By Ephraim Agbo
“It wasn’t just a massacre. It was a betrayal of humanity — planned, known, and allowed.”
On July 11, 2025, Bosnia once again stood still. At Potočari Memorial Cemetery, thousands gathered as the names of the dead were read, bones were buried, and the truth — battered, politicized, denied — was told again. Because it has to be.
This was the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, where 8,372 men and boys — mostly Bosniak Muslims — were executed by Bosnian Serb forces in just a few days in July 1995.
It was the worst single atrocity on European soil since 1945.
And the world knew it would happen.
🧨 The “Safe Zone” That Wasn’t
Let’s call it what it was: a trap.
In April 1993, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 819, declaring Srebrenica a “safe area” to be “free from any armed attack or other hostile acts.” The town soon became crowded with over 40,000 Bosniak refugees, many of them starving, sick, and exhausted from the siege.
About 400 Dutch UN peacekeepers were stationed there — under-resourced, under-equipped, and without a mandate to use force.
On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb troops, commanded by General Ratko Mladić, entered Srebrenica. Within 10 days, more than 8,000 males — some as young as 12 — were dead.
They were shot in warehouses, schools, fields, and execution sites. Their bodies were dumped in mass graves — later dug up and scattered again in an attempt to hide the crime.
📦 The Numbers That Refuse to Disappear
As of July 2025:
- 6,751 victims have been positively identified through DNA and buried.
- 1,621 graves have been marked at the Potočari Memorial Cemetery.
- 1,000+ victims are still missing.
- 570 mass grave sites related to the genocide have been discovered.
- More than 22,000 body parts have been recovered, many from secondary and tertiary graves where Serb forces tried to conceal evidence.
- Seven newly identified victims were buried this week — including remains of a 17-year-old boy who had been missing since 1995.
One mother buried parts of her son in 2003, 2010, and 2024 — a femur here, a skull there, a handful of ribs.
This is what genocide looks like when it's done in spreadsheets and maps — and then denied in parliament.
🏛️ The Courts Got It Right. The Country Didn’t.
The Srebrenica genocide is not up for debate — at least not in international law.
- In 2001, the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) ruled the massacre was genocide.
- In 2007, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed this, citing "intent to destroy the Bosniak population of Srebrenica.”
- Ratko Mladić, the military leader, and Radovan Karadžić, the Bosnian Serb political leader, were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
A total of 50 individuals have been convicted for crimes related to Srebrenica — receiving more than 700 years in prison combined.
But justice in court hasn’t translated to justice in Bosnia.
In Republika Srpska, the Serb entity of Bosnia, government officials deny the genocide to this day.
- Milorad Dodik, RS president, has repeatedly called the genocide a “fabricated myth.”
- In 2021, Republika Srpska withdrew recognition of genocide verdicts and passed a law banning the term in official use.
- Public schools in RS omit Srebrenica from textbooks.
- Streets and public buildings are still named after war criminals, including Radovan Karadžić.
⚖️ The UN’s “Blue Flag” of Failure
The United Nations has acknowledged its failure — but too late, and without consequence.
In 2002, a Dutch government report led to the resignation of Prime Minister Wim Kok, admitting that Dutch peacekeepers had “failed to protect the people of Srebrenica.”
The Dutch were also found partially liable by their own courts — but not for the genocide itself, only for the removal of about 350 people from the UN base.
Yet more than 5,000 civilians had sought refuge in that compound. They were handed over anyway.
🧠 Bosnia Today: Still a Country at War With Itself
The Dayton Peace Agreement of 1995 ended the war, yes. But it also froze Bosnia in an ethnic logic that keeps the country paralyzed.
Here’s how bad it is:
- Bosnia has 3 presidents, 13 governments, 14 parliaments, and 150 ministers for just 3.2 million people.
- The population has shrunk by nearly 25% since the war — from 4.4 million (1991) to 3.2 million (2023).
- Over 60% of youth want to emigrate permanently.
This isn’t peace. This is stagnation.
And while the economy suffers, nationalist politicians grow stronger — by weaponizing the past, blaming the other side, and glorifying war criminals.
🇷🇺 Russia’s Shadow
Milorad Dodik maintains close ties with Vladimir Putin. He’s visited Moscow more than 6 times in recent years, often just before or after making secessionist threats.
Russia sees Bosnia — especially Republika Srpska — as a tool to destabilize the Balkans, disrupt NATO, and weaken the EU’s influence.
Meanwhile, the EU remains divided. Enlargement stalls. Sanctions are toothless. And the UN — well, we saw how little that flag meant in 1995.
🧨 Secession in Slow Motion
In 2023, Dodik passed legislation in Republika Srpska creating a parallel judicial system. In 2024, he began preparing a separate electoral commission. And in 2025, he’s once again hinting at an independence referendum.
Bosnia isn’t just dealing with the ghosts of the past — it’s tiptoeing toward another national collapse.
🕯️ The Final Lie: That This Is Over
Let’s stop pretending.
- Srebrenica was not inevitable — it was predictable.
- It wasn’t committed in darkness — it happened in full view.
- It wasn’t over when the guns stopped — it still continues in denial, division, and decay.
One survivor said, “We buried our dead. But we haven’t buried the hatred.”
The fight today is for memory. Because denial is the final stage of genocide. And it’s happening — in speeches, textbooks, and official policies.
✊🏽 What Must We Do?
- Speak the truth. Every time. Even when it’s uncomfortable.
- Challenge denial. Especially when it comes dressed in suits.
- Resist forgetting.
Because if the world could forget 8,372 murdered boys and men, many of whom were executed with their hands tied, what else is it willing to forget?
Because if a genocide can be denied — even after 50 court verdicts, 570 graves, 6,751 DNA matches, and 30 years — then no atrocity is safe from erasure.
In the End...
This isn’t just about Bosnia. This is about every place where memory is under siege.
Srebrenica is not only a graveyard. It’s a warning.
And the silence that allowed it to happen — is still alive.
Don’t be part of that silence.
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