US Response to Montenegrin Government: Germany and Rwanda are Proponents of the Srebrenica Resolution, We Are Not Mediating Negotiations

(Patria) - The Government of Montenegro, as unofficially confirmed to Vijesti, plans to submit two amendments to the Srebrenica Resolution, in order to “achieve the best possible relations and calm political tensions in the region”. According to unofficial information, the amendments will be submitted through the USA and Germany.

The State Department has seen the unofficial draft of Montenegro's proposed amendments to the Draft Resolution on Srebrenica, but is not mediating them.

This was stated to “Vijesti” by the US Embassy in Podgorica, in response to questions about whether the Government of Montenegro had submitted amendments through the USA, how, and who on behalf of the USA is participating in consultations with the Government regarding the amendments.

The Government, as unofficially confirmed to Vijesti, plans to submit two amendments to the Srebrenica Resolution, in order to “achieve the best possible relations and calm political tensions in the region”. According to unofficial information, the amendments will be submitted through the USA and Germany.

“Germany and Rwanda are the proponents of the Resolution and can answer further questions regarding its status,” said the US Embassy.

The German Embassy in Podgorica told “Vijesti” that they have no information about negotiations on the Draft Resolution on Srebrenica.

The Deputy German Ambassador in Podgorica, Ralf Roesch, stated that negotiations on the Draft Resolution are being conducted among the permanent missions to the United Nations in New York.

“The German Embassy in Podgorica has no information on the current stage of this discussion and is therefore not in a position to comment on the drafting process,” Roesch said in response to questions about whether the Government had submitted amendments through Germany, how, and who on behalf of Germany is participating in consultations with the Government of Montenegro regarding the amendments.

The Resolution, initiated by Germany and Rwanda, calls for July 11 to be declared the International Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica. The vote in the United Nations General Assembly was scheduled for May 2, but was postponed. A new voting date has not yet been set.

Although the Draft does not mention the name of any nation, the Government, through an amendment to the preamble of the Draft Resolution, seeks to include the statement “reaffirming that guilt for the crime of genocide is individualized and cannot be attributed to any ethnic, religious, or other group or community as a whole”. The second amendment relates to “affirming the inviolability of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina in all its provisions”.

Dozens of non-governmental organizations and public figures have called on the Government of Montenegro to be a co-sponsor of the Resolution, which is also supported by the majority of the opposition in the Montenegrin parliament.

The Government has not yet commented on the Resolution, and German expert on the Western Balkans and NATO enlargement, Milan Nič, stated at the end of April that the Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić told him during a visit to Berlin that Montenegro will support the Resolution.

The crime in Srebrenica was designated as genocide by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It refers to the killing of more than 8,000 Bosniaks, as determined by the judgments of international courts, in July 1995, when the Army of Republika Srpska entered Srebrenica.