Dutch Deny Fault at Srebrenica

The Netherlands on Monday denied responsibility for the fall of a Bosnian town protected by Dutch peacekeepers, blaming the United Nations instead for the “dismal failure” of its pledge to protect “safe areas.”

Srebrenica, an eastern stronghold of the Muslim-led government, was brutally overrun by Serbs on July 11. It was one of six towns the Security Council designated as “safe areas” in May, 1993, and the first of two to fall.

The 300 Dutch peacekeepers assigned to defend the town did not try to drive back the invading Serbs and have been widely accused of permitting the slaughter of thousands of Srebrenicans.

“The fall of Srebrenica was caused by Bosnian-Serb aggression, not by the way in which [the Dutch troops] operated,” Defense Minister Joris Voorhoeve told a news conference.

Any attempts to repel the invading Serbs would have resulted “in a blood bath among the tens of thousands of refugees and among the Dutch blue helmets,” Voorhoeve said, referring to the trademark headgear of U.N. peacekeepers.