Bosnian Serbs Are Faulted for Continuing to Hold POWs

Bosnian Serb officials submitted files on 16 suspected war criminals but have not complied with all international demands concerning prisoners of war, the top civilian administrator in Bosnia said Sunday.

The statement from the office of Carl Bildt did not say whether the Bosnian Serbs will be banned from a crucial donors’ meeting in Brussels starting Friday and, if so, cut off from desperately needed reconstruction funds.

Bildt, who is in Tokyo, will make the final decision on who will be invited to the conference, organized in hopes of raising $1.1 billion for urgent projects in Bosnia this year to supplement up to $700 million already raised.

The U.N. Security Council, Bildt’s office, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and many Western governments had demanded the release by midnight Friday of all prisoners not indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

Bildt and other international officials threatened to withhold reconstruction funds otherwise.

The Bosnian Serbs said they fulfilled their obligation under the Dayton, Ohio, accord by handing over documents Saturday night on 12 Croatian and four Muslim prisoners suspected of war crimes.

But Bildt’s office said the documents concerned only 13 of the 16 prisoners registered by the Red Cross. No files were submitted on the three other registered prisoners, but the Bosnian Serbs did hand over files on three people not registered by the humanitarian organization, it said.

Under an agreement worked out by Bildt’s office, all prisoners who were not suspected of war crimes were to be freed immediately.

Those prisoners suspected of war crimes were to be moved to central facilities either in Sarajevo or near Pale, where the Bosnian Serb government is headquartered. The prisoners then would be monitored by U.N. police and the Red Cross.

Bildt’s office said Sunday that the prisoners detained by the Bosnian Serbs are still being held in different locations rather than a central facility. In contrast, the Bosnian Croats and Bosnian government have met all the conditions, the statement said.

On Friday, the Bosnian Croats freed 28 prisoners and the Bosnian government released 18, and they provided files on alleged war criminals to the tribunal.

If prisoners are not indicted or held for further investigation, they should be freed, Bildt deputy Michael Steiner said Sunday, adding that he expected decisions on indictments within a month.

In a letter sent Sunday to Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, Steiner said a March 30 agreement to rejuvenate the moribund Muslim-Croat federation “has begun to show positive results.”

The NATO-led peace force views the federation as crucial to implementing the peace agreement and long-term stability in Bosnia.