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Holbrooke’s Ultimatum to Bosnian Serbs: Drop Karadzic by Friday
‘President Milosevic understands our
State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said Holbrooke held "very tough" conversations with Milosevic. The meeting lasted for about six hours, breaking just before midnight and resumed early Friday after Holbrooke consulted with Washington. A U.S. diplomat who demanded anonymity said talks were at a "critical stage."
It was not clear whether Holbrooke was meeting with the Bosnian Serb leaders, or using Milosevic as an intermediary. The meetings were closed to reporters. Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian Serbs, has been indicted by an international tribunal on war crimes charges. Bosnia’s first post-war elections are scheduled for Sept. 14, and the Dayton peace accord bans war crimes suspects from holding political office.
"President Milosevic understands our position and determination," Holbrooke said Thursday. "He has to decide what he’s going to do." Holbrooke had set Friday as a deadline for Karadzic to resign as head of the main Bosnian Serb party, and the envoy was scheduled to return Friday to Washington.
Though Karadzic has turned over duties as president of his shadow state to an aide, he has refused demands by the international community that he also give up his leadership of the Bosnian Serbs’ main political party, the Serbian Democratic Party. Burns said Milosevic insists that Serbia has complied with the Dayton accords. U.S. diplomats believe the peace plan compels Serbia to make certain that Karadzic not exercise political power through confederates.
In the event Karadzic hangs on, the elections will be thrown into jeopardy: If his party is banned, Bosnian Serbs say they will boycott the vote, while Bosnian government officials threaten a boycott if he stays on. Holbrooke characterized the Sept. 14 elections as the acid test of the Dayton peace accord’s aim of fusing Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat and Serb communities into one recognizable, united state.
"The two entities have no connective tissue at all right now, except on paper," he said in Sarajevo. "The country is partitioned. Dayton creates a single country on paper. It’s got to be implemented to make it a reality and the implementing event is the election."
The Karadzic aides -- Momcilo Krajisnik and Aleksa Buha -- left the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale accompanied by Jovica Stanisic, the head of Milosevic’s special police.
Milosevic abandoned Karadzic, his former protege, to gain favor with the international community. He has been unresponsive to demands that his security forces detain Karadzic and deliver him to the U.N. tribunal at The Hague, Netherlands.
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BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke extended his make-or-break Balkan mission Friday, holding early morning talks without reporting progress in his effort to push Radovan Karadzic from power. Senior Bosnian Serbs were escorted to Belgrade Thursday by Serbian police to hear Holbrooke’s ultimatum: Get rid of their boss or face renewed sanctions.
The United Nations slapped economic sanctions on Yugoslavia in 1992 as punishment for the country’s role in the Bosnian war. Those sanctions were lifted last year following acceptance of the Dayton accord. The United Nations has indicated it may reimpose sanctions if Serbia -- the major state in what remains of Yugoslavia -- fails to abide by the accord.
Berserkistan, July 18 · Tough Talks between Milosevic and Holbrooke Last into Night
Berserkistan, July 18 · Bosnian Serbs to Belgrade for Talks on Karadzic
Berserkistan, July 18 · Most Powerful Man in Balkans Faces Uncomfortable Choice
Berserkistan, July 18 · Karadzic or Not, Election Boycott Feared
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