LETTER: Bosnian refugees: sickening indifference of Western politicians

From Dr Shazad Amin

Sir: The events of the past few days in Srebrenica have shown that the United Nations is not only unwilling and unable to defend its own resolutions with action, but is fast becoming an ally of the Serbs. If this sounds far-fetched, consider the following facts.

The UN demanded that Srebrenica be disarmed prior to the setting up of the "safe havens". The Bosnians foolishly trusted that the UN, having created the "safe" areas, would defend them, especially as they had been denied the basic human right of self-protection through the arms embargo. The result is that the Serbs have taken Srebrenica, ethnically cleansed it, split up families and carted off the adult male population to be "questioned" (ie, tortured) in detention centres.

The UN must make a decision: confront the Serbs, or get out and let the Bosnians defend themselves. It is not humanitarian to stay in Bosnia, disarm people, feed them and then throw them to the wolves.

Yours sincerely,

Shazad Amin

Aspley, Nottingham

13 July