Urges Extending Benefits of Peace to
Bosnian Serbs Despite Leader's Objections
SARAJEVO, May 6 (Reuters) — Bosnian Serbs must be wrenched out of the economic and political isolation imposed upon them by their leader Radovan Karadzic if the peace process is to succeed, according to international mediator Carl Bildt. Bildt, the international community's High Representative in Bosnia, said the economic benefits of peace, including reconstruction projects, should be extended to the Bosnian Serb side even though Karadzic is intent on blocking them.Karadzic ordered Serb officials to boycott an international reconstruction conference in Brussels in April rather than attend as part of a unified Bosnian delegation. "He (Karadzic) is an isolationist... they (Karadzic and his hardline associates) are isolationists. They fear our cooperation," Bildt told Reuterss and CNN on Sunday.
"They fear us more when we go out and stretch out our hands and say... let's start to rebuild infrastructure, let's start to reintegrate the country... because then we break down the barriers of isolation they want to have as high as possible. That is this strange phenomennon of self-isolation or self-sanction."
Bildt insists that even though Bosnia's Serb republic, which controls 49 per cent of the country, has failed to comply with important provisions of the Dayton peace accord its people should have the opportunity to sidestep their hardline leaders.
"(Self-sanctions) are not something that is appreciated by substantial segments of Bosnian Serb society. We are trying to reach out to them." The High representative is spending the entire week in and around Banja Luka, Bosnia's second largest city and its principal Serb urban centre, in an attempt to support the fledgeling Serb opposition political movement there.
"That's exactly what we're going to do in Banja Luka, to break down the isolation there," Bildt explained. In addition to proposing that economic assistance flow to the Serb republic despite its leaders, Bildt is working to fund an alternative to state-run radio and television by linking small, independent stations into a loose network.
Karadzic operates out of the tiny ski resort village of Pale just outside Sarajevo in the east of the country, a roost he rules with a sure hand. Government-controlled media are concentrated in Pale as well, enabling Karadzic to control the flow of information and ideas to his people.
Building up Banja Luka as an alternative urban power base to Pale and encouraging moderate opposition politicians are part of Bildt's strategy to undermine Karadzic's power ahead of the Bosnian elections scheduled for mid-September.
Twice indicted as a war criminal, Radovan Karadzic is barred from office under the Dayton peace agreement, a provision he ignores. "The presence of Karadzic... is poisoning the entire political atmosphere, apart from being a major provocation against the peace agreement itself and the international community,"
May 5 · Banja Luka Moderates Seen as Serb Successors
Apr 13 · Bosnia Aid Conference Tops $1.2 Billion Target
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