NETHERLANDS: DUTCH GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT INTO SREBRENICA MASAACRE ASSIGNS WIDESPREAD POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC BLAME.
Record ID:
647396
NETHERLANDS: DUTCH GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT INTO SREBRENICA MASAACRE ASSIGNS WIDESPREAD POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC BLAME.
- Title: NETHERLANDS: DUTCH GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT INTO SREBRENICA MASAACRE ASSIGNS WIDESPREAD POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC BLAME.
- Date: 10th April 2002
- Summary: (U5) THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (APRIL 10 2002) (REUTERS) 1. GV: EXTERIOR PARLIAMENT BUILDING IN THE HAGUE 0.02 2. GV:NIOD OFFICIALS PRESENTING REPORT 0.05 3. MV/PAN: DUTCH PRIME MINISTER WIM KOK AND EDUCATION MINISTER LOEK HERMANS LISTENING 0.15 4. MV: HERMANS RECEIVING THE REPORT 0.21 5. CU/TILT: REPORT - SEVEN BOOKS SIX THOUSAND PAGES 0.30 6. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) PROFESSOR HANS BLOM SAYING "It was neither the parliament nor the media that forced the government to deploy at battalion of the air mobile brigade at the end of 1993. Instead it was at the instigation of the Dutch government itself as headed by its ministers Lubbers and Van den Broek. Along with Kooijmans who succeeded van den Broek at the beginning of 1993. The initial hesitation of ministers Ter Beek was partly dispelled by the desire for action from some sections of the Dutch army that wanted to demonstrate the capabilities of its showpiece Air Mobile Brigade at a time of cutbacks. The political world paid little heed to the fact that this had been criticised by other sections of the army." 1.09 7. MCU: TWO BOSNIAN MUSLIMS LISTENING TO REPORT 1.14 8. MV/CU: (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) PROFESSOR HANS BLOM SAYING "In practise Dutchbat was sent on a mission with an unclear mandate, to a location that was described as a safe area but where there was no clear definition of what that actually meant to keep the peace, where no peace existed without obtaining in depth information from its Canadian predecessors in the enclave without adequate training for this specific task in these specific circumstances." (VARIOUS CUTAWAYS) 1.56 9. GV/PAN: BOSNIAN MUSLIM GROUP LEAVING THE ROOM IN SHOW OF PROTEST 2.09 (U5) SREBRENICA, BOSNIA (JULY 12 1995) (BOSNIAN SERB TV) 10. GV: SEVERAL THOUSAND CIVILIANS IN POTOCARI, NEAR SREBRENICA, DUTCH U.N. SOLDIERS ON PATROL 2.15 11. MV: BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL RATKO MLADIC TALKING TO DUTCH U.N. SOLDIERS 2.21 12. MV: MLADIC STROKING HAIR OF YOUNG BOSNIAN MUSLIM REFUGEE 2.30 13. MV/PAN/GV: ARMED BOSNIAN SERB SOLDIERS WATCHING AS REFUGEES WALK TOWARDS BUS (2 SHOTS) 2.39 (U5) SREBRENICA, BOSNIA (APRIL 1996) (REUTERS) 14. GV: SKELETAL REMAINS IN EARTH 2.42 15. CU: CLOSEUP OF SKELETON 2.46 16. MV/GV: INVESTIGATORS SEARCHING AREA FOR BODIES (2 SHOTS) 3.02 (U5) THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (APRIL 10 2002) (REUTERS) 17. GV/PAN/CU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUTCH PRIME MINISTER WIM KOK SAYING "Looking back, I think that the international community could have done better in defining policies for the former Yugoslavia. The whole safe area concept, the so-called safe area concept, did not work in according to what we expected would happen." (2 SHOTS) 3.47 18. CU: REPORTER TAKING NOTES 3.52 19. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUTCH PRIME MINISTER WIM KOK SAYING "There are a lot of things to learn. And we will study the report in detail and have a full governmental response accompanying the report of NIOD for parliamentary debate. And follow-up will teach us how the future will be." 4.16 20. GV: WIDE OF KOK TALKING 4.22 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 25th April 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS/BOSNIA, SREBRENICA
- Country: Netherlands
- Reuters ID: LVA89PNE1FMWUXZWNI4C8EXDBVFM
- Story Text: An official report from the Netherlands has said that
Dutch United Nations (U.N.) troops had an impossible mission
in Srebrenica, but became collaborators to "ethnic cleansing"
after the bloody 1995 fall of the Bosnian enclave.
The Netherlands' official account of Europe's worst
atrocity since World War Two assigned wide political and
diplomatic blame for the bloodbath, when Bosnian Serbs overran
the U.N.-designated "safe area" and murdered up to 8,000
Muslim men and boys.
"Humanitarian motivation and political ambitions drove the
Netherlands to undertake an ill-conceived and virtually
impossible peace mission," said the almost 7,000-page report
by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD),
commissioned by the Dutch government in 1996.
NIOD said the "Dutchbat" battalion of lightly-armed
peacekeepers was sent with an unclear mandate to an
ill-defined "safe area" and lacked adequate training,
resources or intelligence-gathering capacities.
"Dutchbat had to keep the peace where there was no peace,"
NIOD said, adding that Dutchbat had a misplaced confidence in
the readiness of the United Nations to use air power to
protect Srebrenica.
The report also attacked the role of the international
community.
International intervention right down to the aftermath of
the fall of Srebrenica during the Bosnian war was dominated by
the "muddling on" scenario, NIOD said.
In a damning criticism of Dutch politicians, NIOD said the
cabinet, defence ministry and parliament "adopted an
anti-intelligence attitude," refusing intelligence help from
the United States because of a "lack of interest and the
negative attitude" of the military and political leadership.
A French parliamentary report last November said U.N.
members including France and Britain shared the blame for
failing to stop the July 1995 massacre, and cited a major lack
of political will to intervene.
France's report accused French General Bernard Janvier of
an error of judgement for refusing to sanction air strikes
against Serbs, as the Dutch requested.
NIOD endorsed the French report's findings that Janvier
did not make a secret deal with Bosnian Serb general Ratko
Mladic -- indicted by the Hague war crimes tribunal for
genocide in Srebrenica -- to withhold air support in exchange
for the release of French hostages.
NIOD said Dutchbat cooperated with the evacuation of
refugees after Srebrenica fell, but its noble aim --
prevention of a humanitarian disaster -- had gruesome
consequences.
"Although those refugees were themselves very keen to
leave, in the given circumstances this was tantamount to
collaborating with ethnic cleansing," NIOD said.
The military leadership was accused of an over-eagerness
to preserve the image of Dutchbat when it reported back to the
Dutch defence ministry.
"The NIOD inquiry concludes that the army top brass made a
deliberate attempt, contrary to the wishes of the (defence)
minister, to limit the flow of information and, where
possible, to avoid sensitive issues," the institute said.
Parliament slavishly followed cabinet policy in its desire
to achieve a consensus, thus undermining its own critical
role, NIOD said. And the Dutch government was accused of
sending its troops on their doomed mission for seriously
flawed reasons.
Responding to the report, Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok
said more should have been done by the whole international
community involved.
"Looking back, I think that the international community
could have done better in defining policies for the former
Yugoslavia. The whole safe area concept, the so-called safe
area concept, did not work in according to what we expected
would happen," Kok told a media briefing.
He also said the report offers an opportunity to learn and
make things better.
"We will study the report in detail and have a full
governmental response accompanying the report of NIOD for
parliamentary debate. And follow-up will teach us how the
future will be," he said.
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