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OSCE Says Karadic’s Party Could be Barred from Elections By Belinda Goldsmith
U.S. Ambassador Robert Frowick said he would use all his powers as head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Bosnia Herzegovina to block the Serb Democratic Union (SDS) from the September 14 elections.
The OSCE, a 55-nation security forum, is responsible for organising, running and monitoring the inter-ethnic elections. "I plan to use the powers at my disposal...to deny the SDS eligibiilty to participate in the election as long as it defiantly persists in retaining Karadzic in some office," Frowick told the OSCE's fifth parliamentary assembly. "It just isn't right to continue with Mr Karadzic, an indicted war criminal, as its head and we are faced with a defiance that has increased over the past week or so."
The Dayton peace agreement, signed last December and ending 43 months of war in the former Yugoslavia, banned indicted war criminals from holding official positions. Under international pressure, Karadzic last week handed over his powers to his deputy, Biljana Plavsic, but defiantly kept his title. He was also re-elected chairman of the Bosnian Serb's ruling SDS party for the next four years.
"Karadzic epitomises the over-riding problems of extreme nationalism that brought on the war in the first place and he has pushed against the tide of the peace process since before the ink was dry," Frowick said. "It is untenable for the OSCE to carry forward its supervision of the election process with anyone indicted as a war criminal in one of the leading parties in the electoral contest. I stand by my decision to go forward with the elections." Asked if barring the SDS would make the election pointless, Frowick said that if Karadzic continued to play a role in the political arena then Bosnians may boycott the election anyway.
Although there have been repeated calls for Karadzic to be brought before the International War Tribunal in the Hague, he remains at large with no signs of being brought to justice.
"I frankly have not seen enough resolve by the international community to move it forward decisively ... and I think that point will take some time," Frowick said. "But some of us have decided that we simply have to take a stand. We have to encourage the SDS to think very seriously about this situation." Frowick, however, admitted that it was not ideal to bar the SDS, which could nullify elections in the 49 percent of Bosnia, known as a Serb Republic which the SDS rules with an iron fist.
Frowick said the SDS could be barred if the provisional election commission ruled that political parties involving an indicted war criminal were ineligible to take part in the election. The commission chairman can also overrule any decision made by the commission. "This is an action of last resort but I think it is easily do-able," he said. |
STOCKHOLM, July 8 (Reuters) - One of Bosnia's main political parties will be barred from September elections if its current chairman, indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic, retains any form of office, an official organising the poll said on Monday.
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