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"The war is drawing to a close and the miracle
of normal life is, little by little, returning
to this beautiful, but tragic country."
—U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher in Bosnia


Warren Christopher in Bosnia Monitors Dayton Accord Compliance
Berserkistan presents detailed account of the weekend visit (February 3-6) of U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher to the Former Yugoslavia. Christopher, the architect of the Dayton Peace Accord, traveled to Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia to monitor the historic pullback of warring forces from contested areas, and to press the presidents of the three nations for compliance on the terms of the agreement.

In this report:

Bosnian Serbs Withdraw from Sarajevo, Rural Regions,
as Warren Christopher Inspects Dayton Accord Compliance

Warren Christopher (UPDATED: Sunday, February 5)—Bosnian Serbs yielded control of five suburbs of the Bosnian capital over the weekend, meeting the midnight Friday deadline called for by the Dayton peace accord. Across Bosnia, Serb troops were reportedly withdrawing on schedule and without incident. It was good news for U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher who is in the Balkans this weekend to oversee the first major land transfers under the Dayton Peace Accord.

Two Serb Officers Arrested by Bosnians
The only major incident appeared to be an arrest by the Bosnian govermnent of two Serb officers travelling to a meeting with NATO peacekeepers on Saturday. A Bosnian Army statement, issued in Banja Luka, said the officers, and their driver, were travelling between the Sarajevo suburbs of Lukavica and Ilidza, in an area controlled by IFOR. The three men, Lieutenant-General Djordje Djukic, Colonel Aleksa Krsmanovic and driver Radenko Todorovic, were detained around midday and taken to a prison in Sarajevo. The Serb statement described it as a gross violation of the Bosnian peace agreement and called on NATO to secure the release of the three men. They were on their way to a meeting with IFOR officials in Ilidza to discuss the handover of facilities to the peacekeepers, the statement said. The Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA said the three men were unarmed and that their papers were in order.

The removal of Serb forces from five of Sarajevo's suburbs (map) came without major incident this weekend. Italian IFOR troops took control of the suburb of Grbavica after the Bosnian Serbs withdrew their forces form the area. Serb police at Grbavica were permitting people from the government side to cross over Saturday after checking documents. Bosnian police said 1,300 people crossed from both sides since Friday, when most travel restrictions were lifted. Besides Grbavica, and the former demarcation line which ran through the Jewish cemetery, Italian and Portugeese troops will oversee lifting of restrictions in Sarajevo's northern suburbs and along the road to Gorazde via Pale.

In the Sarajevo suburb of Ilidza, two British soldiers suffered facial cuts when their vehicle was hit by rounds of sniper fire. NATO troops there have been vexed by sniping in Ilidza over the past 10 days, and thought the problem had been solved with the killing of one Serb sniper and the arrest of another.

Next, major land holdings will change hands across Bosnia. The Bosnian Serbs and the Muslim and Croat federation are scheduled to exchange some 1,500 square miles of territory. The Serbs will turn over land north and east of the city of Mostar, as well as a corridor linking the eastern enclave of Gorazde to federation's territory. The Serbian side will receive a large swath of territory, known as "the anvil," around Mrkonjic Grad in northwestern Bosnia. This weekend, Bosnian Serb foces pulled out of the Odjak municipality in the Bosnian Posavina region. Control of this area has been turned over to IFOR. International troops will be positioned along the demarcation line between Odjak and the municipalities of Bosanski Samac and Bosanski Brod. Croats are planning to begin returning to the Odjak region in March.

U.S. Adm. Leighton Smith made the announcement at a briefing attended by Secretary of State Warren Christopher in Tuzla. Smith also told Christopher that the Serbs had taken over some territory in northwestern Bosnia. The transfers are required under the Dayton peace accord signed in Paris in December. The territorial transfers were required under the Dayton peace accords, signed in Paris in December to end the 4-year-old ethnic conflict in Bosnia. The Bosnian Serbs had until midnight to withdraw troops and weapons from the suburbs which will revert to control by the Muslim-led government on March 19.



A Chronological Account of
Secretary Christopher's Bosnia Tour

FRIDAY

Pressure placed on Croatia's President
In Croatia on Friday, Christopher urged President Franjo Tudjman to be patient in regaining control of Eastern Slavonia, the last slice of Serbian-held territory in his country and to turn over war crimes suspects to an international tribunal. The Croatian leader hedged on both counts. He told reporters after a one-hour meeting with Christopher in the presidential palace that his country "will do its everything on its part not to have to resort to other means" to regain eastern Slavonia.

Tudjman, reports Croatian Radio (HRT) described the talks with Christopher as a continuation of very successful and friendly cooperation and partnership between the two countries. Christopher said that the U.S. will lift the U.S. State Department travel warning against Croatia. He explained that the U.S. plans to work closely with Croatia in the future to "give hope to a country previously burdened by war."

SATURDAY

Praise for U.S. Troops at Tuzla
In Tuzla, Christopher told hundreds of cheering American soldiers "you are doing something very important for this country and for our country. We are just putting into action what we did in Dayton, and you're making it work," he told the troops in a hangar, referring to the settlement reached in Dayton, Ohio, in November.

Christopher, the architect of the Dayton Peace Accord, also told the troops of his meetings with the Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian presidents. "My message to each of them will be the same," said the secretary, "Every single provision of the Dayton Accord has got to be implemented. They are not dependent upon each other. It's an obligation of each of the presidents to carry out the provisions of the Dayton accord and we intend to see that they do it. If they don't do it, they won't have the benefits that come under the agreement."

