No Options at Srebrenica, Dutch Officer Says

Testifying at the trial of Ratko Mladic, a former Dutch UNPROFOR member says that Muslims in Srebrenica “had no other choice” but to accept the evacuation ordered by the Serb forces.

Robert Franken, the assistant commander of the Dutch Battalion of UNPROFOR in Srebrenica, said Muslims were forced to accept the evacuation organized by the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, after July 11, 1995.
 
Franken, who had the rank of major at the time, said that colonel Radislav Jankovic of the VRS Main Headquarters told him shortly after the fall of Srebrenica that 6,000 Bosniak Muslims had been captured, adding that about 1,000 more men were still present in the vicinity of the UN compound in Potocari.
 
Mladic, the wartime leader of the VRS, is charged with genocide against more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys, as well as the deportation of their families from Srebrenica.
 
Describing “the choice” facing tens of thousands of refugees from Srebrenica who sought shelter in the vicinity of the UN compound in Potocari after the fall of the enclave, Franken said that they could “either stay in the crowd without food and water” in very hot weather and “die slowly” or “leave”.
 
According to the witness’ testimony, Dutch officers escorted the first two convoys of refugees on July 12, 1995, but members of the VRS prevented them from doing so after that.
 
Franken said that he personally saw the separation of Muslim men from women and children. The witness told the Tribunal that VRS members detained the men “in a white house” in Potocari before transferring them to Bratunac. Their bags and personal belongings were burnt by Serb soldiers, the witness said.
 
“The VRS had previously prevented blue helmets from protecting the separated men,” the witness said, adding that he made a list of 251 men who were detained in “the white house” and submitted it to a higher UNPROFOR command. He requested that the list be made public.
 
Franken said he complained to Colonel Jankovic several times because the VRS prevented UNPROFOR members from escorting convoys and investigating the abuse of the captured men, but his complaints did not yield any results.
 
The witness said that he “received reports about executions” of Muslim men on July 12 and 13, specifying that his soldiers found nine bodies and that one of them witnessed a murder.
 
While Franken confirmed that on July 17, 1995, as per a request by Colonel Jankovic, he signed a statement that the evacuation of Bosniaks was conducted in accordance with international regulations, Franken said that he signed it in order to have the VRS allow the evacuation of 59 wounded persons from Srebrenica. He said that the statement was “nonsense because the refugees did not have a choice”.
 
“On the eve of the attack on Srebrenica and particularly during the summer of 1995 the VRS terrorized convoys bringing humanitarian aid for civilians, as well as fuel and equipment for UNPROFOR. This significantly reduced the ability of the Dutch soldiers to carry out their tasks,” Franken said.
 
While being cross-examined by Mladic’s defence attorney Miodrag Stojanovic, Franken confirmed that Srebrenica was not demilitarized and that this was contrary to an agreement between the conflicting parties from 1993.
 
The witness specified that the 28th Division of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, had “between 4,000 and 4,500” pieces of infantry weapons and that its members got new automatic rifles and equipment in May 1995. About 200 rifles and two ABiH tanks were kept at a collection point controlled by UNPROFOR.
 
When asked how the weapons reached the enclave, Franken said that his soldiers “heard helicopters” at night, but they “were not able to determine” and “had no evidence” that those helicopters delivered weapons. As he said, at the same time the witness received information, but “not evidence”, about deliveries of military equipment “of an American type” to the airport in Tuzla.
 
The Dutch officer said that ABiH’s attacks from Srebrenica on VRS and surrounding Serb villages “absolutely” represented the violation of the agreement on demilitarization of the enclave.
 
Mladic is also charged with persecuting Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorizing civilians in Sarajevo through a campaign of artillery and sniper attacks and taking members of international forces hostage.
 
The trial of Mladic is due to continue on May 8.