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Europe
Bosnians spurn Straw's plan for reconciliation
2005-07-01
British attempts to use the upcoming anniversary of the worst war crime in the former Yugoslavia to unite all sides in the wars in mutual forgiveness have collapsed, receiving an angry rebuff from the Bosnian Muslim leadership.

The Foreign Office had been quietly circulating proposals in the Balkans, suggesting the leaderships of Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia should issue a common declaration of "reconciliation and apology" in Srebrenica, where Serbs conducted a minutely planned massacre of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim males almost 10 years ago.

British diplomats appear to have badly misjudged the local mood, floating the notion of a common declaration aimed at healing wounds which, in the case of Srebrenica, remain fresh for the tens of thousands of relatives of the dead, many of whom have yet to locate their loved ones' remains. "This is completely unacceptable," said Edin Dilberovic, foreign policy adviser to Sulejman Tihic, the co-president of Bosnia and leader of the Bosniak or Bosnian Muslim community. "Srebrenica is the wrong place at the wrong time for a declaration of reconciliation and forgiveness. Srebrenica is special. It was a real, organised massacre. [The British] can't be serious."
Serious indeed, sometimes also bloody-minded.
Officials in Bosnia and Croatia ascribed the proposal to Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, and said it had been floated a few weeks ago by British embassies in the Balkans. "There's no formal proposal by Straw," a British source responded. He said the inter national focus on the town during the anniversary made it an ideal opportunity for "a statesmanlike initiative".

"We have encouraged the countries to consider a range of initiatives" aimed at promoting trust and cooperation, the British source said.

A senior Croatian official said he had been surprised when told of the idea. "There are only two parties who could and should apologise in Srebrenica - the Serbs and the Dutch," said Tomislav Jakic, foreign policy aide to President Stipe Mesic of Croatia. Dutch peacekeepers stationed in Srebrenica in 1995 have been criticised for abandoning the Muslim enclave to the invading forces of the Bosnian Serb commander, General Ratko Mladic.
They did, and the Dutch government later resigned in masse.
Mladic has been indicted for genocide and has been on the run from international justice for 10 years, along with his co-indictee, Radovan Karadzic. "The [British] idea is that everyone should apologise to everyone else ... It's misrepresenting what happened," said Mr Jakic. A Bosnian official said the idea was "grotesque".

Srdjan Dizdarevic, the head of the Helsinki human rights committee in Bosnia, said: "This is absolutely stupid, totally unacceptable that on the 10th anniversary there should be forgiveness for everything."

In recent days both the Serbian parliament in Belgrade and the Serbian caucus in the Bosnian parliament have refused to adopt or have vetoed declarations denouncing the Srebrenica massacre. The reformist Serbian president, Boris Tadic, is to attend the commemoration in Srebrenica despite the opposition of the relatives of the victims.
Posted by:Steve White

#3  Question: How many bitch-slaps does it take for a Moonbat to admit he's deranged?

Okay, I know, trick question.
Posted by: .com   2005-07-01 12:55  

#2  Straw is one of those Brits who firmly believes his ethical and political principles and therefore goes marching off without a speck of data to back him up.

See: warm approach to Iran.
Posted by: too true   2005-07-01 09:24  

#1  Come on. My effigy would look great!!
Posted by: Armchair in Sin   2005-07-01 01:26  

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