June 27th, 2017

In 1991, Yugoslavia was beginning to break apart, with Croatia and Slovenia gaining independence. In 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina began contemplating also seeking independence. This move was supported by ethnic Bosniaks and Croats, but decried by Serbs. Tensions began to rise, and on March 18$^{th}$ a treaty was signed by the leaders of all three sides which would see the country divided into cantons. However, 10 days later the Serbian representative withdrew his signature. He did so after a meeting with US diplomat Warren Zimmermann, in which the latter encouraged the former that the US would fully support a non-divided Bosnia and Herzegovina. When the Bosniaks and Croats - having held a referendum in February - declared independence regardless of the failure of the treaty, the Serbs mobilized their forces. For the next four years the Bosnian War raged, in which Serbs attempted to secure the country, and ethnically cleansed the other two ethnic groups. In April 1993, the UN declared the region of Srebrenica a safe zone for Muslim Bosniaks, and the Netherlands sent a battalion to protect it. However, the battalion was poorly armed, and faced indifference from the Dutch parliament. On June 11$^{th}$ Serbian military pressure forced the Dutch battalion to surrender Srebrenica. The leader of the Serbian troops, Ratko Mladić, evacuated the Bosniak women and girls, and promised to do the same for the males. Instead his troops took over 8000 men and boys into the surrounding mountains and murdered them, in what became known as the Srebrenica Massacre. Mladić, named the 'Butcher of Bosnia', went into hiding, but was captured in 2011 and will face life in prison. Today, a UN court concluded that the Netherlands were partly responsible for the genocide, and they will be responsible for paying money to relatives of the victims.

-E