From: Miroslav Antic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Human rights group slams West for Milosevic's crimes in Bosnia
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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Human rights group slams West for Milosevic's crimes in Bosnia
(cross-posting of comments only permitted)
The Bosnian branch of the Society for Threatened Peoples has welcomed
the indictment of Slobodan Milosevic for genocide and crimes against
humanity in Bosnia. But the Society points out that some share of
responsibility lies with the foreign powers that made it possible for
the genocide to proceed unimpeded, while those foreign powers continued
to treat Milosevic as a strongman they could do business with, the
"guarantor of stability" in the region.
The French parliamentary commission of inquiry on Srebrenica is said to
be close to issuing its report. Moves to make the Dutch government
inquire into the conduct of DUTCHBAT at Srebrenica have hit dead ends;
the matter remains where it has been since 1996 -- in the hands of the
Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), which now promises
to have its report ready by mid-April 2002
<http://www.riod.nl/Srebrenica.html>.
There has been no official move to examine the UK's responsibility for
enabling genocide in Bosnia, although Brendan Simms' book _Unfinest
Hour_ makes a persuasive case that such an inquiry is overdue. And even
though, during all but the last few months of the 1992-95 war, two
successive US administrations contributed their share to making genocide
possible in Bosnia, there has been no serious attempt to look into
questions of responsibility. While a war crimes prosecution may not be
in the cards, surely some measure of honest self-reflection is not too
much to ask for.
Andras Riedlmayer
========================
Agence France Presse
November 23, 2001
Human rights group slams West for Milosevic's crimes in Bosnia
SARAJEVO, Nov 23 (AFP) -- An international human rights group
welcomed Friday's genocide charge against Slobodan Milosevic for his
role in Bosnia's war but slammed Western countries for turning a blind
eye to crimes committed there.
"Not only did the West refuse to admit Milosevic's responsibility for
the attack on the internationally recognized and independent
Bosnia-Hercegovina, but they even made him a partner in peace
negotiations after the Srebrenica massacre," the Bosnian branch of the
Society for Threatened Peoples said. The massacre referred to in the
statement from the Luxembourg-based organization was one of the
bloodiest episodes in the Balkan wars, when up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslims
are thought to have been systematically killed.
Milosevic, on Friday became the first former head of state to be
indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) for genocide committed during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
The former Yugoslav president was one of the signatories of the
US-sponsored Dayton peace agreement that ended the war.
The agreement was also signed by the then presidents of Bosnia and
Croatia, Alija Izetbegovic and Franjo Tudjman, respectively.
In all, Milosevic will face 29 counts of war crimes and crimes
against humanity committed in Bosnia, including the charges for the
Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, after Bosnian Serb forces overrun the
UN-protected zone in eastern Bosnia.
"France, Great Britain and Russia supported and even aided
Milosevic's regime," the Society for Threatened Peoples said.
"British and French commanders of IFOR (the UN peacekeeping mission
in war-time Bosnia) denied that war crimes were being committed in order
to avoid military intervention by NATO," it added.
Justice will be met only if Milosevic's "Western accomplices" be also
indicted for the support they provided him, the organization concluded.
.
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