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| Europe | |
| Thousands mourn Srebrenica massacre victims, criticize UN | |
| 2010-07-11 | |
| Tens of thousands of people have commemorated the 15th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since World War Two in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. Survivors have expressed frustration over the United Nation's perceived failure to prevent the killing of more than 8,000 Muslims by Serb forces in July, 1995. In the summer heat, huge crowds of mourning Muslims attended the biggest funeral near the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica. A hillside was dug out with graves for 775 green-draped coffins of recently identified victims of Europe's largest mass killing since the Holocaust. The youngest victims were two boys, aged 14, who were laid to rest alongside thousands of bodies already in the graveyard. The funeral at the Potocari Memorial Center was part of the 15th anniversary commemoration of what became known as the Srebrenica massacre. Before Sunday's ceremony, relatives of two men killed by Serbian forces at Srebrenica filed a complaint with the Netherlands' prosecutor's office against commanders of the U.N. Dutch battalion, Dutchbat, which was based in the Srebrenica enclave. The complaint charges the Dutchbat commanders with complicity in war crimes, lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld explained to Radio Netherlands Worldwide. "...There is sufficient evidence for war crimes and genocide in this case. The commanders of Dutchbat have evicted the victims from the Dutchbat compound in Srebrenica on the 13th of July 1995," Zegveld said. "They have forced them to leave a safe environment. It is supported by statements made at the time by the Dutchbat military stating that they feared for the fate of the Muslim men. That they feared a mass execution. That they knew that the men who were evicted from the compound were not arriving in the safe area ... whereas the women and children did arrive." Dutch soldiers have said they were outnumbered and not able to halt the Serbian invasion.
There was no official seen from the United Nations. Interesting photo of a Bosnian activist's 'monument' to the massacre in Berlin at link. | |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #5 WAFF > KOSOVO TO ERUPT? | TADIC WARNS PRISTINIA, Repor Plan to deploy KOSOVAN SPECIAL POLICE UNITS in northern KOSOVO is tantamount to an OPEN = OVERT WAR THREAT??? POSTERS = POTUS OBAMA = USA is too heavily involved or committed to AFPAK, ETC. to become involved in any NEW BALKAN MILPOL CRISIS??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-07-11 22:16 |
| #4 No, the Serbs did NOT have it right. The Serbs made it worse: when the West wouldn't defend the Bosnians, the Muslims there turned to the Saoodis and the Iranians. We're dealing with the consequences of that today. The Muslims there were Europeanized -- that is to say, pretty darned harmless -- until the Serbs massacred them. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-07-11 18:43 |
| #3 the serbs had it right 15 years ago. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-07-11 18:23 |
| #2 the men who were evicted from the compound were not arriving in the safe area ... whereas the women and children did arrive |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-07-11 15:28 |
| #1 The monument being in Berlin, not the massacre! |
| Posted by: ryuge 2010-07-11 12:40 |