Hours after the secretary's visit to U.S. Troops, Americans suffered their first casualty, a soldier who was apparently killed by a land mine in Gradacac, about 25 miles away.

As he flew to Sarajevo from Tuzla to meet with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, an elated Christopher said "(Admiral) Smith told me the compliance is excellent, going very well and beyond expectations." Christopher said meeting the midnight deadline was "a very important landmark" in bringing peace to the country.

In Sarajevo, Bosnian President Izetbegovic
Is Angered Over Serbian Police Presence
Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic clearly was unhappy over the mutual decision to keep Serb police in the suburbs, saying his government wanted international police to take over. As part of an effort to calm the fears of many Serbs, Serbian police and civil authorities are being permitted to remain 45 days beyond Saturday night's deadline. However, in a surprise announcement on Saturday, the Bosnian president rejected the plan, insisting that NATO should force Serb Police out of the Bosnian Serb areas immediately. "The presence of Serb police... is illegal," Izetbegovic told reporters. "We do not agree with that." NATO Commander in Bosnia Admiral Leighton Smith and NATO ground forces Commander, General Michael Walker met late Saturday night with Karl Bildt and Bosnian leaders to resolve the issue of the police in the sections of Sarajevo that were so far under Serb control, Croatian Radio reported on Sunday.

A plan to include patrols of international police has been suspended, in part because there are not enough officers available. Of the 500 due to be in place in Serb-held sectors of Sarajevo, less than 50 have arrived and Izetbegovic's demand is likely to be ignored, say diplomatic reporters in Sarajevo.

Serb police at Grbavica, a southern Serb-held district, were permitting people from the government side to cross over Saturday after checking documents. Bosnian police said 1,300 people crossed from both sides since Friday, when most travel restrictions were lifted. At a news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Izetbegovic also said his side would soon release the last five war prisoners it holds.

Christopher's main issue with Izetbegovic is the remaining presence of 200-400 Muslim fighters, the remnants of a force brought into Bosnia to help turn the war that Bosnian Serbs had been winning. Asked if any of them were terrorists, Smith told reporters "we're very alert to that possibility." He declined to estimate what kind of weapons the fighters, many of whom are Iranian, are carrying. Last week, U.S. troops in Bosnia were alerted to possible terrorist acts by Iranian Mujahadeen forces in retaliation for the conviction of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman in the World Trade Center Bombing. Removal of the Iranians is complicated by the fact that some have married Bosnian women and their status as residents is unclear.

At a news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Izetbegovic also said his side would soon release the last five war prisoners it holds.

SUNDAY

In Belgrade, Serb President Milosevic
Agrees to Allow Tribunal and USIA Offices to Open
Christopher arrived in Belgrade on Sunday on the last leg of his Balkan tour to a warm welcome from Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic agreed Sunday to permit international war crimes investigators to open an office here, a move that could accelerate the gathering of evidence of ethnic cleansing in the four-year war in Bosnia.The gesture of cooperation with the tribunal in The Hague reverses a two-year refusal by the Serbian leader to grant investigators access. There have been occasional meetings here between tribunal and Serb officials but no direct evidence-gathering permitted.

American officials said investigators now will be able to question Serb eyewitnesses to crimes. Milosevic also told Secretary of State Christopher he would permit the U.S. Information Agency to open an office in Kosovo, a predominantly Albanian province whose autonomy the Serbian leader reversed in 1989. Since, Serbian police have established a record of human rights abuses there. Many Kosovo nationalists now want to go beyond autonomy to independence, which would mean further splintering of Yugoslavia.

Milosevic, however, refused to budge on extradition of war crimes suspects for trial in The Hague. Serbia has no extradition provision in its laws. Milosevic told Christopher any war criminals found in the country would be tried in Serbia, a position contrary to the Dayton Peace Accord which Milosevic signed last year.



The Secretary of State's Bosnia Schedule

  • Friday, February 3 · Christopher stays overnight in Zagreb Friday and Saturday for talks with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Croatia's failure to turn over indicted war criminals and the handling of Serbia's continuing occupation of Eastern Slavonia, a Croatian-claimed territory.
  • Saturday, February 4 · Christopher is also to meet Bosnian leaders including President Alija Izetbegovic in Sarajevo. Unless the Muslim-led Bosnian government begins carrying out all the details of the Dayton Accord, Christopher is expected to threaten withholding of military training for Bosnian government troops and economic aid. Christopher is also expected to discuss the presence of 200 to 400 foreign troops, mainly Iranian Muslim soldiers, still in Bosnia after the deadline for their departure. Christopher will also meet with U.S. Troops at Tuzla.
  • Sunday, February 4 · Christopher is expected to cover many of the same subjects with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade. Christopher takes off late Sunday afternoon for Jerusalem, spending Sunday night there.
  • Beyond · The secretary's working schedule includes a stay in Jerusalem, Damascus and perhaps Jericho Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, early Thursday of next week. Then into Helsinki on Thursday for meetings with Foreign Minister Primakov on Friday and Saturday. He is expected to be returning home to Washington on Saturday evening.



Additional resources
U.S. State Department World Wide Web Site
U.S. State Department Briefing for February 1, 1996
U.S. Information Agency World Wide Web site
Kosovo by Alex N. Dragnich
Report on Kosovo from Amnesty International
The Future of Kosovo by Alex N. Dragnich
Albania Background report from the CIA
The Albanian Home Page by Alex N. Dragnich



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