The role of the Dutch in the fall of Srebrenica during the Yugoslavian civil war was again in the spotlight on Friday after a newspaper claimed the defence minister called off UN air strikes.

The Telegraaf quoted a former airforce officer named Bart Wagenaar as saying he was told by Joris Voorhoeve to ring the UN and tell them to call off the airstrikes. ‘Cancel all airstrikes. I can still hear Voorhoeve saying it,’ he told the Telegraaf.

Dutch peacekeepers were in charge in the Muslim enclave, which fell to Serb forces on July 11, 1995.  The Serbs then massacred up to 8,000 men and boys, some of whom were sent out of the Dutch military compound.

The failure of the UN to provide air support to the Dutch peacekeepers in the face of the Serbian onslaught has never been properly explained.

Voorhoeve says he did indeed cancel the airstrikes but only after the enclave had fallen.

Too late

The Dutch troops in Srebrenica, known as Dutchbat, asked nine times for air support but the UN did not finally agree until July 10, Voorhoeve said. He told RTL news that UN officials said 40 aircraft would be sent to knock out the Serbian artillery. However, this did not happen.

Four aircraft came on July 11 but this was not only too late, but made life extremely dangerous for the 40,000 people in the enclave, he said.

‘There was no point. The enclave had fallen,’ he told RTL. ‘[Serbian general Ratko] Mladic was in the town and had hoisted a flag over a bakery. He had 2,000 men and six tanks. We had 150 soldiers and no tanks but were surrounded by 35,000 refugees.’