Bosnian Serb Leader Defies Hard-Liners, Dissolves Parliament
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PALE, Bosnia-Herzegovina — President Biljana Plavsic of the Bosnian Serb republic on Thursday defied hard-liners trying to force her from power and ordered the dissolution of the entity’s parliament “to protect the state from total disaster.”
Political opponents grouped around former president and indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic immediately challenged the decision, saying Plavsic had no right to disband parliament on her own.
Karadzic accused Plavsic of treachery and of plotting his arrest by NATO peacekeeping troops. NATO denied any change in orders, but a television report that Karadzic and his wartime commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic, were to be seized on sight fueled tensions as both sides vied for public support.
Plavsic said the intention was to discredit her with the population, which gets most of its news from television, controlled by hard-liners.
The hard-liners were expected to go ahead with a parliament session today to try to remove Plavsic.
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