An apology from Prime Minister Rutte to Dutchbat III, 27 years after the fall of Srebrenica

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Almost 27 years after the fall of Srebrenica, Dutchbat III veterans had come to Schaarsbergen to catch up, to talk about their memories of Srebrenica and to support each other in their suffering that often has yet to be processed; suffering, because they were sometimes held responsible for the genocide carried out by the Bosnian Serbs under command of General Mladić.

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The world looked away

There was a blunt answer to the question ‘Where was the world?’. Rutte: “(…) this thought immediately confronts us with the dreadful fate of over 8,000 men and boys who were murdered in cold blood after the fall of Srebrenica. Where was the international community when they needed protection? The answer is as upsetting as it is blunt. The world failed them, in the most terrible way.”

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Heartbreaking choices

Rutte conceded that for a great many veterans, Srebrenica remains an unfinished chapter. “The lack of recognition is something you feel every day. Recognition of the fact that your mandate, your equipment and the military support you received during your mission were all inadequate. You were sent out into the field with an assignment that ultimately proved impossible to carry out. While at your own compound there came a point when there was a lack of even the most basic necessities.”

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Unequal battle

Kajsa Ollongren, Minister of Defence, also had strong views on the situation at that time. “(…) when the attack came and the requested assistance did not materialise, you defended Srebrenica in an unequal battle: a handful of armoured vehicles with machine guns against a superior force of tanks and artillery. Indeed, 55 of you were taken hostage by the Bosnian Serbs. And after thousands of Bosnian boys and men had taken to the mountains, you, a few 100 soldiers, received tens of thousands of terrified women and children into your care. It became a humanitarian disaster on an unprecedented scale.”

Rutte went on to say that at home there was little understanding of the impossible position of Dutchbat III and the heartbreaking choices that the soldiers had had to make, often in a split second, in the chaos around them. “And you were not given adequate support from government leaders and the military leadership, when you faced a barrage of unwarranted criticism.”

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Abandoned

Ollongren agrees that the Netherlands turned its back on the soldiers of Dutchbat III. “For too long, your experiences were not acknowledged. Perhaps most glaringly of all, not even by the Netherlands Ministry of Defence. You were heard but not really listened to. There was not enough aftercare, not enough support, and not enough correction regarding the general perception of your mission. That has left deep scars. Many of you still need care and support. A lasting shadow hangs over many lives.”

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Unjustifiable public criticism

According to Rutte, almost 27 years after the event much has still been left unsaid. “It is an oft-noted fact that the Srebrenica mission took place under a UN mandate. But that does not alter the Dutch state’s special responsibility for the circumstances in which you were deployed, the way you were treated upon your return and the lack of support given to Dutchbat III when it was wrongly subjected to so much public criticism.”