Legacy of Srebrenica

The headline on my Scotsman column today "Trying Mladic won't cure Bosnia's ills" perhaps gives the impression that I do not think the general should be tried for war crimes. Not true!  The column makes it clear that Ratko Mladic should face justice. But the wider point is reconciliation is a long way off and the west's failure to prevent Srebrenica's massacres had a profound effect on subsequent events. I visited Bosnia with an Edinburgh charity convoy shortly after the supposedly "safe haven" of Srebrenica was overrun and the column draws on that experience. War is a complicated, messy business and though in this case the Serbs were the main aggressors, there were atrocities on other sides too. Good Serbs deplored what was being done in their name. As an aside, one of the charity workers who went overland with us to Tuzla on that trip was a young Magnus Macfarlane Barrow, who subsequently established the very effective Mary's Meals.

Comments

[Stevie]

I read the article in the Scotman, very interesting.

OFF TOPIC

Joan, it would be interesting if you gave us a monthly update of your experiences as an MSP (including interesting moments), this could be a historic document for future generations.