BOSNEWS digest 456 - 05/11/95

From: Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

From: Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>

BOSNEWS Digest 456

CONTENTS

[01] Senior U.S. official said: ``Karadzic is finito...''

``Getting rid of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic would surely suit Milosevic, but it is a tall order especially as far as Mladic is concerned,'' said a Western diplomat at the Bosnia peace talks in Dayton, OH. ``He [Karadzic] aspired to be an all-Serb hero. It was the ultimate mistake because Milosevic cannot stand anyone sharing the celestial throne...''

``There was a letter from (tribunal president Antonio) Cassese to Mrs. (Madeleine) Albright in which he is wondering out loud whether a peace agreement could compel in any way the parties to cooperate with the tribunal,'' a tribunal spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman said Cassese's confidential letter to Albright ``was not putting any condition to any peace accord.''

The War Crimes tribunal, according to the New York Times, has asked the U.S. government, the summit's principal sponsor, to make the surrender of Karadzic, Mladic and other indicted suspects a condition of any peace accord.

``Milosevic will have no trouble ousting Karadzic now but Mladic is a bigger problem since many Bosnian Serbs see him as their sole defender,'' a Western diplomat said.

``That is the problem. Where would they go? Any country harboring them would be liable to sanctions and ostracism... Another problem Milosevic is facing is the hardliners within his own camp who will not take too kindly to his taking out symbols of Serb nationalism,'' the diplomat said.

Authoritative sources in Belgrade said Mladic was likely to retire in the city's residential district of Dedinje where he has a home.

``We are committed to return our ethnic territories,'' nationalist Bosnian Serb leader Momcilo Krajisnik said, hours before a scheduled meeting between presidents Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia. Sources familiar with the talks said Izetbegovic and Milosevic will meet face to face Thursday instead of chief U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke shuttling between the two.

``We will not accept the actual state which has drastically changed in the past three, four months. Serbs do not have the right to hand over and trade with cities such as Sanski Most, Mrkonjic Grad, Kljuc and others... Sanctions cannot be more important than freedom,'' Krajisnik claimed, adding that he believed that Milosevic, as the head of the ``all-Serbian delegation,'' will fully represent the interests of the entire Serbian nation.

[02] US DEMAND: REPLACE KARADJIC AND MLADIC

Dayton, November 3,1995 (Press TWRA) - US demands that Bosnian Serbs leaders R. Karadjic and Gen. R. Mladic be replaced from leading positions to avoid their participation in future B-H Goverment after the signing of peace agreement, said Nicholas Burns, State Department spokesman. "We consider that Karadjic and Mladic should not hold high positions in a new state. They can be removed from their position in several ways, but only Serbs can decide on that", said Nicholas Burns. "The peace agreement on B-H should ask from all sides to cooperate with War Crimes Tribunal concerning the crimes committed on territory of former Yugoslavia in full. However, the US soldiers who will be deployed in B-H will not have duty to look for war criminals, but they will have to arrest war criminal if they come across one. The US State Secretary Christopher said in an interview for ABC that it is possible that NATO peace forces do not deploy in B-H if Karadjic and Mladic against whom the charges for war crimes have been raised in The Hague stay in power "Really, it can not be expected that NATO forces will be on the ground while those two are in power", said Christopher. "I think that it is just correct to say that we would not feel good in case US forces deploy while they still hold powerful commanding posts", said Christopher.

According to the sources close to negotiations in Dayton President of the B-H Presidency A. Izetbegovic emphasized the demand for Serbian war criminal be extradited to International Tribunal in Hague. Izetbegovic also demanded that Serbian President Milosevic make commitment to end the war crimes. According to the same sources Bosniak side thinks that Serbs in Serbia and B-H has to respect their international obligations and turn over the war criminals to The Hague's Tribunal. The message of Bosniak side is that without such guarantees there is no peace process.

