This year is the twentieth anniversary of the genocide which occurred at Srebrenica. On 11th July 1995 the Bosnian Serb Army under General Ratko Mladić took the small town in Eastern Bosnia and then murdered at least 8,372 men and boys.
More than two years, on 1st March 1993 and Bob Stewart, as British UN Battalion Commander, ordered B Squadron 9th/12th Lancers to go into Srebrenica from our base in Tuzla. After a very difficult journey elements of the squadron made it although on arrival they were shelled and up to 20 civilians around them were killed. Shortly thereafter General Philippe Morillon, overall UN Commander in Bosnia, declared Srebrenica to be a ‘protected area’. Shortly thereafter Bob was ordered by the UN to withdraw B Squadron and its place was taken by, first, Canadian and then a year or so later by a Dutch Infantry Battalion. In July 1995, to its immortal shame, the Dutch Battalion did nothing to try and stop General Mladic from carrying out a disgusting act of genocide in which well over 8,000 people were murdered either singly or in batches.
As President of the charity ‘Remembering Srebrenica’ Bob helped to organise commemoration events in London which included a service in Westminster Abbey attended by 2,000 people, lunch in the Speaker’s State Apartments and a reception with the Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street on 6th July. On the 7th July Bob led a debate in Parliament to commemorate the tragedy of Srebrenica.
The attached photograph, taken in Westminster Abbey, shows Bob with Nedžad Avdić (who survived a firing squad despite being shot in the stomach, arm and foot) and mothers from Srebrenica who lost their families in July 1995.