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NATO and Bosnian Serbs Blamed for Failure of Finnish Forensic Mission By Kurt Schork
Manfred Novak, a specialist in the issue of missing people in the former Yugoslavia, said NATO failed to provide the security that had been requested and was partially responsible for the failure of the mission.
He also accused Bosnian Serb officials for obstructing the recovery effort, which had been funded by Finland and the Netherlands under the auspices of the U.N. Centre for Human Rights. A 23-member team of forensic specialists had tried to recover the remains of hundreds of Muslims believed killed by Serb forces while trying to escape the so-called U.N. "safe haven" of Srebrenica last year.
Novak said that while international and local politicians all paid lip service to the importance of recovering the remains of missing persons "the reality looks completely different." He added: "These types of humanitarian or human rights questions are extremely politicised, everything is very difficult to sort out.
"I also have to stress that the project would have been more successful if there would have been stronger support from the international community." He mentioned NATO specifically. Novak explained that the Finns repeatedly told NATO that the pilot project -- on a hillside in Kravica -- would require substantial security, which in the event never materialised.
He said the security needed included protection for the site and equipment left there overnight and a daily escort for the team to and from its base in the city of Tuzla.
Bosnian Serb authorities failed to provide adequate security for the team as well, which finally abandoned the search this week after receiving verbal and physical threats from Serbs and having some equipment damaged.
A U.N. spokesman said on Friday NATO was evaluating the project to see if there were any lessons to be learned.
NATO's policy is to provide general rather than site- specific security for body recovery missions although it does make occasional exceptions. The Finnish team's failure contrasted sharply with a parallel effort mounted by investigators from the U.N. war crimes tribunal who began work on a suspected mass grave in the Cerska valley this week with under a NATO security blanket.
The Finnish teams effort was terminated after only 25 sets of remains had been recovered. Human rights experts say as many as 8,000 Muslims are feared to have been killed after Srebrenica fell to Serb separatists. |
SARAJEVO, July 12 (Reuters) - A U.N. expert blamed NATO and Bosnian Serbs on Friday for the collapse of a Finnish mission to recover the remains of Muslims believed massacred outside the town of Srebrenica.
Berserkistan, July 10 · Republika Srpska Forces Finns to Abandon Mass Grave Probe
Berserkistan, June 27 · Finnish Forensics Experts to Exhume Srebrenica Graves
SREBRENICA
Berserkistan, July 3 · Mladic Promised Safety to Srebrenica Muslims
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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