LETTERS Disgusted, Sarajevo
Sir: I have just read your leading article of 6 August, saying that my first reaction to the killing of Corporal Bottomley on 27 July, 1994 was `to apologise on the Serbs' behalf, explaining that the Serb soldiers were understandably "nervous" '. I doubt if any British officer would ever betray the trust placed in him by his soldiers in this way, and I am clear that the inference made in the article is utterly false — no matter that it has been repeated elsewhere more than once.
The facts of the matter are that an initial report was made to my headquarters stat- ing that a convoy had been caught in the middle of a fire-fight on Mount Igman, and that two British soldiers had been wounded during this incident. It was reported that the Bosnian Serb army had immediately stopped firing on realising that they had engaged a UN convoy and that they had evacuated one of the soldiers to a Serb hos- pital.
Nevertheless, I immediately called for Nato aircraft to be deployed overhead and ordered them to be prepared to engage any targets if the firing had in fact not ceased. Whilst this was going on, I was asked by a TV team about the incident and repeated the facts as they were then known — quali- fying my statement at the start by saying that the situation was not yet altogether clear. Once the true facts were known to me the next day, I issued a public statement which strongly condemned the action of the Bosnian Serb army, threatening the use of Nato air power if such attacks continued.
Peacekeeping will always be difficult and dangerous work. However, it must be remembered that throughout the past two years of war Unprofor has been responsible for the delivery of humanitarian aid to 2.7 million people, and that our mission has now brought hopes of peace to al arge part of central Bosnia Herzegovina. Inaccurate or incomplete reporting does not serve the cause of peace, especially if it suggests that the UN has adopted a policy of appease- ment to wrongdoers.
Lieutenant General Sir Michael Rose
Commander Bosnia Herzegovina Command The Residency, Sarajevo
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