[Nettime-bold] Re: SFOR 'locates' Karadzic and Mladic

["Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>]

Karadzic and Mladic might tried to use Macedonia as well, I 
believe. Macedonia is sparsely populated and its government 
currently has other worries, so there are probably parts in the 
Eastern Macedonia that would be at risk for being targeted by 
suspected Serb war criminals as potential safe havens (buy local 
officials, build a bunker, etc.).
ivo

Date sent:      	Tue, 4 Sep 2001 15:47:11 -0400
Send reply to:  	International Justice Watch Discussion List
             	<JUSTWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU>
From:           	Andras Riedlmayer <riedlmay@FAS.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject:        	SFOR 'locates' Karadzic and Mladic
To:             	JUSTWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU

Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 15:29:36 -0400
From: Eric Witte <EWitte@abaceeli.org>

I can't imagine that they really mean Macedonia.  I bet they meant
Montenegro, and either the spokesman or CNN got confused...

=========================================================================
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/09/04/ponte.belgrade/index.html
CNN | September 4, 2001 Posted: 2:47 PM EDT (1847 GMT)

NATO 'locates' Karadzic and Mladic

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- The head of the NATO stabilisation force in
Bosnia has said he knows where top war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic
and Ratko Mladic are located.

The spokesman of SFOR, Captain Daryl Morrell, quoting Lieutenant General
Michael Dodson who is the outgoing head of the force, added that it was
"only a matter of time" before they were arrested.

Karadzic and Mladic are "moving in and out of Bosnia," although he would
not reveal their exact whereabouts, he added.

Karadzic, the ex-political leader, and Mladic, the ex-military chief,
have been indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for their role in
the Bosnian war between 1991 and 1995, most notably for the massacre of
an estimated 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica in 1995.

Morrell said he expected arrests to be made sometime soon by authorities
in Macedonia, Yugoslavia or Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"General Dodson said that it was only a matter of time before they are
arrested by officials in Macedonia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
or agencies inside of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Once detained, these people will
be brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia,"
Morrell said.  Morrell emphasised that while SFOR's mandate is to
maintain a safe and stable environment for Bosnia, having war criminals
on the loose is not "compatible" with that goal.

It is the first time SFOR has acknowledged knowing the whereabouts of
the two Bosnian Serb leaders.

The announcement was made as Carla Del Ponte, the tribunal's lead
prosecutor, was expected to visit Bosnia.

Earlier, Del Ponte said Albanian leaders in Kosovo may be indicted
for crimes against ethnic Serbs.

Del Ponte was in the Yugoslav capital with a "shopping list" of
15 key Serb war crimes suspects.

Following talks with Yugoslav government officials, however, she said
the Hague tribunal was also considering charging ethnic Albanians
with crimes committed against minority Serbs in Kosovo after it came
under international control in 1999.

"We are investigating crimes committed after June 1999 in Kosovo,"
she said in a statement reported by Reuters. She said that she was
concentrating on crimes with Serb victims.

It is Del Ponte's first visit to Belgrade since the extradition of
former President Slobodan Milosevic in June.

Chief on her list is Serbian figurehead president Milan Milutinovic,
who with Milosevic and three other leaders of the former Belgrade regime
was indicted by U.N. prosecutors for their role in the 1998-99 conflict
with ethnic Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

As well as Milutinovic, former army chief of staff Col. Gen. Dragoljub
Ojdanic, former Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic and
former Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic were also indicted.

All four live openly in Belgrade despite the indictments.

After Milosevic was ousted, Milutinovic was allowed to remain president
of Serbia as long as he refrained from appearing in public or exerting
influence.

Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic told independent B-92 radio:
"Del Ponte can demand whatever she wants, but the Serbian government
doesn't have to discuss it."

Del Ponte's spokeswoman Florence Hartmann responded by saying: "The
obligation of the state of Yugoslavia is for Mr. Milutinovic and all
the indictees living on the territory of Yugoslavia to be transferred
to The Hague.

"There is no immunity before the international tribunal and it does not
protect him."

It seems likely Del Ponte's decision to investigate Albanian war crimes
will help soften the stance of the Serbia's rulers.

They have often accused leaders of the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA) of committing atrocities against Serbs following the
withdrawal of the Serb Army in 1999.

Albanian leaders dismissed Del Ponte's accusations. Former KLA leader
Ramush Haradinaj told Reuters his troops had merely been fighting
against Serbian "terror, genocide and repression."

Ivo Skoric
1773 Lexington Ave
New York NY 10029
212.369.9197
ivo@balkansnet.org
http://balkansnet.org


_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold