In the Republika Srpska there are protests against a draft UN resolution on the 1995 massacre that President Dodik calls “unacceptable”.
Milorad Dodik, President of the Republic of Srpska Photo: Kirill Kukhmar/Itar-Tass/imago
SARAJEVO taz | Miloran Dodik, president of the Republika Srpska, likes to celebrate. The same thing happened on Thursday afternoon at a demonstration in the city of Banja Luka. Thousands of Bosnian Serbs applauded him. Also when he commented on the events that occurred in the city of Srebrenica during the Yugoslav War.
In July 1995, under the leadership of General Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian Serbs conquered the city, then a UN protection zone, kidnapping and murdering more than 8,000 men and boys aged 13 and over. The actions were a “mistake,” Dodik said. But he also stated firmly: “It was not genocide.”
But opponents of a UN resolution on Srebrenica, which must be approved by the UN General Assembly in early May at the behest of Germany and Rwanda, are a minority. According to the proposed resolution, starting next year, on the 30th anniversary of the massacre, July 11 will be declared “International Day of Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide.” This would mean that the “Srebrenica genocide” should be remembered on this day in all countries.
Autocrats around the world against the resolution
A vision of terror for Serbian nationalists. According to current information, Russia, China, Venezuela, North Korea, Nicaragua and probably other autocracies will vote against this resolution. However, most countries in the world are in favor, so a two-thirds majority could be enough. And that would be a satisfaction for the victims of the Bosnian war and for all human rights organizations.
In the summer of 1995, the remains of those murdered were buried in mass graves and then reburied to cover up evidence of the atrocities. The International Court of Justice in The Hague described these acts as genocide, the first in Europe since World War II. UN judges in The Hague have also found Serb and Bosnian Serb military and political commanders guilty of genocide.
The judges considered it unlikely that a mass murder of such magnitude could be carried out without planning and preparation. The shackles and handcuffs that were placed on the civilians before they were shot were organized weeks in advance, and mass graves had already been dug before the crime.
Serbs defend themselves against an alleged brand
The Serbs of Bosnia and neighboring Serbia strongly reject the draft resolution and all the accusations. They criticize the fact that he calls them a “genocidal nation.” Serbian leader Milorad Dodik reiterated that the Bosnian Serbs, who control about half of Bosnia, would secede from the rest of the country if the UN General Assembly approved the Srebrenica resolution.
Above all, he threatened that on the day of the debate in the world organization tens of thousands of Serbs would go to the monument and the cemetery in Srebrenica. You can imagine what agitated people can do. One speaker explained that he would never give in to a world in which homosexuals and “pedophiles” were in charge.
But the threat of secession is unlikely to remain effective. It has become all too clear that the main objective of Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik is to force the entire State of Bosnia and Herzegovina and international institutions to hand over state assets to the Serbian Republic. Because Putin's friend Dodik and his state, the Republika Srpska, are actually bankrupt.