Demonstration at UN headquarters in Bosnia and Herzegovina ends peacefully

A demonstration by a group of Bosnian Muslims ended peacefully at the United Nations headquarters in Sarajevo after the participants found out that their protest was based on misinformation.

According to a UN spokesman, a crowd of between 150 and 250 Bosnian Muslims -- including many relatives of the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre -- surrounded the headquarters of the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) to protest what they believed was the impending arrest of Naser Oric, formerly the Bosnian Muslim general in command of Srebrenica, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Julian Harston, the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Bosnia, along with other UNMIBH officials, met briefly with the demonstrators and explained that Mr. Oric has not been indicted by the Tribunal and was not under arrest.

Mr. Oric had appeared voluntarily at the UN headquarters to be interviewed by the Tribunal's personnel.

The aftermath of the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995 has been described by a Tribunal Judge as "scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history."