The Death of Denial: Bosnian Serb govt. admits Srebrenica massacre

For the skeptics around here...

10 November 2003
The Death of Denial

Now that the Republika Srpska government has admitted there was a massacre in Srebrenica, an all-embracing reconciliation process is now needed.

A report leaked to the Banja Luka independent ATV station last week suggests that the government of Republika Srpska now accepts that most of the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men captured by Bosnian Serb forces after the fall of Srebrenica were executed by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS).

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According to now huge body of evidence, the Srebrenica men and boys were captured, divided into groups, executed, buried, and reburied in an entirely orderly and rather dispassionate fashion.

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In March, the Human Rights Chamber of Bosnia, a judicial body, found that the human rights of family members of Bosnian men and boys who "disappeared" in the wake of the fall of Srebrenica had been violated by the continuing refusal of the Republika Srpska authorities to inform them of what had happened to their relatives. The government was ordered to disclose immediately all information that might help establish their fate and whereabouts and all details about the location of mass graves containing the bodies of Srebrenica victims. In addition, the government was ordered to pay 2 million convertible Deutsche marks ($950,000) to the Foundation of the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial and Cemetery.

The government agreed to pay in full. In July, (Republika Srpska Prime Minister) Ivanic's successor Dragan Mikerevic attended a funeral of Srebrenica victims, telling their families it was "obvious that a crime was committed in Srebrenica".

Last month, High Representative Paddy Ashdown gave Banja Luka six months to produce specific information about the victims of the massacre.

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It also confirmed that Republika Srpska’s political class has not yet come to terms with the notion that it is their responsibility to lead, and lead quickly, in dealing with the recent past. The ATV leak was a rather cowardly probe. Rather then directly telling the public in Republika Srpska of their new position on the massacre in Srebrenica, Ivanic and Mikerevic first tested it through an independent TV station. Clearly, they still felt uncertain how the public would react. As it happened, there were not that many negative reactions, so there was no need to disown the report. What's more, Mikerevic readily went on to complain how difficult it is to find public figures willing to serve on a commission to establish facts about the massacre and appealed to none else than the Human Rights Chamber to help him find some luminaries.

However farcically, the scene is now being set--almost by default--for the government to tell the Republika Srpska public about Srebrenica openly and officially.
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None of this means that Ivanic and Mikerevic are entirely wrong or insincere when they complain to international representatives that going too far too soon on the Srebrenica front could be dangerous for them. There are still powerful underground forces at work over which the government has no control. Those forces are linked to indicted war criminals such as Karadzic and do not shy away from using any means necessary to protect their interests. The government should therefore play its cards very carefully, but it should play them very soon.
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http://balkanreport.tol.cz/look/BRR/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=6&NrArticle=10948

here's the actual news story:

10 November 2003
Reluctant Confessions

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina--In a 3 November broadcast, Alternative Television (ATV) in Banja Luka, the capital of the country’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity, reported some of the contents of a classified government report which admitted to the mass slaughter of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995.

It was the first time that authorities in Republika Srpska have admitted that the Bosnian Serb Army was responsible for the killings in Srebrenica in July 1995. Between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), mostly men and boys, were massacred and then buried--and reburied--in mass graves.

“We have evidence that between 14 and 17 July, the majority of the captured Bosniaks were transported to Zvornik in trucks, and later separated on several locations, where they were executed and buried,” ATV journalists said, citing the report. “We have information that later, those mass graves were dug up, and the bodies moved to other locations.”

Government authorities in Republika Srpska have confirmed that the document is authentic. The leaked report is a revision of an earlier report issued by Republika Srpska authorities at the request of the international community in Bosnia, under the authority of the Office of the High Representative (OHR).
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The report also draws on information from the confession of Momir Nikolic, the assistant commander of security and intelligence for the Bosnian Serb Army’s Bratunac Brigade. Nikolic recently pleaded guilty to the ICTY of Srebrenica- related crimes.

Witness testimonies and information from the Republika Srpska Defense Ministry, Interior Ministry, and Intelligence Security Service (OBS) were also utilized. The defense and interior ministries took statements from some 30 army officers, police officers, and soldiers who were involved in the attack on Srebrenica, codenamed “Operation Krivaja ’95.”

According to ATV, new information in the report includes lists of the police and Bosnian Serb Army Drina Corps units that were involved in the operation, but there is no mention of who gave the orders.

Only the statement of Mirko Jankovic, the wartime commander of the Bratunac Military Police Platoon, names someone responsible.

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According to Jankovic, Nikolic had told him that mass-grave relocation was under the supervision of Colonel Ljubisa Beara, the wartime chief of security for the Bosnian Serb Army. Beara has been indicted by ICTY and is currently in hiding.

PRESSURE FOR MORE INDICTMENTS

After the report was leaked to the media, Republika Srpska Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic said that Bosnian Serbs need to know the truth about Srebrenica because what happened there is not the collective responsibility of Bosnian Serbs.
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Further information from the Republika Srpska government about the Srebrenica massacre is expected in the next six months. At the request of the government of Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s human rights judicial body, the Human Rights Chamber, has ordered the formation of a special commission to collect evidence about the Srebrenica massacre.<more>

--by Anes Alic

http://balkanreport.tol.cz/look/BRR/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle=10941

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they do usually come out in force.