July 14, 1996

U.S. To Send Ex-Envoy to Discuss Indicted Serb Leaders

By ELAINE SCIOLINO

ASHINGTON -- Richard C. Holbrooke, the Clinton administration's former chief negotiator in the Balkans, will return to the region this week in an effort to convince Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia to live up to the peace accords reached in Dayton, Ohio and bring about the ouster of two Bosnian Serb leaders, a senior administration official said Saturday.

The decision to send Holbrooke was reached Friday at a White House meeting of President Clinton's senior national security advisers, after a recommendation by Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the official said.

Holbrooke will leave Monday for Belgrade, and will also travel to Sarajevo and Zagreb, the Croatian capital.

"Although there are serious issues in all three capitals, the primary issue is Milosevic," the official said. "We will read him the riot act and make clear that his behavior is inconsistent with the promises he made in Dayton."

In particular, Holbrooke will press Milosevic to fulfill his promises on insuring that the two Bosnian Serb leaders -- Dr. Radovan Karadzic, the political leader, and Gen. Ratko Mladic, the military commander -- are removed from power.

Last week, the International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague issued arrest warrants for both men, who have been indicted on charges of war crimes.

Elections viewed as critical to Bosnia's future are scheduled for September, and the Western powers backing the Balkan peace accord want the Bosnian Serb leaders removed before the elections are held.

The thinking in asking Holbrooke to return to the region as an envoy is that he, more than any other official of the administration, has been able to wrest concessions from Milosevic. Despite Holbrooke's decision after the Bosnian peace agreement to leave public office, he has remained an official consultant.

Under the guidelines of the NATO mission in Bosnia, the NATO troops there do not have the responsibility to arrest Mladic and Karadjic and turn them over to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. In his discussions with Milosevic, Holbrooke will raise the issues of "both of removing them from power and facilitating their arrest," the official said.

At a meeting in London last week, the United States and the four other nations responsible for bringing peace to Bosnia -- Britain, France, Germany and Russia -- failed to reach agreement on whether to impose economic sanctions on Serbia because of Milosevic's failure to live up to this aspect of the Dayton agreements.

The Clinton administration has still not given Holbrooke specific instructions on whether the United States is prepared to move forward immediately with new sanctions against Serbia.

"The specific threat of sanctions has not yet been decided," the official said.

There was no discussion of a military response, the official said. The Pentagon, fearing reprisals against U.S. troops, remains adamantly opposed to forcibly arresting the two Bosnian Serb leaders, particularly Mladic, who commands the Bosnian Serb army.