What was the UN's involvement and their failures in the mission?
It can be argued that the Serb commander Ratko Mladic mislead the UN troops to hand over the people in Srebrenica. However Nihada Hodzic a survivor of the massacre recalls primary source evidence that one week prior to the killings obvious events suggested the Serb forces intentions to the Muslim community. “Serbs were adamantly cruising through our village in search for weapons… In other words they were demilitarising our village… making sure we had no way of defending ourselves.” (Toljaga, 2010).
It can also be argued that the UN’s declared safe zones were surrounded by the Serbs and it would have been suicide to try and defend the safe zones however they knew 6 weeks prior the massacre Serbs were intending to invade. Ultimately the UN abandoned the troops and rejected air support requested on 9 occasions, (Human Rights Watch, 1995). There reason behind the rejection of the air support was the Dutch commander filling out the form incorrectly, (IRSN, 2007).
It can also be argued that the UN’s declared safe zones were surrounded by the Serbs and it would have been suicide to try and defend the safe zones however they knew 6 weeks prior the massacre Serbs were intending to invade. Ultimately the UN abandoned the troops and rejected air support requested on 9 occasions, (Human Rights Watch, 1995). There reason behind the rejection of the air support was the Dutch commander filling out the form incorrectly, (IRSN, 2007).