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Holbrooke Pulls No Punches Responding to Serb Threats
‘If they take any action against IFOR, they’ll
Bosnian Serbs have threatened to take U.N. police hostage if the NATO-led force tries to arrest Karadzic. During the war, they detained hundreds of U.N. personnel last year to try to stave off NATO air strikes. "If they take any action against IFOR, they’ll be met with swift military action," Holbrooke said, using the acronym for the NATO-led force. Holbrooke was to meet Wednesday in Belgrade with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, whose help he will seek in removing Karadzic from power.
Karadzic has resisted pressure to resign as president of his ruling Serbian Democratic Party, even though he risks his party’s banning from Sept. 14 Bosnian elections. The Dayton peace plan bars any suspects sought by the U.N. war crimes tribunal from public office. Milosevic abandoned his former Bosnian Serb ally to placate the international community and is the only regional leader strong enough to have Karadzic arrested and delivered to the U.N. tribunal. But the Serbian president seems unlikely to act because he fears a backlash by nationalists in Serbia -- as well as the damaging testimony Karadzic could deliver about Milosevic’s role in the 3˝-year Bosnian war.
NATO -- perhaps the only other force strong enough to arrest Karadzic -- has said it is not authorized to hunt down war crimes suspects.
Holbrooke is expected to threaten Milosevic with renewed economic sanctions against his country if Karadzic and military leader Ratko Mladic are not stripped of their influence. Asked if the United States was considering military action to arrest the two men if diplomatic efforts failed, Holbrooke said the commander of the international force in Bosnia "has the authority to take whatever measures he needs to make Dayton succeed."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said Holbrooke was urging the signers of the Dayton accords to make a "much more vigorous effort" to comply with it.
Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic said he told Holbrooke the peace agreement was a military success but a political failure. He said there was no freedom of movement or of the press in the Serb half of Bosnia. But he said the key issue of his discussion with Holbrooke was Karadzic. "We insisted that Karadzic is removed from public functions,' he said, repeating warnings that Muslims might boycott the September elections if Karadzic remained head of his party.
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SARAJEVO, July 16 (AP) -- A U.S. envoy began his Balkan mission Tuesday with a warning: Any Bosnian Serb attack against NATO and U.N. forces in Bosnia will be met with "swift military action." Richard Holbrooke, a key architect of Bosnia’s peace plan, delivered the message in Sarajevo, the first stop of a tour aimed at sidelining Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, an indicted war crimes suspect.
Berserkistan, July 16 · Holbrooke in Bosnia to Seek Karadzic’s Removal
Berserkistan, July 16 · Izetbegovic Warns Holbrooke of Bosnian Election Boycott
Berserkistan, July 16 · Holbrooke, ‘Kissinger of the Balkans,’ Returns to Sarajevo
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