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. -News for Tue. 16 April & Wed. 17 April 2002


Top Dutch General Resigns

VOA News
17 Apr 2002 14:20 UTC
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The Netherlands' top general has resigned amid criticism that the army covered up information to protect its own reputation after the fall of a United Nations-protected enclave in Bosnia. 

General Ad van Baal's resignation comes a day after the entire Dutch government stepped down. Prime Minister Win Kok's coalition resigned following the publication of a government-sponsored report condemning the failure of Dutch peacekeepers to prevent the 1995 capture by Serb forces of the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina. 

The report, prepared by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, said Dutch U.N. troops in Srebrenica faced an impossible task, but must share blame for turning over the U.N.-declared safe zone to Serb forces. After capturing Srebrenica, the Serbs took away up to 8,000 civilian Muslim men and boys. International war crimes prosecutors and humanitarian groups say the Serbs massacred the Muslims in one of the most serious atrocities in Europe since World War II. Only about 4,000 bodies have been recovered so far. 

The Dutch parliament is meeting Wednesday to consider approving a caretaker government to lead the country until next month's parliamentary elections. 

Some information for this report provided by AP. 

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