KARADZIC'S CANDIDACY A BLOW TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

SARAJEVO, June 21 (Hina) - The UN in Sarajevo on Friday condemned attempts by Bosnian Serb authorities to put up their leader Radovan Karadzic, indicted for war crimes by an international criminal tribunal, as a candidate in upcoming general elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The municipal committee of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) in Pale had decided to put up Karadzic as a candidate, which was a slap in the face of the entire international community, UN spokesman Alexandar Ivanko told a news conference. Ivanko stressed that the only thing the international community was willing to offer Karadzic was an empty prison cell in The Hague, where the international war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia is based. Bosnian Serb media began a political campaign on Thursday to promote Karadzic's candidacy in the September elections. News programms broadcast by Pale radio and television were full of reports from SDS rallies the aim of which was to persuade the Serb public that Karadzic was the only possible candidate for president of "Republika Srpska", the Serb entity in Bosnia- Herzegovina. Under provisions of the Dayton peace agreement and election rules established by the OSCE provisional electoral commission, all war crimes suspects are forbidden to run for any public office. Final lists of election candidates are expected to be made public after July 4 by which time all parties are required to hand in their lists to the OSCE electoral commission. (hina) vm 211430 MET jun 96