Karadzic arrest imminent? I have gotten my hopes up many many times only to have them dashed. And I am naturally then much more skeptical about such reports. But I am hearing it on pretty good authority that if the Bosnian Serbs don't handover notorious war criminal Radovan Karadzic within the week, they will be strapped with big economic sanctions. And I am hearing they are likely to turn him over. The jury is still out. Karadzic has slipped out of the noose many many times. But the victory of Boris Tadic in Serbia's presidential elections this past week augurs well for this long overdue move to finally happen. Keep your fingers crossed.

Monday Evening Update: The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum points to a recent Russ Baker article from that magazine on why Karadzic belongs in the Hague, as well as to a Reuters report today that Bosnia viceroy Paddy Ashdown sacked 60 Bosnian Serb officials.

The West's top peace envoy punished Bosnia's Serbs Wednesday for failing to arrest top war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic, dismissing 60 senior officials in the most dramatic such move since the 1992-95 war...

"In all, I am removing 60 people today, 11 will be removed indefinitely, 48 may return to public life once Radovan Karadzic is in The Hague," the veteran British diplomat [Paddy Ashdown] said.

Other measures against officials in the Serb Republic, one of Bosnia's two autonomous entities, included European Union travel bans as well as freezing of assets.

It's about time. Next month is the nine year anniversary of the massacre of more than 7,000 -- some reports say 8,000 -- Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the UN safe haven of Srebrenica, by Bosnian Serb forces.

Posted by Laura at June 30, 2004 09:44 AM