UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has apologized for a performance at the international organization of a Serbian military song that activists say is associated with massacres in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s.
Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said on January 17 that the song -- Mars na Drinu (March on the River Drina) -- had been played as an encore in a concert at the UN General Assembly on January 14 and had not been listed in the official program.
Nesirky told reporters, "We sincerely regret that people were offended by this song."
He said Ban was not aware of how the song had been used in the past. The Congress of North American Bosniaks, The Institute for Research of Genocide Canada, and other groups complained about the song in a letter to Ban.
Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said on January 17 that the song -- Mars na Drinu (March on the River Drina) -- had been played as an encore in a concert at the UN General Assembly on January 14 and had not been listed in the official program.
Nesirky told reporters, "We sincerely regret that people were offended by this song."
He said Ban was not aware of how the song had been used in the past. The Congress of North American Bosniaks, The Institute for Research of Genocide Canada, and other groups complained about the song in a letter to Ban.