25 years ago, on the 25th July 1995, about one week after the fall of Srebrenica’s UN Safe Area, the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) attacked and took yet another UN Safe Area – Zepa.
Not many people remember the fall of Zepa, but it was quite a disastrous situation for the Bosnian Muslins and the UN forces – UNPROFOR.
Zepa was one of three UN Safe Area in Eastern Bosnia (Srebrenica, Gorazde and Zepa). The enclave sits in a forested mountain canyon (very difficult to maneuver), , about 50 kilometers southwest of Srebrenica, and it was the home of more than 16.000 Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks).
The VRS attack on Zepa followed the same pattern as the taking of Srebrenica. It initiated with a heavy shelling of the City Centre, followed by assaulting and taking control of the UN Ukrainian contingent Post.
After having entered the Village, the Serbs started to remove by force Zepa’s civilian population, destroying their homes and their mosque, and killed three of their most prominent leaders – municipality president Mehmed Hajric, the commander of the Bosnian Army’s Zepa Brigade, Avdo Palic, and the commander of Zepa’s Civil Protection Unit, Amir Imamovic..
In the days thereafter, the VRS exerted pressure on the civilians hiding in the woods to return to Zepa in order to be transported out of the enclave; hence, the VRS organized a large compulsory ‘evacuation’ of the civilian population.
From July 25 to 27, under the direct authority of the Serbian General – Tolimir – nearly 4.400 women, children and elderly were forcibly removed from the Zepa enclave, on Serb busses.
But, what about the Ukrainian peacekeepers?
After having gained control of the UNPROFOR Observation Post, manned by the Ukrainian Contingent, General Tolimir used the peacekeepers as Human Shields, threatening to kill them, if NATO warplanes would strike back the VRS positions.
However, before the VRS attack, those 79 Ukrainian blue helmets had been suffering the poor treatment of a peacekeeping mission in a war zone, because the Bosniak forces inside the pocket had been robbed them at gunpoint of their weaponry (to be able to face the Serbs) and even took the peacekeepers personal belongings and their money.
The Bosniak troops, who are predominantly Muslim and who view the Orthodox Christian Ukrainians as sympathetic to the Serbs, took two soldiers hostage and reportedly beat the Ukrainian commander. The Bosnian forces threatened to shoot the commander if the Ukrainian soldiers in the United Nations force did not surrender all of the weapons in the compound.
Some 600 to 1.000 Bosniak troops, using armored personnel carriers seized from the Ukrainians, lobbed mortars and fired on the advancing Serbs. That made the Serbs to have the (wrong) perception that the Ukrainians were sizing with the Bosniaks and, when the VRS took control of the situation, it was “pay time”.
We should honor our Ukrainian peacekeeper comrades for the hard times they supported (both in Zepa and Gorazde)” in the service of Peace”.
OPen samento 