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Leon Hartwell

Bosnians need to stare the beast in the eye

Debates over the events of the Bosnian War remain a contentious topic in modern Bosnia and Herzegovina. While competing narratives continue to divide society at an everyday level, the international community must take action to promote a shared future for the divided country.

Bosnian woman praying in the graveyard at the Srebrenica Memorial in Potočari during a mass funeral of war victims in 2020. [Ajdin Kamber | Shutterstock]

It was late at night and I sat in the back of a vehicle slowing trailing down a winding road from Budva to Sarajevo. I was a bit tired after attending a conference where, in the wake of the Russo-Ukrainian War, we mostly bashed Vladimir Putin. The irony is that the conference took place at a large, luxurious property – “Hotel Splendid” – which once featured in a Bond movie and is now owned by Viktor Ivanenko, who was once head of the notorious KGB and later the spy agency’s successor, the FSB! Afterwards, I joked with my friends that I could not help but think, “I hope no one made a Trump-like pee pee tape,” because the Hotel Splendid seems to be ripe for collecting kompromat. My fellow passengers during my Budva to Sarajevo journey were a Bosniak and a Bosnian Serb. We had an enlightening conversation, one that re-emphasised the dire need to confront Bosnia and Herzegovina’s dark history.


After I got comfortable in the back of the vehicle, my Bosnian Serb compatriot asked, “What do you Americans think about us, Serbs?” Before I could even attempt to answer, he launched into a long tirade about the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) bombings of Serb targets – first in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995, and later in Kosovo in 1999. The young man, who resides in Banja Luka, gave off the impression that he knew exactly how many Serbs – from Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo – were killed during those NATO bombings. What struck me is how emotional he became when describing those events. He recounted those bombings as if they occurred only yesterday, and as if each NATO missile left shrapnel in his body and that of every Serb, both living and dead.


At one point, I mentioned that a few days prior to our car ride I had visited Srebrenica, a site that represents the epitome of the Bosnian Serb genocide against Bosniaks. But before I could recount my impression, the young Bosnian Serb cut me off: “NATO bombings against Serbs amounted to genocide!” He complained, “Everyone’s talking about Srebrenica, but no one ever talks about the multiple genocides committed against Serbs.” Yes, he actually said it – he invoked a falsehood and even used the plural for genocide! I have conducted extensive research on genocide, I would argue that the term is sacrosanct and should only be used to imply what it is intended to mean. Nonetheless, I did not push back against those falsehoods as I wanted to genuinely listen to the Bosnian Serb’s narrative. At the same time, I could not help but think about the irony of his statement as NATO initiated those bombings exactly because Serbs were committing genocide, first in BiH, and later in Kosovo.


The first NATO bombings happened during the Bosnian War following large-scale displacement and killings of civilians by Bosnian Serbs aided and abetted by rump Yugoslavia, which by that time only consisted of Serbia and Montenegro. In Bosnia, in 1995, the Srebrenica genocide (July) and the second Markale Massacre (August) particularly united NATO to stop the Bosnian Serbs in their tracks. Those events triggered “Operation Deliberate Force”. This operation took place between August 30th and September 20th and focused on destroying 338 carefully selected Bosnian Serb military targets like heavy weapons, ammunition depots and command-and-control bunkers. NATO intervention together with major advances by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, reduced Bosnian Serb control of Bosnia from around 70 per cent to only half.


More importantly, Operation Deliberate Force stopped Bosnian Serb atrocities and played a major role in ending the Bosnian War. Shortly before he passed away, I interviewed