Writ of summons - Van Diepen Van der Kroef

entire Safe Area only after there was no defence by Dutchbat and it was also madeimpossible for the inhabitants of the Safe Area to defend themselves. It can be deducedfrom the UN Report that the Safe Area would not have fallen if there had beenresistance. Even the Bosnian Serbs were surprised by the absence of any form ofopposition offered by the UN and Dutchbat. When the attack took place it was not atfirst, according to the UN, directed at capturing the entire Safe Area in one push. Thatchanged as a consequence of the absence of defence (see number 264 of the UN Report):‘The report of the United Nations military observers concluded with an assessment that“the BSA offensive will continue until they achieve their aims. These aims may even bewidening since the United Nations response has been almost non-existent and the BSAare now in a position to overrun the enclave if they wish”. Documents later obtainedfrom Serb sources appear to suggest that this assessment was correct. Those documentsindicate that the Serb attack on Srebrenica initially had limited objectives. Only afterhaving advanced with unexpected ease did the Serbs decide to overrun the entireenclave. Serb civilian and military officials from the Srebrenica area have stated thesame thing, adding, in the course of discussions with a United Nations official, that theydecided to advance all the way to Srebrenica town when they assessed thatUNPROFOR was not willing or able to stop them.’It is likely that the Bosnian Serbs had planned their attack some time before and that theUN was aware of that. If that is so then it is established that the UN and Dutchbat didnothing with that information.325. It follows from the above that by offering even some resistance the UN and Dutchbatcould have prevented the entire Safe Area from falling. Even the UN accepts thatresistance could have made the difference (see number 472 of the UN Report):‘It is true that the UNPROFOR troops in Srebrenica never fired at the attacking Serbs.They fired warning shots over the Serbs’ heads and their mortars fired flares, but theynever fired directly on any Serb units. Had they engaged the attacking Serbs directly itis possible that events would have unfolded differently.’© Van Diepen Van der Kroef Advocaten 2007www.vandiepen.com140