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| Europe |
| Serbia: Parliament offers Srebrenica apology |
| 2010-04-02 |
| [ADN Kronos] (AKI) - After a volatile 13-hour debate, the Serbian parliament voted early on Wednesday to issue an apology for the killing of thousands of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 in the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. The landmark motion was approved by a narrow majority and it stated that Serbia should have done more to prevent the tragedy, but stopped short of calling the killings genocide. "The parliament of Serbia strongly condemns the crime committed against the Bosnian Muslim population of Srebrenica in July 1995," says the text. The vote took place half an hour after midnight and the pro-European government, headed by president Boris Tadic, managed to get a narrow majority of 127 votes in favor of the resolution in the 250-seat parliament. "We are taking a civilised step of a politically responsible people, based on political conviction, for the war crime that happened in Srebrenica," said Branko Ruzic of the Socialist Party. Bosnian Serb forces killed about 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys after taking over the enclave in Srebrenica, which had been under the protection of the United Nations. Twenty-one deputies of former prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) voted against the motion, while other opposition deputies walked out in protest before the vote. Shortly before the vote took place, there was an anonymous call saying that a bomb had been placed in front of the parliament building, but it was a false alarm. Serbia has for years questioned the nature of the Srebrenica massacre and the vote showed that the country was still deeply divided on the issue. The motion offered "condolences and an apology to the families of the victims because not everything was done to prevent the tragedy". The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in 2007 that Bosnian Serb forces had committed genocide in Srebrenica and blamed Serbia, whose former president Slobodan Milosevic supported Serb rebellion in Bosnia, for failing to prevent it. Though the resolution did not use the word "genocide", it acknowledges the court ruling and condemns the crime. Cedomir Jovanovic, leader of the most pro-Western leaning Liberal Democratic Party, insisted the word "genocide" be included in the resolution and walked out in protest because his amendment was rejected. Nada Kolundzija, the head of parliamentary majority, said that the resolution would help reconciliation in the Balkans and "close a tragic chapter in Balkan history". "Condemning the crime against the Bosniaks of Srebrenica, while paying respect to the innocent victims and offering condolences to their families, will lift the burden off future generations," Kolundzija said. But nationalist opposition deputies used the televised debate to hurl insults at the governing majority, accusing it of treason. "History will never forgive you for what you have done today against your own people," said opposition deputy Aleksandar Martinovic. Most opposition deputies demanded that all crimes, including those against Serbs, should be condemned in one resolution. Parliamentary speaker Slavica Djukic Dejanovic said the governing majority will start work on a new resolution this week, condemning crimes committed against Serbs in the wars that followed the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. |
| Posted by:Fred |