Clinton to lead delegation to Srebrenica commemoration

Former President Bill Clinton will lead a U.S. delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina this weekend to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, the White House has announced.

Europe as a whole is marking the anniversary of the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. The anniversary event is Saturday.

Two decades later, the murders continue to divide Europe and the Balkans, notes The New York Times:

"Bosnian Serb nationalist leaders have sought to play down the events at Srebrenica, and leading Bosnian Muslim officials express frustration that the 1995 Dayton accord, which ended the war, granted the Bosnian Serbs autonomy in their territory.

"There is division even over what to call the mass killing. Although two international tribunals based at The Hague have ruled that it constituted genocide, Russia on Wednesday vetoed a draft United Nations Security Council resolution that condemned the massacre as a 'crime of genocide,' with its ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly I. Churkin, calling the language of the measure "confrontational" and "politically motivated."

In addition to Clinton, the delegation appointed by President Obama includes:

-- Maureen E. Cormack, United States Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Department of State;

-- Roger F. Wicker, United States Senator, Mississippi;

-- Jeanne Shaheen, United States Senator, New Hampshire;

-- Eliot L. Engel, Member of the United States House of Representatives (NY-16);

-- Peter T. King, Member of the United States House of Representatives (NY-2);

-- Madeleine K. Albright, Former United States Secretary of State;

-- Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Former United States Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Department of State;

-- Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Department of State;

-- Stephen John Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, Department of State.