NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: The Serbian parliament passed a landmark resolution Wednesday condemning the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of over 9,000 Bosnian Muslims but stopped short of labelling the killings a genocide.
The ruling coalition of pro-Western democrats and socialists hopes to win EU and investor favour with measure, which was adopted after debate over nearly 13 hours broadcast on live television. The adoption of the text with a majority of 127 of the 173 lawmakers ends years of denial by Serbian politicians about the scale of the killings.
"We are taking a civilised step of politically responsible people, based on political conviction, for the war crime that happened in Srebrenica," said Branko Ruzic, whose socialist party was led by strongman Slobodan Milosevic during the 1990s.
According to the latest estimate by the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Bosnian Serb forces led by general Ratko Mladic killed 9,210 Bosnian Muslim men and boys after taking over the eastern enclave that was put under the UN protection. The massacre is Europe's worst atrocity since the Second World War.
Belgrade applied for European Union membership in December but must capture and send Mladic to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague before starting talks. The former general is believed to be hiding in Serbia. >>> AFP, NRC, Reuters | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
