The Noose Tightens on Karadzic

The war in Bosnia ended more than two years ago but the chapter on war crimes is still open. Progress in arresting the chief suspects is slow but remains a top priority of the NATO forces and Western development officials helping the locals rebuild their institutions. The big fish eluding the net is Radovan Karadzic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs whose obdurate stand at war’s end cost countless unnecessary deaths.

Karadzic has fought a delaying political game from his base in mountainous Pale against the NATO-backed Bosnian Serb regime of Biljana Plavsic. He continues his open defiance via radio and personal appearances intended to maintain support from the Serbian hard-liners. But many Western and Bosnian Serb officials believe the war leader may be setting the stage for an orchestrated surrender that would send him to the U.N. war crimes tribunal, which has indicted him in absentia for crimes against humanity.

Over the weekend, Momcilo Krajisnik, the Serbian member of Bosnia’s three-person presidency, said, “All claims that [Karadzic] will surrender voluntarily have no foundation.” Press reports from the Serbian capital of Belgrade, however, suggest Karadzic is hoping for a deal.

Deal or no deal, the noose is tightening. The Serb leader is left with no good alternative. He must face the court and try to defend the indefensible or stay on the run, never sure which of his many enemies will someday track him down. Either way, it’s a fate he deserves and his victims demand.