SREBRENICA FACT SHEET

Reconciliation requires justice. Justice stems from truth.
SREBRENICA

VICTIMS:

Was Srebrenica a safe-haven for unarmed Bosnian Muslim civilians?

Bosnian Muslim forces located in Srebrenica frequently raided the surrounding Serbian villages (NY Times, 6/26/95; The Economist, 7/15-21/95). Ibran Mustafic, Bosnian Muslim MP and founder of SDA (the main Muslim political party) in Srebrenica, claims that these attacks represented purposeful provocations by the Sarajevo government to encourage the Serbian attack on Srebrenica (Interview in Sarajevo daily, Slobodna Bosna, 7/14/96). UN did not stop either side from attacking.

Who was killed in Srebrenica?

In 1992-93, more than 1500 Bosnian Serbs, mostly civilians from the villages around Srebrenica were killed by Bosnian Muslim fighters (well-documented, with graves in Bratunac). No international outrage followed. Naser Oric, blamed for these brutal killings (indicted by the Serbian authorities in Bosnia), today runs a disco club in the city of Tuzla, Bosnia.

Undocumented number of Bosnian Muslims, mostly soldiers, either murdered or killed in regular fighting. Estimates of murdered Bosnian Muslim men vary from as low as 100 to as high as 12,000. 1,000-3,000 seems most probable, but this is yet to be determined.

NUMBERS:

Indubitably, tragic war crimes occurred but their extent appears to have been highly exaggerated. Figures vary according to the sources, which in addition interchange massacred with missing:

Washington Post "12,000 Muslims massacred"; "Women of Srebrenica" -- "10,000 people massacred"; Bianca Jagger -- "8,000 civilians"; David Rhode, "7,000 Bosnian Muslim men"; AP "up to 7,000 men missing"; Hague indictments against Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic "6,000 Muslim men."
When asked for an official figure of dead Bosnian Muslims the spokesman for Secretary-General, Mr. Eckhard "said that he did not think the United Nations had a final accounting, but estimates were between 5,000 and 6,000 dead, though not that many bodies had been found. Some 50 bodies had been found, the correspondent said. Were excavations still going on? Mr. Eckhard said his staff would look into it." (4/28/97, Daily Press Briefing, Spokesman for Sec-General)

What is the source of the often cited figure "between 5,000 and 6,000 dead" Bosnian Muslims?

Sept. 13, 1995, ICRC press statement:

"The ICRC's head of operations for Western Europe, Angelo Gnaedinger, visited Pale and Belgrade from 2 to 7 September to obtain information from the Bosnian Serb authorities about the 3,000 persons from Srebrenica whom witnesses say were arrested by Bosnian Serb forces. The ICRC has asked for access as soon as possible to all those arrested (so far it has been able to visit only about 200 detainees), and for details of any deaths. The ICRC has also approached the Bosnia-Herzegovina authorities seeking information on some 5,000 individuals who fled Srebrenica, some of whom reached central Bosnia."

Sept. 15, 1995, New York Times "reinterprets" the information:

About 8,000 Muslims are missing from Srebrenica, the first of two United Nations-designated 'safe areas' overrun by Bosnian Serb troops in July, the Red Cross said today. (...) Among the missing were 3,000, mostly men, who were seen being arrested by Serbs. After the collapse of Srebrenica, the Red Cross collected 10,000 names of missing people, said Jessica Barry, a spokeswoman. In addition to those arrested, about 5,000 'have simply disappeared,' she said.
EVIDENCE:
Have any of the missing Muslim men been accounted for?

July 18, 1995, New York Times:

"Some 3,000 to 4,000 Bosnian Muslims who were considered by UN officials to be missing after the fall of Srebrenica have made their way through enemy lines to Bosnian government territory. The group, which included wounded refugees, sneaked past Serb lines under fire and crossed some 30 miles through forests to safety."

August 2, 1995 the Times of London:

Thousands of the "missing" Bosnian Muslim soldiers from Srebrenica who have been at the center of reports of possible mass executions by the Serbs, are believed to be safe to the northeast of Tuzla.

Monitoring the safe escape of Muslim soldiers and civilians from the captured enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa has proved a nightmare for the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. For the first time yesterday, however, the Red Cross in Geneva said it had heard from sources in Bosnia that up to 2,000 Bosnian Government troops were in an area north of Tuzla.

They had made their way there from Srebrenica "without their families being informed," a spokesman said, adding that it had not been possible to verify the reports because the Bosnian Government refused to allow the Red Cross into the area.

George Pumphrey, http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/pumphrey/Srebrenica.html

According to the Washington Post, "The men set off at dawn on Tuesday, July 11, in two columns that stretched back seven or eight miles." Even if the Red Cross did not know that they left Srebrenica in 2 columns, they at least knew that 2,000 were safe. And UN officials knew of the 3, - 4,000 that had arrived earlier. Yet the communiqué given in September failed to report that the 5,000 that "simply disappeared," simply disappeared back into the ranks of the Bosnian military.

In the first election after Srebrenica’s change of authorities, 3,009 of the "missing" Bosnian Muslim men registered to vote
What is the evidence for the alleged massacre of Bosnian Muslims?

Nov ’95 Richard Goldstone (Hague tribunal's chief prosecutor at the time) letter to the Hague US Embassy, quoted in the Washington Post:

"Judge [Goldstone] called the 'quality and timeliness' of intelligence provided by the United States 'disappointing.' He complained about the failure to hand over spy photos that he said could help the United Nations-sponsored tribunal identify mass graves that appeared after the fall of Srebrenica in July. The judge also complained that much of the information provided by the United States so far was based on 'open-source material' not relevant to the original requests."

The White House spokesman, Michael D. McCurry, and other US officials responded to Goldstone's complaints by invoking a need for secrecy for US national security concerns.

One of the main witnesses, Drazan Erdemovic, a Croat and a soldier in Bosnian Serb army who formerly fought for the Croatian forces in Bosnia, openly admitted to be testifying out of vindictiveness and was sentenced to only 5 years imprisonment.

Other witnesses provided contradicting information

American satellite photos show freshly ploughed fields.

Identification of exhumed bodies (whether they are Muslim or Serb; soldiers or civilians) and the manner in which these people died remains problematic (many killed in regular fighting between the two factions; in addition, some Muslims died from internal Muslim fighting in Srebrenica).
MEDIA:

Exaggeration deprives us of truth, which in turn deprives us of justice. Loss of credibility of governments, organizations and media impairs their ability to contribute to reconciliation.

All victims must be recognized and all criminals brought to justice. The media have mostly been one-sided in the civil war in Yugoslavia.
Why a comparison to the Holocaust is not appropriate?

-The extent of the war crimes is not comparable.

-Bosnian Muslim women and children from Srebrenica were sent in buses by Serb officials to safety at Tuzla.

-Bosnian Muslims were a warring faction, constantly raiding Bosnian Serb villages around Srebrenica.

-The largest single incident of ethnic cleansing in the 1991-1995 war in former Yugoslavia was the exodus of 250,000 Krajina Serbs by the Croatian forces.

-WWII Nazi in the former Yugoslavia were the Croats and many Muslims. Serbs were the victims of the WWII, together with the Jews and the Roma.

For more information, see http://www.balkanpeace.org/cib/bos/boss/boss13.shtml