Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic relinquishes power
June 30, 1996
Web posted at: 11:30 a.m EDT (1530 GMT)PALE, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- International peace envoy Carl Bildt says Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has resigned as president and been replaced by a hardline vice president. But his supposed successor, Biljana Plavsic, denies that.
Plavsic tells the Reuter news service "the (Bosnian Serb) president is still Dr. Radovan Karadzic and I am the vice president" until elections scheduled for September 14. Asked whether she would perform Karadzic's presidential duties in the interim, Plavsic replied, "Yes, I will."
Her comments triggered some confusion over a statement released just hours earlier Sunday by Bildt, the Swedish diplomat coordinating Bosnia peace efforts. It may however boil down to semantics. "As of today, Mr. Karadzic cannot exercise any public functions or public powers as president," the statement read. "It is immediately illegal for any public official or institution to accept decisions by, or instructions from, Mr. Karadzic or persons acting on his behalf."
Plavsic says Karadzic has relinquished power but retains his title as head of state.
According to Bildt's statement, "Mr. Karadzic is replaced as functioning president by Ms. Biljana Plavsic... The document is signed and sealed by Mr. Karadzic. It takes legal effect from today. There are no conditions of any sort associated with his replacement."
Like Karadzic, Plavsic is an ultra-nationalist and vocal opponent of international peace plans for Bosnia. During an interview with CNN, a spokesman for Bildt says regardless of their similar views, Plavsic poses a lesser threat than Karadzic to the Dayton peace accord. (281K AIFF or WAV sound)
Karadzic has been under intense international pressure to step down. Bildt had demanded he do so by Monday or face the possible reimposition of sanctions on Serbia.
In joint communiqués issued Saturday, leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies along with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin threatened new economic sanctions against Serbia unless both Karadzic and former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic are denied any decision-making influence in the former Yugoslav republic.
Karadzic and Mladic have both been indicted by the international tribunal at The Hague, Netherlands for alleged war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.
The Dayton peace accord bars people accused of war crimes from holding or running for office. It also calls for the preservation of Bosnia as a multi-ethnic state and rules out secession of Bosnian Serb-held lands.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Mladic, Karadzic remain thorny issues in Bosnian peace accord - June 29, 1996
- Shalikashvili: Mission to capture Karadzic, Mladic likely to fail - June 27, 1996
- Indicted war criminals hard to find; harder to hold - June 20, 1996
Copyright © 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive
