Week After Deadline, Bosnia Factions Agree to Release All Prisoners of War
Bosnia’s factions on Friday announced agreements to release all remaining prisoners from the 3 1/2-year war and measures to build up military confidence to reinforce their peace accord.
“We agreed completely to release all prisoners,” Kresimir Zubak, the president of Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat federation, told Bosnian Serb radio after talks with Bosnian Serb leaders at their Pale headquarters near Sarajevo.
“From our side, the order will be given to empty the prisons, and we’ve got it [an agreement] from both sides,” Bosnian Serb official Momcilo Krajisnik told the radio.
All three factions have breached the agreement signed last month in Paris by failing to free their prisoners by a Jan. 19 deadline.
About 220 men were released, but 645 others are still listed by the Red Cross as in detention.
Friday’s announcement did not specify how many prisoners will be freed.
Representatives of the factions also agreed at talks in Vienna on a series of military confidence-building measures, including inspections of each other’s weapons and troops.
An official of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which brokered the talks, said each side must inform the others of significant troop movements to help reduce the risk of renewed fighting.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
