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Karadzic Wins Re-election As SDS Party Chief
In 353-1 vote, he wins overwhelming mandate and
By Dan de Luce
A congress of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) backed Karadzic for a four-year term as party chairman at a congress held overnight in Serb headquarters in Pale, outside Sarajevo. By remaining chief of the party that controls the Bosnian Serb police, administration and media, Karadzic assured himself of a powerful future role in the Bosnian Serb republic.
Western powers and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic have demanded that Karadzic resign as president immediately, but the West has yet to indicate if it would accept him remaining as party chief.
The Group of Seven (G7) rich industrial nations warned on Friday that sanctions could be imposed on the Bosnian Serbs if Karadzic did not leave the presidency.
Spokesmen for Carl Bildt, the High Representative to Bosnia, indicated Karadzic could be tolerated as party head but said they were still pressing for his extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Bildt set July 1 as the deadline for Karadzic to quit as president before calling for the imposition of sanctions.
The West rejected Karadzic's offer to go if the world recognised Bosnian Serb sovereignty and gave the strategic Brcko region in northern Bosnia to Serbs. Karadzic and the ultra-nationalist SDS leadership oppose preserving Bosnia as a single state as set out under the Dayton pact. He has long advocated linking up with ethnic kin in Serbia and Montenegro to form a "Greater Serbia."
Bosnian Serb media said 353 out of the 354 delegates backed Karadzic in a vote that was never in doubt. The party congress also selected a new central committee which was due to meet later on Saturday and discuss candidates for post-war elections, including nominations for Karadzic's possible successor.
Serb political sources and Western diplomats still believe Karadzic will step down, but it was unclear if he would do so by the Monday deadline. Faced with the threat of potentially disastrous sanctions imposed by either Serbia or the United Nations, the Bosnian Serbs have little room to manoeuvre.
Western governments have come under criticism for failing to order Karadzic's arrest by the heavily-armed NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia. But NATO commanders are reluctant to order a manhunt that could backfire, causing a backlash by Bosnian Serb forces and disrupting the peace process. NATO has stepped up patrols in the Pale area in recent months and says its troops will arrest any war crimes suspect
they encounter.
Italian armoured vehicles now regularly patrol the Pale area, daily passing by Karadzic's headquarters. The stepped-up patrols have forced Karadzic to limit his movements but Serb officials do not expect a NATO raid.
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PALE, Bosnia, June 29 (Reuters) - Indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic won re-election as head of the ruling Bosnian Serb party on Saturday despite an international ultimatum for his resignation as Bosnian Serb president.
Berserkistan, June 29 · G7 Summit Tells Karadzic to Quit
Berserkistan, June 28 · G7 Nations Discussing Karadzic Sanctions Today
Berserkistan, June 28 · Bosnian Serbs Told to ‘Break from False Leaders’
Berserkistan, June 27 · Bildt Refuses Karadzic Face-Saving Pleas
Berserkistan, June 26 · Karadzic Threatens to Bring Down Serbia
Berserkistan, June 26 · Karadzic is Still a Hero to Many Serbs
The Indictment Against Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic War Crimes Tribunal
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