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Elections on Hold Until Karadzic Steps Down
‘It is my unalterable position that any political
parties who keep indicted war criminals in office
shall be ineligible to participate.’
Robert Frowick, a U.S. diplomat in charge of the September 14 ballot, said a "mutually acceptable" solution must be worked out with the Serbs before the campaign originaly scheduled to start on July 14 could be declared open. "It is my unalterable position that any political party that elects, appoints or maintains in office a person who is under indictment by the international tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ... shall be ineligible to participate in the elections," Frowick said.
He heads the Bosnia office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is arranging the elections to re-connect ethnic Serb and Muslim-Croat entities in a democratic, federal Bosnia. Under the Dayton peace treaty that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war, no individual charged with war atrocities by the tribunal may hold public office or participate in elections. Karadzic, who has been twice indicted for alleged genocide, says he will not be a candidate but retains power in the Serb entity through his leadership of the ruling party.
Frowick said he met Karadzic's deputies last week to press them to deal with the issue and "give them a bit of space and time for an outcome that would be mutually acceptable." "By definition, if this campaign starts on Friday (July 19), you can be sure that things must be straightened out by that date," he told a news conference in Sarajevo. Frowick has previously threatened to bar Karadzic's Serb Democratic Party (SDS) from the polling if Karadzic does not quit.
Asked whether Monday's comments amounted to a renewed threat, the U.S. diplomat replied: "I'd rather not talk in terms of threats but rather of a way to settle the matter." He said the OSCE's Provisional Election Commission would
meet on Friday, July 19, to see if all parties were complying with election rules laid out by Dayton. "The goal, in my judgment, must be a reasonably democratic process ... (which will) enable the international community to welcome the results of the election and extend legitimacy to the institutions that will be elected," he said. "The Serb Republic has an opportunity to play by the rules of the game that were set forth by (Dayton). I just hope it grasps this opportunity for its own sake, for the legitimacy that will be extended to it if it plays by the rules."
OSCE's brief to stage the elections is complicated not just by scores of indicted war criminals at large, most of them in Serb and Croat-held parts of Bosnia, but by a lack of independent media and freedom of assembly in postwar Bosnia. Frowick agreed OSCE still had "staggering substantive problems" to overcome to make free and fair elections happen. "But these elections will take place," he said.
Bosnia's Muslim-led central government hinted over the weekend at a possible boycott of the elections if Karadzic and Mladic, charged with masterminding wartime massacres and expulsions of Muslims, did not bow out. "All the effort being put into implementing Dayton, including the elections, is in doubt because of the presence of
Karadzic and Mladic," Mirza Hajric, foreign policy adviser to President Alija Izetbegovic, told Reuterss. |
By Mark Heinrich
SARAJEVO, July 15 (Reuters) - International organisers said on Monday the campaign for elections in Bosnia, delayed at least until Friday, could not begin until separatist Serb leader Radovan Karadzic left political life.
The main U.S. architect of Dayton, Richard Holbrooke, is due in the region this week to lobby for Karadzic's ouster after France proposed empowering NATO peace troops in Bosnia to hunt down war crimes indictees.
Berserkistan, July 14 · OSCE Delays Start of Bosnian Elections
Berserkistan, July 14 · Election Delay: Where the Players Stand
Berserkistan, July 12 · Bosnia’s Government May Boycott Elections
Berserkistan, July 12 · Bosnia’s Ruling Party said Responsible for Attack on Siladjzic
Berserkistan, July 12 · War Crimes Chief Slams Yugoslavia for Failure to Arrest Karadzic
Berserkistan, July 10 · Frowick Discusses SDS Election Ban with Serbia’s Milosevic
Berserkistan, July 8 · Call to Bar SDS in Elections Catches Sarajevo by Surprise
Berserkistan, July 8 · OSCE Says Karadic’s Party Could be Barred from Elections
Manhunt! How Much Can NATO Do to Capture Mladic, Karadzic?
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