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Republika Srpska Forces Finns to Abandon Mass Grave Probe By Kurt Schork
"All the promises and guarantees -- surprise, surprise -- did not materialise on the ground and thanks to Republika Srpska authorities another humanitarian project was not allowed to proceed." A team of 23 Finns, funded by Dutch and Finnish governments, has been probing through hillside rubble near Kravica, eastern Bosnia, for the bodies of Muslims, shot escaping Srebrenica after the so-called "safe area" fell to Serb forces a year ago.
As many as 6,000 Srebrenica Muslims are missing and presumed dead at the hands of Serb forces. A parallel Srebrenica-related probe is going ahead in eastern Bosnia by a U.N. war crimes team digging at Cerska. The Finnish humanitarian recovery team, whose request for formal authorisation and safety guarantees was refused by separatist Serb police in eastern Bosnia, collected "25 to 35" bodies before stopping, the mission leader said.
"I'm going to send my team home next week," Raimo Sintonen told Reuterss. "If we picked up any more (skeletons) we wouldn't have time to examine them (all)." He spoke in the northern government city of Tuzla where the remains were brought. "We will try to identify them so they can be handed over to their next of kin. The bodies still have some clothes on them and maybe we'll find some papers too," he said. "DNA analysis will take two to three months after we return to Finland.
Acting for U.N. Human Rights Rapporteur Elisabeth Rehn, also a Finn, the team waited all last week for verbal approval given by acting Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic to filter down to local police near the site of the bodies. But it did not happen. Despite this, the Finns collected some remains lying exposed on a hillside in the Kravica area near Srebrenica. There was no reported police interference then but the Finns may not have wanted to push their luck.
Troops in NATO's Bosnia peace implementation force also refused to provide security for the Finns as they worked, although they are protecting the U.N. investigators exhuming mass graves of Srebrenica massacre victims at nearby Cerska. At Cerska, the U.N. team plans to dig for evidence of war crimes at several spots.
The Finns' investigation was aimed primarily at finding remains of persons listed as missing but their findings will probably also reach the U.N. war crimes tribunal at The Hague. Families of presumed victims still hope their relatives might be hiding out in rugged wooded hills which surround the area.
Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and army commander General Ratko Mladic have been indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity in connection with the sacking of Srebrenica in July 1995. |
SARAJEVO, July 10 (Reuters) - Finnish experts working under U.N. auspices have suspended efforts to retrieve skeletal
remains from Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two because of Bosnian Serb obstruction. "The Finnish expert team has effectively ceased work in the Bosnian Serb republic. Because of the obstructive atttitude of (Serb) authorities the team left yesterday evening," Alex Ivanko, a U.N. spokesman in Sarajevo, told reporters.
Berserkistan, Berserkistan, June 27 · Finnish Forensics Experts to Exhume Srebrenica Graves
SREBRENICA/MASS GRAVES
Berserkistan, July 8 · Cerska Grave Site Yields First Corpse
Berserkistan, July 7 · Excavation Begins at Srebrenica Mass Grave
Berserkistan, July 3 · Mladic Promised Safety to Srebrenica Muslims
Berserkistan, June 8 · Srebrenica Victim Graves Probed at Brnica
Berserkistan, June 5 · Mass Grave at Nova Kasaba May Hold 2700 Srebrenica Victims
Berserkistan, May 29 · Documentary Claims Serbia Provided Srebrenica Arms
Berserkistan, Massacre Hill Jim Bartlett in Bosnia's Killing Fields
Berserkistan, Ghosts in the Woods Team Berserkistan Investigates a Srebrenica Massacre Site
Serbs Massacre Muslims in "Safe Area" of Srebrenica
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia United Nations
Coalition for International Justice
Reports concerning human rights abuses in Bosnia Intac Access
Major War Criminals/Suspects CalTech's Bosnia Site
Reports on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia CalTech's Bosnia Site
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