UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI TRIESTE Sede amministrativa del Dottorato di Ricerca Sedi Consorziate (IUIES) Università degli Studi di Udine - Università di Klagenfurt - Università MGIMO di Mosca - Università di Nova Gorica - Università Jagiellonica di Cracovia - Università Eotvos Lorand di Budapest - Università Babes-Bolyai di Cluj-Napoca - Università Comenius di Bratislava - Istituto di Sociologia Internazionale di Gorizia XXV CICLO DEL DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN POLITICHE TRANSFRONTALIERE PER LA VITA QUOTIDIANA TRANSBORDER POLICIES FOR DAILY LIFE THE ROLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO END A WAR IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: 1992.-1995. (International Relations) DOTTORANDO: RELATORE: Šemso Osmanović Prof. Luigi Bonante CORRELATORE: Prof. Alberto Gasparini Anno Accademico 2013-2014 Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Chronology List of Abbreviations Abstract Background to the Conflict in Bosnia Research questions Methods and instruments Introduction Chapter 1: History of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.1 The Balkans 1.2 Multiethnic and Multi-confessional 1.3 Multicultural 1.4 Modern Sarajevo and Bosnia 1.5 City vs. Country Chapter 2: Bosnia and the Death of Yugoslavia: 1988-1990 2.1 Brotherhood and Unity in Titoist Yugoslavia, 1945-1980 2.2 The Rise to Power of Slobodan Milosevic, 1986-1988 2.3 The Disintegration of Yugoslavia, 1989-1991 2.3 The War in Slovenia 2.4 The War in Croatia Chapter 3: Descent into War in Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1990-1992 3.1 The Nationalist Revolution 2 3.2 The Dissolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.3 The Role of the International Community 3.4 The Greater Serbia Project 3.5 Independence 3.6 The Referendum and War in Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.7 Could War in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been avoided? Chapter 4: The War in Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1992-1994 4.1 How was Bosnia and Herzegovina led into the war? 4.2 The Siege and the Shelling of Sarajevo 4.3 The Combined Muslim-Croat Offensive 4.4 The War in Central Bosnia between Croats and Muslims 4.5 The Massacre in Srebrenica on July 11, 1995 4.6 The Marketplace Massacre in Sarajevo 4.7 Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide Chapter 5: The International Intervention: August 30, 1995 5.1 The NATO bombing 5.2 How was Peace concluded? 5.3 The Dayton Peace Agreement 5.4 The End of the War, Paris, December 14, 1995 5.5 On the road to Europe: from Dayton to Brussels 5.6 Genocide is still ongoing in Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.7 The legal and political tools to confront ongoing genocide Conclusion Bibliography 3 Preface “Those who do not learn the lessons of History are doomed to repeat them.” I was born on 4th of April 1982 in a small village Poznanovici, nearby Srebrenica. Only ten years later, Srebrenica will become the target of Serbian nationalists and their dream of a Greater Serbia Project. I am the eyewitness of the extremely ill-intentioned attempt of denying and falsifying the horrible genocide against Bosniaks (Muslim Slavs), committed by the Greater- Serbia military and police forces in Srebrenica during July 1995. According to the data collected up to now, more than 8,372 innocent people were killed. Among them were mothers with newly-born babies, pregnant women, under aged boys and girls, old men, ill and injured people. , and this was done in the cruellest way. Much is living testimony to such insanity, from the numerous written documents, photos, and films found to the many mass graves opened up till now and above all the Memorial Center in Potocari, where the remains of the identified victims of the Srebrenica genocide have been buried. Among them was my older brother Abdulah Osmanovic. Wishing to cover up the crimes, criminals have been digging many of those mass execution sites, destroying the mortal remains, and displacing them on other locations. Considering that this is an additional crime to the already committed crime or, better yet, “crime against crime”, those directly responsible for these crimes are the authorities of the Serb Republic, which evidently did not wish to prevent it, although they could and should have done so. One should also keep in mind that as early as 1993, the area of Srebrenica was proclaimed the United Nations Safe Area. International military forces, responsible for the safety of the completely isolated Bosniak population, were stationed there for that purpose. Nevertheless, only this UN safe area was occupied by Serb forces in spite of the UN soldiers presence. One must not forget the outright rejection to activate the NATO 4 aviation on part of the French General Janvier, the then Theatre Force Commander of the United Nations Peace Forces in former Yugoslavia, although he had full powers to do so and which was also required by the field officers who subordinated to him. Thereby, the genocide against the Bosniak population would surely be prevented. So Srebrenica, the well-known place located by ores and mineral waters since ancient Roman times became the symbol of not only genocide over the Bosniak people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also of the most appalling crime that had happened on the area of Europe in the second half of the 20th century. Eighteen long years have passed since then and both Karadzic and Mladic are finally in the Hague the supreme and military commanders of that criminal operation, but also of the general barbarism in Bosnia and Herzegovina starting from the beginning of the war in 1992 till the end of 1995. It is true that in the meantime, for the crimes in Srebrenica including the crimes of “genocide”, some of the officers from the Serb Republic have been trialled and validly sentenced by the International Tribunal in The Hague. The trial of evidence of other guilty officers of another indicted group is in its course. Finally, those who are most responsible, the above-mentioned Karadzic and Mladic, had end up in prison so some “satisfaction” can be acceptable for the victims of the genocide against the Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is just one small piece of evidence clearly testifying the character and scale of the “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” during the war 1992-1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the Bosniak population living in the UN safe areas: Sarajevo, Zenica, Tuzla, Bihac, Gorazde, Zepa, and Srebrenica. Srebrenica is not the only symbol of Bosnia and Bosniaks suffering, it is also the document of shameful attitude of both Europe and the world toward such crime. Instead of the conclusion, I shall quote the famous syntagm of a well-known chronicler from Sarajevo (Baseskija), which reads as follows: “What is written shall remain further on, and what is remembered, shall disappear”. The genocide against the Bosniaks in Srebrenica is too abhorring for anyone to even dare think of the silence around it. Trieste, June 2013. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks go to my friend, the teacher David Sutcliffe, for his help, and to my tutor, the sociologist Professor Alberto Gasparini, for his support at the University of Trieste. I dedicate this work to all those individuals whose hearts persuade them that no one who has known goodness even once is ever wholly lost. I am also deeply grateful to the Bosnian historian, Prof. Dr. Smail Cekic, the Director of the INSTITUTE FOR THE RESEARCH OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND INTERNATIONAL LAW IN SARAJEVO, for his pieces of advice on how to find the material necessary to write this thesis. 6 Former Yugoslavia (1990) 7 Ethnic composition before the war in BiH (1991) 8 Bosnia and Herzegovina before Dayton Peace Agreement (1995) 9 Post-Dayton Political Map of Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 Map of Bosnia and Herzegovina showing entity boundaries and Federation canton divisions 11 Chronology: Following is a chronology of key events in the former Yugoslavia leading up to war, during the war, and after the end of hostilities: 1990 First multiparty elections in six republics of former Yugoslavia. Serbian Communist Party leader Slobodan Milosevic elected Serbian President in December 1990. 1991 June 25 - Following months of talks among six republics, Slovenia and Croatia declare independence. June 27 - Yugoslav army attacks Slovenia. July 18 - Yugoslav army announces withdrawal from Slovenia. July - Serb-Croat skirmishes going on since early 1991 escalate into war between Croats and rebel Serbs, backed by the Yugoslav army, in Croatia. September - United Nations imposes arms embargo on all of former Yugoslavia. December - European Community, under pressure from Germany, says it will recognize Croatia and Slovenia. 1992 Jan. 2 - U.N. mediator Cyrus Vance negotiates cease-fire for Croatia; U.N. peacekeepers will patrol it, with headquarters in Sarajevo, in attempt to stave off conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Feb. 21 - The U.N. Security Council sends 14,000 peacekeeping troops to Croatia. Feb. 29 - Bosnia-Herzegovina declares independence. Bosnian Serbs proclaim separate state. Fighting spreads. April - Bosnian Serb gunners begin their siege of Sarajevo. April 6 - European Community recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina. Washington follows April 7. Intense fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina. May 3 - Bosnia's Muslim president, Alija Izetbegovic, taken hostage by Yugoslav troops on return from peace talks in Lisbon. Freed following day. May 5 - Yugoslav army relinquishes command of its estimated 100,000 troops in Bosnia, effectively creating a Bosnian Serb army. 12 May 27 - A mortar attack on a bread line in Sarajevo kills 16. More die later. May 30 - United Nations imposes sanctions on a new, smaller Yugoslavia made up of Serbia and Montenegro, for fomenting war in Bosnia and Croatia. June 29 - Peacekeepers hoist U.N. flag at Sarajevo airport after Serbs leave. July 3 - International airlift begins to Sarajevo. August - Major international conference on Yugoslavia in London.