Gorazde 1995 -

The fall of Srebrenica sent a clear message to the defenders of Gorazde: The UN will not protect you. If you surrender, you will be killed. If you fight, you will die fighting.

July 1995. The hills around Goražde were on fire.

In the summer of 1995, while the world’s eyes were fixed on Srebrenica and Sarajevo, the small Drina River city of Goražde faced its own Armageddon. gorazde 1995

NATO’s General Bernard Janvier and UN commander General Rupert Smith issued an ultimatum so severe that it shocked even the war-hardened journalists in Sarajevo: All Bosnian Serb heavy weapons must withdraw 20 kilometers from the center of Gorazde. All artillery and mortars must be removed from the surrounding hills. There would be no negotiation. The deadline was 48 hours.

: Major James Westley's book, Operation Insanity , provides a personal account of the mission to save the town's population. The fall of Srebrenica sent a clear message

By mid-1995, Goražde was one of six UN "Safe Areas" established by the UNPROFOR mission. But unlike Srebrenica and Žepa, which fell to Bosnian Serb forces that July, Goražde held the line.

While Srebrenica became a symbol of NATO’s failure and the impotence of UN peacekeeping, Gorazde became the turning point—the enclave where the West finally drew a line in the sand. To understand the end of the Bosnian War, one must understand the siege of Gorazde in 1995. July 1995

In April 1993, the UN Security Council declared Goražde a "safe area" under Resolution 824 , theoretically protecting it from military attack.

The legacy of Gorazde 1995 is the modern doctrine of “protection of civilians.” It proved that air power, if used decisively and without UN dual-key paralysis, could halt ethnic cleansing. It also proved the tragic lesson that the West will only act when the media shames it into doing so.