The Bosnian Genocide 200 000 Killed Ethnic cleansing

The Bosnian Genocide 200, 000 Killed “Ethnic cleansing” and “The failure of the West”

Present Day Bosnia:

Bosnian ethnic groups n n Bosnia is home to three ethnic groups: Serbs, Croats, and Muslims Each of these groups follows a different religion n Serbs – Orthodox Christian Croats – Catholic Historically these groups have been at odds with one another and even bitter enemies at times Serbian flag-Left Croatian flag-Right

WWII and Yugoslavia n Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazis and partitioned n n n After the Nazis were defeated Tito helped to reunify Yugoslavia Tito was a strong leader and maintained ties with the US and USSR during the Cold War n n Resistance movements sprang up led by Josip Tito Obtained financial aid from both nations playing them off each other When Tito died in 1980 the nation plunged into political and economic chaos Marshal Josip Broz Tito

Yugoslavia’s new leader n n By the late 1980 s a new leader emerged in Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic, a former communist, rose to power using nationalism and religious hatred to gain power n n Milosevic, a Serb, wanted to take control of all areas where ethnic Serbs lived n n Inflamed tensions between Serbs and Muslims Sought to protect interests of Serbs Violence ensued when Croatia and Slovenia declared independence in 1991 Slobodan Milosevic 1941 -2006

Yugoslavia On 31 January 1946, the new constitution of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, modeled after the Soviet Union, established six republics, an autonomous province, and an autonomous district that were part of SR Serbia. The federal capital was Belgrade.

Break up of Yugoslavia 1991 - Slovenia and Croatia, Macedonia 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mass killings begin n Milosevic invaded both Slovenia and Croatia n n Croatia had a 12% Serb population n n New Croatian government passed discriminatory laws against Serbs Milosevic invaded to “protect” the Serbian minority n n Quickly loses interest in Slovenia because invasion failed and there almost no Serbs Bombarded city of Vukovar for 86 days reducing it to rubble After Vukovar fell hundreds of Croatian men were slaughtered and buried in mass graves International community responds with an arms embargo Late 1991 saw US brokered cease fire between Serbs and Croats

Bosnian atrocities begin n April 1992: US recognizes independence of Bosnia n n Bosnia majority Muslim with 32% Serb minority Milosevic responds to independence by invading Sarajevo n Sarajevo known as city where Serb snipers continually shot civilians n n Serbs gain ground and begin rounding up Muslims n n n Eventually 3500 children were among the sniper deaths Forced relocation of entire towns Men were put into concentration camps and slaughtered Women were systematically raped by the Serb soldiers These actions were labeled as “Ethnic Cleansing” Bosnia’s National Library shelled and burned National and University Library engulfed in flames following shelling by Serb Nationalist Forces, Sarajevo, August 26, 1992

World response n Despite the camps, rapes, and killings the UN and others did little n n n UN imposed economic sanctions and sent troops to distribute food UN troops were prohibited from taking military actions The arms embargo imposed by Western nations only hurt Bosnians because Serbians were already most armed group in the area Throughout 1993 the Serbs, confident that there would be no military intervention from the West, freely committed genocide Bill Clinton campaigned in 1992 to intervene in Bosnia to assist ethnic minorities n n President Bush held the same view Was not until 1994 that Clinton and NATO demanded Serbs withdraw from Sarajevo following the bombing of a marketplace

UN involvement n n n US tries to foster an alliance between Croats and Muslims against Serbs New alliance fails to stop Serbian advances in Bosnia UN sets up six “safe havens” for Muslims in Bosnia n n n Serbs attacked these safe havens and UN peacekeepers US responds with limited air strikes It was at this time that the genocide was at its worst

Srebrenica so called safe haven n Srebrenica was one of the safe havens set up by the UN n n 1995 Serbian troops attack and shell Srebrenica n n n Food and water supplies begin to dwindle An amateur radio operator was heard in Sarajevo from Srebrenica saying “Please do something, whatever you can. In the name of God, do something. ” The Dutch soldiers guarding the city could do little against Serbians n n The French and Dutch governments were responsible for this haven Poorly equipped with little backup Appealed to French for help but nothing came All men were transported out of the city and killed Women and children transported then raped and killed after men

