This is a slide presentation

1. Balkan Babel and Bosnia
Bosnia and Kosovo in a century of genocide
Javed Mohammed
Writer-Producer
k2film@live.com

3. Objective
To share the history, the horror,
the lessons of
the war for independence,
the genocide and ethnic
cleansing
of Bosnia and Kosovo

4. What are the Balkans?
A mountain range
Yugoslavia and
neighboring
countries
Balkan wars 1911-13
A lot of history,
culture, beliefs,
languages, and
ethnicities

5. Who are Bosnians?
Initially Yugoslavians
Then Bosnians: Bosniaks, Serbs and
Croats
Then Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox
Christians

6. Bosnia: ethnic mix
48
50
45
40 37
35
30
25
20
15
10 14
5
0
Bosniak 1
Serb
Croat
Other

7. Balkan Countries

8. Five Centurie of Turkish
Ottoman rule
Mid-15th – 1912
Large segments of population in Bosnia,
Kosovo, become Muslim
Serbia remains Orthodox
Croatia remains Catholic
Deep mistrust between Serbs and Ottomans.
Ottoman rule replaced by Austrian-
Hungarian rule in 1878

9. Assassination of Archduke
1914: Triggers World War 1

10. Timeline
1918 Bosnia becomes part of the South
Slav state of Yugoslavia
1950's becomes Communist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia under Tito

11. Time Line:
May, 1980, Tito died and presidency
rotated.
December 9, 1990 -- Milošević elected
president in Serbia's first multi-party election
since World War II
June 25, 1991 -- Croatia and Slovenia
proclaim independence

12. Rising Nationalism
Origins of Serb
Nationalism Lie in
Kosovo in Late 1980s
Albanian Majority
Pressures for Greater
Political Rights
Serbs Respond with
Military Force
Milosovic uses Kosovo as
opportunity, seizes
power in Serbia.
Uses Nationalism to
Mobilize popular support Slobodan Milosovic
for his rule and his goals.

13. Milosovic Extends His Power
Exploiting Nationalism, Milosovic
Installs “Puppet Leaders” in Vojvodina,
Montenegro, Kosovo.
Serbia Begins to Redraw Boundaries to
Incorporate All Serbs Living in
Yugoslavia into Greater Serbia.
Direct Challenge to Croatia and Bosnia,
Each of Which have Large Serbian
Population.
Security Dilemma Emerges

14. Wars in Slovenia and Croatia
1990 Slovenia declared independence
7 days war, no Serbs
1991 Croatia declared independence
war
Serbs from Croatia joined Milosevic
occupied part of the country
1992 UN imposes arms embargo on all
members of the former Yugoslav Republic,
including least armed Bosnia.
UN and EU enforce peace in Croatia

15. Bosnian-Serb War criminals
Led by
nationalist
Radovan Karadzic
Chief of Army
Ratko Mladic

16. War in Bosnia
Referendum for independence - 70% voted YES
Serbs did not accept results, proclaim new
republic separate from Bosnia
UN recognized independent Bosnia
1992 – aggression from Serbia + Bosnian Serbs
Start of the siege of Sarajevo
Ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims starts by
Serbs and Croats
200 000 people killed, millions expelled

17. War in Bosnia
Coallition between Muslims and Croats in
different cities like Mostar and Sarajevo to
fight Serbs.
1993 – Croats turn against Bosnians
Now at war with two enemies
Their plan – to divide Bosnia between Serbia
and Croatia
Bosniaks (Muslims) – to disappear

18. 1992-93
January 1992 -- U.N. forces enter Croatia and fighting
subsides.
February 29 - March 1, 1992 -- Bosnia's Muslims and
Croats vote for independence in referendum boycotted
by Serbs.
April 6, 1992 -- War breaks out between Bosnian
government and local Serbs, who start 1992-1995 siege
of capital Sarajevo.
January 1993 -- Bosnia peace efforts fail, war breaks out
between Muslims and Croats, previously allied against
Serbs.

