The NATO-led peace-keeping force in Bosnia today announced the arrest of a former ethnic Serb paramilitary leader suspected of war crimes. The man, Radomir Kovac, was indicted with seven other Serbs three years ago on charges of sexual abuse and torture of Bosnian Muslim women in the town of Foca during the war that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia.
NATO said that Mr. Kovac was arrested by French troops early today in Southeast Bosnia. He is expected to be brought to The Hague to face trial at the International Criminal Tribunal. The former Bosnian Serb President, Radovan Karadic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, are still at large.
In a separate development, the United Nations has said that mass graves in Kosovo contain the bodies of an estimated 11,000 ethnic Albanians. The interim UN administrator in the province, Bernard Kouchner, said that the figure was arrived at by UN War Crimes Tribunal investigators excavating mass graves there. In the interview, Mr. Kouchner said that the crime rate in Kosovo was diminishing and he dismissed claims that the province was sliding into chaos. His comments come after the killings of scores of Serbs and attacks on Serb homes by returning ethnic Albanians, following the end of NATO's air strikes against Yugoslav forces in the province.
Meanwhile, a new article claims that the K-FOR commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Jackson overruled NATO supreme commander General Wesley Clark as allied troops poured into Kosovo because he feared triggering a global conflict. The report in Newsweek magazine claims that General Jackson refused to send an air assault team into Pristina airport to block Russian forces who unexpectedly seized it in early June when the NATO bombardment ended because he believed such a move could cause another World War. News of the rift between the commanders comes just days after US officials announced that Clark - who oversaw the air campaign - would be stepping down early from his NATO post.
While no successor has been announced to Clarke’s post, ambassadors from NATO’s 19 member states met in Brussels today to decide who will be the organisation's next Secretary General. Britain's Defence Secretary, George Robertson, is widely favoured, but it is thought that the selection process could take some time. Mr. Robertson would replace Javier Solana of Spain, who is to become foreign policy co-ordinator for the European Union.