[03] KARADJIC AND MLADIC WILL BE REPLACED

Belgrade, November 3,1995 (Press TWRA) - The independent Belgrade's Agency "Beta" reported that "political leadership of Bosnian Serbs started in late October the secret preparations to overthrow the highest officials". According to this source the Bosnian Serbs' political ruling circles agreed that Radovan Karadjic and Ratko Mladic should start to prepare for "dissociating from their positions". It is possible that besides them some other politicians will leave their positions, too. The so called "republic srpska's" vice-president N. Koljevic and minister A. Buha who are at present part of Serbian negotiation's team in Dayton will keep their positions. "Beta" reports that the leaders of Bosnian Serbs in Belgrade agreed with Serbian President Milosevic that neither Karadjic nor Mladic nor President of so called"republic srpska" parliament M. Krajisnik. run for central bodies of B-H union on the next elections but only for the internal bodies of the Serbian entity in B-H.

According to the independent Belgrade's Radio B-92 Milosevic did not insist on this replacement only because of international pressure but because he can no longer count on any of these two to follow his commands in full.

[04] Akashi: ``In the absence of an overall strategy for the settlement of the conflict, I don't think U.N. peackeepers could have done much better...''

Former U.N. envoy for Former Yugoslavia, Japanese Yasushi Akashi Friday defended his mission: ``I'd like to stress that former Yugoslavia is not an unmitigated failure on the part of the United Nations -- I think the United Nations peace forces together with the UNHCR and others were instrumental in saving the lives of innocent people... I think close to three million people were fed and hundreds of thousands of lives were saved because of our humanitarian activities which were carried out under extreme danger.''

``In the absence of an overall strategy for the settlement of the conflict, I don't think U.N. peackeepers could have done much better... But we were sent into the midst of a very violent, very inhuman civil war...This is not typical peacekeeping in the most favourable circumstances. We were not equipped, nor commanded, nor mandated to impose peace -- we were not peace enforcers but peacekeepers in the absence of a peace to keep,'' Akashi claimed.

[05] SANDZAK AND ROHDE SHOULD BE A PART OF THE DAYTON AGENDA

Sarajevo, Nov 11, 1995 (Press TWRA) - National Council of Bosniaks in Sandzak (NVBS) demanded its participation at the peace talks in Dayton. In the letter sent to the international mediators in ex-Yugoslavia, NVBS demands that, as the only legal body of Bosniaks in Sandzak, discuss at the peace talks Sandzak's status and Bosniaks who are still living there being majority population despite a long Serb ethnic cleansing campaign going on for 83 years, reinflamed in the last decade. NVBS stresses that the delegates of the Bosniaks from Sandzak should participate at the peace talks on B-H which is their mother country.

Dayton, Belgrade - Serb paper Telegraf writes that Milosevic in the USA is accompanied by 3OO persons including government officials, leading Serb economists, financiers and bodyguards. On Oct 25 this year all regular Yugoslav air transport's (JAT) lines were cancelled in order to focus attention to the visit of Milosevic's delegations. A few days prior to Milosevic and his associates' visit a JAT's "Boeing 737" with 144 seats, bringing 14O passengers, arrived at Dayton. Three JAT's mechanics whose job is to maintain the jets also came with diplomatic passports.

Washington - Senate leader Robert Dole and senator Olympia Snowe (influential member of powerful Greek lobby to the USA), in the letter addressed to the US State Secr. Warren Christopher demand from State Department to take all necessary measures to release David Rohde immediately, the US journalist who was captured by Karadzic's Serbs. As Milosevic speaks on behalf of those Serbs, he should be demanded immediate release of Rohde and warned that similar hijacking must not happen again.

Sarajevo - The UN officials decided this week to send the UN monitors on the Karadzic's Serb held part of B-H explaining it by considerably changed situation in the past few months and removed threat to the UN staff to become Serb hostages. The Sarajevo authorities warn that the UN leadership will take responsibility, should the UN staff be hijacked by Serbs.

