Some 8,300 men and boys were later found to have been murdered at Srebrenica, another haven, after Dutch soldiers who were part of a United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in Bosnia had withdrawn from the town.
More than a quarter of a century on, the killings at Srebrenica, for which Bosnian Serb leaders were later convicted of genocide, remain the single worst atrocity conducted on European soil since the end of the Second World War.
Now a new Bosnian film widely praised by critics looks set to shine the spotlight on Srebrenica - and the disastrous failure of the UN peacekeeping mission in the region as Yugoslavia collapsed into civil war and ethnic violence - once again.
Directed by Jasmila Zbanic, a survivor of the near-four-year siege of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces, Quo Vadis, Aida? is nominated as best international feature film at the 2021 Oscars, and has also been nominated as best foreign language film at the UK’s BAFTA awards.
But declassified British government documents examined in depth by Middle East Eye reveal just how close another Muslim enclave at Gorazde, where British soldiers made up the main contingent of peacekeepers, came to facing the same fate as Srebrenica.
The papers paint a vivid behind-the-scenes picture of world leaders endeavoring to select the least-worst options from those that advisers placed before them, at a time when events were moving rapidly, the intelligence picture was frequently cloudy, and public opinion was becoming increasingly febrile in response to 24-hour media coverage of the crisis.
They show that John Major, the British prime minister, was reluctant to reinforce Gorazde in order to protect its population of more than 30,000, despite, as his private secretary put it, "the distressing scenes now daily on our television screens”.
And they reveal that the Ministry of Defense drafted emergency plans for the evacuation of British troops from the area around Gorazde in July 1995 at the exact moment that genocidal slaughter was underway at Srebrenica and a third enclave, Zepa, had come under attack.
Gorazde, located on a strategically vital crossroads and surrounded by towering cliffs, was highly vulnerable to attack following the fall of Srebrenica and Zepa.
More than a quarter of a century on, the killings at Srebrenica, for which Bosnian Serb leaders were later convicted of genocide, remain the single worst atrocity conducted on European soil since the end of the Second World War.
Now a new Bosnian film widely praised by critics looks set to shine the spotlight on Srebrenica - and the disastrous failure of the UN peacekeeping mission in the region as Yugoslavia collapsed into civil war and ethnic violence - once again.
Directed by Jasmila Zbanic, a survivor of the near-four-year siege of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces, Quo Vadis, Aida? is nominated as best international feature film at the 2021 Oscars, and has also been nominated as best foreign language film at the UK’s BAFTA awards.
But declassified British government documents examined in depth by Middle East Eye reveal just how close another Muslim enclave at Gorazde, where British soldiers made up the main contingent of peacekeepers, came to facing the same fate as Srebrenica.
The papers paint a vivid behind-the-scenes picture of world leaders endeavoring to select the least-worst options from those that advisers placed before them, at a time when events were moving rapidly, the intelligence picture was frequently cloudy, and public opinion was becoming increasingly febrile in response to 24-hour media coverage of the crisis.
They show that John Major, the British prime minister, was reluctant to reinforce Gorazde in order to protect its population of more than 30,000, despite, as his private secretary put it, "the distressing scenes now daily on our television screens”.
And they reveal that the Ministry of Defense drafted emergency plans for the evacuation of British troops from the area around Gorazde in July 1995 at the exact moment that genocidal slaughter was underway at Srebrenica and a third enclave, Zepa, had come under attack.
Gorazde, located on a strategically vital crossroads and surrounded by towering cliffs, was highly vulnerable to attack following the fall of Srebrenica and Zepa.
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