Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rute has apologized to Balkan war veterans for the moral consequences they suffered for more than 25 years for denying victims protection before the Srebrenica massacre.
Rutte said the Dutch forces of Dutchbat III were stuck between ‘a rock and a wall’ with “an inadequate mandate, equipment and military support” for a mission that “proved impossible to accomplish”, in a speech in which he exonerated veterans. : “The only ones responsible for the genocide were the Bosnian Serbs.”
Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic entered the city on 11 July 1995 and, after negotiating with the United Nations peacekeeping forces (UNPROFOR) to withdraw from the area, proceeded to execute some 8,100 men, boys and youth. The women and girls were transferred, after arduous negotiations with the UN, to Bosnian territory.
About 400 Dutch soldiers withdrew, leaving about 350 men unprotected before the massacre.
The Dutch Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the state had limited responsibility for the deaths of around 350 men who came to apply to enter the base by Dutch forces but were expelled and ultimately fell into the hands of Bosnian Serb forces. .
“The world has failed them in the most terrible way. For more than 8,000 men and boys, there was no protection, no safe haven. And we in the Netherlands will always be linked to them by history. Today and every day”, lamented the Prime Minister, in his speech in Schaarsbergen, where a minute of silence was observed for the civilian victims in Srebrenica and for the two deceased Dutch soldiers.
Source: Observadora
