JUBA, South Sudan — In July 1995, Nedzad Handzic survived the Srebrenica massacre[1]. More than 100 of his relatives, friends, and neighbors did not.
When Serbian troops descended on the Bosnian city, United Nations peacekeepers who had declared it a safe haven stood by as 8,000 people were killed. It was a dark, shameful episode in peacekeeping’s short history, and one the UN has endeavored[2] not to repeat.
But this past December, 40-year-old Handzic felt like it was happening all over — in another conflict in another city on another continent.
On Dec. 15, he watched from inside the UN compound in Juba as terrified civilians, mostly women and children, began to throng the gates, hours after a fresh round of civil war[3] had erupted.
“When it started happening, all the memories of Srebrenica, all the faces, came back to me,” said Handzic, a father of two. The career police officer has been part of UN peacekeeping forces in South Sudan since early 2012.
“I remember thinking, ‘What happened in Srebrenica must not be repeated here.’”
(Tristan McConnell/GlobalPost)
Handzic had been awakened earlier that morning by the sound of gunfire coming from the center of the capital.
It was 1 a.m. The shooting was sporadic at first, but by dawn there was sustained gunfire all over town — some of it very close — and then the louder sounds of tanks and artillery. “Moment by moment shooting was growing, more and more,” said Handzic.
A lull in the middle of the afternoon gave civilians their chance: they grabbed their children and what few possessions they could carry and headed for the large UN base next to Juba’s airport, where they begged for protection.
At first they came in small family huddles. Then entire neighborhoods started showing up together, until there were more than 5,000 people gathered outside the UN gates.
“You could see on their faces that they were very scared. They were civilians, they were not part of the fighting,” Handzic said. “My opinion was: if we don’t open the gates these people will be killed.”
Handzic briefed his superiors. On his advice, a request was sent to headquarters in New York asking permission to open the gates to let the people in. Within two hours Handzic was at the western gate with a team of 16 UN police officers ordering it open.
“In that moment you could see they felt somehow that they were protected, they were safe now,” said Handzic.
More from GlobalPost: South Sudan has reached the lowest point in its entire history[4]
Everyone who entered was searched. As dusk fell, the terrified civilians filed in silently and lay where they could — on the dirt road or among the undergrowth on the edges — as the shooting in town grew to a crescendo again.
Other UN bases around South Sudan followed Juba’s lead. At the peak of the conflict, more than 100,000 people sheltered behind the razor wire of UN bases. Not all found protection: in April an armed mob forced their way into the UN base in Bor, attacking and killing dozens[5] of the civilians inside.
No one has yet counted the dead in South Sudan’s new civil war. An estimate of “over 10,000”[6] was made months ago and has not been updated since. Nor has the fighting stopped. But it could have been a lot worse.
“Had we not opened that gate a lot of people would have died,” said Handzic. “My very bad experience I had in my country — a situation very similar to this one — I felt it would be similar here if we did not take action.”
“My people, my relatives, my cousins,” he said, “if somebody did [in 1995] what we did here, those people would be alive today.”
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/sudan/140921/srebrenica-south-sudan-Nedzad-Handzic-survive-massacre-prevent-another
References
- ^ Srebrenica massacre (www.globalpost.com)
- ^ UN has endeavored (www.un.org)
- ^ fresh round of civil war (www.globalpost.com)
- ^ South Sudan has reached the lowest point in its entire history (www.globalpost.com)
- ^ killing dozens (uk.reuters.com)
- ^ “over 10,000” (www.crisisgroup.org)
Newer articles:
- AU urges S. Sudan's warring parties to honour ceasefire - 23/09/2014 08:36
- Scores Killed in South Sudan Fighting as Peace Talks Resume - 23/09/2014 03:33
- South Sudan facing 'biggest food crisis in the world' - 22/09/2014 19:36
- Stop-start South Sudan peace talks resume - 22/09/2014 19:31
- South Sudan's warring sides told to stop stalling - 22/09/2014 19:16
Older news items
- Kenya: Kenyans Still At Risk of Losing Jobs Under South Sudan's Foreign Workers Ban - 22/09/2014 09:41
- South Sudan: Fighting Threatens Oil Fields in Upper Nile - 21/09/2014 08:26
- S.Sudan mediators urge end to 'senseless fighting' - 20/09/2014 17:44
- South Sudan mediators condemn renewed fighting between government and rebels - 20/09/2014 16:08
- S. Sudan Mediators Condemns Renewed Fighting - 20/09/2014 16:07
Latest news items (all categories):
- علاقة عقيمة من طرف واحد - 12/04/2024 01:25
- Press Release - International poetry initiative seeks poems on African experiences of migration - 04/04/2024 23:28
- South Sudan oil revenue dwindles - 31/03/2024 00:46
- The decline of Equatoria and emergence of Jieng tribal power in South Sudan - 30/03/2024 23:10
- Both SPLM-IG's No-extension and SPLM-IO's Extension Proposals are all means for No 2024 Elections - 24/03/2024 23:14
Random articles (all categories):
- For Yahoo Messanger users on Pachodo.org - 19/03/2007 23:24
- South Sudan seeks to enhance cultural exchanges with China - 10/10/2017 09:44
- Twic East Community of South Sudan-USA Press Tributes to Hon. Elijah Malok, 1937-2014 - 04/11/2014 13:54
- Christians urge South Sudan leaders to implement peace deal - 24/04/2019 01:10
- South Sudan stops U.N. travel based on ethnicity: U.N. officials - 02/07/2014 22:50
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 30870 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 21843 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 20728 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 17219 times
- With prisons full, South Sudan to introduce mobile courts to clear backlog of cases - 11/10/2012 11:29 - Read 14199 times