 |
Bosnian Serbs Threaten NATO in Showdown Over War Criminals By Mark Heinrich
Alex Ivanko, spokesman for the International Police Task Force in postwar Bosnia, said there was deep concern about the threat in light of recent Serb violence against the IPTF, including the bombing of a patrol car on Friday. The incidents coincided with heightened international pressure for the capture of separatist Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and army commander General Ratko Mladic, both indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity.
"The threat was made on July 11. The Pale police chief told us he was aware of 'training' being conducted by IFOR (NATO peace Implementation Force) to arrest Karadzic and Mladic," Ivanko told Reuterss. "He warned that if they are arrested or if there is an attempt to arrest them, the Serb population will be mobilised against NATO personnel," said Ivanko. "He also threatened to harm or detain IPTF personnel."
Western powers are stepping up efforts to dislodge Karadzic and Mladic from positions of influence as a condition for Bosnia's first postwar elections in September. Ivanko said IPTF Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald had raised the problem of threats with Dragan Kijac, interior minister of the Serb separatist entity in Bosnia, at the weekend.
"Kijac assured us he will do his utmost to ensure the safety of IPTF and other international organisations in Bosnia. "Nevetheless, we are concerned with an increase in violence against IPTF and the implicit threats of the Pale police chief," Ivanko said. "It seems the honeymoon we enjoyed with the Serb Republic at the start of this mission is over. "We see a certain extremism and a certain pattern of violence (emerging) on the part of the Bosnian Serbs."
Ivanko said IPTF would demand the dismissal of the Pale police chief if Kijac did not set things straight.
The U.N. humanitarian mission that operated in wartime Bosnia was humiliated by repeated armed attacks and abductions of its personnel by Serbs. The more robust postwar NATO-U.N. mission is determined not to be similarly intimidated. Analysts believe the Bosnian Serbs, who accepted the Dayton peace treaty only under duress, are lashing out now at NATO and IPTF over possible moves to nab Karadzic and Mladic.
The two men are seen as obstacles to the implementation of Dayton, including free elections intended to form common democratic institutions, as well as the return of war refugees to their former homes. France is seeking a U.N. Security Council decision authorising NATO troops to hunt down Karadzic and other indictees. At the moment, NATO can only act if it comes across suspects in the course of normal patrols.
Unidentified Serbs burgled an IPTF office near Sarajevo recently and blew up a IPTF car parked in the eastern town of Vlasenica on Friday, shattering 30 windows in the local IPTF office nearby but injuring no one. Another source of tension is the work of U.N. war-crimes investigators in eastern Bosnia who have begun exhuming mass graves of Muslims executed by Serb forces in the conquest of Srebrenica, east of Vlasenica, one year ago.
IFOR troops have also seized several Serb heavy weapons found outside approved storage sites recently and faced down Serb troops to make them return tanks to a storage depot near the headquarters of Mladic. |
SARAJEVO, July 15 (Reuters) - The police chief in the Bosnian Serb capital Pale has threatened to harm NATO troops and U.N. police if Western forces try to arrest Serb leaders indicted as war criminals, the U.N. said on Monday.
Berserkistan, July 13 · Car Bomb Destroys UN Vehicle in Vlasenica
Berserkistan, July 13 · NATO Nabs Heavy Arms Near Mladic’s Camp
Berserkistan, July 13 · US Embassy Worker Wounded by Gunmen
Manhunt! How Much Can NATO Do to Capture Mladic, Karadzic?
Berserkistan is the world news service of
Pacific Interactive Media Corp.
EMail Berserkistan
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved