War crimes in Bosnia: One still at large
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
F R Chowdhury
We all know about the massacre of the Jews during the World War II (WWII) in Germany and Poland by the Hitler's forces. That was the biggest massacre of civilians in human history. Europe's largest massacre of civilians after the WW II happened in Bosnia. Former Yugoslavia was a State, comprising of six units republics. In the days of Marshal Tito, its constituent units lived in peace and harmony, even though Serbia always played a dominant role. Yugoslavia even enjoyed the status of a leading non-aligned nation. Things changed after the death of Tito. It was during the period of Slobodan Milosevic that Serbians tried to maintain the so-called national unity by military force. This forced the units to defy Serb suppression and declare independence. Yugoslavia started to break up. Bosnia was the only state with a Muslim majority, though Croatia also had a sizeable Muslim population. The Serbs were determined not to allow Bosnian independence. They incited the Serbian population within Bosnia to take up arms against Muslims. Mr. Milosevic appointed General Ratco Mladic as the military commander of the Bosnian Serb forces. Mr. Radovan Karadzic became their political head like a president of the Bosnian Serbs. The idea was to deprive Bosnia from becoming an independent State in its original form. Serbs had weapons and they even laid siege to Sarajevo, the capital. It appeared that General Ratco Mladic took up on himself the responsibility for taking revenge for 500 years of Turkish Ottoman rule of Serbia. Eventually, the UN Forces were deployed to oversee peaceful transition. The UN created a protected enclave in Srebrenica under a Dutch General and asked the Muslims to gather there. They were told to leave their arms as they were entering the UN protected enclave. The Muslims felt safe under the UN peace-keepers. The Serb forces under General Ratco Mladic attacked the camp. The UN forces offered no resistance. They simply pulled off. The Serbian forces took possession of the camp, leasing all armless and helpless Muslims there at their mercy. General Mladic's troops were even seen going around in the UN vehicles. The Serb Forces separated all the men and boys over 16 years of age and killed all 8000 of them. For reasons not known to anyone, the Dutch general of the UN forces played a distinct, may be passive, role in the massacre. He could have called for air cover from the UN NATO or even halted the advancing Serbian forces with whatever forces he had at his disposal. He did neither. He can very well be considered a party to the killing. He is the one who asked the Muslims to gather there and leave behind their arms and then allowed the Serbians to slaughter them. Today we take satisfaction in the fact that Mr. Milosevic, Mr. Karadzic and finally Mr. Mladic have all been brought under International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crime trial. It is, however, very unfortunate that the Dutch General has never faced any trial or even questioning by the UN or by the Dutch authorities. He is the one who brought disrepute to the UN peace-keeping missions and made people to lose all faith in UN protection. Only the other day we observed a day of UN peace-keepers and may we take this opportunity to call upon the UN to clear its image by bringing this Dutch general to the ICC court for war crime trial, for his connivance with the Serbs for killing of 8000 Muslims in Bosnia. The contributor writes from Bahrain and may be reached at e-mail: fazlu.chowdhury@btinternet.com
We all know about the massacre of the Jews during the World War II (WWII) in Germany and Poland by the Hitler's forces. That was the biggest massacre of civilians in human history. Europe's largest massacre of civilians after the WW II happened in Bosnia. Former Yugoslavia was a State, comprising of six units republics. In the days of Marshal Tito, its constituent units lived in peace and harmony, even though Serbia always played a dominant role. Yugoslavia even enjoyed the status of a leading non-aligned nation. Things changed after the death of Tito. It was during the period of Slobodan Milosevic that Serbians tried to maintain the so-called national unity by military force. This forced the units to defy Serb suppression and declare independence. Yugoslavia started to break up. Bosnia was the only state with a Muslim majority, though Croatia also had a sizeable Muslim population. The Serbs were determined not to allow Bosnian independence. They incited the Serbian population within Bosnia to take up arms against Muslims. Mr. Milosevic appointed General Ratco Mladic as the military commander of the Bosnian Serb forces. Mr. Radovan Karadzic became their political head like a president of the Bosnian Serbs. The idea was to deprive Bosnia from becoming an independent State in its original form. Serbs had weapons and they even laid siege to Sarajevo, the capital. It appeared that General Ratco Mladic took up on himself the responsibility for taking revenge for 500 years of Turkish Ottoman rule of Serbia. Eventually, the UN Forces were deployed to oversee peaceful transition. The UN created a protected enclave in Srebrenica under a Dutch General and asked the Muslims to gather there. They were told to leave their arms as they were entering the UN protected enclave. The Muslims felt safe under the UN peace-keepers. The Serb forces under General Ratco Mladic attacked the camp. The UN forces offered no resistance. They simply pulled off. The Serbian forces took possession of the camp, leasing all armless and helpless Muslims there at their mercy. General Mladic's troops were even seen going around in the UN vehicles. The Serb Forces separated all the men and boys over 16 years of age and killed all 8000 of them. For reasons not known to anyone, the Dutch general of the UN forces played a distinct, may be passive, role in the massacre. He could have called for air cover from the UN NATO or even halted the advancing Serbian forces with whatever forces he had at his disposal. He did neither. He can very well be considered a party to the killing. He is the one who asked the Muslims to gather there and leave behind their arms and then allowed the Serbians to slaughter them. Today we take satisfaction in the fact that Mr. Milosevic, Mr. Karadzic and finally Mr. Mladic have all been brought under International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crime trial. It is, however, very unfortunate that the Dutch General has never faced any trial or even questioning by the UN or by the Dutch authorities. He is the one who brought disrepute to the UN peace-keeping missions and made people to lose all faith in UN protection. Only the other day we observed a day of UN peace-keepers and may we take this opportunity to call upon the UN to clear its image by bringing this Dutch general to the ICC court for war crime trial, for his connivance with the Serbs for killing of 8000 Muslims in Bosnia. The contributor writes from Bahrain and may be reached at e-mail: fazlu.chowdhury@btinternet.com