New Bosnia Serb Leader Sounds Familiar Notes

The new leader of Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb entity encompassing nearly half of Bosnia-Herzegovina, said Tuesday that she has taken over “all functions of the president” and is acting independently of Radovan Karadzic, the indicted war crimes suspect who remains titular head of government.

“There has been a certain vacuum in the implementation of the [Dayton, Ohio, peace accord], but this misunderstanding has been eliminated,” said Bosnian Serb Vice President Biljana Plavsic after meeting with Carl Bildt, the chief international mediator in Bosnia.

“I think that today we achieved certain principles based upon which we can maintain communication from now on,” she said.

Under the Dayton agreement, Karadzic is barred from holding public office, but until this weekend he had refused to renounce any of his duties. He finally did so--at least on paper--in a document signed last week. According to this compact, which took effect Sunday, he remains president in title only until countrywide elections in September.

But skepticism runs high about Karadzic’s motives as well as his replacement’s true autonomy. Asked about her ability to govern independently, Plavsic insisted that she has her “own opinion on certain matters.”

“Knowing me very well, [Karadzic] never tried to change my opinion,” she said.

Despite such assertions, the 66-year-old former biology professor did little to demonstrate her independence during her first news conference since becoming de facto president.

In keeping with a long-standing Karadzic stance, she declared that she will not honor a key provision in the Dayton accord involving war crimes suspects. Plavsic said she will not use her newfound authority to deliver Bosnian Serbs accused of war crimes--Karadzic or any other--to an international tribunal in The Hague.

“It is forbidden to turn over a person from the territory of Republika Srpska to another court,” she said.

In another indication of her seeming deference to Karadzic, Plavsic said she would not block him from appearing on Bosnian Serb television. Bildt has demanded such a prohibition, characterizing the Pale station as a “repugnant” mouthpiece for Karadzic and his ruling Serbian Democratic Party. Plavsic said the airwaves are not influenced by the government and that she has no authority to dictate content.

“Basically, we do not want to control television,” Plavsic said. “We are a democratic society.”

Plavsic, a hard-line nationalist who has been a devoted Karadzic ally since entering Bosnian Serb politics in 1990, met behind closed doors with Bildt for more than two hours. The meeting was held at a hotel here in the Bosnian Serb headquarters southeast of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital. It was called by Bildt to clarify mounting confusion surrounding Karadzic’s consent to give up his presidential duties.

“We want to look at this a couple days and see how things actually turn out,” said Bildt, who was decidedly cautious in his remarks about the session.

Bildt said the two officials discussed issues surrounding the Dayton agreement, including Karadzic’s involvement in the Sept. 14 elections. Under the peace accord, Karadzic is barred from participating in the vote, but he has been reelected chairman of the ruling party and on Monday was asked by party leaders to run as their nominee for president.

Asked if Karadzic will accept the nomination, Plavsic replied: “You will certainly hear about it by Thursday,” the filing deadline for candidates.

In preparation for the elections, U.S. defense officials announced Tuesday that two armored battalions of soldiers will be withdrawn from Bosnia and replaced by two battalions of military police, who will be better able to patrol both sides of the divided country during the campaign and on election day.

“We have been successful keeping these darned armies apart--now we have to get ready for the elections,” a U.S. military official said. “There will be mass movement of people across this country, and so you are going to need specialized police units to patrol and monitor it.”