Source: Dnevni avaz
(Tanjug, file)
The resolution "stresses that it is important to recognize the signs of genocide in future conflicts and prevent such crimes, especially given the conflicts in the Central African Republic, Burundi and Syria."
The resolution was proposed by Republican Congressman Christopher Smith, who in his speech "stressed that the international community is almost unanimous when what it calls what happened in Srebrenica a genocide."
The paper quoted him as saying that "20 years ago by Bosnian Serb soldiers systematically killed more than 8,000 people in an area that was designated a UN safe haven."
"These brutal murders were not committed in combat, but against unarmed and defenseless people whom Dutch peacekeepers assured they would be safe if they surrendered," Smith said.
He said that UN troops were "under obligation according to UN Security Council Resolution 836 to protect civilians, even by use of force," but that "when the moment came, they offered very little resistance because military commanders had protection of UN troops and not civilians as their primary goal."
"Everyone got scared. It is easy to die in such an operation. To my knowledge, they did not send us to Srebrenica to protect the enclave, but as some kind of observers," Smith quoted a UN peacekeeper.
He expressed disappointment with such developments.
"These peacekeepers became observers of genocide, and soon they were more than that. Specifically, on July 13 Dutch peacekeepers handed over to the Serbs Bosnian Muslims who sought protection from them. They watched the men being separated from women and children, and in Bosnia, this process was already known as a sure sign of danger of death. No one ever saw or heard of these men again," said Smith, according to the article.
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