Writ of summons - Van Diepen Van der Kroef

attack on the Safe Area on 6 July 1995. Dutchbat was requested by the AbiH (ArmijaBosna i Herzegovina, the Bosnian Army) to return the weapons collected in by Dutchbat(which were securely stored in the Weapon Collection Point), in order that they coulddefend themselves. That request was once again refused by Dutchbat (see page 2102 ofthe NIOD Report). Number 240 of the UN Report states on the refusal the following:‘Ramiz Becirovic, acting commander of Bosniac forces in Srebrenica, asked theUNPROFOR Battalion Commander [Karremans, lawyer’s note] to give the Bosniacsback the weapons they had surrendered as part of the demilitarization agreements of1993, but his request was refused. One of the Dutchbat Commander’s superiors, withwhom he consulted on this decision, has since stated that he supported the decision notto hand back the weapons, because “it was UNPROFOR responsibility to defend theenclave, and not theirs” (…).’As will be discussed below, subsequent requests by the ABiH and of civilians for returnof the weapons were also rigorously refused. The reason repeatedly given was that it wasthe task and duty of UNPROFOR/Dutchbat to protect the civilian population, such beinga pledge that the civilian population would be safe.92. The ABiH stated by letter in response to the attack on the Sector North East in Tuzla thatmore than 1,000 rockets/shells landed in the Safe Area on that day, of which 17 were inSrebrenica Town. ABiH General Denic urgently appealed to Dutch Colonel Brantz ofSector North East to take steps ‘to protect the disarmed population and their territory’.However, no steps were taken and nor would any steps be taken as a result of thebombardment of observation post F (OP-F) on 8 July 1995. A request for Close AirSupport as a result of that bombardment was refused. That refusal was a private Dutchaffair. The Dutch Chief of Staff, Nicolai, was opposed to this request for Close AirSupport (and as will be seen below also to subsequent requests), because, in his view,the conditions for Close Air Support had not been met. Nicolai’s Dutch superiors inZagreb, Van Kolsteren and De Jonge, concurred with that judgement (see Numbers 242and 243 of the UN Report). Nicolai made it plain that as long as the possibility remainedfor the UNPROFOR personnel to withdraw and those personnel were not actually© Van Diepen Van der Kroef Advocaten 2007www.vandiepen.com47