Annan lifts blame from Dutch

United Nations - The United Nations yesterday lifted the blame from a Dutch peacekeeping battalion for failing to prevent the…

United Nations - The United Nations yesterday lifted the blame from a Dutch peacekeeping battalion for failing to prevent the massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in the UN-designated safe area of Srebrenica in 1995.

A report by the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, said the policy of safe areas was flawed and peacekeepers were sent into indefensible positions with an inappropriate mandate. The UN Security Council should have approved "more decisive and forceful action to prevent the unfolding horror," it said.