Links at bottom of page for photo gallery of images including demonstrations outside UNHQ & OHR and visit to Potocari.
July 11th 1999 was the fourth anniversary of the entry of Bosnian Serb troops into the UN "Safe Area" in Eastern Bosnia. Over the next few days, between 8 and 10,000 Moslem men and boys disappeared, victims of Europe's worst war crime since World War II. Since then, the families of the missing have faced obstruction and indifference to their campaign to learn the true fate of their loved ones, to have those responsible brought to justice, and to implement their right to return home. The fact that most of the survivors are women and are often poor and uneducated has hampered them, but organisations such as the Tuzla-based "Women of Srebrenica", and Sarajevo-based "Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa", have refused to give up the fight. This year, in the shadow of the Kosova crisis, they specially requested international support for their anniversary activities. The aim was to show both their own government and the international community that the outside world has not forgotten Srebrenica.
A group of 60 supporters from France, Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands, representing 18 organisations and using the umbrella title "Srebrenica Justice International", travelled to Bosnia to join the women in their acts of protest and remembrance. The delegation included members of the British groups Srebrenica Justice Campaign and Bosnia Solidarity Campaign. Statements of support were sent by many organisations, including Amnesty International French and German sections, the Paris Kosova Committee, the Association of Albanian Students in France, and the Scottish Trades Union Congress, whose General Secretary, Bill Speirs, is a strong supporter of the Women of Srebrenica. The Albanian associations acknowledged statements of solidarity issued by the Women of Srebrenica during the Kosova crisis.
On 11th July the day began with flower-laying ceremonies in a number of cities. The families then converged on the Sarajevo suburb of Vogosca, temporary home to thousands of Srebrenica exiles, for an open air service of remembrance. From there they planned to take buses to the Sarajevo headquarters of the two international bodies responsible for running Bosnia, the United Nations and the Office of the High Representative. After some delay, fifteen buses did arrive at the UN building, where a brief demonstration was held and a protest letter delivered. We learned, however, that other buses had been turned away.
There were moments of high emotion, as the demonstrators set fire to placards depicting Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic and Slobodan Milosevic as wanted criminals. The women said they could not bear to look at the faces of those who had murdered their children. Abdurahman Malkic, "Mayor" of Srebrenica in exile, and chairman of the anniversary committee, then announced that the demonstration would end. Malkic, a member of the main Bosniak party, the SDA, is popular with the Srebrenica families as he is one of the few politicians prepared to take action on their behalf, but on this occasion he seemed to be acting to damp down their protest.
After negotiation, it was decided that the Srebrenica Justice International group would continue with a police escort to the Office of the High Representative, taking a few representatives of the families with them. While the main group held a demonstration outside the OHR, a delegation representing French, Dutch and British organisations and three representatives of the families held a one hour meeting with the Chief of Staff. The families raised many areas of concern, among them the attitude of the international stabilisation force, SFOR, when asked to provide security for an anniversary visit to Srebrenica. The SFOR response was that they could not guarantee security because the nationalist Bosnian Serbs who now occupy Srebrenica would be celebrating their "victory" and might be drunk.
Hasan Nuhanovic of Women of Srebrenica complained about the failure of SFOR to arrest the main war criminals. He also pointed out that the Hague Tribunal will indict only the main players, as few as 7 or 8 people, for the Srebrenica massacres. He said there should be more action at a local level to indict lesser criminals and remove them from the positions of power which many still hold in Republika Srpska.
Kada Hotic of the Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa spoke bitterly about the search for the missing. Three thousand bodies have now been recovered from mass graves, but only 58 have been identified. The resources for storage and identification of remains are inadequate, and the women were shocked the day before to see that remains recently released by the Hague Tribunal are held in unmarked metal containers by the roadside. Some women fainted at the sight. As well as an increased programme for DNA-identification, the families are pushing for a different approach, where instead of just searching for bodies the authorities vigorously pursue those who last saw the missing men (often the same war criminals mentioned earlier), and require them to give information.
The delegates from Srebrenica Justice International supported the families in their demands, and also pointed out that because Srebrenica was a UN-declared Safe Area the international community holds a special responsibility for the fate of its people.
The most moving scenes of the anniversary came two days later, on 13th July. The women had requested that they should be allowed to visit Srebrenica, but because many of the current occupants are deeply nationalistic Serbs, they were dependent on permission from the international community, and on SFOR for security. On the night of 12th July they were told that only one bus would be allowed to go through, while others would stop at the border with Republika Srpska. However, the next morning it was announced that several buses would go, not to the town of Srebrenica, but to the factory at Potocari, the site of the UN Dutch Battalion base where the refugees fled for safety, and where the men were separated from women and children. For many of the women, Potocari is the place where they last saw their loved ones, and this was their first chance to return. So many gathered at Tuzla on the morning of the 13th that extra buses were ordered. Eventually 7 buses, including that of Srebrenica Justice International, left Tuzla, accompanied by an SFOR escort of 4 armoured cars and 2 helicopters.
As the buses travelled through Republika Srpska we saw many people, including children, giving the three fingered Serb nationalist salute. One group standing in a field made throat-cutting gestures. Even at Potocari a small group stood outside the wire fence, determined to provoke a response. The atmosphere among the women was one of dignity and deep mourning. One by one they came forward to lay red roses by the inner gate where the separation took place. Many wept, their heads covered. Some left personal messages, asking how they could continue living without their loved ones. Afterwards they prayed under the factory walls. The broiling sun was a reminder of the conditions they endured as they waited here three days for a deliverance that never came.
It seemed hard to believe that after such a day these women would return to the ordinary hardship of life in exile, to the care of their children, the shared houses and overcrowded conditions. We were staying in the village of Tinja, just outside Tuzla, and were able to observe the lives of the Srebrenica families. Of 1000 children in the school at Tinja, 600 are from Srebrenica. The village has running water two hours a day (if they are lucky), but the school has no water because the pipes are old and corroded. We were invited into the home of one of the teachers. His family is one of the lucky ones. He came from Srebrenica across the mountains with his two sons. The younger survived, but the elder was shot in the back and they had to leave him behind. His daughter, whose husband is missing, has a paralysed child, and he believes this is due to poison gas used by the Bosnian Serb Army. He has a job, and his house, which was built by a Scandinavian organisation, looks nice. The problem is that it has no insulation, and the open plan interior is impossible to heat in winter. This kind of problem is typical, and conditions for many of the women, who do not have jobs and live in more isolated "collective centres" are worse.
Despite these hardships, the women are endlessly welcoming and hospitable, and they thank us many times for coming to support them. Our presence may have helped a little: in previous years they were not allowed to demonstrate in Sarajevo, and this was the first mass visit to Potocari. For ourselves, we have gained a greater understanding of their conditions, and a greater commitment to their cause. Next year and the year after that, as long as it is necessary, we and they will come to the UN in Sarajevo and to Potocari, because, as Bill Speirs said in his letter of support "Until the demands are met, there can be no end to the Bosnia conflict".
A photo-gallery of images from
the tour can be accessed at the following pages. Click on the thumbnails
on each page to view a full image.
o Departure from Paris, staying at Tinja
o Vogosca
o UNHQ & OHR
o Vozuca
o Potocari
