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Cotti Warns OSCE of Election Peril If Karadzic, Mladic Aren’t Extratradited By Belinda Goldsmith
Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti, chairman-in-chief of
the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
made the remarks in a speech in Stockholm at the start of the
OSCE's fifth annual parliamentary assembly.
He said the 54-nation group, which is responsible for the
inter-ethnic elections on September 14, would go ahead with the
polling. But he repeated calls for indicted war criminals,
including Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb president, to be extradited
immediately to the war crimes tribunal in the Hague.
"If no actions are undertaken right now against them it can
be taken for granted that the elections will very quickly give
way to developments diametrically opposed to those which they
are expected to yield," Cotti said.
"There exists the most serious danger that they then
degenerate into a pseudo-democratic legitimisation of extreme
nationalist power structures and ethnic cleansing," he added.
The Dayton peace agreement signed last December and ending
43 months of war in the former Yugoslavia stated categorically
that Karadzic was to have no further part in the political arena
as it would prevent free, fair, democratic elections.
But Cotti said Karadzic's move last week to hand over power
to his deputy, Biljana Plavsic, was all a game and meant little.
"(It was) a further example of the game of cat and mouse
that the Serb leader Karadzic is playing with the international
community," he said.
Cotti said it was clear that Karadzic still had a strong
direct or indirect influence on political events in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. But he added that, despite Karadzic's involvement, the OSCE
had dismissed suggestions of postponing the elections and the
polling would go ahead as planned.
Cotti said the elections would mark the first stage in a
long process to try to build democracy and restore confidence to
war-torn Bosnia and needed to go ahead.
"The task that the OSCE has taken on in Bosnia and
Herzegovina will not be finished by the end of this year as you
do not build democracy on the ruins of war in 12 months," he
said.
"If you go into the region and you notice how much hate you
will find within the souls of the people living there, there is
no doubt the solution does not reside in the results of an
election in two months time.
"We need generations until the consequences of a cruel and
dramatic war will be eliminated," he said. |
STOCKHOLM, July 5 (Reuters) - Bosnian elections will take
place as planned in September but the involvement of indicted
war criminals such as Radovan Karadzic threatens to legitimise
racial hatred and more ethnic cleansing, the head of Europe's
security forum said on Friday.
Berserkistan, June 25 · OSCE Sets Bosnia’s Election Date for Sept. 14
Berserkistan, June 23 · Debate Continues over 'Flawed' Bosnian Elections
Berserkistan, June 22 · 48 Parties, 33 Independents Register for Bosnia’s Elections
Berserkistan, June 21 · September 14 Elections Move Closer to Reality
Berserkistan, June 14 · Some 60 Political Parties Register for September Vote
Berserkistan, June 8 · Special Report: In Bosnia, Skepticism over Fair Elections
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