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Kornblum Preps Balkan Leaders For Sunday’s Geneva Conference
By Jovan Kovacic
Izetbegovic told reporters after the meeting that his Muslim-led government was concerned key aspects of the Dayton peace accord had yet to be fulfilled only three months before elections were set to take place. "We emphasised that conditions (for elections) don't exist at this moment," Izetbegovic said. The Bosnian president cited repatriation of refugees, free movement, free assembly and the arrest of suspected war criminals as crucial conditions for post-war polls, which are due to be held by September under the Dayton pact.
After meeting Croatian President Franjo Tudjman earlier in the day in Zagreb, Kornblum said he was concentrating on plans for the elections which are supposed to elect joint bodies governing a loose Bosnia union of Serb and Muslim-Croat entities.
"We spent a fair amount of time discussing prospects for the elections and we agreed that establishing the date of the elections and beginning the actual concrete preparations for the elections is now one of the most important tasks we have here concerning Bosnia," Kornblum told reporters.
The envoy's tour of Balkan capitals coincided with signs that Washington and its European allies were backing away from calls for the prompt extradition of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, an indicted war criminal. A spokesman for Carl Bildt, the international community's High Represenative to Bosnia, denied any deal allowing Karadzic to avoid war crimes charges if he stayed out of the public spotlight. "There have been some stories in the last few days that some sort of deal has been struck," Michal Maclay, Bildt's spokesman, told a news conference in Sarajevo. "I have never seen any piece of paper or heard any piece of gossip or tittle-tattle that would justify such stories."
Maclay said Karadzic's extradition and his political fate in Bosnian Serb territory were separate issues. "There are two separate questions: One of them is where does the end game genuinely end up for Karadzic and the answer
is The Hague. And we are all as one in that ...." he said.
"Then there is a separate political question which Carl Bildt is particularly eloquent about -- that as long Mr Karadzic is there polluting the atmosphere of politics in (the Bosnian Serb republic) Republka Srpska, it is quite difficult for the Republika Srpska to sort out its own role within Bosnia-Herzegovina under Dayton." He said Bildt's office was pushing to move Karadzic "out of politics."
Asked about the likelihood of Karadzic's ouster, he said: "It's moving towards that direction, maybe not with enough speed or clarity, but its definitely moving that way." |
SARAJEVO, June 1 (Reuters) - Senior U.S. envoy John Kornblum met the presidents of Croatia and Bosnia on Saturday to prepare the ground for a weekend summit in Geneva focusing on post-war elections in Bosnia. Kornblum, assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs, flew to Sarajevo for talks with Bosnian President Alija Izetbetovic a day before the United States hosts a conference of Balkan leaders in Geneva.
Berserkistan, May 31 · Warren Christopher to Intervene at Talks in Geneva
Berserkistan, May 31 · US: Cost Cost of Capturing Karadzic, Mladic Too Great
Berserkistan, May 30 · EU Administrator Sets Mostar Elections for June 30
U.S. State Department Policy on Bosnia
Warren Christopher Biography
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