11/07/1995 | Voices from the Drina

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The road through the forest that people are taking to escape the incoming Serb forces is very dangerous and difficult. There will be many who won’t make it. Their bodies will fall by the wayside.

I’m crying as I write this, as we begin the trek from Srebrenica town to the Dutch UN base in Potočari. I keep thinking, we’re not going to survive. They’ll kill us all. The Serbs are going to kill people.

Srebrenica, which is supposed to be a UN “safe area”, has fallen to the Serbs. My Dad is still trapped inside and I have no idea whether he’s alive or dead. International community, are you listening?

I’ve just said goodbye to my brothers, Esad, Sakib, and Nihad. We hugged and kissed each other for the last time at the gas station in Srebrenica. As I’m an amputee, I’ve been taken to the UN base in Potočari. They’re fleeing through the woods.

🧵 In the last few hours I have lost my entire family. I don’t know where I’m getting the strength to type this, but I will keep typing until I no longer have that strength.

I left Srebrenica with my children and husband. We were going to trek to free territory. A shell fell, causing us to run in different directions. I found my kids, all except my eldest Mirsad, injured. My husband went to get water. He never came back.

Alija and Fuad were with me. We were stopped by a Chetnik vehicle in Sandići. They told us the wounded would be transported to Tuzla. My kids and I surrendered. They loaded us onto a truck. In the town of Tišča they took Alija and Fuad away from me.

I told them, “my kids are injured”. I said I would come with them but the soldiers pushed me with a rifle and said, “they’ll come back”. Alija said to me, “Mum, go. We’ll come back to you.” My babies are gone.

Mum and I are going to the UN base in Potočari. We’ve just said goodbye to my brother and Dad. They’re going through the woods to safety. We hugged each other. We all said we’ll see each other again soon.

I’m heading to the Dutch UN base in Potočari. Mum has set off already with Abdulah and Almasa.