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NATO Won’t Hunt Down Karadzic; ‘Not Worth One Single Soldier’s Life’
The commanders' stand is discreetly supported by France, Britain and the United States, the main countries participating in NATO's 60,000-strong peace Implementation Force (IFOR). All three are anxious to keep any casualties to a minimum.
“Whatever the moral arguments of bringing Karadzic to heel, these are forgotten the moment one speaks of casualties. No one is prepared to take casualties for Karadzic. He is not worth one young life,” one source said. But critics of the commanders' attitude to Karadzic fear NATO risks going down the road trodden by its predecessor, the United Nations, which saw its credibility ruined in Bosnia after failing to match words and action. “If IFOR is soft on the Serbs it is the end of Dayton,” said one diplomat.
Independent analysts argue that weakness over Karadzic would make it easier for the Bosnian Serbs to realise their main aim, the rewriting of Dayton to prevent any emergence of a multi-ethnic Bosnian state. “The only real split in the Serb camp is on methods, not on aims. Under no circumstance do they want to be under any Muslim-dominated government,” said Jonathan Eyal of London's Royal United Services Institute. He added that Karadzic's future was linked to the wider question of how far the West was prepared to stick to the letter of Dayton — already a cause of renewed U.S.-European tensions.
“How much are we prepared to implement promises and undertakings we have made in Dayton?” Eyal added. “That is the real question, not Karadzic's immediate future. Any replacements would take the same hard line if not harder.”
The issue of Karadzic, indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal, has taken on greater urgency recently as the date approaches for the start in July of campaigning in Bosnia's elections. Most Western diplomats say it will be impossible to have meaningful elections if Karadzic remains in power or even very close to those who hold it.
International mediator Carl Bildt, responsible for overseeing the civilian aspects of the Dayton accords, has spearheaded the international campaign to weaken Karadzic with the eventual aim of driving him from power. Bildt held out for a signed agreement in talks with the leader of the Bosnian Serb parliament, Momcilo Krajisnik, that Karadzic would be sidelined. Nothing has so far materialised.
On Monday, the woman who styles herself the Bosnian Serbs' “Iron Lady” insisted Karadzic was still their “president.” “Vice-president” Biljana Plavsic, nominated by Karadzic to take over his dealings with the international community, denied any suggestion that he had effectively quit.
“Radovan Karadzic is still the Bosnian Serb president,” she told a Serbian radio station. “He merely invoked his constitutional right to transfer some of his duties to the vice-president.” Bildt reiterated his belief that Karadzic was approaching his political demise.
“I think Dr Karadzic is very clearly at the beginning of the end of his political life. He knows that. But the exact modalities under which this will happen remain to be sorted out,” Bildt said on Monday.
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BRUSSELS, May 21 (Reuters) — NATO will not unleash its huge force in Bosnia to hunt down Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic if the international campaign to push him out of power fails, alliance sources said on Tuesday. They said NATO commanders considered Karadzic was “not worth one single soldier's life” even though his removal from power is a key condition of the Dayton peace accords which ended the war in Bosnia.
Berserkistan, May 20 · European Union Worried over Karadzic Situation
Berserkistan, May 20 · Solana Says Bildt Talks Accomplish Karadzic Removal
Berserkistan, May 20 · Kradzic Shifts Some Duties, but Won't Step Down
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