Srebrenica: Bosnian Refugees Verify Accounts of Atrocities

17 July 1995

Earlier this year, accounts of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity by Serb Bosnian forces, who have been persecuting a military campaign into Muslim-controlled Bosnia, emerged from the area. Recently, as Serbian rebel groups advanced on the United Nations-protected area around Srebrenica, Muslim refugees from the so-called ‘safe area’ detailed allegations of rape and killing of civilians.

Veritable reporting and observation within the rebel-controlled region are nearly impossible due to a lack of security in the region and torrent of traumatised and disoriented refugees fleeing the main towns ahead of the Serbian invasion.

But, reporters on the ground have conducted hundreds of interviews with refugees and other civilians in and around the city of Tuzla to verify certain facts and actions within the ‘safe zone’.

More than a dozen people, each interviewed individually and most of them unknown to one another, said that they had fled Srebrenica and surrounding villages after heavy shelling by the Bosnian Serbs on Tuesday afternoon. 

Most of the male refugees fled into the nearby forests, hoping to make it into Muslim-held territory, while many women, elderly, and child refugees migrated towards a United Nations in Potocari before being escorted to empty factory buildings by U.N. peacekeepers, where they spend the night.

Despite the refugees being under U.N. protections, a group of Bosnian Serbs, some dressed in peacekeeper uniforms, entered the buildings, wielding knives, and kidnapped some refugees.

These reports were verified by two separate refugees living miles apart from each other.

One of these refugees, who was identified as 'Mr Emir’, claimed that the next morning, seven of the kidnapped boys were found dead—throats cut and hanged from nearby trees. Another refugee verified this account but was not able to identify the name or location of the factory building.

Multiple efforts the reach Bosnian Serb leaders for comment on these allegations were unsuccessful.

Another refugee, called ‘Mrs Ajila’, staying at a separate factory building near Potocari, described more instances of violence by Serbian rebels.

Mrs Ajila said a group of Bosnian Serb soldiers stormed the building looking for refugee men. The soldiers took a small group of Bosnian boys, mostly 10- or 11-years old, none of whom were ever seen by the group again. 

She also said one woman unwrapped a scarf she was wearing around her neck, tied it to a support beam, and hanged herself to avoid being captured. By the time she was found, Mrs Amel said, the woman was already dead.

Meanwhile, at the United Nations-run refugee camp in Tuzla, multiple refugees said Bosnian Serb soldiers have been able to infiltrate the camp and kidnap Muslim refugees.

One account, made by a Mr Džan, said a group of rebel soldiers took about 15 women from a hall in the refugee camp. When the women attempted to yell out, the soldiers covered their mouths and pulled them away.

Some recently-arrived refugees appeared consistently dazed and confused, unable to answer direct questions. As a matter of security, no interviewees were asked to directly identify soldiers by name.

An estimated 40,000 people resided in the city of Srebrenica before the Serb advance on the region. On Saturday, United Nations officials said more than 20,000 people, almost all men, were entirely unaccounted for.

While many refugees said most of the men fled into the woods outside of the ‘safe zone’ to seek friendly territory, Bosnian Serbs are believed to be holding about 4,000 men. While soldiers agreed, as a matter of principle, to allow the International Red Cross access to the prisoners, when that will happen is not yet known.

United Nations officials have not yet announced when investigators from The Hague, where an international tribunal was established to prosecute war crimes within the former Yugoslavia, will have the chance to interview refugees and witnesses.

‘It's going to be a very difficult job to separate the crimes that people heard about or may be imagining from the ones they can really prove’, said Lars Morkholt, a European Union observer, based in Tuzla. ‘Some may think there is just so much trauma here that it's too soon, and they may be right’.

Special thanks to The New York Times writer Stephen Kinzer for serving as an

inspiration for this piece.