Srebrenica massacre – 20th anniversary

1992: Bosnia-Herzegovina declares independence from Yugoslavia. War erupts between Serb, Croat and Muslim factions. Bosnian Serbs, under Radovan Karadzic, lay siege to Sarajevo

1993: Amid reports of ethnic cleansing, UN declares safe havens for Bosnian Muslim civilians

1994: Battalion of 570 Dutch troops assumes UN peacekeeping duties in Srebrenica enclave

Jul 6-10, 1995: Bosnian Serb forces attack Srebrenica. Around 30 Dutch troops taken hostage

Jul 11: Over 20,000 refugees flee to main Dutch base at Potocari. UN airstrikes on Bosnian Serb positions suspended after Serbs threaten to kill Dutch hostages. Bosnian Serb troops under General Ratko Mladic enter Srebrenica

Jul 12: Bosnian Serb forces begin deporting women and children and separating out all males aged 12 to 77 for “interrogation”

Jul 13: Dutch troops hand over 5,000 civilians sheltering at Potocari to Bosnian Serb army in exchange for release of 14 Dutch peacekeepers 

Jul 16: Reports of massacres start to emerge. Around 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys killed in Srebrenica in just three days – worst atrocity on European soil since Holocaust

Jul 1995
UN safe haven
Bosnian Serb control
Bosnian / Croat control

CROATIA
BOSNIA
SERBIA

50km
30 miles

Zepa
Sarajevo
Srebrenica
Tuzla
Potocari
Bihac
Gorazde

Serb control

Picture: Getty Images