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West Still Shamed One Year after Srebrenica
By Nicholas Doughty
It was that campaign, coupled with decisive U.S. commitment to a peace plan and a devastating Croat-Muslim offensive against the Serbs, which forced an end to the war that had lasted for more than three and a half years. "The sad fact of life is that it took a major, terrible tragedy to bring the international community to its senses," said one NATO diplomat in Brussels.
One year on from the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two, the major powers have brokered a peace deal and stopped the fighting with the help of a 60,000-strong peace force. But they are having serious trouble putting Bosnia back together as a state and bringing Bosnian Serb leaders to trial on war crimes charges, which are linked to what happened in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica last July.
Critics argue the West has learned nothing and is once again putting political expediency above the need for real action, by proceeding with post-war elections in September that cannot be fair and by declining to hunt down those wanted for war crimes.
"I think it is sliding,'' said Michael Williams, an expert on former Yugoslavia with the London-based International
Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). "We are unwilling to pay the ultimate price for the promises we made as part of the Dayton peace agreement," said Jonathan Eyal of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
"There is a lot of criticism at the moment, but those who have to decide on other people's lives, rather than those in the comfort of armchairs, are the ones with responsibility," said one European diplomat. Nevertheless, diplomats concede there are disagreements and frustration over how to make lasting peace in Bosnia. There is some talk of a possible manhunt to snatch Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who has defied the international community by refusing to give up power.
Only Germany seriously supports the idea, diplomats say, although some in the U.S. administration also favour it. But Britain and France remain resolutely opposed and would veto any move to change the mandate of the NATO force in Bosnia.
The question of who was to blame for allowing Srebrenica to fall remains a live debate. What is certain is that U.N. commanders and leading NATO allies knew an assault was being prepared on the town
Blame has been liberally applied to the Dutch U.N. soldiers in Srebrenica who could not prevent the killing and to U.N. commanders for refusing to order air strikes or take other action until it was too late to make any difference. Other questions remain.
Diplomats say the United States and U.N. commanders had clear evidence that massacres were taking place after the town fell but delayed passing on vital information. One of the few figures to emerge with any credit, many
diplomats say, was French President Jacques Chirac -- who had barely come into office after his election victory. When Srebrenica fell, Chirac called for a helicopter assault to recapture the town, appealing for U.S. choppers to fly in European troops.
This was too much for the United States. But Washington reluctantly accepted it would have to send troops into Bosnia to help its European allies withdraw if things got worse and joined forces with France to create real momentum for NATO air strikes. "No one comes out of it with much credit," said Williams. "What happened at Srebrenica showed the system collapsed entirely. It was the end of the U.N. operation in Bosnia."
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LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - The fall of Srebrenica one year ago marked the point of ultimate shame for the West in its dealings over Bosnia, leaving unanswered questions and bitter recriminations that still lie only just beneath the surface. The fall of what was supposed to be a U.N. "safe area" and the subsequent alleged massacre of thousands of Muslims finally proved the spur that goaded NATO into real military action for the first time -- an aerial blitz against the Bosnian Serbs.
Western officials bristle at suggestions they are not doing enough and say there is no comparison with the open
transatlantic bickering, U.N.-NATO rivalry and repeated empty threats from the West that were so common during the war. They argue that NATO has successfully ended the fighting with minimal casualties, that elections should go ahead to give Bosnia a new identity and legitimate institutions, and that a
manhunt for Bosnian Serb leaders is risky and unnecessary.
Berserkistan, July 11· World Pauses to Remember Anniversary of Srebrenica
Berserkistan, July 11· Last Muslim Soldier to Flee Srebrenica Remembers the Day
Berserkistan, July 11· Dutch Bare Scars over Srebrenica
Berserkistan, July 10 · Bodies of Some 40 Moslims Found Piled Together at Cerska
Berserkistan, July 10 · Republika Srpska Forces Finns to Abandon Mass Grave Probe
Berserkistan, July 9 · More Bodies Exhumed at Cerska Grave Site
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
SREBRENICA
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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