SARAJEVO DAILY SARAJEVO, Feb 28 (Hina) - The creator of the Dayton peace accords which ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Richard Holbrooke, has said that he is ready to become involved in US diplomacy again if the November
presidential elections are won by a Democrat, in which case he would again make the Balkans a top priority of the US foreign policy.
SARAJEVO, Feb 28 (Hina) - The creator of the Dayton peace accords which
ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Richard Holbrooke, has said that
he is ready to become involved in US diplomacy again if the November
presidential elections are won by a Democrat, in which case he would
again make the Balkans a top priority of the US foreign policy.#L#
In an interview with Saturday's issue of Sarajevo's Dnevni Avaz daily,
the former US peace mediator in the Balkans said the final solution to
the situation in the region included Kosovo's independence.
Serbs in Belgrade have to face the reality and choose between Kosovo
and Europe, Holbrooke said, adding that Montenegro would definitely
separate from Serbia as well.
Holbrooke considers ridiculous requests by some Serbian politicians
that the loss of Kosovo be compensated with other territory, stating
that the current situation was the result of their own mistakes and
the fact that they had lost four wars which they had started.
The process of disintegration (of Yugoslavia) will be completed when
seven states are established, and the United States and the European
Union should work towards the peaceful implementation of that goal, he
said.
Commenting on the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Holbrooke said that
it would not be possible to strengthen peace in the country until
Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic were arrested and that it was
therefore inadmissible to thinks about withdrawing US troops from the
country.
The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations also reiterated his
previous statement about the Serb Democratic Party being a criminal
organisation which should have been banned in 1996.
(Hina) rml