"Safe Area" Gorazde

Gorazde, like Srebrenica, was a majority Bosnian Muslim town along the Serbian border. Also like Srebrenica, the UN had declared it a "UN Safe Area," which meant practically nothing besides the intermittent presence of passive blue helmets. Telling is the fact that the term "Protected Area" was initially rejected by the Security Council.

Gorazde was continuously bombed to bits by Serb artillery, turning it into an isolated hellhole. From what I could see when we drove through the town last week, much of it remains in rubble. But unlike Srebrenica, it was never overrun and is known as the only eastern town not ethnically cleansed by the Serb army. As a result of creative map-drawing, it remains in the Muslim-Croat Federation.