Preface
After the First World War ended in 1918, modern-day Bosnia-Herzegovina (or simply Bosnia) was fused with several other adjacent Slav territories to form Yugoslavia. Its population consisted of around 1.3 million Bosnian Serbs, mainly Orthodox Catholic Christians; over 1 million Bosniaks, mainly Sunni Muslims, and 0.7 million Bosnian Croats, mainly Roman Catholic Christians.
Bosnia was formerly a communist state under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito. Tito ruled strongly and efficiently and there was mostly peace in Yugoslavia from 1946 until 1980, when Tito died. The various ethnicities within Yugoslavia each felt pressured to break off from Yugoslavia after Tito's death and the subsequent fall of his government. Nationalist movements swept throughout Yugoslavia. The above-mentioned parties (Serbs, Bosniaks, Croats) each felt entitled to the land and to the government.
When one speaks of the Bosnian genocide, one is either making a general reference to the massive ethnic cleansing campaign undertaken by the Serbs, which took place all over Bosnia and resulted in the deaths of over 200,000 Bosniaks, or one is referring to the mass killing at Srebrenica, also undertaken by Serbs, which resulted in the deaths of over 8000 Bosniak men and boys.
This post pertains to the events at Srebrenica, and more specifically focuses on the misadventures of one bold, or perhaps rash, reporter who was just looking to make a good story.
Into the Killing Fields
Srebrenica is a small town in eastern Bosnia. In 1992, in the midst of Yugoslav tensions, the town was declared a safe area by the United Nations. Nevertheless, in 1995, Bosnian Serbs invaded Srebrenica and overpowered the ill-equipped Dutch battalion stationed there by the UN. They stole the battalion's blue UN helmets and used them to trick Bosniak men and boys into boarding their trucks. They were then driven off and shot in fields, and later buried in mass graves. The women and girls of Srebrenica were not killed in such a systematic manner, but they were still raped, and sometimes murdered. The surviving Dutch soldiers, though armed, did nothing to stop the Serbs. It was this terrible incident that drew young American reporter David S. Rohde to Srebrenica.
Rohde, at the time a reporter for
The Christian Science Monitor and today a reporter for
The New York Times traveled to Srebrenica in search of evidence of the mass graves. Guided by images taken by American spy planes over Srebrenica, Rohde discovered some of these graves, along with human remains and empty shell casings. He also described coming across Bosniak prisoners held in atrocious conditions, and he even met with Bosnian Serb soldiers, who told him that all Bosniaks from Srebrenica were targeted for execution and those who had run were being hunted down.
Rohde, having acquired the intelligence and evidence he had come for, left Srebrenica to begin working on a new article based on this data. Unfortunately, he ran into trouble in the town of Zvornik. He was detained by the Serbs, charged with trespassing and forgery, both of which were valid charges; Rohde had both illegally entered parts of Bosnia and falsified documents he used to pass various checkpoints in Bosnia.
Detainment
The Serbian police interrogated Rohde for 48 hours straight, after which they gave him exactly one hour to admit he was a spy. "Otherwise," the Serbs said ominously, "he will come for you." They were talking about a man Rohde had last seen toying with a knife.
Rohde spoke to one of his more sympathetic captors from his cell, breaking down in tears and saying he had no choice but to say he was a spy, or else he would be killed. The captor warned him not to say any such thing; if he admitted he was a spy, he would be killed. If he did not admit he was a spy, there was only a chance he would be killed.
Luckily, no chance arose for either option; the Bosnian peace talks in Dayton, Ohio resulted in Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic helping release Rohde from captivity. Upon release, one of the first things Rohde said was, "I hope I didn't screw up the Dayton talks."
The Dayton Talks
In Dayton, Ohio, an agreement was signed in December 1995 that divided Bosnia into the Croat-Muslim Fedaration and Republika Srpska, also known as the Bosnian Serb Republic. 60,000 NATO peacekeeping troops were deployed to the country and the government was transformed into a three-man presidency, one president for each major Bosnian ethnicity (Serbs, Bosniaks, Croats).
After these talks, the United Nations, which had blatantly failed in its attempt to quell the slaughter at Srebrenica, was forced to make a public apology.
Apology
"Through error, misjudgement, and an inability to recognise the scope of the evil confronting us, we failed to do our part to save the people of Srebrenica from the Serb campaign of mass murder." Those were the words the United Nations used in its open apology for allowing the events of Srebrenica to occur. The UN troops who had witnessed Srebrenica and done nothing were never taken to account, and many of them publicly stated that "no large-scale atrocity" had been committed there.
Today
Some people are still seeking justice for Srebrenica today. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (still a very active organization today, with a thriving website with news and resources) has sentenced many Bosnian Serbs for involvement in the Srebrenica massacre, and searches still for others.
The Rohde Goes Ever On
David Rohde continued his journalistic exploits after Srebrenica, and continues to do so today. In 2008, he traveled to Afghanistan for a new story and was captured by the Taliban for over seven months before escaping. He won a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his work in Srebrenica, and shared yet another Prize with the staff of
The New York Times for his work in Afghanistan.
Seeking a Challenge?
Attempt the "Rohde to Srebrenica" quiz at the bottom of this page...if you dare!
Sources
http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_bosnia.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/1995/1117/17011.html
http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/Bosnia/updates/nov95/11-08/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/19/world/from-overrun-enclave-new-evidence-of-mass-killings.html
