http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2314104.ece/Karadzic_defends_role_of_
Dutchbat_in_Srebrenica
NRC HANDELSBLAD (NETHERLANDS)
Karadzic defends role of Dutchbat in Srebrenica
Published: 29 July 2009 17:42 | Changed: 30 July 2009 15:05
ANP / NRC
The Dutch UN soldiers in Srebrenica in 1995 "did the best they could in
difficult circumstances", Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic told ANP in
an interview.
The former president of the Republica Srpska, who is on trial in The Hague
on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws of
war, told the Dutch press agency ANP that it was "necessary" for the Bosnian
Serb forces to attack Srebrenica because Serb villages were being targeted
from the Muslim enclave.
"They would kill hundreds of civilians and then withdraw to the 'safe
haven'," Karadzic said.
The Bosnian Serb forces overran the Muslim enclave Srebrenica on July 11,
1995. According to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) they subsequently killed more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims.
"The tragic deaths that followed were neither foreseen nor planned,"
Karadzic told ANP.
He also said Dutchbat, the Dutch UN battalion stationed in Srebrenica, was
unfairly criticised over its role in the events. "Given the small size of
the force... it was a mission doomed to failure... It was well-known to the
United Nations that Srebrenica was not a neutral safe haven, but a
stronghold of the Bosnian Muslim army, with a reckless criminal, Naser Oric,
at its head," Karadzic said.
Dutchbat had "neither the manpower nor the political mandate" to deal with
these problems, Karadzic said.
"I hope that through my trial the Dutch public will discover the truth about
these events and realise that their boys did the best they could in
difficultcircumstances."
(The Yugoslavia Tribunal only allows written interviews that are checked by
the court registry before publication. Karadzic's legal adviser Peter
Robinson says his answers have not been censored. Karadzic himself insisted
that he would only talk about Dutchbat's role in Srebrenica. He would not
answer questions about mass graves or the war in Bosnia in general.)
Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade, Serbia, on July 21, 2008 and transferred
to The Hague on July 30. He is charged with 11 counts of genocide, war
crimes and crimes against humanity, including persecution, extermination,
and deportation during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
The tribunal was initially meant to finish all trials by 2008 and appeals by
2010. But it has recently suggested that it will only conclude its final
Karadzic trial in early 2012, while appeals may run into 2013.
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