Ashdown sweeps Bosnian Serb officials from power

PADDY Ashdown, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s international administrator, yesterday fired 60 Bosnian Serb officials, including some senior figures, in a bid to weed out suspected backers of war criminals.

Bosnian Serb Parliament Speaker Dragan Kalinic and Zoran Djeric, interior minister in charge of police in the Serb half of Bosnia, were among those dismissed.

Other senior politicians of the party founded by war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, along with lower party officials, heads of state companies and some local police chiefs were also fired. The dismissals appeared to be aimed at removing those likely to use their police, financial or political powers to help war crime suspects.

Administrator Paddy Ashdown said the firings were part of a 10-point package “designed to reduce the influence of those who obstruct this country’s progress toward stability and the rule of law”.

Mr Kalinic also lost his position as head of the Serb Democratic Party, which was founded by Mr Karadzic and governs the Serb half of Bosnia.

The party is widely blamed for helping Mr Karadzic, the wartime leader of Bosnia’s Serbs, evade capture.

Mr Kalinic was defiant as he acknowledged his removal, telling the Bosnian Serb parliament that “Karadzic is most likely protected by God and angels.”

Explaining his decision to fire Kalinic, Mr Ashdown said, “It was his responsibility to ensure that there were adequate financial controls in his party to prevent fraud, abuse, and criminality. It was also his responsibility to ensure beyond doubt that the party founded by Radovan Karadzic was no longer financing him.”

The moves follow increasing international frustration about the lack of progress in capturing Mr Karadzic and other suspects indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal.