The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The events of 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina demonstrated that United Nations peacekeeping required more than UN troops having a presence in troubled regions.
The United Nations declared that Sarajevo, Tuzla, Bihać, Srebrenica, Zepa, and Gorazde were safe areas to protect the Muslim population in the spring of 1993. By 1995 the Serbs were no longer respecting the UN forces as they continued their efforts to remove all other ethnic groups. In response to the continued aggression of the Serbs, NATO forces carried out some air strikes against them. The response from the Serb forces came in May 1995 when they took 350 UN peacekeepers hostage and threatened to kill them if there were any further air strikes.
On 22 May 1995 the commander of UN peacekeepers in Srebrenica asked to have a substantial increase in the number of his forces or to remove the peacekeepers to allow for NATO air strikes. His requests were denied. The Serbs increased their action against Srebrenica by stopping international convoys of supplies and increased their artillery strikes on the area.
Attacks increased on Srebrenica and the UN commander asked for air support from 6 to 9 of July. This request was rejected as were the requests from Muslim defenders to have their surrendered arms back. Bosnian Serbs increased their attacks, including taking a Dutch peacekeeping post and taking over two dozen troops hostage. At the same time Muslims began to flee from the area.
On July 10 there were a number of limited air strikes against the Serbs, but this ended as soon as the Bosnian Serbs stopped attacking. The Muslim population moved in close to the UN positions for safety as the Serbs refuse to retreat.
On July 11, the Dutch dropped bombs on the Serb forces, which brought a threat that another attack would result in the killing of Dutch peacekeepers that they were holding as hostages and the shelling of the refugees. Unable to act, Ratko Mladic, the commander of the Bosnian Serbs entered Srebrenica and demanded that all weapons be handed over.
During the night thousands of Muslim fights attempted to escape, but were shelled by the Bosnian Serbs. The next day, the Serbs began bussing tens of thousands of Muslims out of Srebrenica, separating the men and boys from the rest. By July 13, there were reports that mass killings of Muslim males by the Serbians. To release captured Dutch peacekeepers from the Serbs, thousands of Muslims that had entered the UN encampment were handed over to the Bosnian Serbs. Reports of the mass killings of these Muslims reach the UN forces in the days that followed. The final number of massacred at Srebrenica was over 7,500 people.
By July 16 the Dutch were able to negotiate with the Bosnian Serbs to leave the area. The Dutch were to leave without their weapons or supplies.
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