In New Setback to Peace, Serbs Cut Ties to NATO

The Bosnian Serb military commander angrily broke off contacts Thursday between his forces and the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, the latest--and perhaps most serious--threat to further implementation of the U.S.-brokered peace accord.

The move by Gen. Ratko Mladic, an indicted war crimes suspect who commands the loyalty of the Bosnian Serb army, was denounced by NATO officials as unjustified and counterproductive.

The Bosnian Serb commander’s declaration also invited unusually stern warnings from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that its peacekeepers, including nearly 20,000 Americans, will not stand idly by as the accord unravels on their watch.

“We have the authority, the force and the will to do the job,” said Col. John Kirkwood, a spokesman for U.S. Adm. Leighton W. Smith, commander of NATO troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In a letter sent by fax to several top NATO officials, Mladic suspended all ties with NATO until the Muslim-led Bosnian government releases two Bosnian Serb officers and at least six soldiers detained since last month. Mladic also cut off all travel by Bosnian Serbs to territory controlled by the Muslim-Croat federation.

U.S. officials, worried by the Bosnian Serb statement, said a high-level delegation will fly to the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, this weekend in an attempt to defuse the escalating crisis, which has also led to a Bosnian Serb boycott of meetings with the Bosnian government.

The recent events mean that the Bosnian Serbs have effectively isolated themselves from the peace process at a time when consensus among the former warring sides is crucial to keeping implementation on track. NATO officials said Thursday that they will continue to hold meetings without the Bosnian Serbs but that such a strategy could have dire long-term consequences.

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher called the presidents of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia to notify them of his decision to dispatch Richard Holbrooke, chief negotiator of the Dayton, Ohio, peace accord, back to the Balkans.

Holbrooke will be accompanied by John Shattuck, the assistant secretary of state for human rights, and Robert L. Gallucci, the special U.S. emissary in charge of implementing the agreement.

The Bosnian Serbs say the detention of their military personnel violates the peace agreement, but the Bosnian government says it is entitled to hold the soldiers because they are suspected war criminals. The war crimes tribunal in The Hague has said it has enough evidence to investigate two of the detainees, Gen. Djordje Djukic and Col. Aleksa Krsmanovic.

U.S. and NATO officials said they expect the Bosnian government to release those soldiers not being investigated, but there was no indication Thursday that their release was imminent. Even so, it was unclear what options, beyond his announced boycott, Mladic had available to him.

“The Bosnian Serbs do not have a strong hand on this, especially since the [Bosnian government] can say [the matter] is in the hands of The Hague,” said the Western diplomat. “If Mladic wants to retaliate, he has to go way up the ladder of escalation and do something dramatic, but that could bring [the NATO-led Implementation Force] down on his back.”

A second row over the young peace agreement continued unabated in Mostar, where as many as 2,000 Bosnian Croats protested Wednesday against a plan to unify the divided Croat-Muslim city.

The European Union administrator for the city, Hans Koschnick, said Thursday that he will not back off a map he unveiled Wednesday that creates seven districts in the city, including one multiethnic jurisdiction in the city center. The proposal to create such a district led to a riot Wednesday by Bosnian Croats, who prefer that the city be divided along ethnic lines.

Times staff writer Robin Wright in Helsinki, Finland, contributed to this report.