12/07/1995 | Page 5 of 14 | Voices from the Drina

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🧵 I’m going try to write down how @unproforbih’s Colonel Franken may have just decided the death of a young Muslim man, @nuhanovichasan’s brother, Muhamed.

We decided to at least try to save Hasan’s brother from being handed over to the Serbs. We eventually decided that the best option would be to put him on the list of UN Staff as a recently employed cleaner.

There were 17 names on the list; his name was the eighteenth, the last to be written on the list. When Franken got to the list with our names, he picked it up from the table and carefully examined each name. He slowly got down to the bottom of the page and then suddenly stopped.

‘Who is this?’ He asked. With a straight face my colleague Colonel de Haan said that he had been hired two weeks before, but that because of the Serb attack it had not been possible to deal with formalities such as a contract.

‘Who is this?’ He asked. With a straight face my colleague Colonel de Haan said that he had been hired two weeks before, but that because of the Serb attack it had not been possible to deal with formalities such as a contract.

“No, that’s not true,” said Franken. Franken took a pink marker and crossed out a name, a person, a life. Muhamed Nuhanović. He’s 19 years old. He has never fought on the frontline. But now, because of Franken, he will be separated from his family by Serb forces.

UNPROFOR, the people I have worked for as an interpreter for the last two years, have refused to save my brother, Muhamed, from Mladić’s selection. I’m numb.

I’m heading into the woods with around 15,000 people, mostly men. I don’t want to go to the @unproforbih base in Potočari. We’re already seeing many people in the column hallucinating. It seems the Serbs are using nerve toxins again. As a doctor I’m helping those in need as much as I can. (1/2)

If I’m unable to help, it hurts me even more, as a human being and as a doctor. I’m afraid if my brother, who’s walking with me, is hit in the legs for example. What will I be able to do if that happens? (2/2)

🧵 I’ve survived being captured by Serb forces. My dad is gone. This is my story.