11-7-1995: Srebrenica Massacre

In the 17 years ago, the Civil War in the Balkans into the worst phase. Thousands of Bosnian Muslims were slaughtered fascist forces led by General Ratko Mladic Serbia after the UN failed to maintain a safe zone in the city of Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is the fractional area of ​​Yugoslavia.

According to BBC news station, about 1,500 Serb soldiers surrounded the UN peacekeepers from the Netherlands. The UN troops were outnumbered though backed by NATO air strikes on Serbian tanks.

Prime Minister of Bosnia, Haris Silajdzic, called the NATO action was "too small, and too late" so that the population of Srebrenica had been "betrayed." The entry of Serbian forces made 30,000 Srebrenica and its surroundings, which is predominantly Muslim, struggling to flee to the north.

This situation makes the United States when it questioned the ability of the United Nations in carrying out "humanitarian mission" in the Balkan region. The UN also resigned. "To our knowledge, Srebrenica had fallen into the hands of the Bosnian army," said UN spokesman, Alexander Ivanko.

"Thousands of refugees fled to a village called Potocari. Dutch troops stationed in Srebrenica also had to retreat to Potocari," said Ivanko.

As commander of Serb forces, Mladic, wrote to the UN that his men was carried out operations to "root out terrorists." Mladic also said that local civilians and peacekeepers do not have to worry about the presence of his men.

However, after occupying Srbrenica, Mladic and his troops would make the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. Serb forces massacred at least 8000 known male Bosnian Muslims during July 11 to July 22, 1995 in Srebrenica and its surroundings. On average they were told to dig a hole gang-raped before being executed en masse by Serbian soldiers.

That is why, after the Balkan War was over and the situation in Bosnia and come back safe and peaceful surroundings, the UN hunt for Mladic and his men. With the former President of Serbia, Radovan Karadzic, Mladic was finally arrested and tried by the War Crimes Court in The Hague on genocide cases.

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