"WE'RE FACING A GENUINE CASE OF GENOCIDE" - EMMA BONINO, EU COMMISSIONER (17 JULY 1995)

Here is one of the reports from the ground published on 17 July 1995 in Ocala Star-Banner following the fall of Srebrenica:

"The Muslim enclaves in Bosnia are no longer viable and have to disappear. If not we will take them by force." - Radovan Karadzic

Serbs promise to cleanse east of Muslim areas

Aid workers hear refugees tell of executions, other atrocities.

By Tracy Wilkinson

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - The collapse of a second U.N.-protected "safe area" drew closer Sunday as Bosnian Serb infantry, backed by tanks and artillery and ignoring NATO warplanes above, advanced on the heart of the Muslim enclave of Zepa.

Many of the 16,000 Muslim [Bosniaks] villagers trapped in the mountainous eastern enclave hid in basements or in caves while a small contingent of Bosnian government troops vowed to fight "to the last soldier."

Most of the 79 Ukrainian U.N. peacekeepers who had been statione to defend Zepa retreated to a base inside the town after their weapons were seized by government forces.

"They (the Serbs) are in the enclave. They have encroached. They have advanced," U.N. spokesman Alexander Ivanko said. "The future (of Zepa) is not extremely bright."

Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic served notice that his forces intend to conquer all the land east from Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, to Serbia.

"The Muslim enclaves are not viable and must disappear, or we will do it by force," Karadzic said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Relief workers in the Bosnian city of Tuzla began documenting the atrocities suffered by Muslims who were deported from Srebrenica, the first protected enclave to fall to the Serbs. Refugees who fled to Tuzla have reported seeing women taken away from Serbian soldiers, presumably to be raped, and seeing men executed.

"We are facing a genuine case of genocide," said Emma Bonino [official web site], the European Union's commissioner for humanitarian aid, who was sent to inspect the handling of the refugees in Tuzla - itself another so-called safe area.

Government and relief officials say approximately 23,000 refugees - the vast majority women, children and the elderly - have reached Tuzla after the Serbs expelled them from Srebrenica. An estimated 15,000 people remain unaccounted for, including 4,000 men and boys thought to be held at a soccer stadium in the Serb-held town of Bratunac.

As concern for the fate of the missing grew, the International Committee of the Red Cross ended three days of negotiations with Bosnian Serb political leaders and said the Serbs had agreed "in principle" to grant them access to the detainees.

A spokesman for Karadzic confirmed that the Serbs are holding an unspecified number of men, whom he characterized as "prisoners of war."

Reporters and relief workers have gathered witness accounts indicating that a considerable number of women and girls were pulled from the buses and trucks that carried the refugees away from Srebrenica. Refugees also said they saw Serbs slitting the throats or stabbing several men and boys.

Bosnian Serb commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, an accused war criminal who directed the capture of Srebrenica, had assured the frightened Muslims that they would be treated well and had nothing to fear.