Sarajevo - The chairman of Bosnia's tripartite state
presidency on Monday said the verdict of the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) clearing Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide
in Bosnia-Herzegovina would provoke tensions in the country.
'This decision will provoke some tensions. I hope those tensions
will not further grow into large demonstrations,' Bosnian Serb
Nebojsa Radmanovic said.
The UN's highest judicial organ had on Monday ruled that Belgrade
was not directly responsible for acts of genocide committed during
the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The case, which dates back to 1993, was the first of its kind to
be brought before the ICJ, which rules exclusively on disputes
between countries.
Radmanovi stressed that tensions between political subjects in
Bosnia-Herzegovina already exist.
'I call on everyone to maintain the peace, to keep peace in
Bosnia-Herzegovina,' Radmanovic said in an initial reaction to the
ICJ ruling.
His Muslim colleague Haris Silajdzic said he was sorry that Serbia
and Montenegro had not been convicted and punished for genocide.
'The verdict was not complete, but it confirmed the fact that
Serbia was responsible for violating the international convention on
genocide,' said Silajdzic.
Silajdzic, who was Bosnia's foreign minister at the time when the
complaint was filed in 1993, said the ICJ's verdict should prompt
moves Bosnia-Herzegovina to deal with the consequences of the
genocide 'through constitutional reform.'
'We must ensure sustainable refugees return, we must adopt a law
to ban neglecting of the genocide committed, and we must insist that
Serbia and Montenegro accept political, moral, legal and material
responsibility for violating the convention on genocide,' said
Silajdzic.
Tensions will appear, he said, in future relations between
Bosnia and Serbia, but the ICJ's decision should however help to
pave the way for final reconciliation in the region.
Bosnian Croat member of the presidency Zeljko Komsic said he was
very disappointed with the verdict.
'I will respect the decision of the ICJ, but I know what I will
tell my child about this one day,' said Komsic.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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