Dutch cabinet resigns over Bosnia
The Dutch government resigned today - less than a week after a report held political leaders partly responsible for failing to protect Muslims in the UN-declared safe zone in Bosnia.
Prime Minister Wim Kok called his 15-member cabinet to a special session in The Hague to discuss the damaging report on the 1995 fall of Srebrenica published by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation last week.
The report, which took nearly six years to research, harshly criticised the government for sending Dutch soldiers into a danger zone without a proper mandate or the weapons needed to defend around 30,000 refugees who had fled to the Dutch base seeking protection.
The Dutch military was in charge of peacekeeping operations in the region when Serb forces slaughtered at least 7,500 men and boys in a week at the end of 1992-1995 Bosnia war. Initially, Dutch troops came under a storm of criticism for surrendering the Muslim refugees to the Serbs without resistance. But the report last week shared the blame more evenly among the commanders, the government and the UN which asked them to defend a "safe zone" without defining what that meant.
Mr Kok's Cabinet will continue to function as an interim government until a new government replaces it, but with no power to initiate legislation. Elections were previously scheduled for 15 May.
