VARIOUS: Netherlands give special award to Dutch troops who were in Bosnia during the Srebrenica massacre despite protests by Bosnian Muslims.

The Dutch government on Monday (December 4) gave a special citation to Dutchbat 3 troops who served as peacekeepers in Srebrenica, but who were unable to stop the massacre of Bosnian Muslims 11 years ago in what was supposed to be a U.N.-protected safe haven. At a ceremony in Johan Willem Friso barracks in the Dutch town of Assen, Dutch Defence Minister told Dutchbat 3 veterans, who served as part of U.N. peacekeeping forces in Srerenica at the time of the massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of Bosnian civilians in July 1995 that they had been treated unfairly. "For years, Dutchbat has been given a cold shoulder. Completely unfair, you have been blamed personally that Dutchbat could not prevent the fall of the enclave and to protect its citizens. From July 1995, Dutchbat has been left alone, discarded. What has hurt you the most, is that you have been left alone by politicians, who gave you this impossible mission." About 8,000 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica and surrounding towns who fled to the U.N. "safe area" during the war were killed by Bosnian Serb forces after the Bosnian serb troops captured it on July 11, 1995. About half of the victims were found in more than 80 mass graves in the wider area around Srebrenica, but only one third had been identified so far. The massacre in Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia is the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II. The war crimes tribunal at The Hague has described the massacre as genocide. On Monday, Haris Silajdzic, a member of the Bosnian tri-partite presidency visited women of Srebrenica who have set up an association to fight for justice following the massacre. Silajdzic said the Dutch decision was a "step back": "The United Nations have recognised the catastrophic mistake in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today we have this recognition for the Dutch battalion by the Dutch government in Srebrenica. What does it mean? I think this is a great step back. There is consternation among the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We do not understand the motives; we do not understand the intentions behind it. In any case, this is not the way to achieve reconciliation, the truth and finally justice. It looks like (former Serbian president Slobodan)Milosevic is dead but his project is going on, the legalisation of the project," Siljadzic said. One of the women in the association, Kada Hotic, who lost her husband and brother in the Srebrenica massacre, said: "They reward those soldiers for a job well done. That well done job means 10,701 victims. Not a single man taken by the Serb forces was saved. They cooperated with Serb forces and (Serb) General (Ratko) Mladic, they gathered people, betrayed them, and today they are rewarded for that. All these years we have expected justice, we expected them to show some shame and remorse, to justify somehow why they betrayed us and why we had lost our loved ones. But today we feel disappointment. We wait for justice but there is not justice, only disappointment." Another widow of the massacre, Zumra Sehomerovic, said: "I am bitter and disappointed today. Although it has been eleven years since the massacre happened my memories are still very alive, memories of the hope and trust we had in Dutch soldiers. But today we have tragedy, crime and loss of our loved ones. Instead of the 'monument of shame' we see rewards today in Holland for the soldiers serving the UN troops in Srebrenica." Protesters in The Hague, Netherlands held a poster reading: Remember Srebrenica 1995" and other posters depicting victims of the massacre and photgraphs of their funerals. One of the protesters in The Hague was Bosnian Sefkija Hadziarapovic who said: "Today we experience another shame for the entire Bosnian-Herzegovinian community, so we protest today here in The Hague against the decision of Defence Minister Kamp to give medals to the soldiers today. We understand their mission was hard, but a professional soldier needs to have an honour to do what he is told and to finish his mission." In 2002, the Dutch government commissioned a report by the Netherlands Institute of War Documentation (NIOD) which stopped short of blaming Dutch peacekeepers for failing to prevent the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. The report said the Dutch battalion which was stationed in Srebrenica had been sent on a "mission impossible" and that the United Nations and the Dutch Government should share responsibility. It did, however, condemn the troops for helping to organise the exodus of refugees gathered in Srebrenica, after which many were never seen again.

ITN Source | December 5, 2006

Tags:. .intentions. .funerals. .disappointment. .disappointed. .tragedy