Bosnia Report Sinks Dutch Government

The Dutch cabinet resigned Tuesday over an official report condemning its failure to prevent the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity of the Bosnian war, the Dutch news agency ANP reported.

Prime Minister Wim Kok's coalition government earlier met for a crisis meeting to discuss the fallout from a damaging report last week, which blamed politicians and military top brass for the failure of its U.N. peacekeepers to prevent the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

The crisis has cast a shadow over the career of a popular prime minister credited with slashing unemployment and creating prosperity.

"We are going to visit the Queen. I will offer her the resignation of the ministers and junior ministers," Kok told reporters.

The report, which took nearly six years to research, harshly criticized the government for sending Dutch soldiers into a danger zone without a proper mandate or the weapons needed to defend about 30,000 refugees who had fled to the Dutch base seeking protection.

The Dutch military was in charge of peacekeeping operations in the region when Serb forces attacked and slaughtered at least 7,500 men and boys in a week of bloodletting at the end of 1992-1995 Bosnia war.

Since its release Wednesday, Environment Minister Jan Pronk and Defense Minister Frank de Grave said they were considering stepping down, prompting media speculation of the collapse of the second Kok government.

The resignation comes less than a month before the Netherlands holds general elections and is the second time the coalition government has stepped down during nearly eight years of power.