West, Russia clash at UN over Srebrenica

United Nations

The UN Security Council pushed back until Wednesday a vote on a draft resolution recognizing the Srebrenica massacre 20 years ago as genocide after Russia threatened to veto the measure.

Russia, the United States and Britain were locked in tough negotiations on the text that condemns the mass killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.A council vote initially scheduled for Tuesday morning was delayed until later that day and then again until Wednesday as negotiators haggled over the use of the word "genocide" to describe the slaughter.

"This has been a difficult negotiation. Discussions have gone right to the wire," said a spokesman for the British mission. "Given the significance of the anniversary, we’re committed to getting the broadest level of support from council members. We hope this delay will allow us to do so."

As Bosnia prepares for somber national commemorations of the 20th anniversary on Saturday, the 15-member council was hoping to adopt a text that would be the first to formally recognize the atrocities as an act of genocide. Bosnian Serb leaders had called on Russia to use its veto power to block the resolution, arguing that it was "anti-Serb" because it highlighted the killings in the town in the final months of the war.

Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Petr Iliichev had described the measure as "divisive" and focused on just "one part of the conflict." The disagreement revived divisions from the Balkan wars when Russia sided with ethnic Serbs and Serbia, while western countries supported Bosnian Muslims and Croatia. 

The draft resolution has also kicked up a storm in the Balkans, where Bosnian Serb leaders have refused to recognize the Srebrenica massacre as a genocide. Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has accused Britain of trying to "register at the UN, on the basis of false declarations and reports, that a genocide was committed against Muslims."