AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Netherlands on Monday offered its “deepest apologies” for the role played by Dutch peacekeepers in the Srebrenica massacre, when some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed by Bosnian Serb forces there. is 27 years old.
This is the first time that the Dutch government has publicly apologized to the parents of the victims.
The few Dutch blue helmets, few in number, could not prevent the Bosnian Serb forces from invading the “safe zone” decreed by the United Nations in the late 1990s.
In July 1995, men and boys were separated from the women and taken to sites where they were executed. The bodies were thrown into mass graves.
“Only one side is to be condemned for this horrific genocide: the Bosnian Serb army. But let me be clear. The international community has failed to provide adequate protection to the people of Srebrenica and, as a member of this community, the Dutch government shares responsibility for the situation that led to this failure. And for that, we offer our deepest apologies,” said Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren, hand on heart.
The Dutch Prime Minister, Wim Kok, announced in April 2002 the resignation of his government following an official report criticizing the policy of The Hague during the events which led to the fall of the Bosnian Muslim enclave of Srebrenica.
Last month, the Netherlands apologized to Dutch UN soldiers then present in Srebrenica for the conditions in which they had to carry out their mission, angering the families of the victims.
The massacre, judged as an act of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, was the bloodiest episode of the Bosnian war of 1992-1995, which left some 100,000 dead.
(Report Charlotte Van Campenhout; French version Elitsa Gadeva, edited by Sophie Louet)
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