London - A former chief UN war crimes prosecutor for former Yugoslavia called yesterday for a South Africa-style "truth commission" to investigate ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses during the 1992-95 Bosnia war.
Mr Richard Goldstone, a South African judge who was prosecutor at tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, told the Royal Institute of International Affairs in Britain that a truth commission could provide a fuller picture than the slow-moving prosecution process and help reconciliation in the Balkans.
His successor as chief prosecutor, Ms Louise Arbour, of Canada, has expressed doubts about the idea, arguing that it would complicate the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.