Dutch investigating charge of secret Srebrenica deal that halted air strikes

The Dutch Institute for War Documentation will be reexamining the fall of Srebrenica. The new investigation follows the Argos documentary on Srebrenica earlier this year, in which former Defense Minister Joris Voorhoeve stated that the Dutch UN soldiers did not get air support when the Bosnian Muslim enclave fell in 1995 because of a secret agreement between France, Britain and the United States. Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert of Defense told the Tweede Kamer, lower house of parliament, on Wednesday that the cabinet requested the new investigation, according to the Volkskrant. Marjan Schwegman, director of the Dutch Institute for War Documentation, told NOS on Thursday that the investigation will start out as an exploratory inquiry into new available sources, given that the Argos broadcast was based on new documents. The investigation will focus on two subjects. Firstly the foreknowledge that there would not be air support and any secret agreements on that. And then possible agreements between Paris, London and Washington on air support to Srebrenica and whether the West knew about the attack on the UN enclave before it happened.