April 16, 2001 – News from the BBC World Service.
April 16, 2001 as seen by the BBC World Service in this half hour program World Briefing. At the top of the news, the name Dragan Obrenovic probably didn’t ring any bell with most listeners, but if you were a relative to any of the hundreds of Bosnian Muslims killed in Srebrenica at the hands of Obrenovic and his henchmen in 1995, the name of that Serbian Commander would make your blood run cold and you would feel a rush of justice-served in your veins instead. Dragan Obrenović, was a senior officer and commander within the Bosnian Serb Army in July 1995. He was convicted for persecutions carried out through the murder of hundreds of Bosnian Muslim civilians, committed in and around Srebrenica in what many considered to be the worst series of war crimes committed since World War 2. The Trial was expected to being in The Hague within the next few days. Under the plea agreement, he agreed to testify in other proceedings before the Tribunal, including those trials related to Srebrenica. Obrenović was sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment.
In other news – The Israelis carried out another air strike in Lebanon, claiming the lives to two Syrian soldiers. Lebanese Security officials said that, in addition to the two Syrians killed, several were wounded after Israeli fighter planes attacked a Syrian Radar post some 40km east of Beirut. The Israeli Army said the strike was in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli solder killed on the border the previous Saturday by Hezbollah guerrillas.
And left wing Guerrillas in Colombia were in the midst of an intense battle with para-military squads and the Army in the northwest of the country. Rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country’s largest guerrilla group, clashed with right-wing paramilitary in the Northwest region of the country. Colombian troops later attacked the guerrillas. Reports said that up to 50 people had been killed, but a military spokesman said only one body had been found so far.
And that’s a small slice of what happened in the world this April 16th, 2001 as reported on World Briefing from the BBC World Service.
