BosNet NEWS / Apr. 28, 1996

From: Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

CONTENTS

[01] Will Europeans drive the wedge in B&H-US relations?

``There are no hit squads or Iranian troops or instructors here. This information is inaccurate... Why are these stories being spread? Bosnia is the primary U.S. relationship in the Balkans. It upsets some other relationships which have existed since before World War One... Unfortunately, I think some American officials blindly accept what is fed to them by people, groups and countries that are not inclined to see this U.S.-Bosnia relationship develop.''

``We've given information about those individuals to the United States and it has never been identified as something we had to alter... The people are known, the numbers are known, the locations are known -- they're closely monitored,'' angry Sacirbey added.

Bosnian government sources argue that major European powers simply don't want the United States to emerge with the whiphand in the Balkans through strong ties with Bosnia.

However Bosnian government's credibility was damaged when NATO forces, in February raided what they termed a ``terrorist training camp''. Iranian instructors and students from shadowy Agency for Investigation and Documentation (AID) were found, and Bekir Alispahic, AID's chief subsequently lost his job.

``The United States had a right to be disappointed when that base was uncovered... Now we are the ones who are justifiably angry. Our attitude is basically put up or shut up. If you (the international community) have something that needs to be addressed we will work with you... But don't keep leaking information into the press through anonymous sources, (about) people who can't be identified and information that can't be verified one way or the other.''

The Association of Serb Survivors claims it has filed evidence against

170 Muslims and Croats from 16 camps in Bosnia and Croatia to the Hague

tribunal, in charge of trying war criminals from former Yugoslavia.

"They have helped the prosecutor's office very much in investigating ... the Celebici events," ICTY spokesman Christian Chartier said Friday. "I do not want to play down their concerns, but as a matter of policy we never discuss evidence. Also, I'm not sure they are in a position to know if we are using it."

"There were six men and seven women taken on that day... They beat and raped us all the way to the camp. They showed us a pit and told us we would end up there," a 62-year old Bosnian Serb woman from Mostar, survivor of nationalist Croat (HVO) run Dretelj camp said. "Every night they would pick one of us to rape... They could do anything they wanted with us. There was no one to complain to... We couldn't sleep because of their [male inmate] screams at night."

Others held at Dretelj, mostly Muslims, also have complained of abuses.

``The longest journey starts with the first step. These are small steps

but they are important steps,'' said Professor Cherif Bassiouni of

DePaul University in Chicago, of the ICTY progress. ``The tribunal has

established its legitimacy in the eyes of the international community.

The international community looks to the tribunal as a symbol of

justice.''

However, nationalist Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic have twice been charged with genocide -- over the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre -- still remain free.

Professor Theo van Boven of Limburg University, registrar at the tribunal until the end of 1994 commented: ``That was a major disaster from the point of view of the so-called deterrent or preventative function of the tribunal... Maybe our expectations were too high... I think the true test of legitimacy, not only of the tribunal, but of the will of the NATO powers whose troops are there, is going to be in those two cases [Mladic's and Karadzic's]...''

Van Boven said he did not expect to see Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic indicted for war crimes, as since the signing of DPA he seemed to have acquired international political acceptance which might shield him from prosecution.

Much would depend on the policy pursued by Louise Arbour of Canada who is due to take over as chief prosecutor from South Africa's Richard Goldstone in October.

The president of the U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia

Antonio Cassese, speaking to the 39-nation Council of Europe parliamentary

assembly commented about the potential for new sanctions against Serbia:

``First and foremost, our goal is to get those who were really in charge (of the atrocities)... I want Karadzic and Mladic. But on the other hand we must face the truth: For the moment it's difficult to arrest them. (They) never go anywhere without an escort of 50 to 60 people armed to the teeth... I believe rather in their gradual marginalisation. The new class of politicians emerging from the next elections will have every reason to get rid of their former leaders.''

``If that doesn't happen, I am counting on the international community which has the means of applying very strong pressure, such as economic sanctions,'' he told the French weekly Paris Match.

The office of B&H's coordinator Carl Bildt announced Friday it plans

to launch independent broadcast networks in Bosnia-Herzegovina, to

ensure population is accurately informed about the election campaign

and its results.