Inside Story

Serbia’s Srebrenica apology

Is this just another attempt by Serbia to improve its chances of joining the EU?

Just one day after apologising for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Serbia is drafting a new declaration to commemorate their own victims of the Balkan wars.  

After 13 hours of heated debate, Serbia’s parliament has finally passed the landmark resolution on Wednesday, condemning the massacre of around 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, and admitting they should have done more to prevent the tragedy.

Approved by a narrow majority, Serb politicians apologised to the families of victims, but stopped short of calling the Srebrenica killings genocide.

Is there more to this apology than meets the eye, and is it 15 years too late? Is it another manoeuvre by Serbia to improve their chances of joining the EU?

Joining the show are Emir Suljagic, a journalist and the author of Postcards from the Grave, a first-hand account of the Srebrenica Massacre, Kurt Bassuener, the senior associate at the Democratisation Policy Council, and Slobodan Samrdzija, the assistant editor of Foreign Desk Politika, a Serbian daily newspaper. 

This episode of Inside Story aired from Thursday, April 1, 2010.