treaty Organization)bombing campaign against the Army of the Republika Srpska helped bring the war to an end.Dayton Peace AccordsThe Dayton Peace Accords, signed on December 14, 1995, by Presidents Milosevic,Izetbegovic, and Tudjman, carved Bosnia into two autonomous and ethnic-based entities,separated by a demilitarized zone. Despite their unbridled aggression, the Serbs, in controlof the Republika Srpska, received 49% of the territory of Bosnia. The Bosnians were grantedthe remaining 51% of the country, called the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, anuneasy alliance of Bosnian Muslims and Croats. Each entity has its own government,military, and police. A central government handles banking and foreign policy. Most non-Serbs have been cleansed from Serb-held areas and are not welcome or safe to return totheir homes. The same is true for many Serbs who have left Federation-controlled territories.77
Change language