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Karadzic's Actions Intensify U.S. Sanctions Threats
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — As a Bosnian Serb power struggle intensified, a senior U.S. official Friday renewed a threat to reimpose sanctions on Serbia if its president does not deliver Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to the war crimes tribunal.
John Kornblum, chief U.S. Bosnia coordinator, said he has repeatedly warned Serb President Slobodan Milosevic he is
responsible under terms of the Dayton peace accords to deliver Karadzic and military leader Ratko Mladic, both indicted war criminals, to the Hague for prosecution. "You can say I have stated that the United States and the Contact Group (the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia who oversee the accords) would move to reimpose sanctions if this wasn't done," he told reporters.
Kornblum's comments reflected the increased pressure the United States and its allies are bringing to bear on Milosevic in an effort to ensure Karadzic is ousted from power.
Earlier, international mediator Carl Bildt accused Milosevic of neglecting his duty under the Dayton accord by failing to remove Karadzic from office. Under the 1995 Dayton accord, which ended 43 months of fighting in Bosnia, Karadzic is banned from office. But he has defiantly refused to surrender power and is impeding efforts to implement key aspects of the deal, including elections expected by Sept. 15.
Former U.S. Bosnia negotiator Richard Holbrooke said the power struggle now under way among Bosnian Serbs is a crucial test for the Dayton accords. If Karadzic, a hard-line separatist, wins his fight to oust his moderate prime minister, Rajko Kasagic, the peace deal will not be fully implemented, Holbrooke told CNN. "This is the test," said Holbrooke, who negotiated the peace accords reached at Dayton, Ohio, last November.
Kasagic refuses to step down until the Bosnian Serb Assembly names a successor and he is scrambling to muster the 42 votes he would need to block such a move. The internaitonal community has rallied to his side. "We're not going to run out and say everybody should vote for Kasagic but it's quite clear to us that those persons who support the Dayton accords must maintain their authority," one U.S. official said.
U.S. officials, who believe a majority of Bosnian Serbs support the peace accord, are actively encouraging moderate
Bosnian Serb leaders to break from Karadzic. They acknowledged such a contest runs the risk of splitting the Bosnian Serb republic of Bosnia in half, with Karadzic leading an ultra-nationalist force. But "if the positive forces do maintain the upper hand ... and if Karadzic is isolated, that's not necessarily bad either. We are strongly pushing" for these trends to continue, one official said.
Milosevic has insisted the problem of Karadzic and Mladic would be taken care of in the elections process because they are barred from running for office. But U.S. officials say that is not sufficient.
Although Secretary of State Warren Christopher last November said Karadzic and Mladic would have to be gone before U.S. troops arrived in Bosnia as peacekeepers, officials acknowledge that nearly a year later, Bosnia's first elections may have to proceed with both men still on the scene.
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Berserkistan, May 18 Karadzic Names New Prime Minister To Replace Moderate Kasagic
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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