|
|
War-criminal issue clouds Bosnian election
September 9, 1996
Web posted at: 2:10 p.m. EDT (1810 GMT)From Correspondent Christiane Amanpour
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- War will break out again in Bosnia if ethnic nationalist parties refuse to share power after Saturday's elections, Carl Bildt, the international peace coordinator in Bosnia, said Monday. He has also warned that the presence of war criminals in Bosnia's fragile political environment could upset what is supposed to be a neutral election.
The 1995 Bosnian peace treaty calls for all indicted war criminals to be surrendered for trial and that they be forbidden from holding power or seeking election. But on the eve of the elections only a handful of low-ranking indictees has been turned over. The most notorious -- Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and military leader Ratko Mladic -- are not only at large, but still wield political power.
Karadzic still a player
Karadzic was openly active politically until July, when he was pressured into stepping aside, but his face remains on campaign posters. "We have it on good authority that he's still in his office and still called president," said Sir Terrence Clark, director of the International Crisis Group.
Clark and others allege Karadzic uses his successor, Biljana Plavsic, to continue his influence and promote the Bosnian Serb goal of a separate, ethnically pure state. Election day will mark the beginning of Serb independence, not reintegration, Plavsic has said.
"If we don't implement the constitution (prescribed by the Dayton accord), we are lost, and so is peace," Bildt told a news conference in Sarajevo. The Bosnian government could easily fall into gridlock if Serb, Muslim and Croat leaders, who were enemies in war just one year ago and remain bitter political rivals in peace, don't compromise, he warned.
Mladic: Missed opportunity for arrest?
Both Mladic and Karadzic are accused of responsibility in the massacre of thousands of Muslims after Bosnian Serb forces stormed the U.N. "safe haven" of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia in July 1995. All summer, forensic investigators searching for evidence have been exhuming mass grave sites near Srebrenica. Smaller sites are being dug up all over Bosnia.
IFOR, the U.S.-led peace implementation force, says it will detain alleged war criminals it encounters but in August, an opportunity to do so may have been lost. It happened as a seven-man IFOR unit conducted an inspection at the main Bosnian Serb military base, which is also Mladic's hideout, protected by scores of armed troops.
Responding to a reporter's accusation during a news conference, IFOR Gen. John Sylvester denied that his men had the chance to arrest Mladic and failed. (22 sec./236K AIFF or WAV sound)
In July, a similar IFOR inspection team was met by angry Mladic supporters who thought he was about to be arrested.
Critics and international observers say the continued presence and power of indicted war criminals poisons the political atmosphere and that removing them is a vital precondition for free and fair elections. Otherwise, they say, the vote will simply legitimize the Serb entity, which hangs on to its separatist dreams and prevents expelled Muslims from returning home.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- U.N. investigators unearth evidence of 'civilian massacre' - July 13, 1996
- International arrest warrants issued for Karadzic, Mladic - July 11, 1996
Related sites:
- International War Crimes Tribunal
- International criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
- Bosnia war crime information
Related newsgroups:
Tell us what you think!
You said it...
© 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.