The year 1995 began with relative quiet in Bosnia, as the Carter-negotiated ceasefire took hold in most parts of the country. Karadžić entered the New Year euphoric over his diplomatic triumph in luring Carter to Bosnia, believing that he and his cause had gained much-needed international validation by the former president’s visit. Sensing that the fate of his Serb utopian dream hung in the balance, Karadžić redoubled his efforts to win diplomatic recognition of a separate Bosnian Serb state. He feared, however, that his enemies would violate the ceasefire before it expired and renew their military threats to the Republic of Serb Krajina and the Republika Srpska. He and Mladić, like the leaders of other military formations, used the four-month ceasefire to rest their troops, resupply their forces, and develop plans for renewed offensives in the spring. When large-scale fighting resumed in May, the VRS suffered major battlefield losses, alarming Karadžić, Mladić, and assembly delegates. In a final, desperate effort to fulfill a key strategic objective by making eastern Bosnia an all-Serb region, Karadžić turned to planning the deed for which he will be most remembered: the genocide of thousands of Bosniaks around Srebrenica. This chapter relates how the Srebrenica genocide came about.

Srebrenica

By summer 1995, fear and squalor prevailed in Srebrenica, once a picturesque mountain village with flowering plants on every street-facing balcony. One of three government-held urban enclaves in eastern Bosnia under VRS siege, the town had swelled to 40,000, many times its prewar population of 5,746, with the influx of Bosniak refugees driven by Serb forces from nearby villages.Displaced persons and long-time inhabitants alike were malnourished, having become largely dependent for food on UN humanitarian convoys that the besieging Serbs only sometimes permitted to reach the town. Municipal services broke down. The once-pristine streets and apartment buildings were piled with heaps of stinking, rotting garbage. Medical services were strained to the breaking point, and surgeons operated without anesthesia and electricity.