'Dutch and UN' responsible for Balkans massacre

Researchers say the UN and the Dutch government must share responsibility for the massacre at Srebrenica during the Balkans War.

The report said the government sent ill-prepared troops to the enclave and the UN disregarded the danger of mass killings once Srebrenica was overrun by Serb troops.

The findings come in a 7,500-page Dutch government-commissioned report, released in The Hague, on the worst massacre in Europe since the Second World War.

Hans Blom, director of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, said: "The broad circle of those involved with this policy, and particularly its advocates, must bear a considerable responsibility for disregarding the difficulties once the behaviour of the warring factions got out of hand."

The report blames Dutch army officers for handing over Bosnian Muslim civilians to Serb forces despite their fears of widespread killing.

But it found no proof that orders for the ensuing slaughter came from Serb political leaders in Belgrade.

The report also blames the Dutch government for sending its troops into the Bosnian war on an unclear mission and that the United Nations failed to give the troops the support they needed to defend the local population.