BOSNIA - REQUEST FOR GUIDANCE ON FINDING OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SARAJEVO 000596

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR (DICARLO),EUR/SCE (HOH, SAINZ, FOOKS,
STINCHCOMB),L

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KAWC BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA - REQUEST FOR GUIDANCE ON FINDING OF
GENOCIDE IN SREBRENICA

REF: SARAJEVO 456

Classified By: Ambassador Douglas McElhaney. Reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph four.

U.S. Must Vote on Whether to Acknowledge Geneocide
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2. (C) At the March 12 Foundation of Srebrenica-Potocari
Memorial and Cemetery Executive Board Meeting, ("Foundation")
Amor Masovic, Co-Chairman of the Foundation, proposed
changing the name of the Foundation to include the phrase
"victims of genocide." This proposal stems from the recent
verdict of the International Court of Justice confirming that
genocide took place in Srebrenica in July, 1995. The
Ambassador is a voting member of the Executive Board and will
be asked to vote on the name change initiative at the next
Executive Board meeting, which could be held as early as next
week. Based on their comments at the March 12 Foundation
meeting, we anticipate that all other Executive Board voting
members including the Chair Beriz Belkic, Co-Chair Amor
Masovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina's High Representative
Christian Schwarz-Schilling, BiH Islamic Community
representative Reisu-l-Ulema Mustafa effendi Ceric,
International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) Director
General Kathryne Bomberger and the Ministry for Human Rights
and Refugees will support the name change.

Background on Srebrenica Foundation
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3. (U) The Foundation was established in May 2001 by then
High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch, who designated the
battery factory site in Potocari as a memorial and cemetery.
(Note: More than 5000 Bosnian Muslims sought refuge in the
battery factory when General Ratko Mladic entered Srebrenica
to claim the town for Bosnian Serbs in early July 1995. The
factory was then used as the staging ground for the massacre
of more than 7000 men and boys by General Mladic and his Army
of Republika Srpska forces. End Note.) When the Foundation
was established, victims' associations, including the Mothers
of Srebrenica, insisted the USG have a permanent seat on the
Executive Board. In August, 2002 U.S. Ambassador donated $1
million to the Foundation. Since 2001, more than 2000
Srebrenica victims have been laid to final rest in the
cemetery and plans for a memorial room project have been
finalized.

Action Request
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4. (C) Post requests guidance on two separate but related
issues. First, we request Department concurrence to vote in
favor of renaming the Foundation, the "Foundation of
Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial and Cemetery of Victims of
Genocide." Second, we request a Department determination
whether genocide occurred in Srebrenica and whether the USG
can publicly acknowledge that fact. It goes without saying
that if the U.S. cannot make a determination that the 1995
massacres in Srebrenica were genocide and we must either
oppose or abstain the motion to rename the Foundation, it
will have political repercussions in Bosnia and damage our
ability to advance U.S. objectives in the country.
MCELHANEY