[06] OWEN - A BUSINESSMAN, R. SMITH - DISAPPOINTED LONDON

London, Nov 3, 1995 (Press TWRA) - Lord David Owen, recent EU peace mediator to ex-Yugoslavia and co-chairman of the ICFY (International Conference on the former Yugoslavia), has become director general and president of the British company "Middlesex Holdings" dealing with metal in the ex-Soviet Union states. Owen has already been director of the main British textile company Coats Viyelle. Since Aug 1992 till June 1995, Owen conducted the "peace process" in ex-Yugoslavia and received for that USD 1.8 million from the UN budget.

British govt. pleased with the work of D. Owen regards that Sir R. Smith the UNPROFOR Commander, by demanding the NATO air strikes against Serbs "destroyed the peace process improved by Michael Rose" with good cooperation with Karadzic's terrorists. R. Smith will be soon replaced.

[07] NUMEROUS ACTIVITIES OF THE TRIBUNAL IN THE HAGUE

The Hague, Oct 29, 1995 (Press TWRA) - International Tribunal for crimes committed in ex-Yugoslavia accepted the demand of defence of the suspected Serb war criminal D. Tadic for postponing the trial till next year. Tadic's lawyers explained that by collecting evidence to prove the innocence of their client. Meanwhile, it is found that among the witnesses at the continued trial will be an English writer of the book "Seasons In Hell", Ed Vulliamy a journalist of the British papers "The Guardian" and correspondent of the British "The Observer" and Italian "La Stampa" who lives in Italy, Britain and the USA and has been several times an the front lines and many other areas in ex - Yugoslavia, particularly in B-H in the past few years. Three years ago, he met Dusko Tadic in Serb death camp of Omarska and witnessed his brutal treatment of the captured whose guard commander was D. Tadic. R. Goldstone, the main prosecutor of the Tribunal, announced an investigation and indictment against all those who used media to spread hatred and encouraged crimes. The Croatian independent daily "Novi list" commentator Jelena Lovric, wonders in today's column if that might be the reason for absence of the main Croatian TV correspondent from B-H Smiljko Sagolj who has become notorious for his intolerance towards Bosniaks.

Undefined fate of two to three thousand of Bosniak and Croatian civilians from the Banjaluka region who were taken from their homes by Karadzic's Serbs and missing ever since, is in the focus of the Hague Tribunal attention. Croatian Ambassador to the UN Mario Nobilo demanded urgent measures of the Security Council to be saved of the same fate as the people from Srebrenica.

"The Christian Science Monitor" and "The Washington Post" write about the massacre of the people in Srebrenica as the most severe crime in Europe after WW II. In a few days, Serbs killed several thousand of people supervised by Ratko Mladic personally and the "operation" was in collusion with Belgrade. Beside the facts "the Washington Post" has some stories told by the survivors from Srebrenica - Mevludin Oric, Smail Hodzic, Hurem Suljic, Hasan Mustafic, Zulfo Salihovic, etc. The papers cites defence secretary W. Perry who sees Srebrenica as a drop over a full glass of the western patience. Yet, it seems that Serbs have not learnt the lesson and after the NATO strikes again committed crimes near Banjaluka, writes "The Washington Post".

Belgrade - Serb weekly "Nin" writes that Milosevic will be demanded in Dayton extradition of Mladic and Karadzic first time they step on the ground of Serbia and "Yugoslavia" while in the meantime extradition of Zeljko Raznjatovic Arkan, the leader of the paramilitary terrorist group "Serb Tigers" will be demanded. Milosevic could claim that Mladic and Karadzic are out of his reach but it cannot be said for Arkan who spends most of his time in Serbia though he often visits the occupied part of Croatia and B-H. Arkan does not often travel abroad as Interpol looks for him due to crimes in western Europe. Goldstone is interested in Arkan due to his open involvement in genocide in B-H & Croatia. /end/