19. Sarajevo
Bosnian Serbs shoot at
peaceful demonstrators in
Sarajevo.
Bosnians Muslims
disarmed by UN
Bosnian Serb soldiers
discharged from the
Yugoslav army, but keep
all of their weapons. May
1992
The Siege begins

20. Siege of Sarajevo
1992-96 (3.5 years of siege)
Held hostage by Serb snipers and artillery in hills
surrounding city
Blockade: 400k residents trapped
No water, no electricity, no heating, no food
airport - UN forces – maintaining the siege
humanitarian aid: half to Serbs half to Bosnians
Arms embargo hurt only Bosnians
10 000 people killed in Sarajevo, 1000 children

21. Genocide
Acts committed with
intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a
national, ethnic,
racial, or religious
group

22. One explanation….
Insanity in individuals is
something rare - but in
groups, parties, nations
and epochs, it is the rule.
(Friedrich Nietzsche)

23. Things are Not Always What
They Seem.
Ethnic Conflict Is Not:
“Conflict fuelled by
age-old loyalties and
cultural differences.”
“Ethnic Groups lying
in wait for one
another nourishing
age-old hatreds.”
Irrational Violence

24. Ethnic Conflict Is Conflict
Over Who Gets What
The State Controls Access to
Resources.
Group that Controls the State
Controls Resources.
Politics Revolves Around
Competition Between Groups
for Control of the State in
Order to Gain Resources.
When Groups are Defined
Along Ethnic Lines,
Competition is Between
Ethnic Groups.

25. Real reasons for conflict
Nationalism amplified: creates Us vs Them
Land-grab
Retreat to archaic value systems
Tribal-patriarchal
Revenge/blood killings
Women: property and badge of honor
Blurs distinctions: what people share and
what divides them

26. Bosnian-Serb leadership:
I do it because I can

27. UN peacekeepers: only
provided humanitarian aid
but did nothing to keep
peace

28. P
r
o
p
o
g
a
n
a
d
a

29. People in Sarjaevo became daily
targets for snipers

31. Summer 1992
Reports of "ethnic cleansing," a policy of
slaughtering Muslim inhabitants of towns or
driving them away, in order to create an
ethnically pure region. Reports of
concentration camps, mass rapes.
The UN disarmed Bosnian enclaves and
designated them “safe havens”, including
Sarajevo, Žepa, Srebrenica, Goražde, Tuzla
and Bihać

32. Safe Haven?

33. Not

34. Men and young boys were detained
and faced mass executions

35. Some Bosnians (Croatas and Muslims)
did take up small arms

36. 8000 people killed in 3 days in
Srebrenica

37. But no one in the UN, Europe, NATO
heard their cries

38. But no one in the UN, Europe, NATO
heard their cries

40. After Dayton, Ohio Peace
Conference
Siege end, November 1995
Country split in half
Rotating presidency
2 government one Serb, one Bosnian
alternate
Dysfunctional country
Bosnian Serb entity still wants to join Serbia
Most war criminals NOT arrested

41. Bosnia-Herzegovina divided
after Dayton agreement 1995
November Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb
Republika Srpska

42. Kosovo
Almost parallel situation to Bosnia happened in Kosovo
in 1999.
Kosovo with 90% majority Muslim-Albanian population
declares independence.
Serbs start ethnic cleansing campaign
Hundreds of thousands of refugees forced from homes
towards Macedonia and Albania
NATO started bombing campaign of Serbia
War stops and UN takes over
Kosovo redeclared its independence in 2008 which Serbia
still does not recognize

43. You are unique
I pledge my loyalty to you
My thousand year old land
From Sava to the sea
From Drina to Una
You are unique
The only homeland I have
You are unique
Bosnia and Herzegovina
May God save you
For the generations to come
You are the land of my dreams
The land of my forefathers
You are unique
The only homeland I have
You are unique
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Author: Dino Dervishalidovic

44. “Memorial”

45. How do we prevent genocide
in future?

46. From Bosnia with Love
A Novel and a Five Year Odyssey
Buy It!
Read It!
Tell others about it!
See the trailer on Youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stsArHDfZMU

47. Bibliography
“Conflict in developing societies, lecture 12
Bosnia Visitors PPT (author unknown)
Identity and Conflict in the Balkans, (author unknown)
Living through the siege of Sarajevo, Rizvic, Selma
Images from Google.com