A few days after the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, the Serbian regime issued a shocking statement threatening the international community and the citizens of Bosnia: “If you bomb us, for every Serb killed, we will kill 100 Muslims.” This statement, made by Aleksandar Vucic, then the spokesman for Vojislav Seselj, head of the Serbian militia that ethnically cleansed most of Bosnia, still circulates on the internet. Twenty-nine years later, yesterday, May 23 Vucic sat in the UN Assembly, now as the President of Serbia, waiting for the vote on the resolution which would qualify the massacre of Srebrenica, with over 8,000 victims, as genocide committed by his country. This is the same Aleksandar Vucic who vows in front of the West that he will integrate Serbia into the EU, yet comes from the dark era of the Slobodan Milosevic regime. Not incidentally, Serbia remains the only country in the Balkan region that has not imposed sanctions on Moscow.
Vucic appeared to be optimist for the outcome he eventually will achieve, seemingly proud of his troubled past and the Serbian state flag on his shoulder. However, things transpired differently, the resolution establishing the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the Genocide in Srebrenica was adopted by the UN General Assembly despite strong opposition from the Serbs in Bosnia and Serbia, and despite efforts by President Vucic and his government to garner support for a “no” vote. There were 84 votes in favor, 68 abstentions, and 19 votes against. Rather than issue an apology, the Serbian authorities attended the meeting wrapped in Serbian flags.
The representative of Germany, Antje Leendertse, delivered the resolution to the UN General Assembly, which was sponsored and proposed by both Germany and Rwanda. She claimed that this resolution, which would declare July 11 as the “International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica,” was constructed using the Rwandan genocide resolution as an example. Leendertse explained that her nation wants to establish a global framework to support the survivors, pay tribute to the murdered of Srebrenica, and prevent a recurrence of Nazi Germany’s atrocities. Meanwhile, Serbian President Vucic referred to the resolution as politicized in his speech and urged member nations to abstain from voting on it. According to him, the resolution is politically motivated and has nothing to do with memories or reconciliation. Rather, it’s about something that will cause fresh wounds in this hall as well as in our region. Note that the resolution condemned the Milosevic regime of the time, which Aleksandar Vucic participated in, as accountable for the Srebrenica genocide.
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On the other hand, the president of the Serb ethnicity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who continues to deny that there was genocide in Srebrenica, has threatened that if the resolution is voted for in the UN Assembly, he will separate Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, yesterday it became known that he offered an agreement document for “peaceful separation” from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The American embassy in BiH reacted to Dodik’s statement, calling the proposal dangerous, irresponsible, and against the Dayton Agreement. Controversial politician Dodik has been sanctioned by the American and British governments for actions and rhetoric that threaten peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hungary is the only other European Union member state to stand with Russia and China, two nations that denied the atrocity in Srebrenica. While Slovakia and Greece abstained, the unwillingness to denounce the Milosevic regime’s atrocity in Srebrenica sends unsettling signals to the European Union. Strong protests that the vote would label the Serbs as a “genocidal nation” were held in Serbia after the announcement. Protests were also held in Montenegro, but the response from Serbians in the northern part of Kosovo was less severe. The Western Balkan peoples who lived through the atrocities of the Milosevic dictatorship saw the approval of the Srebrenica resolution as overdue. However, it is better late than never. It is disheartening to see the number of countries that abstained from condemning one of the most documented crimes in the world. Following the end of World War II, the largest mass murder in European history took place at Srebrenica.
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