Srebrenica so called safe haven n The population of Srebrenica was transported out over 4 days n n n Serb troops took the light blue helmets of UN peacekeepers to fool other Muslims trying to escape A survivor says that the Dutch did little to help n n n 7, 500 Men were killed up to 3, 000 killed while trying to escape Survivor says that the Dutch received a convoy of food and beer while the population of Srebrenica was being killed Survivor also says that there was loud music coming from where the Dutch were staying in Srebrenica After the massacre of Srebrenica NATO finally responds and on August 30 th 1995 they begin a massive bombing campaign

US and NATO take action n n The heavy bombing and ground losses force Milosevic to seek peace November 1 st 1995 the warring factions travel to Ohio for peace talks After three weeks a peace was reached 60, 000 NATO soldiers were deployed to keep the peace Over 200, 000 are dead and there are over 2, 000 refugees from Bosnia November 21, 1995: Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, left, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, center, and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, right, initial the peace agreement after 21 days of talks at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

Genocide continues in Kosovo n n The peace accords split the territory of Bosnia in half between the Serbs and the Muslims settling the conflict in Bosnia However, the Kosovar Albanians were still the targets of brutal attack from the Serbian army n n The international community failed to come to the aid of the Kosovar Albanians while they were helping the Muslims of Bosnia The Kosovar Albanians were also not allowed to participate in the peace talks in Ohio n This was a signal to the Kosovar Albanians that there would need to be massive bloodshed before the world would help them

Kosovo n n Kosovo was an autonomous region located in Serbia before the rise of Slobodan Milosevic When Milosevic took power he began to take away the autonomy of Kosovo This was the beginning of another “ethnic cleansing” campaign Some Kosovar Albanians formed the Kosovo Liberation Army to fight back against the aggression of Milosevic and the Serbian Army

Nature of the Beast n The atrocities committed in Kosovo followed a tit for tat pattern n n If the KLA killed a Serbian police officer the Serbian army would burn a Kosovar village and kill the civilians living there Milosevic felt that the lack of international response gave him a license to kill The first mass killing of this episode occurred in the spring of 1998 when 51 members of an extended clan were killed in retaliation for supposed KLA aggression The international community responded to this massacre with a simple warning to Milosevic The actions taken against the Kosovar Albanians included mass killings and forced relocation or exile Kosovar refugee

Kosovo’s Srebrenica n n The US has done nothing but warn Milosevic of his actions in Kosovo for almost a decade at this point Because of this inaction Milosevic increased his troop strength in Kosovo n Milosevic also instituted a scorched earth policy destroying entire villages n n This was done to wipe out the KLA but all it did was increase the ranks with each destroyed village January 1999: 41 civilians are killed and Milosevic claims that they are all KLA members n Forensic evidence however proves that the 41 people are not KLA

NATO actions n n NATO is continuing to bomb strategic targets in Serbia through 1999 However, these bombings did not deter Milosevic in Kosovo and the killing and relocation continued NATO refused to send in ground troops which would have easily put a stop to the killings in Kosovo NATO originally had a goal to simply secure Kosovo and have the refugees return n This was unacceptable because the refugees would simply return to a land still controlled by Milosevic

Survivor’s story n Only very small boys were left with us, one old man who had lost his legs, and my handicapped brother, who can't walk because of spinal meningitis. So they took the ten to fourteen-year-olds to join the men. The boys' mothers were crying. Some even tried to speak to the Serbs, but the Serbs pushed them [away]. We were walking away very slowly because we were so worried about what would happen to our men. We stopped moving when we heard automatic weapon fire. We turned our heads to see what was happening, but it was impossible to see the men. We saw the ten-to-fourteen-yearolds running in our direction; when they got to us we asked them what was happening. They were very upset; no one could talk. One of them finally told us: "They released us but the others are finished. "

Aftermath n n n n The total death toll in Kosovo will probably never be known for sure but many have approximated it to be 20, 000 – 30, 000 killed or missing The Milosevic regime decided to end the campaign of killing in early June of 1999 and almost immediately began pulling troops out of Kosovo Shortly after this 150, 000 Serbs fled Kosovo fearing revenge killings Milosevic finally agreed to accept the peace agreement set forth from an earlier meeting in France that he rejected at first Milošević resigned as president amid demonstrations, following the disputed presidential election of 24 September 2000. He was arrested by Yugoslav federal authorities on 31 March 2001 on suspicion of corruption, abuse of power, and embezzlement Milosevic was scheduled to be tried for war crimes until his death in his prison cell in The Hague on 11 March 2006