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UN's Highest Court Clears Serbia of Direct Responsibility for Bosnian
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Genocide
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1669223:A6F02AD83191E160AE0F4D4C45EF43879574F7DCC14957C0 But court rules
that Serbia failed to prevent genocide of Bosnian Muslims at
Srebrenica The highest U.N. court has ruled that Serbia failed to
prevent genocide of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica, but the country is
not directly responsible for the 1995 massacre.

The International Court of Justice in the Netherlands handed down the
ruling Monday.

The court was still strongly critical of Serbia, saying its leaders
failed to use their clear influence to prevent genocide.

The binding decision settles a suit brought by Bosnia-Herzegovina
accusing Serbia of masterminding the widespread ethnic cleansing of
Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the 1992-1995 war.

U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in
The Hague, already has convicted a number of individuals for war
crimes, including genocide, during the war in Bosnia.

In July 1995, Bosnian-Serb soldiers killed some eight thousand unarmed
Muslim men and boys, ignoring a U.N. declaration making Srebrenica a
safe haven for Muslim civilians. It is considered the worst atrocity
in Europe since the end of World War II.

U.N. and European Union officials have accused Belgrade of failing to
cooperate in the international hunt for former Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic, and Karadzic's wartime military chief, Ratko Mladic.

The two fugitives - thought to be hiding in the region with supporters
- face genocide charges for a range of wartime atrocities, including
the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica. Thousands of Muslim men and boys were
killed in that enclave after Serb forces overran it. The massacre is
considered the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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