Ethnic encirclement and genocide - Introduction

Vasa Cubrilovic was a Serbian historian and scholar, who in his youth was a member of the terrorist organization Mlada Bosna (Young Bosnia) and an active participant in the Sarajevo assassination of 1914. He graduated from and later taught at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Philosophy and in 1970 also took on the directorship of the Institute for Balkan Studies in Belgrade.

At the 1937 Serbian Culture Club meeting he delivered a lecture entitled "The Expulsion of Albanians" in which he called for the expulsion of Kosovo's Albanian population in the name of Serbian state interests. He justified such an action by claiming that all attempts to resettle Serbs in Kosovo had backfired and it now called for more drastic measures.

Cubrilovic proposed the use of pressure by the state to induce the Albanians to leave Kosovo voluntarily. This included harassing the clergy and secretly burning down entire sections of cities. As a more permanent solution, he endorsed a massive depopulation plan under the auspices of the Army - after arming the Serbian settlers. These actions he justified with the claim that "by winning a battle and conquering territory, the rights and properties of the conquered shall be at the victors' disposal". This would be nothing other than a modern-day ethnic cleansing.

Exactly fifty years later, the Serbian state tried to implement the plan in Kosovo and by 1991 had applied the same procedure in Croatia. Apart from a territorial appetite, the conquering intentions of the aggressor were deeply inspired by a pathological hatred, and demonstrated by such barbaric acts as the cleansing of all the occupied territories from all that is Croatian through killing coupled with the destruction of cultural monuments.

Worst hit were the Croatian settlements within areas occupied by a combined force of local Serbs, volunteers from Serbia and the Yugoslav Army. The towns were systematically demolished while the populations, comprised of Croats or other non-Serbs, were either killed or driven away.

The zeal to change the ethnic composition of the occupied areas was a reality evident in all the occupied territories. Croatian villages surrounded by settlements with Serbian majorities had the most difficult time. Violent expulsions and killings were reported in regions like Srijem, Slavonia, Baranja, Kordun, Lika and Northern Dalmatia. The intention was to cleanse the occupied zones of Croats and any traces of their presence.

Moreover, some "cleansing" actually preceded the war, clearly demonstrating that the greater Serbian aggression was actually founded on the fascist ideology of "blood and soil".

Eastern Croatia, comprised of the regions of Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja, is the only part of Croatia sharing a border with Serbia. This explains the enormous destruction in the area. Since the ethnic composition did not meet the demands of the Greater Serbian programme (Serbs are a minority in the 5 border districts), the aggressor's intention was to cleanse the area of Croats. They attempted to create artificially pure zones along the border belt.

Within the border belt, only the border areas between the districts of Osijek, Vukovar and Vinkovci have a sizeable concentration of Serb settlements. The Serbian rebellion began here with ethnic cleansing operations extending up to the Danube River border in an attempt to form a link with Serbian territory. Within this area are located many settlements with majority Croatian and Hungarian populations. These were the first on the cleansing agenda, with the ultimate aim of creating a Greater Serbia with a pure Serb nucleus in Eastern Croatia.

The first hint that Eastern Slavonia would be on the agenda was the massacre of 12 policemen in May 1991, in Borovo Selo. The village of Celija, comprised of 90.9% Croats was the first to be cleansed. The Yugoslav Army abandoned the village which the Serbian militia - Chetniks - later set on fire.

During July 1991 sporadic conflicts increased as other non-Serb villages in the zone came under the aggressor's control. Tordinci, Antin and Ernestinovo, towns with Croatian majorities were subsequently subjected to ethnic cleansing. The cleansing exponents did not spare villages like Laslovo, with a 44.7% Hungarian and 11.9% Croatian population. With the same aggressiveness, the Serbian plan of ethnic cleansing was used against Hungarian residents.

The bridge over the Danube, between Erdut and Bogojevo, is the only connection between that part of Slavonia and Backo. Since Erdut and the neighbouring Aljmas are villages with Croatian majorities, both were cleansed in order that the Serbs secure the Danube bridge.

The war began with artillery bombardment from Vojvodina, which was directed at Erdut. The attack is well-remembered by the people of the area after an unknown Yugoslav Army officer was seen on Serbian TV Novi Sad, saying, "Next time we will be more aggressive".

Soon after the attacks began, on August 1 the citizens of Erdut (54.7% Croats) and neighbouring Aljmas (81.8% Croats) - which is also a popular Catholic shrine - began a massive exodus. In Dalj (52.3% Serbs, 32.7% Croats), Croats do not form a majority, but their numbers were substantial, which was the reason for the Serbian forces to drive away this population. Those Croats from Dalj that were not killed by the occupying forces were forced to flee by raft to Osijek. After cleansing a small area, Serbian forces proceeded to attack larger population centres, villages such as Sarvas (41.9% Croat, 38.7% Serb) near Osijek, Ceric and Nustar (95.4% Croat) near Vinkovci, Bogdanovci (82.1% Croat) and the industrial zone of Borovo neighbouring Vukovar. The fate of these areas was most clearly demonstrated by the destruction of the Catholic church tower of Sarvas.

During August, the conflict had gradually spread and the circle tightened around Vukovar, a town that was planned to be the capital city of the Serbian province on the bank of the Danube River. Direct attacks began in mid-August 1991 and lasted 3 months until the fall of Vukovar on November 17, 1991. The epic of Vukovar can also be viewed in the context of ethnic cleansing.

Before attacks were launched, Vukovar was encircled from the northwest by settlements with Serbian majorities which had already been cleansed of Croats and Hungarians, and from the northeast by the River Danube and Serbian territory from which artillery shells could be launched. The encirclement was gradually completed from the south and the southeast (from Srijem), though Croats formed the majority in those areas. Serbs had previously attacked and occupied the area, forcing out local residents.