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Bosnian Serbs Threaten to Capture, Kill UN Police
‘We believe that the Republika Srpska authorities should publicly condemn this outrageous threat and we believe that something should be done about it.’
SARAJEVO, July 18 (Reuters) - Bosnian Serbs have threatened to capture and kill United Nations police monitors if their leader Radovan Karadzic is arrested on war crimes charges, a U.N. official said on Thursday. The threat drew an immediate reponse from the NATO-led peace Implementation Force (IFOR) which said it would protect the International Police Task Force (IPTF).
IPTF spokesman Alex Ivanko told a news conference that the threat had been issued by the Serb mayor of the northern Bosnian town of Ugljevik. Bosnian Serbs also issued threats earlier this week against IFOR and the IPTF if Western forces tried to arrest Serb leaders wanted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal.
"Mayor Miladin Stefanovic, in conversation with U.N. civil affairs officials... stated that if Karadzic is arrested, the Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb Republic) will respond with military action targeting IFOR and all U.N. IPTF monitors," Ivanko said.
He quoted Stefanovic as saying Bosnian Serbs would not repeat an earlier "mistake" of trusting Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic who ordered them to release U.N. hostages seized in May, 1995 during the war. "According to (Stefanovic), this time all U.N. police monitors will be captured and killed immediately," Ivanko said.
"We believe this is a very explicit threat," he said. "We believe that the Republika Srpska authorities should publicly condemn this outrageous threat and we believe that something should be done about it."
IFOR spokesman Major Brett Boudreau, said: "There's no doubt that IFOR will move very strongly and robustly to assist the IPTF in the event of an incident of that nature." Boudreau added: "We stand by the IPTF on this 100 percent. We will not be intimidated." |
Berserkistan, July 16 · Serbs in Doboj Threaten to take UN Police Hostage
Berserkistan, July 16 · Holbrooke Pulls No Punches Responding to Serb Threats
INTERNATIONAL POLICE TASK FORCE
Transcript of the Press Briefing IFOR, 16 July 1996
Implementing the Dayton Peace Agreement International Police Task Force
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