SARAJEVO, March 29 (Hina) - The replacement of the chairman of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Presidency, Mirko Sarovic, is practically a done deal and Sarovic can only choose between resigning by himself or waiting to be replaced by High
Representative Paddy Ashdown.
SARAJEVO, March 29 (Hina) - The replacement of the chairman of
Bosnia-Herzegovina's Presidency, Mirko Sarovic, is practically a
done deal and Sarovic can only choose between resigning by himself
or waiting to be replaced by High Representative Paddy Ashdown.
#L#
This is the conclusion of almost all Bosnian newspapers, which
today commented on the outcome of a meeting of the Peace
Implementation Council (PIC), held in Brussels over the past two
days at the level of political directors from the foreign
ministries of the most influential western countries and Russia.
Commenting on the meeting in a statement for the media, Ashdown did
not explicitly confirm that Sarovic's political career was over,
but he did warn that the PIC had entrusted him with taking all the
necessary measures, which was taken as a clear sign that serious
measures are to be taken.
Ashdown's spokesman Julian Braithwaite said the PIC had
established two problems: political responsibility and control
over the armed forces.
Sarovic's political responsibility cannot be avoided in any case
because as the president of the Bosnian Serb entity he had all
command powers over its army, including the export of arms and
military equipment to Iraq.
The talks in Brussels were expected to tackle primarily murky
dealings with the regime of Saddam Hussein, and the incumbent
Bosnian Serb leadership believes there is no evidence directly
incriminating Sarovic.
Speaking to reporters as the talks in Brussels were taking place,
Bosnian Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic openly opposed Sarovic's
replacement. He said such a measure would not be good for the
country and its institutions because they would lose credibility.
Bosnian Serb officials were not the only ones to oppose Sarovic's
replacement.
Russia's Ambassador to Bosnia, Alexandar Grishchenko, said in an
interview published earlier this week in Banja Luka's "Novi
reporter" he saw no evidence which would incriminate Sarovic.
The Bosnian media state that Sarovic's replacement is a priority
for the United States, which is extremely sensitive to anything
challenging its efforts to disarm the regime in Baghdad and has
taken as a serious insult the fact that Bosnian Serbs had overhauled
Saddam's jets.
However, debates about whether there is firm evidence against
Sarovic seemed to be definitely over after information about the
Bosnian Serb army having drastically violated the Dayton peace
agreement by spying on everything and everybody and participating
in preparations to assassinate Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic was
leaked in the public.
Evidence on this was reportedly discovered in a raid of the Bosnian
Serb army's intelligence offices in Banja Luka and Bijeljina by
Stabilisation Force troops on March 7 and the information was
obviously forwarded to the media intentionally ahead of the PIC
session.
The office of Republika Srpska's President Dragan Cavic would not
comment on the information because of the ongoing investigation.
The army's main staff gave a similar statement, while Foreign
Minister Mladen Ivanic joined in the collective silence saying he
would rather wait for the official information.
Ashdown's spokesman said that analyses showed that responsibility
lay with the Bosnian Serb army's command, which was under the
political control of the entity's Supreme Defence Council, chaired
by the entity president. Braithwaite added that the High
Representative was shocked at the espionage report.
He was adamant that the international community possessed concrete
evidence about the case.
Ashdown will announce his final decision on penalties upon his
return to Sarajevo, by April 2 at the latest.
(hina) rml