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Karadzic Outflanks Bildt Over Prime Minister's Firing
By Kurt Schork
Gojko Klickovic, the new prime minister chosen by the Bosnian Serb parliament, staked out a tough attitude towards implementing the Dayton peace accord dividing Bosnia between the Serbs and a Muslim-Croat federation. Klickovic, 40, former mayor of a town captured in a Muslim-Croat offensive last year, indicated he would prevent the
Muslim and Croat refugees returning to their former homes in Serb-controlled territory. While he endorsed the peace deal he accused the Muslim-Croat federation of going slow and vowed to move at the same pace. He also said he saw no reason for Karadzic to appear before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Klickovic scrapped a plan by his predecessor Rajko Kasagic, sacked by Karadzic on Wednesday for getting too close to Bildt and the Muslim-Croat federation, to dismiss hardline Bosnian Serb ministers accused of undermining the peace deal.
Klickovic's appointment was a defeat for Bildt who put his credibility on the line in a highly public attempt, backed by NATO chiefs, to overturn Kasagic's dismissal and remove Karadzic from office as Bosnian Serb president. Bildt's effort to show that moderate opposition to Karadzic was strong and growing backfired in the nationalist stronghold of Pale where a caucus meeting of his ruling party turned itself into a parliamentary session to do the hardliners' bidding.
Bosnian Serb parliamentary president Momcilo Krajisnik told reporters that 56 out of 80 deputies attended and backed Klickovic unanimously with the exception of one abstention. Bildt complained earlier that Kasagic's dismissal was a coup against the peace process by Karadzic, who should have been ousted under the Dayton agreement and has been twice indicted for war crimes.
Karadzic, welcoming the support he got from the parliament, said Biljana Plavsic, one of his vice-presidents, would be his new representative in contacts with the international mediators who refuse to deal with him. Plavsic is a Sarajevo Serb whose extremism during the 43-month Bosnian war prompted Milosevic to say in public that she needed psychiatric help.
Unable to stop Klickovic's election, although its legality may be questioned by the West, Bildt went to Belgrade to try again to enlist Milosevic's support for Karadzic's extradition. This has foundered on the refusal of anyone. including the 50,000 U.S.-led NATO peacekeeping troops in Bosnia, to take responsibility for arresting him.
Despite U.S. threats to reimpose sanctions on rump Yugoslavia, Milosevic, the chief power broker in Serb politics, has ignored increasingly strident Western pressure to surrender Karadzic. |
PALE, Bosnia, May 19 (Reuters) — Radovan Karadzic outflanked a bid by peace mediators to oust him as leader of the Bosnian Serb republic, appointing a new hardline prime minister and orchestrating a show of power in its parliament. But Carl Bildt, the International High Representative in Bosnia, issued a fresh plea to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to send Karadzic for trial by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Berserkistan, May 18 · Bosnian Serb Parliament Elects New Hardline PM
Berserkistan, May 18 · New Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Sets Out Hard Line
Berserkistan, May 18 · Karadzic Names New Prime Minister to Replace Moderate Kasagic
Berserkistan, May 18 · Karadzic's Actions Intensify U.S. Sanctions Threats
Berserkistan, May 17 · Ousted Kasagic Still Controls Bosnian Serb Government
Berserkistan, May 17 · Death Threats to Media Supporting Rajko Kasagic
Berserkistan, May 16 · Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Rajko Kasagic Rejects His Dismissal
Berserkistan May 15 · Radovan Karadzic Dismisses Prime Minister Kasagic
Berserkistan May 10 · Bildt Wins Commitment from Moderate Serbs in Banja Luka
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