24/03/1993 | Voices from the Drina

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As Chief of Staff of the UNPROFOR, I condemn the Serb shelling of injured Srebrenica civilians as they were boarding the UN airlift. This is the ultimate in despicable behaviour and a calculated policy of ethnic cleansing by Serb forces.

🧵 Chaos during the UN land evacuation of women and children out of Srebrenica, as civilians die while boarding.

By the time the mass of people reached the lorries they were already full. In the middle of the night hundreds boarded the vehicles and waited. Armed police tried in vain to get them off.

The shouting, the screams, the cries for help became deafening as people surged forward when they saw the final truck being filled. Women fought to get on, and in the end, in desperation, weeping uncontrollably, handed their babies and young children to those already on board.

I managed to get onto a packed UN truck heading out of Srebrenica, with my baby son Senad, and my 5-year-old daughter, Senija. There was a jolt. I was knocked down and my children were crushed. They’re dead. My babies are dead, while I am still alive.

🧵 It’s chaos in Srebrenica, as people rush to get out on the UN convoy and Serb forces close in.

More than ten thousand people were waiting for the next UN convoy today. The square in front of the department store was and remains in a state of complete chaos.

Learning that the Chetniks have entered Zeleni Jadar, just five kilometres south of the town, panicking people have gathered up their families and hope to flee. But there’s nowhere to flee to. We’re besieged. Srebrenica is about to fall.

The people were told that once the food was unloaded the Danish convoy would let women and children on board and evacuate them. The news travelled through the town at the speed of light.

People have rushed out of their houses leaving everything behind. Great crowds of women are running with their children. The crowd is so agitated that they’re rocking the huge vehicles. Never have I seen such turmoil.