When the UN watched a massacre unfold in Croatia

On August 8, 1995, in the Croatian town of Dvor, a band of soldiers rounded up nine disabled refugees inside a school and executed them.

Metres away, a unit of Danish peacekeepers watched the massacre unfold. They had a clear view – through the large shattered windows – into the main hall, where most of the victims were shot dead.

They didn’t know if the perpetrators were Serbs or Croats. But they had an idea who the victims were. They watched as one crumpled in a wheelchair, others on to crutches and walking sticks. They all had mental and physical disabilities.

The conflict

After the collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the region erupted into conflict. Croatia had seceded and fought Serb separatists in a war that lasted from 1991 to 1995, in which an estimated 40,000 people were killed.

In 1995, a United Nations-negotiated ceasefire came into effect. Danish forces were part of a peacekeeping mission to monitor the ceasefire.

In early 1995, a Danish company under the command of Jorgen Kold set up camp in Dvor, on the border with Bosnia.

Read More- al Jazeera

Image courtesy of al Jazeera