The hypocrisy of the international community’s handling of the war in Bosnia to that of Ukraine
The ongoing war in Ukraine is lauded as a great defence held by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Army. Some British media have equalled his actions to Churchill’s while praising Ukrainian Army and their volunteers for defending their country. Russians are almost surrounding the capital Kyiv while they negotiate the war’s end. Many non-British journalists who have covered Bosnia compare the two wars, especially events surrounding the capital. Some of the British media, including their Prince William, believe that Ukraine is the only war Europe has had since World War II, forgetting Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Siege of Sarajevo or refusing to remember seeing that British politics prolonged the suffering of the Bosnian people.
The Siege of Sarajevo lasted from Apr 5, 1992, to Feb 29, 1996, that is 1,425 days, making it the longest siege in the history of modern warfare. The capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina became the place where its citizens had to run for cover from the Serbian snipers positioned on mountains above the city. More than 11,000 people were killed. Children were often the primary target, as were hospitals and private homes. The parliament building was destroyed, too, as was the national library.
The international community imposed an arms embargo on Yugoslavia. But this was a decision that condemned Bosnians to death. Because Yugoslavia (Belgrade) controlled the Army and earlier on had moved weapons from its former republics’ military barracks, including Bosnia. The weapons Yugoslav Army, which would redefine itself as Serbian Army, had they sent to Bosnian Serbs, and this is how they took a large part of Bosnia in the beginning. But we should not forget that as Russia withdrew from East Germany, it sent 4,000 wagons of weapons to Serbia to help them butcher its former republics. Yet no one from the international community bothered to sanction Russia then.
Bosnian Army shared weapons amongst themselves to defend Sarajevo, a city that never fell despite being under siege. However, the international community, in particular Britain and France, refused to lift the arms embargo so that Bosnians could defend themselves. The British Conservative Party’s Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd was the loudest voice in Europe against sending military aid to Bosnia. He favoured keeping the arms embargo in place, arguing that it would create a “level killing field”, even though Serbian Army and Bosnian Serbs had the advantage in weapons procurement. Hurd was also against allowing Bosnian refugees into Britain.
Bosnia was nowhere near able to enjoy international community support like Ukraine does in the current conflict with Russia. Had Bosnia been as armed as Ukraine is, the Bosnian war would not have lasted as long as it had. The country would not be divided into two entities of Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina for Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, and Republika Srpska (RS) for Bosnian Serbs.
To make matters worse, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and his daughter Sabina serving as his translator were taken hostage by Serbian Army at Sarajevo International Airport as they landed from Lisbon. European Union guaranteed President Izetbegovic that he would have a safe return to Sarajevo, yet it was not meant to be. There were no Europeans there to protect President Izetbegovic as they had promised they would. That should have been a clear indication to him that European Union wasn’t going to lift a finger to help Bosnians. Eventually, it was down to the Irish army officer, Colm Doyle, who led the European monitoring mission in Bosnia to help free him.
Every chance that President Izetbegovic had, he went to the front line to visit the Bosnian Army, which was formed of Patriotic League and Territorial Defence. He also went to work at the Presidency building, which was regularly shelled throughout the Siege of Sarajevo. If he had to leave Bosnia for peace negotiations, President Izetbegovic would be taken through a makeshift underground tunnel in which one could not stand up straight, but it was one bit of hope that prevented his assassination.
Today though, President Zelenskyy enjoys the complete protection of the West. The US had even offered to airlift him and his family at the start of the conflict. While the British government is falling over themselves to award President Zelenskyy an honorary Knighthood. British media is comparing him to Churchill as if he is the only leader ever to have stayed in his country under attack. Let’s not forget how BBC was reporting to the Serbs about the Bosnian Army trying to deblockade Sarajevo. Britain did not knight President Izetbegovic because the British Conservative government under John Major was too busy trying to paint Bosnia as an Islamic republic, so it prevents America from ending the war.
But despite the embargo, in 1994, Bosnia enjoyed the support of the Iran, Pakistan’s intelligence agencies that the New York Times described as helping smuggle weapons into Bosnia via Croatia. The driving force to arm the Bosnians was Saudi Arabia, but so was UAE, Kuwait, Brunei and Malaysia with the help of the CIA. It would be those weapons that would help Bosnia take back a large part of its territory lost at the beginning of the war.
But the Western community, which has united in punishing the perpetrator, Russia, for attacking an independent republic, Ukraine, did not have the same position on the independent republic, Bosnia. President Bill Clinton and Richard Holbrook forced the Dayton Peace Agreement on President Izetbegovic, which awarded Bosnian Serbs for committing war crimes. Holbrook wanted to further his career and was willing to do it on the blood of Bosnian victims, while Clinton wanted media criticism of his handling of the Bosnia’s war to end. Neither had any concern about what death they were condemning Bosnia to.
That will not be the same issue for Ukraine because the international community holds extreme bias, as does the international media. The bias is evident because the EU is happy to have a significant European Parliament dialogue on giving Ukraine an EU candidate status, which never crossed their minds to do the same for Bosnia or Kosovo during the 1990s wars. Bosnia has been begging for membership since the end of the 1990s war, yet the EU has gone out of its way to slap unworkable demands on Bosnia just so they never become a member state. NATO is no different in the membership requirements. Both know that the Bosnian Serbs — RS, are keeping Bosnia hostage, therefore, stopping the country from moving forward and are using that as an excuse to force Bosnia to sort it out themselves. Yet, the international community is responsible for why nothing works in the country.
But this won’t be the case with Ukraine, nor would the international community allow the same to happen. President Zelenskyy is frustrated with current events in Ukraine, but so were Bosnians for four years of rapes, tortures, killings, genocide, and the capital under siege. We understand President Zelenskyy better than any world leader does, and we are with him and the Ukrainian people. However much our economically unstable Bosnia can help, we’ll help, and our voices will be heard for Ukraine.
